A Bullet for My Brother by Dan Winchester

Author:Dan Winchester [Winchester, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western
Publisher: Denton & White
Published: 2018-10-13T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

We hit the trail before the sun was up. Bill took the lead, no doubt following the signs his compatriots left for him.

Sam slowed a bit to ride beside me.

“How’s the knee?” he asked.

“It hurts,” I said.

“We’ve been making good time.”

“If you say so.”

“Real good time.”

I shrugged. “Are you insinuating something, Mr. Betcher?”

“Why you want to use them big words, Paul? I’m just a humble cowboy.”

“I think you understood the question,” I said.

He laughed. “I ain’t got a framed certificate from Harvard, but I know a thing or two.”

“You strike me as an intelligent man,” I said. “To be the leader of this outfit, I suspect you’re several moves ahead of where everyone else is at any given time.”

“Don’t go buttering me up, Paul. Men like you think you’re better than the rest of us because you read books. I’ll have you know you’re not the only one out here who’s read a book.”

“Are we going to have a conversation about literature, Mr. Betcher?” I asked.

“Might help pass the time. Have you read Moby-Dick by Melville?”

“I have.”

“Your brother has a bit too much Ahab in him.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“In this literary comparison, you’re Ishmael.”

“And what would you say is my brother’s white whale?”

“That’s what I’m hoping you can tell me, Professor. I don’t trust your brother, and I don’t trust you. I saw you shoot that rattler like it was nothing. You didn’t take time to aim. It was just natural talent. And yet you claim you don’t like guns.”

“I’ve had my fill of killing, Mr. Betcher. I admit I was relieved when the train didn’t come along. I’m not sure I could have shot those men.”

“Maybe if you thought of them as snakes.”

We kept riding, and I wished he’d go talk to Hayden.

Sam ran his bandanna over his face, then tucked it in his pocket. “I’m going to come right to the point,” he said.

“I wish you would.”

He reached over and grabbed my horse’s reins from my hand. He pulled to the side, and brought both our horses to a stop.

“Is your brother setting us up?”

“I’m not sure I understand. Setting you up for what?”

“Some sort of ambush?”

“I thought we were going after the robbers who stole the payroll.”

“Coming after them was your brother’s idea. I wanted to head back to Canyon Diablo. As this little hunt has continued, I keep thinking he separated me and my brother on purpose.”

“Toward what end?” I asked.

Bill and Hayden turned around and approached us. “We interrupting something?” Bill asked.

“Book talk,” I said. “You didn’t tell me Mr. Betcher here was a fan of Melville.”

“Who’s that?” Bill asked.

“A writer from New York,” I said.

“Never heard of him,” Bill said. “Hayden says he spotted some men on horseback going into that box canyon up ahead.”

“I did see them,” Hayden said.

Sam sighed. He gave me an intense stare.

“Think it’s them?” Hayden asked.

“Who else would be stupid enough to ride out this far?” Sam asked.

“We ought to go kill them,” Hayden said.

“I’m not riding into a box canyon,” Sam said.

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