And Other Stories Read Online Free PDF

“Well, ain’t no one known to’ve seen one before. Not for
sure. All that’s written down is travellers’ tales, ’bout things
they heard but never saw.”
    “We’re the first to
spot one?”
    “In centuries. Far as
I know.”
    “What do you think a
circus’d pay for a critter like that?”
    Doc laughed and coughed again.
“Have to catch it first. It being a bastard of the mind, I reckon
it’d race as fleet as a thought.”
    “Faster’n
horses?”
    “S’posed to
be.”
    “We could corner it
in a box canyon, maybe.”
    “That horn ain’t
s’posed to be for decoration.”
    “Animal worth
anything dead?”
    “Depends on the
buyer.”
    “Could stuff and
stand it in a penny arcade. I seen a mermaid once. Looked like a
monkey and a fish sewed together, but you got to admit, a sight
like that’s worth a penny.”
    “At least.” Doc was
rarely reluctant to tell anything to Wyatt, but he hesitated before
he finally said, “Horn’s s’posed to cure most sicknesses.” He
coughed. “Turn the horn into a drinking cup, and it takes the power
out of poison. You can smear its blood on a wound, and the wound’ll
heal right up. Some say its whole body’s magical. You’re s’posed to
eat its liver for something, but I forget what. There’s folks who
say it can make you young again, or live forever, or raise the
dead.”
    “Any o’ that
true?”
    Doc shrugged. “Three minutes ago, I
would’a’ said it was all proof a lie lives longer than a liar. Now
I’m not so sure.”
    “Let’s find out.”
Wyatt drew on the reins. As his horse halted, he dropped to the
ground and pulled his rifle from its boot on his saddle.
    Doc said, “Ain’t neither of us
sharpshooters. One miss’d scare it off for good.”
    Wyatt paused with the rifle butt at
his shoulder. “You all right, Doc? Ain’t like you to pass on an
opportunity set before you.”
    “I do make some note
of the odds, Wyatt. Leastways, when I’m anything like
sober.”
    “Mmm. Your old Roman
said they could be killed. There a trick to it?”
    Doc considered the answers, and
thought of Kate, and said, “We ain’t got the means.”
    “Hell.” Wyatt spoke
with no particular emphasis. “Then there’s no reason not to try
what we got, is there?”
    “No.” Doc whipped his
short-barrel Colt from its holster and fired in the general
direction of the unicorn. It seemed to study him with
disappointment while the sound of the shot hung in the hot, clean
air. Then it danced aside as Wyatt’s shot followed Doc’s, and it
tossed its mane and its horn in something uncannily like a laugh
before it skipped back behind the rise.
    “Damn it, Doc, if
you’d’a’ waited till we could’a’ both took aim with
rifles—”
    “Why, sure, Wyatt. I
reckon I could’a’ taken me a nap, and once you had ever’thing to
your liking, I’d’a’ risen well-rested to shoot ever so nicely, and
we’d now be arguing whether unicorn liver’d taste best by itself or
with a big plate o’ beans.”
    Wyatt stared at him, then said
grimly, “With beans,” and slid his rifle back into its
boot.
    Doc laughed and coughed and
holstered his Colt. Then he let his surprise show on his face. The
unicorn watched them from the next rise. Wyatt swung back onto his
horse, looked toward the unicorn, then looked toward Doc, who said,
“It sure is pretty.”
    He did not expect Wyatt to answer
that. Wyatt did not surprise him. The unicorn studied them as they
rode by. When they had left sight of it, it appeared again on a
further ridge that paralleled their ride.
    Wyatt said, “If we could lure it in
close, we’d plug it for sure.”
    “Mmm,” Doc said, and
then, “Maybe we should let Ringo live.”
    “Eh?”
    “Ain’t like he was
one o’ the ones who killed Morg.”
    “He stood by ’em. He
planned it with Curly Bill. He was in on the attack on
Virge.”
    “That ain’t
proven.”
    “Is to my
satisfaction.”
    Doc laughed, said, “Hell, Wyatt,
we’d have to kill