interpretation.
*****
Except for an ugly purple swelling along the side of his jaw, Dandy Deever was fully recovered, although his normal ebullience was noticeably restrained. He shook his head for the umpteenth time, regarding the bounty hunter with open awe.
"I can't believe it. I was a little dazed but I wasn't out cold and I saw the whole thing. My God, such shooting! Bang-bang-bang —just like that, and every one right between the eyes. Hey, your glass is empty, friend. A man saves our lives, we can't for godsakes let him sit with an empty glass."
They were sitting at a rough pine table in front of the dressing tent in the evening's cool. The afternoon's crowd had dispersed, a wagon had hauled away the bodies and The Man With No Name was fifteen hundred dollars richer. The sheriff, wearing what were obviously his Sunday-go-to-meeting trousers, had delivered the cash in person.
Laura and Molly were fussing over a cookfire beyond the wagons and the aroma of roasting meat drifted on the evening breeze. Dandy drained the last drops of whiskey into the hunter's glass.
"Molly! Laura!" he bellowed. "More medicine, quick! I feel a snakebite coming on."
Laura, now clad in a dress, brought a full bottle of whiskey. Seen at close range she was an unusually attractive girl. She smiled at the bounty hunter and set the bottle in front of Dandy.
"Go easy on the stuff, Pa. You know what it can do to you."
"My dear child," Dandy said, with an exaggerated air of injured dignity, "after today's ordeal, I consider myself entitled to tie on a real hell-banger. However, I don't intend to— this time."
The hunter took a sip from his glass and asked casually, "What's your sister's name?"
"Cora," she said, then yelped in dismay and clapped a hand to her mouth. "You rat, you tricked me." She glared at her father. " You told him. You had to go and blab before we had our fun."
"I did not," Dandy protested. "I didn't tell him a thing."
"Your sister gave it away accidentally," the hunter said. "When she was bowing in your place after the coffin trick, I noticed a little dab of heavy makeup behind her ear where she missed it. Since you weren't wearing makeup, she had to be a twin sister who also played Bobo the clown."
Laura wrinkled her nose at him, then called, "Come on out, sis. The beans are spilled all over the lot."
"I know. I heard the whole thing," Cora Deever said, stepping out of the dressing tent. She smiled at the hunter. "Gun-play isn't the only thing you're fast at, I see."
Seen side by side, the identical twins were astonishingly alike in every detail. Dandy was watching the hunter's expression.
"Isn't it the damnedest thing? If I could just figure out some kind of a human shell game with 'em, I'd clean up a fortune. Would you believe it, sometimes even I can't tell 'em apart and they play merry hell with me."
Cora said, "At least, now I can thank you in person for saving mother and me from what they call a fate worse than death." She loosed a peal of laughter. "Look at him! Our big, bold gunslinger is actually blushing ."
*****
When supper was over, Molly and the two girls went off to wash the dishes. Hunk, who had spoken perhaps a dozen words in a soft New Orleans drawl, had drifted back to his wagon. Dandy filled the hunter's whiskey glass and his own. He was not drunk but the liquor had loosened a tongue that was not quite as free-swinging normally as it seemed.
"Those bastards," he said. "They busted up the show today just when I was set to clean up a bundle of money."
"I thought it was all over," the hunter said, "that the coffin trick was the end of the performance."
"It was—but the beginning of the golden flood, friend." He rapped his knuckles on the table. "Right here's where the real profit begins. Here's where I introduce the suckers to the ageless mysteries of three-card monte and which walnut shell the pea is under."
"You're a gambler?"
Dandy winced. "Don't use that term on me, friend. Gamblers
*****
Except for an ugly purple swelling along the side of his jaw, Dandy Deever was fully recovered, although his normal ebullience was noticeably restrained. He shook his head for the umpteenth time, regarding the bounty hunter with open awe.
"I can't believe it. I was a little dazed but I wasn't out cold and I saw the whole thing. My God, such shooting! Bang-bang-bang —just like that, and every one right between the eyes. Hey, your glass is empty, friend. A man saves our lives, we can't for godsakes let him sit with an empty glass."
They were sitting at a rough pine table in front of the dressing tent in the evening's cool. The afternoon's crowd had dispersed, a wagon had hauled away the bodies and The Man With No Name was fifteen hundred dollars richer. The sheriff, wearing what were obviously his Sunday-go-to-meeting trousers, had delivered the cash in person.
Laura and Molly were fussing over a cookfire beyond the wagons and the aroma of roasting meat drifted on the evening breeze. Dandy drained the last drops of whiskey into the hunter's glass.
"Molly! Laura!" he bellowed. "More medicine, quick! I feel a snakebite coming on."
Laura, now clad in a dress, brought a full bottle of whiskey. Seen at close range she was an unusually attractive girl. She smiled at the bounty hunter and set the bottle in front of Dandy.
"Go easy on the stuff, Pa. You know what it can do to you."
"My dear child," Dandy said, with an exaggerated air of injured dignity, "after today's ordeal, I consider myself entitled to tie on a real hell-banger. However, I don't intend to— this time."
The hunter took a sip from his glass and asked casually, "What's your sister's name?"
"Cora," she said, then yelped in dismay and clapped a hand to her mouth. "You rat, you tricked me." She glared at her father. " You told him. You had to go and blab before we had our fun."
"I did not," Dandy protested. "I didn't tell him a thing."
"Your sister gave it away accidentally," the hunter said. "When she was bowing in your place after the coffin trick, I noticed a little dab of heavy makeup behind her ear where she missed it. Since you weren't wearing makeup, she had to be a twin sister who also played Bobo the clown."
Laura wrinkled her nose at him, then called, "Come on out, sis. The beans are spilled all over the lot."
"I know. I heard the whole thing," Cora Deever said, stepping out of the dressing tent. She smiled at the hunter. "Gun-play isn't the only thing you're fast at, I see."
Seen side by side, the identical twins were astonishingly alike in every detail. Dandy was watching the hunter's expression.
"Isn't it the damnedest thing? If I could just figure out some kind of a human shell game with 'em, I'd clean up a fortune. Would you believe it, sometimes even I can't tell 'em apart and they play merry hell with me."
Cora said, "At least, now I can thank you in person for saving mother and me from what they call a fate worse than death." She loosed a peal of laughter. "Look at him! Our big, bold gunslinger is actually blushing ."
*****
When supper was over, Molly and the two girls went off to wash the dishes. Hunk, who had spoken perhaps a dozen words in a soft New Orleans drawl, had drifted back to his wagon. Dandy filled the hunter's whiskey glass and his own. He was not drunk but the liquor had loosened a tongue that was not quite as free-swinging normally as it seemed.
"Those bastards," he said. "They busted up the show today just when I was set to clean up a bundle of money."
"I thought it was all over," the hunter said, "that the coffin trick was the end of the performance."
"It was—but the beginning of the golden flood, friend." He rapped his knuckles on the table. "Right here's where the real profit begins. Here's where I introduce the suckers to the ageless mysteries of three-card monte and which walnut shell the pea is under."
"You're a gambler?"
Dandy winced. "Don't use that term on me, friend. Gamblers
Similar Books
The Lord-Protector's Daughter
L. E. Modesitt Jr.
One Against the Moon
Donald A. Wollheim
World of Water
James Lovegrove
Ricochet
Ashley Haynes
Like a Fox, Ridgeville Book 7
Celia Kyle
Delusion
G. H. Ephron
Cold
John Sweeney
Awakening (A Dangerous Man, #1)
Serena Grey