The Desperado by Clifton Adams

Author:Clifton Adams [Adams, Clifton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western
Published: 2012-02-05T04:11:11+00:00

Chapter 6

I didn't try to go to the Novaks' and say good-by to Ma. That would be pushing my luck too far. I got on Red and we headed west again, crossing the Bannerman wagon road just in case the cavalry was up in that direction, then we went north, cross-country, until the big ranch house and barns loomed up in the darkness. I didn't have any guarantee that there weren't any soldiers in one of those barns just waiting for me to pull a fool stunt like this, but that was a chance I had to take. As I got closer, I saw that there was a light in the back of the house, in the kitchen.

I left Red at the side of the house, and the back door opened.

“Joe, is that you?”

Then I stepped into the light, and Laurin gasped. Her hands and arms were white with flour, and there was a pale powdery smudge on the side of her nose. She was just beginning to bake the week's supply of bread.

“Tall!” Her voice was frightened. “Tall, you can't come here. The cavalry left only an hour ago, looking for you.”

“The cavalry can't keep me away from you,” I said. “Nothing can.”

Quickly, she dusted her hands and arms on her apron and came down the steps. I put my hands on her shoulders and I could feel her shiver as I drew her close and held her tight. “Oh, Tall,” she cried, “it's no good. Meeting this way, in darkness, afraid to be seen together.”

I kissed her lightly and we stood there clinging to each other. I pressed her head to my shoulder and the clean smell of her hair worked on me like fever. “I'll come back,” I said. “It won't always be like this.” Then I asked the question that I was half afraid to ask. “Laurin, will you wait for me? Will you trust me to straighten things out in my own way?”

For a moment she didn't say anything. Her body was rigid against me and I knew that she was crying.

“You know I'll wait,” she said at last. “Forever, I suppose, if I have to. It's just that I'm afraid... something awful and wrong is happening to us.”

I knew she was thinking about those three men.... She didn't know about the fourth. “Can't you see, I had to do it?” I said. “I couldn't just stand by and let them get away with it—doing what they did. You see that, don't you?”

“I don't know,” she breathed. “I just don't know.”

“I'm not going to get into any more trouble,” I said. “Don't be afraid of that. I'll join a trail herd and go up to Kansas until the bluebellies are out of Texas courts. Then I'll come back and stand trial.”

She raised her head and looked at me for a long tune. And at last she began to believe it.

“I'll wait,” she said quietly. “If you'll do that, I'll wait as long as I need to.

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