Gunsmoke Talk: A Walt Slade Western. Bradford Scott

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ a leisurely cigarette, Slade repaired to the stable for a word with Shadow, whom he found chipper and looking forward to action.

      “Take it easy,” his master advised. “Your legs will likely be worn down to stumps before we finish this chore.”

      The blanketed bodies of the dead outlaws lay peacefully against the far wall, awaiting the arrival of the sheriff.

      “And even now, if retribution prevails, their souls taste of the fires of infierno,” the old keeper observed cheerfully. “El Dios is just.”

      Not liking to interfere with true piety, Slade did not argue the point. He bestowed a final pat on Shadow and headed for Tomas Cardena’s cantina.

      Fortified with coffee and a cigarette, he settled himself comfortably to while away the time until Sheriff Serby would arrive.

      Shortly after the whistle of the noon train blew the sheriff—lean, lanky, with a weatherbeaten face that did not move a muscle, but a keen blue eye that twinkled—strolled in. He shook hands with Slade, occupied a chair and ordered drinks.

      “So, still collecting ’em, eh?” he remarked.

      “Collecting them?”

      “Uh-huh, bodies. When the undertaker heard you were in the section again he went out and bought a brand-new hearse. Said he figured to need it.”

      “I fear he’s too optimistic,” Slade smiled.

      “I doubt it,” said Serby, “he’s got a good eye for business. Okay, tell me about it.”

      Slade told him, starting from his ruckus with the three riders on the trail. Serby listened in silence until the account was finished.

      “Looks sorta like the Starlight Riders, all right,” he commented when Slade paused.

      “Trevis,” the Ranger asked, “just what do you know about the Starlight Riders?”

      “Not much,” the sheriff admitted. “An owlhoot bunch, all right, but headed by somebody with more brains than average. We’ve had some robberies, and stolen cows. That’s nothing out of the ordinary for this end of Texas. But extortion is a new wrinkle in this section, and extortion is just what it is.”

      “How do they operate?”

      “Mighty shrewd. Some fellers will ride up to one of the farmhouses, or to a man working in the fields. They’ll tell him it would be a good notion to kick in a few pesos for protection against outlaws working the section. If he refuses, they don’t make any threats. Just say okay and ride off. Then a few nights later his barn is afire, or some of his horses shot. Or when he’s working in the fields, a coupla slugs whistle past his head, mighty close. Doesn’t take much of that sort of thing to scare heck out of the farmers and grape growers, and even some of the small ranchers over to the east.”

      “Looks like somebody could identify the hellions,” Slade remarked.

      “Uh-huh, if you could get ’em to talk. You can’t. I know darn well a lot of ’em are paying—how many I don’t know—but you can’t get ’em to admit it; they’re scared. As Cardena may have told you, two came to me for help, two grape growers who lived alone. Three nights later their house burned down. Their bodies were found in the ruins.”

      “Snake-blooded killers of the worst sort,” Slade commented. “Well, we’ll see.”

      Regarding the expression in his cold gray eyes, Sheriff Serby felt confident that somebody would “see,” and in no pleasant manner.

      “I understand some of the small saloon owners in El Paso have been approached,” Slade said.

      “So I heard, in a roundabout way,” replied Serby. “But I can’t get anybody to admit it. I do know that in one place down by the river a row started just about closing time and the joint was virtually wrecked. A bartender shot. It was rumored that the owner had been sounding off against the Starlight Riders and saying what he would do to them if they tried to hold him up for protection money. As to that, I can’t say for sure, but it sounds sorta reasonable. No, we’ve never had anything of the kind hereabouts so far as I ever heard. It’s got me buffaloed.”

      “Not here, perhaps,” Slade conceded, “but it is not new to the West. Take the Brocius gang over in Arizona, for example. With a tight organization and some political pull, they worked it for quite a while. The ranchers of the section paid for protection, or else. No, in one form or another, it is not new. The Doc Skurlock and the Bowdrie outfits plied the same trade, and some mighty big owners came across to safeguard their stock. Handled expertly, there’s more dishonest money in it than an occasional stage or bank robbery provide. Hundreds of farmers, grape growers and small owners in the valley and over to the east. With each paying, the take could be mighty big.”

      “No argument there,” agreed Serby.

      Slade was silent for a few moments, then he asked, “Any notion where their headquarters is?”

      “I’ve a notion,” Serby replied, “that it might be in El Paso. Can’t say for sure. We’ve got a pretty good-sized town, you know, with comings and goings and new faces showing all the time. The hellions could squat right under my nose, and I wouldn’t know it. Chances are they have a hole-up somewhere in the hills, too, but I got a hunch that whoever directs operations hangs out in El Paso most of the time.”

      “Logical to agree you’re right,” Slade conceded.

      “I think I’ll have a bite to eat, and then we’ll give those carcasses a once-over,” Serby said.

      “A good notion,” Slade agreed. He smoked and sipped coffee while the sheriff put away a hefty surrounding. Then they repaired to the stable.

      Serby’s examination of the bodies was productive of no results. He could not recall ever seeing them in life. Which, however, Slade did not consider remarkable. He repeated Cardena’s opinion that the unsavory pair had visited his cantina.

      “Looks like the devils might aim to branch out a bit,” the sheriff ’lowed, with which Slade was in agreement.

      Motioning the stablekeeper to cover the bodies, Serby glanced at his watch.

      “There’s a passenger-and-freight due here from the east at about five-thirty,” he announced. “I think I’ll have them loaded on that for El Paso. Suppose the coroner will want to hold an inquest tomorrow. You and Cardena had oughta be there; if you can make it.”

      Slade arrived at a sudden decision. “Tell you what,” he said, “perhaps you can arrange to have a stall car hooked onto that rattler to accommodate my horse. If you can, I’ll ride with you on the train. Imagine Cardena will go along, too.”

      “I figure I can do it,” replied Serby. “I’ll wire Alpine, and I expect they can arrange for a stock car at Van Horn. I know the division superintendent at Alpine. Yep, I’ve a notion I can do it. Let’s head for the railroad station.”

      With the aid of a couple of messages back and forth, the arrangements were completed. After which they returned to the cantina to consult with Cardena, who had just arrived on the job.

      “Sure I’ll go along,” the mayor said. “Wouldn’t mind having a night in the big СКАЧАТЬ