Nolan's Law by Lee Lejeune

Author:Lee Lejeune
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780719821110
Publisher: Robert Hale

CHAPTER SEVEN

Josh was lying in his cot half asleep. Jude was sitting on a crate looking down at him.

‘You got something on your mind, Mr James?’Josh asked.

‘I’ve been thinking on our general position, Mr Appleseed.’

‘And what are your conclusions, Mr James?’

Jude wrinkled his brow. ‘I’ve been thinking about Fate. That’s what I’ve been thinking about.’

Josh gave him a puzzled grin. ‘That’s a pretty deep subject, my friend. Are you quite sure you’re sober?’

Jude shook his head. ‘If you want it in broad terms, I’ve been thinking about our particular fate, yours and mine, that is.’

Josh pushed himself up by his left elbow. ‘Please explain, my friend. I don’t fully understand.’

Jude leaned forward. ‘I’ll do my best,’ he said. ‘As I see it, it’s like this. You and me, we strike out West hoping to make a better life for ourselves. But so far we don’t come to a land of milk and honey but we meet this guy Nolan who is about as straight as the little tight curls on your head.’

Josh grinned. ‘I can’t fault you on that, Mr Appleseed. You mean he’s as straight as his own two front teeth.’

Jude nodded. ‘And as stained too from all those cigars he smokes.’

Josh swung his legs off the cot. ‘Tell me something new, Mr James. Tell me something new.’

Jude screwed up his face as though thinking didn’t come easily to him. ‘The first thing that comes to mind is he seems to own most of the town and yet he lives in this modest dump which is far from the comforts of the town.’

‘I’ve been thinking on those lines, too,’ Josh admitted.

‘So he’s rich and he lives poor,’ Jude continued.

‘Why do you suppose that is?’Josh asked.

‘Well, I haven’t quite worked that out yet. But what I have worked out is I never aimed to be a killer when I started out West.’

‘I’m with you on that one too,’ Josh agreed. ‘And so far I’ve killed two men and got myself shot in the chest. In fact, I’m damn lucky to be alive and I keep thinking of that man in the Sullivan bunch I shot down, the way his eyes were staring up at the sky as though he couldn’t believe in his own misfortune.’

‘That’s a very interesting thought,’ Jude conceded.

‘And another thing,’ Josh said. ‘I believe there’s gonna be a real ruckus sooner or later and probably sooner. You remember what Nolan said about the Sullivan bunch?’

‘I believe he said something about sorting them out before they sorted us out’, Jude gave Josh a twisted grin. ‘And I’m not sure I want to be among the sorted or among the sorters when it happens.’

They stared at one another for a full ten seconds. Then Jude said, ‘Then what do we do, Mr Appleseed?’

Josh laughed. ‘Well, Mr James, we have a choice. We either stay and take what comes, or we light out and hope for something better to drift our way. Except that might not be so easy.’

Jude gave him an enquiring look.

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