The Floating Outfit 43 by J.T. Edson

Author:J.T. Edson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action hero, western ebook, wild west fiction, jt edson, ysabel kid, dusty fog, mark counter, southwest usa, the floating outfit western series, gunfighters outlaws
Publisher: Piccadilly

Chapter Five – The Legatees Head South

Elmo Thackery’s death brought changes to a number of lives. Some of the changes showed among the people brought together by Ole Devil Hardin’s floating outfit, as they gathered before Freddie Woods’ Fair Lady Saloon on Monday morning ready to start their journey to Casa Thackery.

In planning the trip, Dusty Fog hired a covered carriage and a light wagon from Wells Fargo. These would travel faster than a single large covered wagon, carry all the supplies needed for the trip, and offer shelter for the women in inclement weather. On arrival at Casa Thackery, the two vehicles could be returned to the Wells Fargo office in Thackery City.

Francine Thackery looked much improved by the change in living conditions brought about by her grandfather’s death. On the first evening after her liberation from Cohen’s clutches, Francine had been thoroughly bathed by a couple of sturdy police matrons, then had her hair combed and curled. Good clothes, decent food, and the natural resilience of youth had already thrown aside and driven off her fears and she was forgetting her ill-treatment at Cohen’s hands.

If the change in Frankie, as she now liked to be called, was marked, it did not come up to the change in Claude and Marlene Thackery.

Actually the change in Marlene was more mental than physical. She always dressed well, although the ring with a pyramid-shaped cluster of diamonds on her left hand was new. Now her face took on a haughty superiority and her manner became a rich man’s wife, or so she thought.

Thackery now wore a Stetson hat, fringed buckskin jacket, white shirt and bow-tie, with levis tucked into riding boots. He might have added a gunbelt, but caution held him from making such a purchase. The Southern accent he had worked so hard conceal came back to his voice. He, the last living son, would have much to do with the running of the ranch and his dream of a brave new world for the down-trodden workers had faded the moment he realized he now belonged to the employers-of-labor class.

Almost as marked was the change in Joan Shandley. Her friends would hardly have recognized her had they seen her. She wore a sober, modest black travelling dress and no jewelry, and her face had none of its usual merriment. The death of Beegee Benson hit Joan hard and she was quiet, subdued, ignoring Marlene’s hostility and biting comments about her presence in the party.

Although the Ysabel Kid and Waco checked carefully, they could learn nothing about the hired killers. The two killers had been in town for a week, but nobody knew much about them. Nor could any of the Buffalo Hide Saloon staff remember seeing the men inside on the night of the killing. So the reason for the killing remained a mystery. Dusty Fog, on hearing of the incident, made no comment on it, but insisted Joan stayed at the Fair Lady while in Mulrooney and that she and the other legatees were watched all the time by his men.

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