Showdown at Guyamas by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497694088
Publisher: Open Road Media

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Pres Collins had gone wild. His eyes were cold as ice, but his hands twitched, and when he spoke he spit fire.

“My brother’s dead,” he told them.

“He took a hand in the wrong game,” Ray answered. For that he got a tremendous backhand slap from Pres Collins. Ray spat out the blood.

“He was no better than you,” Elisabeth said spunkily. “He deserved it. This is my home you men are destroying.”

“Do you want the same?” Pres demanded, raising his hand again. He glanced at Billy Drew’s quick-darting eyes, however, and held up.

“Don’t let that fast-draw hold you back,” Walt Summers egged him on. “These nice folks killed your brother!”

“Don’t beg for it, Walt,” Billy Drew said without seeming to move his lips. He turned back the corners of his slicker, revealing a pearl-handled Colt. A Colt that had taken two dozen men already. “I don’t hold with killing women, and you boys know it.”

“Leave off,” Rex Traynor put in. He spit out a stream of tobacco juice. “We ain’t been paid for killin’ anyway. Just for wreckin’ the place. The house is burned. We tear down the corrals and drive out the rest of the stock, she won’t be back.”

“You honcho now?” Summers demanded. Rex Traynor shrugged, spit again and turned his back on them, facing the river.

“He’s right,” Fremont agreed. The kid appeared nervous.

“How would you know?” Summers demanded loudly. “You can’t wipe your nose without help.”

“Back off, Walt.” Pres Collins was cooled down some now. “Let’s let the man decide. It’s his money, his fight. Whatever he wants.”

“Tomlinson?” Elisabeth wanted to know.

“None of your business!” Summers said.

“Rex, you and Fremont take down those corrals. Give them cows a good run,” Pres Collins ordered. “Let’s tie these three up, boys.”

“Be easier to kill ’em where they stand,” Walt Summers grumbled.

“Kill ’em?” Billy Drew was mad. “An old man, a wounded cowhand and a girl?”

“Why I thought you was the tough one, Billy Drew.”

“Tough enough, if you want a taste. And here I was believing that you were a better man than that Rat Peebles. I hope he splits your skull, Summers.”

“Ease off,” Pres said. He shook Billy Drew’s shoulder. “We been through a lot. Let’s hold it back until it’s over.”

“Just keep him away from the girl,” Billy Drew said sourly. “Keep the big man away from her.”

Summers took Ray’s arms and tied them roughly behind him. Then he tied Doctor Spectros. Billy Drew put loops around Elisabeth’s wrists. “I’m sorry ma’m,” the quick-draw apologized. “I usually fight men, not women or sick people.”

Summers glanced poisonously at the gunfighter, but said nothing. They could hear Fremont and Rex Traynor hooting at the U/No, driving the remaining cattle off into the hills—cattle Brad Tibbets had branded only in the last week.

“Bring that buckboard on down,” Pres called. Then he told Summers, “Take ’em back to see the man. Whatever he tells you, do it!”

“What about you?”

“I’m going to bury my brother,” Pres responded.

“Alright if I stay too?” Rex Traynor asked.

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