Hard Ride to Wichita Read Online Free PDF

difficult for him to pretend otherwise.
    â€œYou got our money?” Luke asked in a voice that was steady, if not altogether forceful.
    Marty’s eyes flicked over to his brother, and his lips clenched tightly together.
    â€œNo,” Joseph said. “We don’t have any money lying about. If you wanna wait until we get paid from Deke Harrold, we’ll be able to take care of it then.”
    â€œYou working at the mill?” Red asked.
    When Joseph looked over to him, there wasn’t an ounce of malice in his eyes. On the contrary, he seemed downright respectful when he replied, “Yeah, for a few weeks now. He’s hiring on a few more hands if you need some work.”
    â€œI’ll think it over.”
    â€œYou already wanted to cheat us once,” Luke pointed out. “That means we’re not likely to let you do it again. Let’s just settle this matter right here and now.”
    There was a silence between all four boys, which ended with a quick jab from Joseph’s elbow into Marty’s ribs. Startled into speaking, the younger Paulsen said, “Sorry about what I said before. I shouldn’t have called you them names.”
    Throughout his life, the only other boy to apologize to him was Red Connover. Other than that, he’d either been ignored or shoved aside by everyone else. Hearing those words come from Marty and seeing the sincerity in his eyes truly struck a chord within Luke. Since he didn’t know what else to say, Luke nodded and replied, “All right.”
    â€œIf you still want us to settle up,” Joseph continued, “that’s what we’ll do. We shouldn’t have promised to pay you anything that we couldn’t deliver, and our pa always taught us to stand up and answer for our own mistakes. So here,” he said while pulling up the tail of his shirt to reveal the belt around his waist.
    When Luke saw the pistol tucked there, he froze in his tracks. Red had a much different reaction and immediately dropped down to pluck the sharpened stick from the ground with one hand while digging into his pocket for the knife with the other.
    Squinting his eyes and tensing his muscles to try to hold back the shakes that he felt creeping through his body, Luke snapped, “What are you doing with that?”
    Oddly enough, the two brothers seemed even more nervous than Red or Luke. Marty held out both hands in a placating gesture as he said, “That’s what we brought to trade! Honest.”
    Joseph nodded. “He’s right. It used to belong to my uncle.”
    â€œIs it loaded?” Red asked.
    â€œYes.” Keeping his hand an inch or two above the pistol’s grip, Joseph asked, “You want to take a look for yourself?”
    â€œYeah,” Luke said quickly. “Hand it over.”
    â€œMaybe you should take it from him,” Red warned.
    Before Luke could take that precaution, Joseph had already drawn the pistol from where it had been tucked beneath his belt. The pistol’s barrel was at least twice as long as Luke had been expecting. The lines were smooth and the grip looked as if it had been through six different kinds of hell.
    â€œWhat a piece of junk!” Red said.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Joseph snapped. “My uncle was in the army. He carried this gun against a band of Apaches in the Dakota Territories!”
    â€œLooks like he dropped it into a river about that long ago too. Did you just fish it out yesterday?”
    Luke reached out and took the pistol from Joseph. “How can I tell if it’s loaded?”
    â€œThat right there,” Joseph said as he showed him how to open the cylinder.
    It wasn’t easy, but Luke rolled the cylinder all the way around. He then closed it up and got the weapon situated within his grasp. A smirk snuck onto his face, which he wouldn’t have been able to hold back if he’d tried.
    â€œUnless you’ve got another