A Bullet for Billy Read Online Free PDF Page A

chickens and that rooster, but decided against it. You can always buy more chickens and a rooster.
    I rode to Gin Walker’s place halfway between my place and town and stopped and asked him if he’d look after my stock—that I’d be gone a few weeks, maybe longer. I knew he’d do it because that’s what neighbors do for each other. He said no problem, and I could see him eyeing the brass butt of the Henry sticking out of the scabbard and probably wondering what I was up to, but he didn’t say anything.
    I thanked him and headed for town.
    It was a pretty day.
    I figured I’d better stop and tell Luz I’d be gone for a time. It seemed only fair.
    I just hoped that, unlike the chickens, she’d be there when I returned.

Chapter Four
    H e was sitting there in front of the station, in the shade of the eaves on a wood bench smoking a cigarette. He was leaned forward with his forearms resting on the thighs of his faded jeans, his mackinaw unbuttoned and hanging loose. The sun had come up and melted most of the snow that had fallen through the night, and now the streets and roads were just a reddish mud the horses and wagons slopped through as they passed up and down. Women held their skirts up above the tops of their shoes as they walked wherever there weren’t boards to walk on, and dogs stood grizzled with muddied legs, looking forlorn.
    I rode up and stopped in front of the station, and he looked up and I could see just the merest recognition on his face and a sign of relief that I’dcome. He looked at the stud and said, “I see you got him broke.”
    â€œNot without some disagreement,” I said.
    â€œYou going to haul him along?”
    â€œThat’s the plan. What about you?” I said. “What you going to do for a horse once we get down to Tucson?”
    He drew on his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke, his fingers stained yellow from years of tobacco use.
    â€œI’m going to rent a hack,” he said. “Can’t sit a horse no more. This burg they got Billy in is about fifty or so miles southwest of there, a place called Finger Bone. Train don’t go there.”
    Stacked there beside him next to the bench was a small trunk and a Winchester rifle. He saw me glance at it.
    â€œHow’d you learn of him being in jail down there, Cap’n?”
    Cap’n leaned his head forward and spit between his boots.
    â€œLike I said, I got friends all over the Southwest.”
    I dismounted and went in and bought myself a ticket and stuck it in my shirt pocket, then came out and unsaddled the stud, and set the saddle along with my bedroll and kit there next to his things, and my rifle still in its scabbard next to his, and he looked at it and said, “I see you still favor the Henry rifle.”
    â€œIt was good enough for me in Texas,” I said. “I guess it’s good enough for me here in New Mexico.”
    He drew on the smoke and shucked the nub into the muddy street, where it fizzled, and said, “I reckon so.”
    I glanced at my pocket watch, and there was still half an hour before the train was set to come in.
    â€œI need to go do something,” I said.
    â€œGo ahead,” he said. “I’ll watch over your gear.”
    I went up the street toward Luz’s place—a small adobe at the edge of town that had an ocotillo fence around it. She was there in the side yard hanging clothes from a wire line, white blouses and black and red skirts.
    She turned when she heard me open the gate.
    â€œDidn’t think I’d see you again so soon,” she said.
    â€œI’ve come to tell you I’ll be gone for a little while,” I said.
    The smile faded from her face as she brushed some loose strands of hair away from her forehead with the back of her wrist, a wet piece of clothing clutched in her hands.
    â€œI thought you liked it here,” she said. “Did you just say the other night