Trailsman (Giant): Menagerie of Malice by Jon Sharpe

Author:Jon Sharpe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House LLC
Published: 2010-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

11

Dawn broke cool and clear with a stiff breeze stirring the trees. Skye Fargo was up well before the sun peeked above the horizon. He had more preparations to make and he couldn’t make them alone. After waking the Great Gandolpho and having him see to it that everyone else was roused from their wagons, he ordered the fires to be rekindled and coffee put on to boil and breakfast made.

The circus people were unusually quiet and nervous. Little was said, and many an apprehensive glance was cast westward.

Fargo kept them busy to try to take their minds off the impending clash. He had them go into the woods and gather large piles of brush close to the wagons as additional obstacles. At a few points he had ropes stretched from tree to tree. The end result was that none of Richter’s horsemen could get anywhere near the wagons from the outside, only through the opening he had made.

Inside the circle, Fargo had furniture and more brush brought to give the defenders something to take cover behind.

And finally, Fargo asked that a table be placed in the middle of the clearing where Judson Richter could see it. Unwrapping the pillowcase, he upended it over the tabletop, and out cascaded the glittering gold coins.

One rolled to the ground and the Great Gandolpho picked it up. “All this violence and bloodshed over metal men dig from the earth.” He added the coin to the pile. “Sad, is it not, that some men will do anything to be rich? Even kill if they must.”

Fargo had never had a hankering to be neck deep in money. From time to time he toyed with the notion of prospecting for gold or silver but something always came up and he had to put it off. Maybe one day he would get serious about it. Until then he would go on living as he liked, wandering where the wind took him and indulging his fondness for poker, whiskey, and women, not necessarily in that order.

“What about those of us with guns?” Lecter intruded on his thoughts. “Where do you want us to be when those awful men get here?”

To catch Richter’s men in a crossfire, Fargo instructed Gandolpho and Lecter to hide under wagons to the south and Vaughn the juggler and Cynthia Tilson to climb up on top of a wagon to the north. “Wait until I give the word. And whatever you do, don’t shoot unless you’re sure what you’re shooting at.”

As ten o’clock approached Fargo sent the rest of the women and the children off into the trees, and instructed the rest of the men on what they should do when the shooting started. His ambush as complete as he could make it, he stood with his hands on his hips trying to think of anything he had overlooked.

There was one thing.

Over Thimbletree’s objections, he locked the circus owner in his wagon and pocketed the key.

“Are you sure that’s necessary?” the Great Gandolpho asked.

“We can’t trust him,” Fargo bluntly stated.

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