the Walking Drum (1984) by L'amour Louis

Author:L'amour, Louis [Louis, L'amour,]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2010-12-12T06:26:03.984000+00:00

Themaire hustled back into the room, and from the expression on his features I knew he had been up to no good. "Where have you been?" I demanded. "Up to some deviltry, no doubt."

"No, no!" he protested. "Household business, nothing more."

He stared at me and the bundle I had brought back from the ditches. "You found what you wanted? May I see?"

"You may not. I no longer trust you."

We argued, and I became angrier; finally I said, "I do not trust you or this house! Come with me to the inn. If after two days all goes well, we will begin to make gold; otherwise, I shall have nothing to do with you."

He protested, argued, and I remained adamant. Finally, still protesting, he went to the inn with me. As we entered, I glanced at the host, and he nodded, ever so slightly.

I would be delaying my trip, but not for long. I must keep the old man from his house for two days, perhaps a bit less or a bit more.

"You locked your house?"

"Naturally! There are thieves about." He gestured at the shabby men tolerated by the innkeeper. "Such as these."

"If they are here, they cannot be stealing."

"Give them a chance, and they will steal."

"The honey tasted very good," I said. "Do you keep bees?"

"They do, and what is theirs is mine. It is part of what they owe."

"And you send it on to the lord of the estate?"

He shot me a suspicious glance. "I do."

"You have taken their honey, but if they now get more, will you take that, too?"

He chuckled. "It is impossible! If they can get more honey this season, they can keep it, and sell it at the fair if they wish."

The next day was dull, for themaire was a narrow, bigoted, unhealthy man who thought of little but squeezing the peasants and no doubt robbing his lord. Despite his restlessness I kept him at the inn or in the fields, always with the peasants in sight.

"We must watch them," I insisted. "They might steal something you could not steal in turn."

"What was that?" His sharp little eyes stared.

"I said they might steal as much as they feel they earn," I replied.

They did not steal, for we observed them carefully, and I, who am a curious man, did some other watching. Things, I decided, were going well.

At a table in the inn I said, "Today the peasants stole nothing. Do you agree? They did not leave the fields?"

"They did not!" Themaire's face was smug with satisfaction.

"Bear witness," I said to my host, "themaire states the peasants stole nothing, that they did not leave the field."

The innkeeper was puzzled, but themaire was staring suspiciously. I, being a sometimes evil and conniving man, enjoyed it all very much.

"The gold? When do we begin with the gold?"

"Soon," I said, "I had to be sure the peasants were busy and not watching us. What we do must be done in secret."

It was dark before themaire returned to his home on the second day, and I was well pleased with myself and the inimitable ways of nature.

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