Apache Rampage Read Online Free PDF Page A

Mrs. Millet and myself in there,’ she lied. ‘Both of them. When we caught them making up to Elwin.’
    ‘I wish to point out,’ Thornett put in, ‘that only Janice went inside. Patty remained in full view of all of you.’
    Mrs. Haslett gulped. She’d made a slip and could see Ellwood was not missing it. The town marshal frowned, knowing what was happening. Only one girl did go into the store, the other having been in sight of the wagon most of the time. He also knew the small girl would not willingly start trouble with two women, one almost twice as large as she was. He knew that, truth or lies from Mrs. Haslett, the crowd did not aim to see these people leave town.
    Looking at Janice, who stood by her mother waiting for Patty to climb into the wagon, Ellwood said, ‘All right, tell me what happened.’
    ‘The big woman hit me after I stopped the other one hitting the boy who works inside. I hit her back and they both started on me.’
    ‘Liar!’ shrieked Mrs. Haslett, then gave a scared yelp as Janice lunged forward at her.
    Catching her daughter’s arm and shoving her against the wagon, Phyllis asked, ‘Why not get the young feller out here and ask him?’
    ‘Elwin,’ called Ellwood. ‘Come on out here.’
    Elwin came from the store carrying Janice’s sack of supplies. He put the sack on the edge of the sidewalk and turned to the marshal. ‘Yes, sir?’
    ‘Tell us what happened in the store.’
    ‘This young lady come in to buy supplies, and I started to show her a couple of juggling tricks. Then Mrs. Haslett and Mrs. Millet came in. Mrs. Haslett started to abuse me and her. Then Mrs. Millet slapped her face and they both started on her.’
    ‘Why, of all the lying, ungrateful wretches—!’ gasped Mrs. Haslett. She looked at the thin, miserable-looking man who was her husband. ‘Dudley, did you hear what he just said?’
    Haslett gave a guilty start, for he was looking at Janice’s half-bared bust which showed from the torn frock. He turned his annoyance at the interruption on the young man. ‘Is that the sort of gratitude we get after taking you in and caring for you all these years?’
    Elwin was on the rebellious trail and did not mean to be put on any more. He gave an angry cough of laughter. ‘Took me in and cared for me? That’s a big joke. I worked twice as hard and four times as cheap as any hired man you could have got. The young lady wasn’t doing a thing until those two started to abuse her.’
    ‘You make him shut his mouth, Major!’ Mrs. Haslett screamed.
    ‘That’s fairness for you.’ Phyllis spat the words out. ‘If the young man’d said Janice was at fault he could have talked as much as he wanted.’
    ‘Shut your mouth unless I speak to you,’ Ellwood barked, ‘or I’ll shut it for you.’
    For once the bombast left Thornett’s voice. ‘Mister! You lay one hand on any of my young ladies and I’ll kill you.’
    Once more Ellwood looked death in the face, for the plump, mild-looking man was in deadly earnest. The big marshal looked into his own motives, not liking what he saw. He did not have the cold-blooded courage necessary to go against a man holding a drawn, lined gun. More so when the man holding it was in the right.
    The crowd was rumbling angrily although they also lacked the courage to go up against any armed person. They were willing to shove their marshal against those guns, even if they would not go up against the same guns. Ellwood listened to the rumble of the crowd and did not like what he heard. That was not the protest of a righteously outraged crowd; it was the snarl of a lynch mob. He knew that if he was able to arrest the show people, his trouble would not be over.
    So interested in what was happening were the participants of the scene that none of them saw the four newcomers to the town. Four men had just come down from the stage trail and were now sitting their horses and watching everything.
    They were young Texas cowhands, sat afork