A Coffin Full Of Dollars Read Online Free PDF Page A

closer to the gun-hawks, sensing an explosion of violence and setting himself to take advantage of it when it came. From a corner of his eye he glimpsed Shadrach also edging forward. The question was, if the hunter faced a shoot-out with the quintet, would his rival take advantage of the moment to plug him in the back?
    Laura had the crowd spellbound with her dazzling exhibition of skill on the trapeze. As a climax she pretended to slip off the swinging bar. A collective gasp went up as she plummeted down, to be brought up short by a thin, almost invisible, wire attached to a wide strap on her wrist. She slipped out of the strap and dropped to the ground to take her bows while the crowd thundered its applause.
    The hunter used the moments of rapt attention to drift a few feet closer to his quarry. The move carried him to the edge of the crowd where he would have a clear field of fire if the trouble broke out. It also put a thick knot of spectators between himself and his deadly rival.
    On the stage Dandy was bellowing, "And now, the climax of our performance, the most sensational and baffling illusion ever shown by any circus anywhere. It is an act that has mystified kings and commoners the world over. La-deez an' gentul-men—the mystery of the empty coffin."
    Laura and her mother had opened the canvas flaps covering the entrance to the dressing tent and were tying them back. Hunk Bannister came from inside the tent, wheeling an ornate black coffin on its catafalque. He positioned this between the tied-back flaps and tipped the coffin up so the audience could see its empty silk-lined interior.
    Molly brought a stool and helped Laura climb into the coffin and lie down, full length. She peeped over the edge and waved to the crowd before Molly lowered and fastened the coffin lid. On the stage, Dandy opened a polished case and took out a dueling pistol with an enormous bore. He made an elaborate production out of charging it with powder and ramming down the wadding, diverting attention momentarily from the coffin.
    Molly and Hunk stepped back as Dandy hopped down from the stage, leveled the pistol and fired point blank at the coffin. The echoes of the shot were still booming across the flat when he unsnapped the lid and threw it open. Hunk stepped forward to tip it up once more so everyone could see that the padded interior was completely empty.
    The crowd was still gasping and gaping over that when there was a distant call. A rider on a black horse was coming down the slope of the ridge. As they drew near, everybody could see that the rider was a lushly built blonde in spangled tights, a slender counterpart of Molly Deever.
    Dandy lifted the megaphone to his lips. "You all recognize our daughter, Laura, who just entertained you on the high trapeze. Now give her a big hand for the most incredible act on earth."
    Even The Man With No Name found himself joining in the deafening applause. He looked across and saw that Shadrach still had his right hand inside the frock coat, but his left was, perhaps unconsciously, slapping his thigh as a contribution to the ovation.
    The girl had jumped down and was taking low, sweeping bows in acknowledgment of the applause. She was no more than a dozen feet from the hunter, whose eyes suddenly widened.
    Under his breath he murmured, "I'll be—damned!"
    CHAPTER 6
    Then, as now, there were a great many self-appointed authorities on guns and gunfighters. Most of them were and are scornful of the art of fanning a single-action sixgun—holding the trigger back and sweeping the heel of the left hand across the hammer to fire with virtually machine-gun rapidity. They agree almost unanimously that while fanning gives lightning speed, that speed is gained at the expense of accuracy.
    No gun-fanner, they insist, could hit the broad side of a barn unless he were inside the barn. No gunfighter who ever survived long enough to make his mark on the bloody annals of the West, they aver, ever fanned his gun in