The Case of the Vampire Vacuum Sweeper. John R. Erickson

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СКАЧАТЬ about to quit me.”

      “That’s not a question, trooper. We’ll handle com­plaints after the battle. Any more questions?”

      Drover raised his paw. “Can I go home?”

      “Negative. You’ll join me in combat against four stray dogs.”

      His eyes popped open. “Four stray dogs! I thought it was a woman spy. Boy, I sure get confused.”

      “You’re right, Drover, but being right for once won’t get you out of combat. And neither will being confused. Let’s hit the beach and give ’em the full load of barking. Good luck, men.”

      And with that, we shot under the fence and went streaking out into the weaning pen. I could see them now, four scruffy-looking mutts who’d drifted out from town and were shopping around for trouble. Well, they’d come to the right place for that.

      As I drew closer and got a better look at the mutts, I realized that I’d seen them before. It was Buster and Muggs and their gang of town dogs. Remember them? I absorbed this information with . . . uh . . . mixed emotions, shall we say. On the one hand, I knew they were double-tough. On the other hand, heh heh, I knew that Slim’s shotgun was even double-tougher.

      A guy doesn’t worry much about the opposi­tion when he’s bucked up by backshot. Backed up by buckshot, I should say, and sometimes it even makes him a little . . . well, cocky, you might say. Confident. Braver than normal. Secure in his feelings of self-esteem.

      I headed straight for them and switched on all flashing lights and sirens. Oh, and I also yelled, “Pull over, you creeps, I want to have a word with you! And be quick about it.”

      When they ignored my warnings, I had no choice but to crash into the one in the lead—Buster, as it turned out, the leader of the gang. Boy, you should have seen him . . . actually, the crashing-into deal had a worse effect on me than on him. He was stouter than you might have thought, is the point, and maybe I was the one who got rolled.

      But he stopped, and so did his boys, and that was the whole point of the exercise, right? Sure it was. I got ’em shut down. I picked myself up and marched over to them. A glance toward the house told me that Slim was already out on the porch, loading shells into his pump shotgun. That gave me fresh reserves of courage.

      When I marched up to them, Buster was talking to his pals. “Say, what was that thing I just ran into? Was it a fly or a gnat?”

      Muggs, who had the build of a bulldog and the brain of a fencepost, was bouncing up and down on his short, thick legs. “Nah, it was the jerk, Boss, right there, see him? He ran into you and I saw it, I saw the whole thing.”

      Buster looked me up and down. “Oh yeah, I think you’re right, Muggsie. Say, jerk, when you’re out running and playing, you need to be more careful. You could get yourself hoit, running into objects made of steel and iron.”

      Muggs stuck his nose in my face. “Yeah, jerk, and if the boss don’t steal your object, I just might have to iron your face, har har. Did you hear that one, Boss? Huh? Wasn’t that pretty good, huh?”

      “That was very clever, Muggsie. I find myself astonished, as you might say.” Buster’s gaze drifted over to me. “So what kind of foolish impulse brings you into our midst?”

      I cleared my throat. “Okay, this won’t take long.”

      Muggsie was back in my face. “It better not, jerk, ’cause the longer it takes, the shorter you’ll be.”

      I pushed his face away. “Would you point that hot air somewhere else? Thanks. Maybe you can kill a few weeds.”

      Buster grinned. “Say, that ain’t bad. Did you hear that, boys? Muggsie might kill some weeds with his breath.” The others laughed. Buster’s gaze remained on me. “Go on, hero, I can hardly wait to hear your message. Let me guess. You ain’t fond of us chasing your cows, correct?”

      “That’s right, only they’re not cows, Buster. Cows are adult animals. You’re chasing steers and heifers, but I guess that’s a little too complicated for you guys.”

      His eyes grew wide. “Ooooo! Hey boys, we thought we was chasing cows, but they ain’t cows. They’re heffs and steroids.” They all laughed. “So what’s the point, country boy? Somehow, your cows just started runnin’ and we couldn’t figger out why, could we, boys?” That got a laugh. “So was we doing something bad? ’Cause if we were, me and my boys might feel terrible about it.”

      “Chasing cattle is against Ranch Law, Buster. You know that as well as I do.”

      “I do? Then you tink we was doing it just for meanness?” He rolled his eyes toward the sky. “I fear my heart will break.”

      Muggsie jumped back into the conversation. “Yeah, jerk, and then I fear we’ll have to broke your face, and after we broke your face, we’ll broke your nose off too, won’t we, Boss?”

      “Shat up, Muggs. I appreciate your interest, but let ’im talk.”

      “Thanks. You have two minutes to get off my ranch.”

      “Wow. Two minutes. That ain’t much time, and me and the boys was having fun and maybe we can’t make it, see? So I wonder what might happen.”

      I gave them an easy smile. “You guys ever go up against a shotgun?”

      “Yeah. Lots of times. It ain’t fun. But you know what?” He drilled me in the chest with his paw. “You ain’t got one, jerk. That could be a problem—I mean, with you mouthing off and everything.”

      Muggs was back. “Yeah, jerk, and if you don’t mouth stopping off, I’m gonna . . . if you don’t get that shotgun outa your mouth . . . if you don’t . . .”

      Buster stopped him with a raised paw. “Tink about it, Muggsie. It’ll come to you in a minute.” Back to me. “Me and my boys obsoive that you ain’t got a shotgun, pal.”

      I swallowed hard. What the heck was Slim doing! “It’s . . . it’s up on the porch, Buster, and it’ll be here any minute now. That’s Slim and he’s doubling all the charges.”

      “Is he? But the problem is that he ain’t here, and you are, and he ain’t mouthing off to me and my boys—and you are. Do you see what this means?”

      I laughed in their faces. “Ha, ha. Buster, you don’t really think I’d be stupid enough to walk into the middle of you guys without a secret weapon, do you?”

      He thought about that. “Yeah, I do. I honestly do. I tink you’re that dumb, and I thought so the minute I laid eyes on you. Somehow you just look . . . dumb.”

      “What if I told you that I’ve got a whole division of Rottweilers hiding in those chinaberry trees, just waiting for my signal to attack?”

      He shrugged. “Well, naturally I’d tink you was lying.”

      “Ha, ha, ha! Okay, guys, it’s time for me to reveal that you’ve walked right into my trap.”

      Buster grinned. “Oh gosh, we have walked into his trap. What shall we do?”

      Muggsie СКАЧАТЬ