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daybreak. I doubt if that sheriff is ready to ride that far just to check up
on us. Kerb Perrin and Rig Molina were sitting around the table in the stone
house when Mike and Doe returned to the canyon. Both men looked up sharply,
and Ben Curry was suddenly watchful.
Bastian wasted no time. Kerb, what were Ducrow and Fernandez doing in
Weaver? Perrin looked around, irritated by Mike s tone but puzzled, too. In
Weaver! And drunk! We nearly had to shoot our way out of town because of them.
They were drunk and talking too much. When I told them to get on their horses
and head for home, they made trouble. How? Ducrow was attracting too much
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attention. If I hadn t stopped him there s no telling what he d have said.
You stopped him? Ben Curry had leaned back in his chair and was watching
with attention. I knocked him out, Mike said coolly, and when Fernandez
went for his gun I put a bullet into his shoulder. his You should ve killed
him, Molina said. You ll have it to do sooner or later. Kerb Perrin was
stumped. This was something he had not wanted to happen, nor would he have
believed Mike Bastian could handle Ducrow, let alone Fernandez as well.
We got what we went after, Bastian told Curry, but another break like we
had and we ll walk into a trap. As for that, I think we should drop it for
now. Are you crazy? Perrin said. That s the big one. That s the one we ve
been waiting fort The sheriff in Weaver, Mike said, is a good man, a tough
man, and a smart one. I talked our way out of it, but he may do some checking.
He struck me as a careful man. To hell with him! Perrin said.
When Perrin and Molina had gone, Mike left for his own room and Doe Sawyer
turned to Ben.
It would have done your heart good! He had a run-in with Corbus and
Fletcher, tool He flattened Corbus with a punch and backed Fletcher down.
He ll do, that boy of yours! I knew he had it, Ben said, with
satisfaction. He met a girl, too, Doc added.
Good for him! It s about time. This was a very particular girl, Chief. If
I am any judge of such things he fell and fell hard, and I m not sure it
didn t happen both ways. Something in his tone caught Curry s attention. Who
was she? A girl who came in on the stage. Mike got her and her family a rig
and a driver to take them to their ranch.
Out to the V-Bar. Ben Curry turned on him. For a moment their eyes held. So
Doe Sawyer knew! The one secret he had been determined to keep, the one he
wanted none of them to know! How many others knew?
How many had guessed? Or discovered some clue? And he had believed his tracks
had been covered. For the first time Ben Curry knew fear, real fear.
The girl s name is Drusilla Ragan.
She s a beautiful girl, Ben. I won t have itl Ben slammed his glass down.
I ll be damned if-I Doc Sawyer s tone was ironic.
You mean the foster son you raised isn t good enough for your daughter?
Don t use that word here! Who knows besides you? Nobody of whom I know. It
is only accident that I know. Remember the time you were laid up with that
bullet wound, and I took care of you myself? You were delirious, and you
talked too much. Doc lighted his pipe. They made a nice-looking couple, - he
added, and I believe she invited him to Red Wall Canyon. He won t gol I ll
not have any of this crowd therel If you think I want my daughter associating
with outlaws-to He isn t yet. Doc puffed on his pipe.
He could be, and he might be, but if he does, the crime will be on your
shoulders because I don t think he wants to be. Curry went to the window and
looked down the canyon. Chief, the boy has it in him. He could be all of it,
believe mel He s quick! You should have seen him throw that gun on Fernandezl
And when that sheriff walked up to him he handled it like a veteran! Ben
Curry was silent. Doc glanced at the broad back and went over to the sideboard
and took up a cup and filled it with coffee. He may be deciding he doesn t
want to take over. That boy s smart, Ben, smart! He ll do what I tell him.
Maybe. He s got a mind of his own, Ben. Ben swore under his breath. All his
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plans, all of it falling apart after all the thinking, all the years!
A small voice of doubt was whispering within him, a voice that made him
remember that quiet, determined little boy whom he brought home with him, that
boy who would not cry, a boy who listened and obeyed and who tried very hard
to do what was expected of him. Yet despite that Ben had always been aware the
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