Kill or Die Read Online Free PDF

be.”
    â€œThat is my intention,” Ritter said. “Now look down there. That’s called a bayou.”
    â€œBeautiful, isn’t it?” Luke said. “I like how the moss clings to the tree roots and there are water blossoms everywhere.”
    â€œIt will be even more beautiful within a six-month,” Ritter said. “Once I drain the bayou I’ll build my sawmill there and tent accommodations for the lumbermen. There will also be a company store, a saloon and dancehall and a brothel of course. In short, everything the commoner needs to keep him happy.”
    Luke raised his glass. “Well, here’s to progress. And you will work on the railroad spur?”
    â€œI have friends in Washington who are already working on that,” Ritter said. “There’s talk that when all the lumber is cut the army might want the land as an artillery range. I’d be paid by the acre of course.”
    â€œThen here’s to you, Mr. Ritter,” Luke said, raising his glass. “You’re a shrewd businessman and no mistake. What about the inhabitants of the swamp?”
    Ritter made a gesture with his hand. “They’ll be swept aside.”
    â€œAnd good riddance,” Luke said. A massive gold watch chain crossed his huge belly. “Commoners are a bunch of damned lazy malingerers who want the government to take care of them. I hate them seed, breed and generation.”
    Ritter yelped as a bullet splintered into the wooden gunnel at his elbow. “Murder!” he yelled.
    â€œProfessor Mealy, who is shooting?” Ritter said. He drew a Colt from his shoulder holster.
    Mealy looked behind him, then said, “It came from a cabin down on the bayou, a man with a rifle. His wife is pulling him inside.”
    â€œFull speed ahead, Professor Mealy. Mr. Toohy, mark that damned hovel.”
    Bonifaunt Toohy was a scarred man who wore a bowler hat and a tight, red and white striped vest over a white shirt. Like everyone else who might be called on to work on the dirigible’s steam engine he wore goggles around the bowler’s crown. He carried a short-barreled Colt in a cross-draw holster.
    â€œI got it marked, Mr. Ritter,” he said.
    â€œPay him a visit tonight, Mr. Toohy,” Ritter said. Then for Luke’s benefit, “A social call, you understand.”
    â€œSurvivors?” Toohy said, lowering his voice.
    â€œNo. No survivors.”
    Simon Luke was outraged. “Mr. Ritter,” he said, “I could have been killed.”
    â€œThe miscreant will be dealt with, Mr. Luke,” Ritter said. “I’ll have the law deal with him.”
    â€œI certainly hope so,” Luke said. “I’ve no desire to get shot out of a balloon, a glass of port in my hand.”

    Adam Gantly, his wife, Audrey, and their teenage son, Israel, tried to find solace in the Bible, but after a while Adam said, “I tried to kill somebody today, Audrey. May God forgive me.”
    Audrey rose and placed her hand on her husband’s shoulder. “You were pushed to it, Adam. God will forgive.”
    â€œI heard that Brewster Ritter lives in a fine mansion in Galveston,” Adam said. “Why does he want my wooden hut?”
    â€œWe stand in the way of his plans,” Audrey said. “He wants to cut down all the trees.”
    Adam Gantly was a tall, gaunt man who didn’t get enough to eat. He wore suspenders over a red cotton under vest, workmen’s boots and baggy pants. “I still shouldn’t have tried to kill him,” he said. “That was a mortal sin.”
    â€œNo one will blame you, Adam, least of all God,” Audrey said.
    A single oil lamp lighted the small, shabby cabin, but suddenly the room filled with dazzling light and the Gantly family looked toward the front window, now a rectangle of the purest white.
    â€œHe has come,” Audrey whispered. “He has come down from Heaven to comfort