The Lightning Warrior by Max Brand

The Lightning Warrior by Max Brand

Author:Max Brand [Brand, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western
Publisher: Roy Glashan's Library
Published: 2013-05-23T22:00:00+00:00


* * *

XXIII. — THE WILD MAN AGAIN

When one sees lightning, it is already too late to run. When we saw Cobalt, he was stepping straight toward us. How do you think he greeted us after the long absence and after all that had passed between us? He simply said: “Hello, fellows! What did you think of that meeting? There was a show for you!”

“Were you there, Cobalt?” I asked.

“Yes. I was there. I was standing a little behind you.” A glint of amusement came into his eyes.

I understood at once. He’d been following us. He knew all about us. He had known, perhaps, ever since we came into town, but he did not gloat over us. Neither did he show the slightest feeling of any kind. He merely said: “It was a good show. That fellow, Soapy, he’d be worth knowing. He has something more than cloth up his sleeve.”

I looked at Baird, and Baird looked at me.

“It’s a wonder we ever left Circle City,” I said, taking the conversational bull by the horns.

“Well, you might have waited,” said Cobalt. “You were afraid of trouble with me, weren’t you?”

“Of course we were,” put in Baird.

“As long as we didn’t meet on the trail,” said Cobalt, “it was all right. That might have been bad. Did you ever notice the queer ideas that a fellow gets when he’s on the trail?”

I listened to him and could not believe my ears. “Cobalt, you would have killed me on the trail?”

“Yes,” he replied as calmly as you please. “Of course, I would have killed you—if I could.”

Baird glared at us in a wild way. This sort of talk was too much for him. It was like having a bounding, roaring lion come up and lick your hand. “I’ve got to get back,” he muttered. “I’ve got to get back to my girl.”

“Oh, she’s all right,” said Cobalt.

“What?” exclaimed Baird.

Cobalt grinned at us in a friendly way. “Don’t you worry,” he said. “I only looked at her. I didn’t steal her. She’s asleep.”

“You looked at her? Through the window?”

“No, not through the window. I opened the door.”

“That door has a lock on it,” exclaimed Baird, all in a sweat.

“I jimmied the lock and walked in.”

“The mischief you did,” said Baird.

“I wanted to see her. It had been ages, since the last look. So I spoiled the lock on that door. It doesn’t amount to anything, and it’ll save me some trouble the next time.”

“Cobalt,” I said, “why did you do it? Did you throw her into a fit? A thing like that’s enough to kill her.”

“Of course it is, only I didn’t wake her up. I didn’t want to talk to her. I just wanted to look. I would be there still looking, except that the wolf got a shade restless, and I was afraid he was growling loud enough to wake her up.” He gestured toward a corner. “Let’s go over and have a drink.”

I was still more than half staggered. My brain reeled.



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