Valley Of The Sun by Louis L'amour

Author:Louis L'amour
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-07-19T16:45:01+00:00

Medicine Ground

A Cactus Kid Story

The Cactus Kid was in a benevolent mood and the recent demise of Se@nor “Ace” Fernandez was far from his thoughts. Had the Kid’s own guns blasted a trail down the slippery ladder to Hell, he would have been wary, for he knew well the temper of the four brothers Fernandez.

He had not, however, done a personal gun job on Ace. He had merely acted for the moment as the finger of destiny, and but for a certain small action of his, the agile fingers of the elder Fernandez might still be fleecing all and sundry at the Cantina.

Nobody who knew him could question the Kid’s sense of humor, and it extended as far as poker, which is very far indeed. The humor of Martin Jim (s-called because he was the second of two Jim Martins to arrive in Aragon) was another story. Jim had a sense of humor all right, but it ended somewhere south of poker. Martin Jim was a big, muscular man who packed a pistol for use.

On the memorable afternoon of Ace’s death, that gentleman was sitting in a little game with Martin Jim, the Cactus Kid, Pat Gruen, and an itinerant miner known as Rawhide. The Kid, being the observant type, had taken note of the smooth efficiency of Se@nor Ace when he handled the cards. He also noted the results of a couple of subsequent hands. Thereafter the Kid was careful to drop out when Ace was doing the dealing. The others, being less knowing and more trustful, stayed in the game, and as a result the pile of poker chips in front of Ace Fernandez had grown to an immodest proportion.

Finally, when Pat Gruen and Rawhide were about broke, there came a hand from which all dropped away but Ace Fernandez and Martin Jim. With twelve hundred dollars of his hard-earned money (cowhands were making forty a month!were in the center of the table, Martin Jim’s sense of humor had reached the vanishing point.

The Cactus Kid, idly watching the game, had seen the black sheep lead the burly lamb to the slaughter; he also chanced to glimpse the cards Ace Fernandez turned up. He held a pair of fours, a nine, ten, and a queen. A few minutes later his eyes shifted back to the hand Fernandez held and there was no nine, ten, or queen, but three aces were cuddling close to the original pair of fours.

Naturally, this phenomenon interested him no end, especially so as he had seen the way, an odd way, too, Ace held his arm.

When the showdown came, Martin Jim laid down two pair, and Ace Fernandez, looking very smug, his full house.

Leaning forward as if to see the cards better, the Cactus Kid deftly pushed the cuff of Ace’s white sleeve over the head of a nail that projected an inch or so from the edge of the table.

Smiling with commiseration, Ace Fernandez made his next-to-last gesture in a misspent life. He reached for the pot.

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