Iron Eyes Must Die Read Online Free PDF

shook the ground beneath his
boots.
    Without a
moment ’s
hesitation, he leapt into the sheriff’s office. The thick
window-blinds were still down. The office was empty and dark. Iron
Eyes moved like a puma to the desk and used his knife to break the
lock of the top left drawer where he had seen Sheriff Payne put his
precious guns the night before. He pulled out his pair of Navy
Colts and checked that they were still loaded. He then dragged his
long trail coat off the tall wooden hat stand and swiftly slid his
arms into the sleeves.
    He checked that his deep
pockets were still filled with bullets before he moved to the
window. He dropped his guns into the pockets and pressed himself up against
the wall beside the window.
    Iron Eyes eased the blind away and looked up
and down the street. It was still early. It was still quiet. He was
about to sigh with relief when a sound startled him.
    ‘ You
figurin’ on going someplace, Iron Eyes?’
    The voice came from behind the tall bounty
hunter. Iron Eyes swung around. He searched for the owner of the
sickly sounding drawl. Iron Eyes recognized the voice, it was
Sheriff Payne. He was about to reply when a gun fired.
    The shaft of red-hot lead cut
across the darkened room from the barrel of the sheriff’s gun. A bullet hit the
wall to the side of Iron Eyes.
    The tall man dropped to the floor.
    He pulled one of his lethal Navy Colts from
his pocket and hauled its hammer back until it locked. He then
crawled behind the sturdy desk.
    ‘ You
bin here all night, Sheriff?’ he called out as his eyes darted
around the room trying to locate the lawman.
    There was no reply.
    Iron Eyes heard the sound of movement twenty
feet from where he knelt. He trained his gun on it.
    ‘ What’s ya game, Sheriff?’ Iron Eyes growled. ‘I heard you
talkin’ to them deputies of yours. You ain’t no better than
horse-thieves. Stealin’ a man’s bounty money and aiming to get him
hung!’
    The sheriff fanned the hammer of his gun
three times. The bullets tore into the desk sending chunks of
splintered wood over the bounty hunter.
    Iron Eyes pulled the long slivers of wood
from his face and then blasted back furiously. He did not stop
firing until his six-shooter was empty.
    ‘ I
thought the great Iron Eyes was ’sposed to be a better shot than
that!’ Payne taunted.
    Iron Eyes shook the spent bullets from his
gun and reloaded its hot chambers with fresh shells from his
pockets.
    ‘ So
you have heard of me!’ Iron Eyes grunted. ‘I knew ya was lying last
night!’
    ‘ Ain’t
nothing to be proud of!’ Payne shouted. ‘I heard of skunks but it
don’t mean I cotton to the critters!’
    ‘ Why
not?’ Iron Eyes leaned around the desk and fired again. ‘I reckon
you must be kin to skunks!’
    A handful of bullets came back
almost instantly. The side of the desk was smoldering from the heat of the hot
lead which had taken off its veneer.
    ‘ You
sure are a dumb critter, Iron Eyes!’ The sheriff laughed loudly as
he moved behind a huge wooden writing-bureau. ‘Dumbest critter I
ever done met!’
    The bounty hunter slid to the opposite end of
the desk and looked around it. He wanted to kill this corrupt
lawman but knew that if he did, it would be his image on the next
batch of wanted posters to come off the presses. He would become
the hunted not the hunter.
    ‘ How
come I’m so dumb?’ he called out.
    ‘ You
fell into our trap!’ Payne continued to laugh.
    ‘ Trap?’ Iron Eyes repeated the word.
    ‘ We
knew you was coming here!’ the sheriff added. ‘We knew before you
did!’
    ‘ You
did?’ Iron Eyes was puzzled.
    ‘ Sure!’ Payne continued. ‘We was wired about you. You might
be a man that hunts bounty, but there’s a whole lot of outlaws
that’ll pay for your scalp, boy!’
    ‘ But I
was trailin’ the Jardine gang,’ Iron Eyes said loudly. ‘It was them
that headed here. I just followed them. There ain’t no way you
could have known I was coming here. Even I