Across the Rio Colorado by Ralph Compton Read Free Book Online

do.”
    â€œYou ask the questions,” McQuade said, “and if I can answer them, I will.”
    â€œA while ago, somebody shot one of my gamblers, Snakehead Presnall. He’s hurt bad, and somebody from your camp fired that shot. Who was it?”

    â€œYou don’t know who did it, yet you’re accusing somebody from my camp,” McQuade said coldly. “That’s a fool question I won’t take serious, unless you got some proof.”
    â€œOne of your pumpkin rollers was shot last night, after he drew on Presnall. Now I’m tellin’ you him or one of his kin got even by shootin’ down Presnall from the dark. Now I want you to drag that bunch out here where I can question them and have a look at their long guns.”
    â€œNo,” said McQuade. “It’s your saloon, your women, your gamblers, and your booze. Maintaining order is your responsibility, and I don’t aim to dance when you come fiddling around. Now mount up and get out of here.”
    â€œHold it, McQuade,” Andrew Burke said. “Mark, Luke, an’ me, we got our long guns, and Mister Hook is welcome to have a look at ’em. We ain’t about to have him spoutin’ off what he can’t prove.”
    Unbidden, Ike Peyton brought a lighted lantern, as the Burkes came forth with their rifles.
    â€œCreeker, Ellis,” said Hook, “examine those rifles.”
    The two men accompanying Hook sniffed the muzzles of the long guns and checked the loads. Without a word, they passed them back to the Burkes.
    â€œWell?” Hook said, impatiently.
    â€œLoaded, an’ no sign of havin’ been fired,” said Creeker. “But they’ve had plenty of time to reload.”
    â€œWhere’s the rifle belongin’ to the hombre Presnall shot last night?” Ellis asked.
    â€œMatthew’s got no long gun,” said Andrew Burke. “All he has is the pistol the was wearin’ when he was shot.”
    â€œI guess we’re supposed to take your word for that,” Rufus Hook said.
    â€œYou’re damn well going to,” said McQuade. “You stomp in here without a shred of proof, with your demands. Now mount up and ride, all of you.”
    Wordlessly they mounted and rode back the way they
had come. The Burkes departed in silence, and nobody spoke until they had gone.
    â€œUngrateful varmints,” Gunter Warnell said. “I wish you hadn’t stood up for ’em.”
    â€œI can’t side any of you without sidin’ all of you,” said McQuade. “Tomorrow, it may be any one of the rest of you. Rufus Hook’s a man accustomed to having his own way, and the more you give, the more he’ll take.”
    It was a truth they all understood, and they made their way back to the wagons and their blankets. The piano had resumed its seemingly endless attack on the silence of the plains. Now very much awake, McQuade returned to the Flanagan wagon, and was elated to find Mary still there.
    â€œHand me the cups,” he said softly, “and I’ll heat up our coffee.”
    She passed him the cups and he refilled them from the coffee pot. Handing the cups to her, he climbed back to the wagon box and sat down beside her.
    â€œI heard most of it,” she said. “What’s going to happen now?”
    â€œI have no idea,” he replied. “Mostly, it depends on whether or not these young hell-raisers in our midst have learned anything. If there’s more trouble, we’ll be seeing Rufus Hook again. Or he may just have his gunmen take a few shots into our camp, after dark.”
    â€œBut that’s so unfair,” she cried, “making all of us pay for the sins of a few.”
    â€œI couldn’t agree more,” said McQuade, “but that’s the way of the frontier. Many a man with a grudge just wants somebody to pay, often not caring if he harms the innocent along with the