The Floating Outfit 30: The Gentle Giant (A Floating Outfit Western) by J. T. Edson

Author:J. T. Edson [Edson, J. T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing
Published: 2018-12-01T08:00:00+00:00

Nine – I’ll Take It Off Your Body

Watching the somberly dressed man who was walking past his place of concealment and along the path through the clump of trees, Reg Wall concluded that at last his luck had taken a much needed turn for the better.

On regaining consciousness and finding himself alone in the alley, the pickpocket had assumed that the woman had gone to inform Marshal Kail Beauregard of the attempted robbery. Having no way of knowing how long it was since he had been rendered hors-de-combat, he had wasted no time in deciding what to do. Pausing only to pick up and holster his Navy Colt, he had set off with the intention of putting as much distance as possible between himself and what he believed to be a potentially dangerous area. Not until he was satisfied that he had evaded the deputies he felt sure would be sent to arrest him did he turn his attention to considering his future.

The first point to be settled by Wall as he sat in the shelter offered by a public toilet near the all but deserted cattle shipping pens alongside the railroad was that, now more than ever, it was imperative for him to acquire sufficient money to leave Mulrooney. Nor was he swayed solely by the memory of the instructions he had received from the Ysabel Kid. He felt sure that, being a competent peace officer, Beauregard would have obtained his description from the woman in case he eluded the deputies. Which suggested he would have to find some means other than the train to get out of the town, or make sufficient changes to his appearance to avoid recognition. Unless they located him before, a watch would be kept at the depot to prevent him getting aboard.

Such had been the pickpocket’s perturbation over the predicament he imagined himself to be facing that he had forgotten the loot from his earlier and more satisfactory theft. At first, he was troubled by a vague recollection of having seen the pocketbook and handkerchief lying near his revolver while he was reaching for it. As they had not been in sight when he retrieved the weapon, he had assumed they had been carried off by the woman. Although it had been a relief to discover they were on his person, the thought that she had examined the book and replaced them never occurred to him. Instead, he had decided his memory was playing tricks.

Taking out and opening the pocketbook, Wall had been annoyed as he looked inside. While he was not illiterate, he had the greatest difficulty in reading anything other than print. So, unlike the woman, he was unable to decipher Oswald Nolly’s handwriting. Nor, being disappointed at having ascertained it did not hold any money, had he the inclination to try. However, just as he was about to fling it in disgust into the cesspool below the seat, the sight of the red morocco binding struck a responsive chord in his memory.

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