Sudden--Troubleshooter (A Sudden Western) #5 Read Online Free PDF Page B

buy bacon. Yo’re away
off course if yo’re thinkin’ we’re sittin’ on a gol’
mine.’
    Green shrugged. ‘On the
face of it, it looks like yo’re right, then. Gunnison is just plain
greedy.’
    The talk turned to other
things, and Susan Harris replenished their coffee cups. As she went
around the room, Green covertly surveyed the assembled men. The
meeting was a friendly affair, and it was plain to see that all
these men were good friends, a close-knit group of individuals who
accepted each other’s weaknesses and strengths. ‘Not a bad apple in
the whole barrel,’ Green thought as he
watched them joshing Philadelphia, to whom for some reason Jake
Harris had taken an inordinate liking. It was easy to see how they
remained so determined in the face of Gunnison’s
hostility.
    The sound of a horse’s
hoofs pounding up the trail put an instant stop to the
conversation. Like well-drilled troops, Harris and his friends
moved quickly around the room. Sue dimmed the big light, and Kitson
moved a tall cast-iron screen in front of the fireplace, concealing
the flicker of the flames. All of the men moved near windows, their
ever-ready guns in their hands. The organization impressed Green
and he said as much in an undertone to Harris.
    ‘ We worked this drill out
about two months ago,’ Harris told him. ‘Do her automatically now.
If Gunnison decided to catch us all in one place we’d be sittin’
ducks. Figgered it might be wise to surprise him if he tried it.
We’re nigh on eager to try her out.’
    ‘ Let’s hope yu don’t have
to,’ Green said. A quick glance about the room showed him
Philadelphia standing guard over the crouched form of Susan Harris,
who had knelt down behind the big sofa. Despite the tenseness of
the moment Green smiled to himself.
    A hail from outside brought
a noticeable relaxation of the tension. ‘That’s Tom Appleby, ain’t
it?’ said Peters.
    ‘ Sounds like him,’ agreed
Harris. He stepped near the door and shouted, ‘That yu,
Appleby?’
    ‘ Hello, Jake. Shore it’s
me. Open up!’
    ‘ Put up the lights,’ Harris
ordered, swinging the bar back from the door and opening it. ‘Come
on in, Tom.’
    The slim figure of the town
Marshal entered after a moment on the doorstep spent beating the
dust from his clothes. For the first time Green noted the fact that
the Marshal wore a tied-down holster on his left hip. ‘Southpaw,’
Green told himself, ‘an’ no slouch, either, by the look o’
him.’
    ‘ Gents, good evenin’,’
Appleby nodded. ‘Sorry to barge in.’
    ‘ What brings yu this far
north, Tom?’ asked Kitson.
    ‘ Just doin’ my rounds,
Terry,’ was the cool reply. ‘I wanted to check whether our friends
found yu all right.’
    ‘ Yu mean,
to see whether we’re workin’ here or on the Saber!’ blurted Philadelphia. The Marshal favored
him with a sour look.
    ‘ I knowed yu didn’t go to
the Saber,’ he said. ‘I just come from there.’
    ‘ How’s Dancy?’ asked Jack
Scott. ‘Sicker’n hell, I hope.’
    ‘ He’ll survive,’ Appleby
told him. ‘He won’t look so purty without his front teeth, is
all.’
    Fred Peters chortled with
delight, and danced over to pump Green’s hand. ‘Jim, yu shore done
us a good turn comin’ to Yavapai. That rooster’s been needin’ his
comb trimmed for a while now.’
    Green smiled. ‘I would’ve
thought that was more in the Marshal’s line. Ain’t yu ever had
occasion to pacify Dancy, Marshal?’
    Appleby looked at Green sharply, but the
puncher was smiling disarmingly. The Marshal shrugged.
    ‘ Green, yo’re a stranger in
these parts, so forgive me if I sound a mite on the pompous side.
Normally, Dancy just gets loud; then he goes away someplace an’
sleeps it off. Now an’ then he gets in a brawl. Someone loses a few
teeth or gets an arm broke – never anythin’ that Dancy can’t walk
away from.’
    ‘ He was shapin’ to drill
me!’ cut in Philadelphia.
    ‘ Wal, maybe, maybe not,’
Appleby