Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 03 - The Marshal of Lawless(1933) Read Online Free PDF Page B

reckon on more than that,” the landlord said. “Quite a few of us would like
this town to have a better reputation, but o’ course, if yo’re goin’ to run
with The Vulture—”
                 “I
cut my own trail, ol’-timer,” Green told him. “Say, Pete, what about takin’
possession of our new home? Raven gave me the key.”
                 The
official quarters of the town marshal were situated alongside the Red Ace, and
consisted of a one-storey ‘dobe hut. Over the door was a board with the single
word “Marshal” painted in large letters. This was sadly pockmarked by bullets;
evidently festive visitors were in the habit of testifying their contempt for
the law by peppering the outward and visible sign of its presence. Green
surveyed the battered board sardonically and unlocked the door. The room they
entered was clearly the office, scantily furnished with an old desk, three
somewhat decrepit chairs, and a cupboard. Behind it was another containing two
pallet-beds; adjoining it, but reached by a narrow passage from the office, was
a third room, empty save for a bench, with a massive,
padlocked door and small barred window.
                 Continuing
their investigations, they found a side-door in the passage which led into a
board shack containing a broken-down stove, a ditto chair, and a few battered
culinary utensils.
                 “Don’t
think much o’ the kitchen—we’ll have to do most of our feedin’ at Durley’s,”
the marshal said. “I allus did hate cookin’ anyways.”
                 “Same
here,” responded his assistant. “This show won’t be so bad once we got her
tidied up an’ our war-bags fetched in. We’re nice an’ handy to the boss,” he
finished, with a sly look at the other.
                 Green
rose at the bait instantly. “See here, fella, bosses don’t go with me, not
any,” he said acidly. “If that Vulture person thinks he can ride me he’s got
another guess comin’. Yu get that into the knob you hang yore hat on.”
                 Barsay
laughed delightedly at his success in drawing his chief. “Partner, I like yu
most to death,” he chortled. “I had an idea yu weren’t exactly saddle-broke,
but I wanted to be shore.”
                 Whereupon
Green joined in the laugh against himself and they departed in search of their
belongings.

  CHAPTER
IV
                 “I
certainly was lucky to catch yu in town to-day, Tonia,” Andy Bordene remarked,
as they jogged slowly along the trail. “It seems ages since I saw you.”
                 The
girl’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, the Double S must be a good two hours’ ride from
the Box B,” she said demurely.
                 The
young man sensed the mild sarcasm and flushed. “I have to work for my livin’
nowadays, Tonia,” he defended. “Yu’ve no notion what a driver the old man is,
an’ we’re short-handed at that.”
                 “You
ought not to be, when there are likely punchers in town with nothing better to
do than swallow the poison sold at the Red Ace,” she retorted, and went on to
tell of her recent encounter with the stranger cowboy.
                 Bordene
smiled. “Any puncher is apt to slip over the edge now an’ then; I’ll look him
up when I get back to town.” He shot a mischievous glance at her. “Mebbe it
would be wiser to have him at the Box B.”
                 The
girl returned the look. She knew he was teasing her—it was an old trick of
his—but this time she suspected a gravity under the
playful words.
                 “Andy,
you are a chump,” she said, and smiled sweetly. “But you are a nice chump.”
                 The
Double S ranch lay some fifteen miles south-east of Lawless and about half-way
between that town and Sweetwater, though not on the direct route. For the most
part, the trail to it