The Floating Outfit 44: Rio Guns (A Floating Outfit Western) by J. T. Edson

Author:J. T. Edson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Sample Book
Publisher: Piccadilly Publishing
Published: 2020-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nine - Mark Meets Friends

NONE of the others said a word for a moment after Rene spoke. Then Gloria gripped her friend’s arm so hard she bruised it. Their eyes met and Rene knew that she’d made the right decision. ‘All right, Dusty,’ Gloria said. ‘You’re the foreman, go tell them.’

Dusty turned and walked from the barn, the others watching him go. Brit asked, ‘How many men do you think the Syndicate hires?’

‘Fair number with the Estradre vaqueros,’ Gloria answered, her voice bitter. ‘I never thought she’d go against me.’

‘Well, you figger it this way,’ the Kid remarked, looking down at Gloria. ‘What would you do if Lanton had your pappy locked in a cellar at the S Star and told you he’d be killed if you didn’t join—’

Gloria jumped forward, grabbing the Kid by the arms and shaking him back and forward. ‘Is that— Do you— How do you— What—!’ she gasped, not able to get a single coherent thought going in her head.

‘Easy now, I don’t wear a monocle,’ the Kid answered and she let loose, blushing furiously. ‘I don’t know how true it is. Don’t even know what it’s all about. I don’t speak Yaqui sign all that good and we didn’t get much time to talk a whole lot. But she told me Lanton’s holding her pappy hostage against her good behaviour. I said I’d try and help her first chance I got. That was what I was doing while the rest of you were talking.’

‘Yaqui sign. We used to talk it all the time when we were kids. I wondered why old Neety wasn’t spouting Spanish at me. Lanton can’t speak Spanish and he won’t let her.’

‘I figgered that out,’ the Kid answered modestly. ‘One thing though, she allows there’s a man with Don Jose all the time, got orders to kill him if there’s any attempt at rescuing him.’

Dusty came back from delivering the word to Lanton. ‘I don’t get it, Miss Estradre looked happier when she left than when she came.’

‘Huh, at last we know something the foreman doesn’t.’ Gloria sniffed. ‘Reckon we ought to tell him?’

The two ranchers were buried in the trees beyond the house, the graves having been dug earlier by Mark and Just. The entire crew gathered around the two graves and Brit read the burial service from the Knight family bible. After the graves were filled in Mark drew his right hand gun and fired three shots into the air. Just was holding Rene to him and Brit stood with an arm round Gloria, the other hand gently smoothing her hair.

‘We’d best go to the house,’ Gloria finally said, drying her tears. ‘There’s some talking Dusty’ll want to do.’

‘Sure, he’s real good at that,’ the Kid agreed. They all went to the house and Gloria led the way into the sitting-room, waving them into chairs. Brazos came down from the upstairs room where he’d been recuperating. He was informed of the state of affairs and bewailed his luck at missing the sight of Dusty knocking Lanton down and shooting him up.

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