Moontrap - Don Berry Read Online Free PDF Page A

woman?"
    " Father-in-law. "
    " C'est ca .
Exactly "
    Monday laughed again. "Which one, Rainy? How the
hell you choose?"
    Devaux shrugged. "Is all equal to me."
    " How many wives you got?" .
    "Is bad luck to count," Devaux said
seriously "Me, I never count. Numerous."
    Monday grinned and began to tick them off on his
lingers. "Well, let's see. There's that Clackamas, and a
Calapuya, and that one down to the Rogue River, what do they call
themselves?"
    " Kelawatset."
    "But she's just a girl, anyway she don't count."
    Devaux was indignant. "She is big enough to make
babies. But is bad luck to count, friend of me. No more counting."'
    " What the hell you do it for, Rainy? All those
relatives." Monday shook his head. The worst thing about having
an Indian wife was the relatives, all of whom instantly became
members of your immediate family down to second and third cousins.
    Devaux grinned happily "No problems, me."
He paused, and glanced slyly at Monday. "And you know, René
Devaux, he goes— everywhere ."
He swept his arm in a circle. "And no problems. Friends,
everywhere. Family everywhere. Not so bad, moreover."
    Monday grinned, never having thought of it in just
that way. But it was quite true. Of all the men he knew, old Rainy
was safer in the hills than any of them. No matter where he went he
had a wife and family and a tribe, and could settle down for a week
or a year.
    "In any case," Devaux said, and his face
grew solemn, "is a promise I make to my pére ,
just when I leave Montreal. He say to me, 'René, my son, you go off
and you make beaucoup beaucoup money, yes. But where you go, you don't leave one single'— métis —what
you call it?"
    " Half-breed."
    " '— behind you. You make that promise."
Devaux shrugged. "Alors, one promises, no? I had fifteen years
then, but was already wearing long pants. You understand."
    Monday stared at his friend in disbelief. "Rainy,
you—for christ's sakes, man, you must have thirty kids or better
scattered around here. And if they ain't half-breed, what the hell
are they? "
    Devaux reached out and touched Monday on the
shoulder, his expression troubled. "Is my problem, you
understand? Me, I travel—everywhere! The whole world over. And for
what I do this? For one only thing!" He lifted his finger, to
show the solitariness of his purpose.
    "To find one woman— one
only woman —what is sterile. Because, you
know, one has promised." Devaux leaned back discouragedly and
shrugged, lifting his hands helplessly. "Is my tragedy. Nowhere
is sterile woman. Nowhere."
    Monday leaned back against the rock, choking and
gasping for breath. At last he said. wiping his tear-filled eyes,
"Well, by god, Rainy. Nobody can say you hayen't worked at it."
    Devaux cocked his head. "One cannot know unless
one tries, no? Me, I try them young, I try them old, fat and thin.
Nowhere is a sterile woman, she n'existe pas. And now I am sad for
thinking on my tragedy. La bouteille ?"
    " It's yours, Rainy. Finish it. You're better'n
whisky t' cheer me up."
    "Allors, Nest go. Pretty soon we go, ah? Le
Colonel, he is ver' militaire .
"
    "All right." Monday stood up, still
grinning. "We'll go back and play sojer for a while."
    Devaux slammed the cork into the bottle with the palm
of his hand, and stood. "Moreover," he said, "you
drink the bottle too much when you are low in your mind, friend of
me. Me, I have no problems. I do not let it derange me, not the militaire or
anything."
    They walked back to their horses and mounted. The
dusk had come full while they talked, and under the shelter of the
trees the growing darkness made the small trail indistinct. Monday
could barely make out Devaux's features. The Frenchman was still
musing on his philosophy as he picked up the reins and swung into the
saddle.
    " No problems. Because, you know. When René
Devaux has a wife, you know what he is doing with her?"
    "I sure god do," Monday said, laughing
again.
    " No," Devaux said. "You do not."
He sat his horse quietly in the