Billy the Kid Read Online Free PDF Page B

the arrangements for fresh horses to be waiting at Dunbar's Rocks, wherever they were. But there was no guarantee of them, either.
    Art snarled at the nervous horses and clubbed his shying mount with a fist.
    In the past there had been just the three of them. They'd done fine robbing, making thousands. He made up his mind that that's the way it would be in the future—if they did another job. No more gun-happy clowns like Billy Bonney.
    Art blew out an angry breath and then sharpened his eyes on the approaching train.
    ***
    IN THE CAB , engineer Eric Mapes, a wiry, peppery Missourian who'd been on the Polkton run two years, jerked the whistle cord and began slowing, mumbling to himself. He'd lay a bet on what was ahead. The grade was practically flat by marker 416.
    Pulling his florid face back in, the white-haired railroader shouted to his fireman, "Big blaze blockin' the track! A holdup, sure as hell. I saw a sheriff get into number one. Go back an' tell him."
    The stoking bar hit the grates. Blake, the fireman, nodded, then scrambled up over wood lengths in the tender. His patched behind disappeared over the brink of the mail car as he crawled along the swaying walkway on the roof of the cars.
    Ever since leaving Wickenburg, Mapes had been uneasy but didn't know exactly why. For one thing it wasn't like Cassell, the conductor, to miss the train. In fact, he couldn't remember Cassell ever being a minute late, let alone missing a train. But after waiting half an hour, Mapes had pulled out.
    The brakeman, Hardy, was substituting for Cassell, but he'd be about as much good in a holdup as a june bug in molasses. He'd hide when he heard the first shot. Or he'd scamper off into the woods.
    Mapes stuck his head out again. There was nothing but writhing fire up the rails. That hill of cordwood didn't just topple to the tracks and start burning, he was convinced. And there wasn't a lad anywhere along the line mean enough to pull a prank like that.
    ***
    BILLY GLANCED AT PERRY . The Texan was wound tight.
    "Let's get 'em off," Billy said.
    Perry lifted his wrists, eyes nervous.
    Rawls couldn't wait to get into the act as Billy rose, temporarily reshackling Perry to the iron frame of the seat arm ahead. The banker shouted importantly, "Everybody, we got a deputy with us."
    Billy frowned, trying to make a quick judgment of the situation. No, it would be better if the banker
did
get himself involved. He might be of use.
    Billy nodded. "That's right, jus' keep calm. We don't want nobody to get hurt. You got any guns, pass 'em up here to me. This gentleman'll help me."
    The passengers were puzzled. Billy didn't blame them. People didn't ordinarily let their guns go, even to a deputy. It was a wise and natural reaction.
    He waited until he saw the first gun start forward, then bent across Perry to look up the tracks. He caught Perry's harsh whisper, "I'm a sittin' duck. Anythin' goes wrong, you'll git it first."
    "Don't get squirrelly," Billy advised, leaning out the window to watch the fire.
    Roaring forty feet high, the fire wouldn't bother the engine. But it would eat the wooden floors out of the rest of the cars at slow speed. The train had to stop! Billy felt it slow to a creep, jerking as the engineer reduced the throttle.
    Feeling the brakes set, Billy nodded in satisfaction and returned to the aisle, picking up a passenger blanket that He had stored in the seat beside him. He dropped it to the center of the aisle, calling out, "I'll protect your valuables, too! Drop 'em in the blanket."
    Art had guffawed at the idea of that. Billy was clever.
    Rawls shouted, "Do as the sheriff says!" and contributed his wallet.
    Billy glanced at him with utter appreciation. There was always a Rawls around, any town, any train. God put them on earth to do questionable good. They always ended up making a mess.
    Somehow none of this seemed real to Billy. Maybe he'd wake up in a room of the Posada Duran with Helga. That was it. He'd had a long