Sudden--At Bay (A Sudden Western #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to
pieces by wild animals —- and enjoying the waiting.
    ‘ Answer the questions, yu!’ Harry
Parris bustled forward, gun in hand. ‘An’ don’t give His Honor no
lip, if yu know what’s good for yu!’
    ‘ Sit down, Harry!’
    Sim Cotton’s deep voice crackled
like a whiplash, and Parris, starting as though he had been stung,
took a step backwards, tangling his own feet, and stumbling on to
the knees of his deputy. Laughter sprang to the throats of the
watchers, and again died stillborn when it was seen that the
Cottons were not laughing. Green kept his eyes fixed now on Art
Cotton, for he had noticed that the man was completely ignoring the
proceedings in the crowded room. Art Cotton sat, his long, white
hands dangling limply between his legs, his expressionless eyes
fixed unseeingly upon the blank wall in front of him, looking
neither right nor left.
    ‘ That one’s a renegade or my
name’s Shaugnessy,’ Green told himself. Meanwhile, the judge had
listened to Billy’s self-identification and now asked Parris to
state the charges against the boy.
    ‘ There’s plenty o’ charges,
Judge,’ Parris said, pompously, ‘but the main one’ll do to tie to
—-attempted murder!’
    A whisper of conversation grew among the spectators,
those who had not yet heard the story of the fight in the saloon
hearing it now from others who had either witnessed it or been told
about it. The old man banged once more upon the table until silence
fell
    ‘ That’s better,’ he nodded. ‘Now,
Hornby. You plead guilty or not guilty?’
    ‘ Not guilty!’ Billy’s voice was
clear, his head held proud and high.
    ‘ I see. Do you wish to be tried by
jury?’
    Billy shrugged. ‘Why not? Give
these animals their fun.’
    ‘ That will do,’ snapped
Kilpatrick, like a schoolteacher. ‘You will receive a fair trial in
this court.’
    ‘ Yu won’t mind if I don’t hold my
breath waitin’?’
    Kilpatrick’s face mottled again.
‘You are in contempt’ he screeched. ‘I will not permit this kind of
insult to the dignity of the court!’
    Sim Cotton nodded, and again raised his voice
slightly.
    ‘ Yu, boy. Don’t let yore tongue
run away with yu.’
    ‘ Why?’ snapped Billy, defiantly.
‘What difference does it make?’
    ‘ Yu might have to pay a big fine,’
Cotton pointed out, his voice still level. ‘An’ since yu ain’t got
any money, mebbe the court would have to confiscate anythin’ yu own
—-like yore ranch, mebbe.’ Billy’s face fell, and the anger receded
from his expression to be replaced by frustration and shame.
Cotton’s well-aimed verbal barb had now robbed him of even the
defense of bitter jibes. He could not afford to jeopardize all he
owned for the sake of a brief gratification.
    ‘ Well, boy, speak!’ rattled
Kilpatrick. ‘Do you want trial by jury?’
    Billy nodded wordlessly, and Kilpatrick, after a
brief glance at Sim Cotton for confirmation, inclined his head
towards Sheriff Parris.
    ‘ Empanel a jury, Sheriff,’ he told
the lawman.
    ‘ I already got that done, Judge,’
interposed Parris, holding up a hand and waving it airily towards a
group of men bunched together at the side of the room alongside
Buck Cotton. ‘I figgered that Hornby’d ask for jury trial, so I
picked some o’ the boys out in advance, to
save time.’ He turned towards the group, and told them ‘Yu boys
take up yore seats an’ line ’em up alongside the Judge, there. Make
it lively, now.’
    Green watched Billy Hornby’s face
become even more bitter as he saw the jury
of his ‘peers’ chosen by the cunning Parris. Drunks, bar-scourings,
and minor hangers-on of the Cotton clan —-what hope had he from
such as these? Billy Hornby shook his head. There was nothing he
could do. There were several men he failed to recognize,
tough-looking fellows whose presence he did not fully comprehend
until he saw the leering countenance of Buck Cotton; no doubt the
youngest of the Cotton brood had recruited these men