Spanish Gold Read Online Free PDF Page B

out.”
    â€œThe old man has a daughter,” said Crosby.
    Freeman dropped his hand and turned so that he was looking up at Crosby. “That piece of information does us no good because we don’t know where she is.”
    â€œIf you hadn’t been quite so fast with the knife, we might have found that out.”
    â€œThat old man wasn’t going to talk to us, and I didn’t want him talking to anyone else.”
    â€œWell he did.”
    Freeman nodded and said, “But he won’t talk anymore. Now we’ll just wait here and see what we can see.”
    He turned back to watch the main street. He saw someone exit the marshal’s office carrying a bag. The man walked to the hotel and disappeared inside.
    â€œLooks like our boy has found himself something,” said Freeman.
    â€œWe going to visit him?” Crosby pushed his hat back so that he could look down into the street.
    â€œIf we wait, he might come to visit us and that way no one will be able to see or hear anything.”
    Travis buckled on his gunbelt and then turned slowly, taking a last look around the room. Satisfied that he had picked up everything that belonged to him, he grabbed the saddlebag and left. Outside, he walked across the street to the livery stable. He entered there and moved toward the rear where his horse waited.
    A man came out of the shadows. “Help you?”
    â€œThought I’d pick up my horse.”
    â€œLeaving us?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhile you saddle up, I’ll figure the bill.”
    â€œI’ll be taking that mule, too,” he said, pointing into a stall.
    â€œCan’t do that. Belongs to someone.”
    â€œHe’s dead,” said Travis. “I’m taking it to the relatives.”
    When the man hesitated, Travis added, “You can check with the marshal.”
    â€œNo. I suppose it’s okay, if the marshal approved it.” He cocked his head to the side. “Who pays the bill?”
    Travis shrugged and then said, “I’ll do it.”
    â€œBe with you in a moment.” The man turned and vanished into the shadows again.
    Travis opened the stall and entered, moving along the side of it, watching where he put his feet. He put a hand on the horse’s flank and rubbed it, letting the beast know that he was there. When he reached the front of the stall, he patted the horse’s nose, and then gently pushed so that the horse would back up and out.
    When he got the horse saddled, the livery man reappeared. “I make it six bits.”
    â€œYou’re sure?”
    â€œSix bits.”
    Travis paid the man and then waited as he got the mule ready to move. The man gave him the leader, and Travis walked his horse and the mule out into the sunlight. He put a hand up to shade his eyes and scanned the street and the ground beyond it. That had been something he learned in the army. Survey the terrain, when possible, before riding up into it. That could save some nasty surprises.
    Travis swung up into the saddle. He sat for a moment, wondering why he was about to ride fifty miles to tell a woman he didn’t know that her father, whom he hadn’t known either, had died. He owed her or her father nothing. Except that a dying man had asked him to do it. Travis had said he would and now felt obligated to do it.
    He rode out of town and followed the road up to the top of a ridge. He stopped briefly and looked back down at the town. Not much more than a flyspeck on the map. A few houses, a few buildings, and nothing around it except open desert. Hot winds and dust devils swirled.
    He turned again and rode on into the next valley. It stretched out into the distance, a glowing gray hell with no sign of water or green vegetation. Far away was the hint of mountains. They were vague shapes shimmering in the heat.
    Travis let the horse have its head. It followed the road along the floor of the valley. It didn’t bother with the dried