Thunderhead Trail Read Online Free PDF Page B

to make you suffer.”
    â€œTalking me to death is a good start.”
    Kyler hissed and attacked. He thrust high, slashed low, and hissed again when Fargo avoided both. “I forgot how quick you are.”
    â€œQuicker than you Hollisters,” Fargo goaded as his hand dipped to his boot. In the partial dark the youngest Hollister didn’t notice. “Being turtles must run in your family.”
    â€œI’ll show you turtle,” Kyler growled, and closed.
    By then Fargo had the Arkansas toothpick out. He parried, and at the ring of steel on steel, Kyler uttered an oath and leaped back.
    â€œSo you have a blade too.”
    Fargo grinned.
    â€œThat little splinter against my big knife?” Kyler said. “I’ll cut you to ribbons.”
    â€œYou jabber as much as a girl.”
    That did it. Kyler swore and attacked, and while he wasn’t the best knife fighter Fargo had ever tangled with, the boy was good, damn good, and damn deadly, and it was all Fargo could do to stay alive.
    They thrust, they stabbed, they circled. Every move was countered. Kyler was a lot smaller, but he was a rattler on two legs.
    Fargo had been in enough fights to know that the longer it lasted, the more likely it was that he’d be cut or worse. He had to end it fast. But try as he might, he couldn’t get the toothpick past that oversized blade of Kyler’s.
    The boy grew cocky. He laughed. He smirked. When Fargo tried a cut to the neck that he nimbly evaded, Kyler chuckled and said, “You’re not so much, mister. You stood up to Grizz and knocked him out but you won’t get the better of me.”
    â€œSays the infant,” Fargo said.
    â€œYour goadin’ won’t work anymore,” Kyler said, dipping low to the ground. “I’m serious now, and you’re dead.”
    Poised on the balls of his feet, Fargo crouched, ready for anything. Or so he thought. The next moment, Kyler flung a handful of dust at his face. Fargo brought his hand up but some of the dust flew into his eyes.
    And suddenly he couldn’t see.

10
    The world became a blur.
    Fargo backpedaled and swiped at his eyes with a sleeve but Kyler Hollister was a vague shape and nothing more. He heard Hollister laugh and felt a sting in his arm.
    Fargo was in trouble. He kept on retreating and blinking. They were in the middle of the street where the light barely reached.
    Kyler lanced that long knife at Fargo’s belly, and with a hairsbreadth to spare, Fargo sidestepped and continued to put distance between them.
    â€œYou can’t avoid me much longer, mister.”
    The hell of it was, the boy was right. Fargo still couldn’t see. He was a blind goat waiting to be slaughtered.
    Just then the batwings opened and out of the saloon came four townsmen who drew up short.
    â€œLook there!” one shouted.
    â€œIt’s that Hollister kid!” another exclaimed.
    â€œWhat do you think you’re doing?” a third hollered.
    Kyler did the last thing Fargo expected. He swore and bolted.
    â€œAfter him!” one of the townsmen shouted but no one gave chase.
    Fargo furiously wiped at his eyes. Another blink, and his sight was back.
    Kyler Hollister had disappeared into the night. Chasing him would be pointless.
    Sliding the toothpick into its ankle sheath, Fargo unfurled and turned to his saviors. “I’m obliged, gents.”
    â€œWhat did we do?” the first man asked.
    â€œYou saved my hash,” Fargo said. Fishing his poke out, he loosened the drawstring and plucked a coin and tossed it and one of them caught it.
    â€œWhy, it’s a ten-dollar gold piece.”
    â€œTreat yourselves.”
    They looked at one another and then at the ten-dollar coin.
    â€œWe could buy a whole bottle,” one said.
    â€œHell, we could buy two,” said another.
    â€œI didn’t really want to go home anyhow,” remarked a third.
    â€œA bottle it is,