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the bar. "Joe, open the safe and bring that sack of gold over here."
And right then, I knew.
It had to be when I put my hand on that gold ... or when I reached the door
with it.
More than likely it would be the last, for he would want to drag it out. He
might shoot me in the back, but it was more probable he'd let me get almost to
the door, drawing his gun behind my back, and then he'd speak to me, and when
I turned he would let me have it.
In my mind, I counted the steps to the door, and it was far, much too far ...
and once I was out in the open room he'd have a clear shot at me.
Suddenly, I realized something else. The afternoon sunlight was falling
through the window over our heads, and when I reached that place in the center
of the room or a bit beyond and turned, I'd have the sun's glare in my eyes.
Oh, I'll not say he'd seen it that way from the beginning, although with him
you never knew. All this talk, when I thought I was getting him to relax and
ease off the tension a mite, all that might have been just waiting until the
sun was right.
For Sandeman Dyer knew I could shoot.
He had not spoken loudly, and few had heard him except those standing close
by. The idle talk on the other side of the room continued, and I heard Joe
close the door of the safe and walk back across the room. He put the gold down
in front of Dyer and went back to his bar.
There was no sense in wasting time now. Reaching across the table, I said,
"Thanks, Sandy," and picked up the gold ... with my left hand.
He was smiling, his eyes dancing with that odd light I remembered so well,
and I knew he had not missed the left hand ... or my right hand on the edge of
the table.
And then I stood up.
All of them were waiting, expecting some word from him. One word, one move
from him, and they'd fill me so full of lead folks would be staking my grave
for a lead mine.
Suddenly, turning, I thrust out my hand to him. Instantly, I knew I'd done
the wrong thing. I'd had it in mind to hang onto him and walk him to the door
with me, but the moment my hand went out, I knew this was when he would want
to shoot me. It would please that mocking devil of insanity in him to shoot me
with my hand thrust out to shake hands.
He had come to his feet, smooth and easy, and he half reached to take my
hand, then dropped it for his gun.
My hand was outstretched ... too far from my gun, so I just lunged with it to
stiff-arm him in the chest, but he stepped back quickly, backing into his
chair.
For just an instant it had him off-balance, and I threw my left arm across my
face and went crash-through the window into the alley.
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Believe me, it was a wild gamble, but I hit the window with a shoulder and
went through, falling full length in the alley. As I fell, my hand had grasped
my gun butt, so when I hit ground my gun came up with the hammer eared back.
And there he was, broad against the window's light. His gun flamed, but he
had expected me to be on my feet and he was geared to shoot high. In almost
the same instant that his gun. flamed, I let the hammer fall, brought it back
and fired again, so fast the two shots had but one thundering sound.
He buckled as if somebody had slugged him in the wind, and his gun went off
again, harmlessly, in the air, as his finger tightened convulsively on the
trigger.
Leaping to my feet, I spread my legs and shot twice more into his body as he
fell back. This was one man I wanted dead.
There was a rush of feet from inside, and then a voice spoke out, stopping
them.
"Leave him be." It was Nolan Sackett. "You boys just stand hitched."
Stooping down, I felt around for my sack of gold, and picked it up. Then I
went up to the window. Dyer was sprawled dead on the floor, and they were just
beginning to realize there was nothing to fight for.
"Any of you boys want a buy into this game?" I said. "The pot's open, and
bullets are chips!"
Nobody seemed to be holding high cards, so they stood pat. I said to Nolan,
"I'm riding out of here. Want to come along?"
"You go to hell," he said politely.
nine
Sometimes the damned fool things a man does are the ones that save his bacon.
When I had my horses all together I tied lead ropes on them and started out
of town, and I wasn't sorry to go. Only one thing bothered me, I'd come this
far and hadn't seen the ocean sea.
It was over yonder, not too far out of my trail, so when I was heading west
across La Nopalera, the big cactus patch that lay north of the brea road, I
made up my mind of a sudden. I'd no wish to sleep the night at the Mandrin
ranch, so what better than a ride down toward Santa Monica and the sea?
Of a sudden I decided to do it, for I might not come this way again. By such
whims can a man's life be saved, as mine was saved that evening. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]