Trail of McAllister by Matt Chisholm

Author:Matt Chisholm [Chisholm, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: rem mcallister, matt chilsholm, cowboys and gunslingers of the old west, piccadilly publishing, peter watts, the wild west, the storm family saga, cowboy fiction ebook
ISBN: 9780586033616
Amazon: 0586033610
Publisher: Panther
Published: 1970-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

The telegraph came from Debbie at the end of the week, telling her father that she had arrived safely in Chicago. Lennie Wallach was beside himself with joy. He ran out on to the street and called to McAllister as he walked past. He pulled him into the office and waved the telegraph form under his nose.

‘She’s safe, Rem,’ he said. ‘You don’t know how I feel.’

McAllister said: ‘If you feel good, you’re a bigger fool than I took you for. There’s somebody in town who wants you dead. Maybe several people do. That ain’t no reason for rejoicing.’

Lennie said: ‘That seems like nothing, now I know Debbie’s safe.’

‘From where you’re standing,’ McAllister told him, ‘you may look like a goddam hero, but from where I’m standing you’re nothing but a damn nuisance. Don’t you think I have enough on my hands without worrying about how to keep you alive.’

Wallach took umbrage. ‘Oh, don’t you worry yourself about me,’ he said. ‘I can look after myself. Do you think this is the first time I’ve ever been threatened?’

McAllister stalked out of the office snarling: ‘See if I care. Where’s the sense in keeping a goddam scribbler alive any road?’

Over at the Last Chance, he found no more than a half- dozen scattered drinkers, and ordered whiskey and a beer. Mark Tully said: ‘I’ve warned you about the whiskey, Rem. It’ll shorten your life by a decade or send you blind. I don’t know why you drink it.’

‘Because once you’ve drunk the stuff nothing in life can seem as bad.’

He drank the whiskey and washed it down with half the beer. He said: ‘You got the route for the race worked out yet, Mark?’

‘Sure.’ Tully took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and flicked it across the bar to McAllister, who put it in a vest pocket.

‘Now,’ said McAllister, ‘let’s get down to cases.’

‘What cases?’

‘Law and order.’

‘I ain’t interested.’

‘You didn’t hear what I have to say yet.’

‘I just ain’t interested in law and order.’

McAllister said: ‘Mark, will you just listen for a minute to what I have to say.’

‘I don’t want to hear it. You’re asking a favor. I can tell the way your ears is twitching. And you have a sort of cunning coyote look about the eyes. If you’re asking a favor, it has to be something I can’t afford, it’s bad for me or it’ll bring me out in spots.’

‘Mark, I need another good gun in town.’

‘I knew it. But I said no already, so I do not need to repeat myself. Drink up and get the hell out of here.’

McAllister drank the rest of the beer. Tully watched him. McAllister poured himself another whiskey and Tully whispered: ‘It’s suicide.’ When McAllister poured himself a third whiskey, Tully knew he was not only deadly serious, but that he was desperate.

McAllister said: ‘Somebody has brought a hired gun into town to kill Lennie Wallach. The way I see it, the only men who would want to do that are the cattlemen.

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