Savage Texas: The Stampeders Read Online Free PDF Page A

mention of the name.
    “You know him?” Cross asked her.
    “How would I know anybody in this godforsaken town?”
    “You just reacted when I said his name, that’s all.”
    “Well, maybe I heard somebody mention him on the stagecoach while they were looking at the cattle herds out on the plains. Who is he?”
    “He’s a crack shot and a stout fellow. And brave. I’ll give him that. The kind of man you want on your side in a fight.”
    “But he’s not your friend, being a Yankee?”
    “We’ve got our own way of getting on with each other. We get by. Every now and then get to hating each other for a few days. It don’t last.”
    “What’s he do?”
    “Cattleman. Richest man to be found hereabouts for miles around.”
    “How rich?”
    “A lot of them cattle you folks in the stage were looking at, they were Heller’s. He’s got maybe a thousand head of longhorns with his brand on them. And story has it he’s got a hundred thousand dollars or more in cash and gold in the Hangtree Bank. But you know how stories like that go. He may have that much, may have less. Hell, he may have a lot more. Wouldn’t surprise me.”
    “I’ll have to meet him.”
    “Nah. You’ve met me, and that should be good enough for you. But once Heller sees you he’ll make sure you meet him. And you’ll know him. Generally wears that yaller hair of his long and tucked back behind his ears.”
    “Sort of like you do, minus the yellow part.”
    “Well . . . I guess so. He dresses to catch the eye. Bandoliers crossing his chest and a sawed-off Winchester Model 1866 rifle in place of a pistol. And he can hit what he wants with that mule’s-leg, let me tell you.”
    “‘Mule’s-leg?’”
    “That’s what folks out here call a sawed-off rifle.”
    “I’ve got a lot to learn about Texas.”
    “Well, let me tell you something you’re going to learn soon enough: You earned yourself an admirer already.”
    “Why . . . Johnny! I’m flattered! Are you always so forthright about your feelings?”
    “Well . . . yeah, I am, but this time it ain’t me I’m talking about. I’m talking about poor old Timothy back there at the Emporium. I know that boy well. Good boy, going to be a child all his days. Innocent as a lamb. But he’s got a man’s feeling for the ladies, and a heart that attaches fast to any pretty thing who wanders by and gives him the time of day. Right now that pretty thing is you.”
    “Oh, I suppose he might get an infatuation, Johnny, but I’m accustomed to that.”
    “I bet you are. And Timothy won’t be the only one who’ll get his heart set on you. You’ll have the eye of every gent in town, not just the dummies, before you’re here another week.”
    “Are you going to be among them, Johnny?”
    “Already am, Julia. Already am.”
    “Let’s walk some more, Johnny. You need to show me that boardinghouse. Oh, and please don’t call Timothy a ‘dummy.’ Some used to call my brother that. I always hated it.”
    “I’m sorry, then. Let’s go.”
    “Walk me past the bank. I want to see the bank.”
    “The bank ain’t much to look at.”
    “I need to know where it is. I didn’t come to Hangtree without some degree of means. I’ll be needing to open myself a bank account here.”
    “Beauty, a good brain, common sense. And grit. And apparently a bit of money, too.”
    “A bit. I’d like to make it a lot more.”
    Johnny Cross chuckled. “You’re the full combination, lady. It really ain’t going to be only poor old Timothy trailing around after you.”
    “I’m counting on that, Johnny Cross. I came here to move my life ahead, not backward.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Wait and see. Just wait and see.”
    “Miss Julia Canton, I’m beginning to think you came to Hangtree in hopes of finding yourself a good Texas man to marry. Which makes this a fine time indeed to be a Texas man. And I reckon I’m the luckiest of them all, being the first to trot you around town like this, right in front of