Deadwood Ambush by Lauran Paine

Author:Lauran Paine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 2020-01-27T19:48:45+00:00

Chapter Ten

Elisha Wilson caught Fred Nolan the following morning at the jailhouse with a worried look.

“Marshal,” he said, “I want you to do something for me.”

“Sure,” Fred agreed. “By the way, did you finish my saddle?”

“Yes. I just hung it in the shed out back. It’s now got spankin’ new seven-eighths double rigging.”

“How much, Elisha?”

“No charge … providin’ you’ll tell me something.”

Fred motioned the saddlemaker to a chair and said: “Shoot.”

“It’s about Delia and that waif with the crooked leg, Marshal. She came home last night after visiting him up at Doc Wolfert’s place with starshine in her eyes. Now, Marshal, I want you to understand something … I’m not against the boy just because he’s a cripple and a ragpicker. But you’ve got to realize Delia’s my only …”

“Elisha,” Marshal Nolan said calmly. “I reckon I can guess sort of how you feel, but I learned long ago the best way to fight a buzz saw is to stay clear of it. As for Gitalong … give him a chance. That’s all, Elisha … a chance. Sure, he’s dirty and ragged and honed down to skin and bone, but let me tell you this … he’s fightin’ back, and when a buck with as many strikes against him as that boy has still comes fightin’ back, he deserves his chance.”

“What chance?” demanded the saddlemaker, flinging out both arms in a wide and despairing gesture. “What possible chance does he have, Marshal? Listen to me. Delia’s my only child. Since her ma died, I’ve watched over her. Don’t stand there and expect me to sit by and watch her ruin her prospects by gettin’ involved with an unwanted waif like that.”

Nolan bit down hard to hold his rising temper. He glanced up as Grubb and Wentworth strolled in off the plank walk. He said, forcing his tone to be even and quiet: “Elisha, if you want me to talk to Delia … all right. I’ll do it.”

Wilson stood up, looking enormously relieved. “Thanks,” he said. “I’m sure obliged, Marshal. She’ll listen to you. Last night she told me you were the only person in Deadwood who understood.”

“Elisha, wait a minute. I agreed to talk to Delia. I didn’t say anything about interfering in her private life.”

Wilson stood over by the roadside doorway, looking bewildered. Deputies Al and Bill made it a point to stroll over to the little stove and become very busy with the coffeepot.

Wilson said: “I don’t understand, Marshal.”

“I’ll make it real plain for you,” said Nolan. “I’ll talk to Delia. I’ll ask her to consider your feelings as well as her own. But that’s all I’ll do, because I believe Gitalong deserves a lot better from you than you’re willing to offer right now. I also believe, within the next couple of weeks, you’re goin’ to have to eat crow about the things you’re sayin’ today. I’d advise you, Elisha, to be very careful what you say to your daughter about him, too. Sometimes the best meanin’ parents turn out to be the biggest failures.

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