Nevada (1995) by Zane Grey Read Free Book Online Page A

shouted. "I'm invitin' yo u for a little walk outdoors."

    Chapter four.
    Nevada calmly rose to his feet and stepped aside from the chair.
    He did not believe that Cawthorne would attempt to draw on him, bu t as there was no certainty, he wanted to be on his feet. Even a t the moment he seemed strange to himself. Yet after that firs t flash he felt coolly master of himself.
    Cawthorne, more emboldened every instant, shouted the louder:
    "I'm invitin' you outdoors."
    "What for?" queried Nevada.
    "You know what for."
    "I haven't an idee, Link," went on Nevada. "Shore I see you'r e r'iled. But I reckon there's no call for me to get r'iled, too , aboot your mistake. It's cold outdoors. An' I like this war m fire. If you've any more to say, why, go ahaid."
    Cawthorne expanded under this wholly unprecedented experience. A f ew drinks had addled his brains and an unreasonable jealousy ha d set them on fire. To realize Jim Lacy had refused the challeng e born of wild haste had set him on the pinnacle of his dream o f fame.
    "Say?" he demanded, with hoarse and pompous contempt. "I've n o more to say. I've called you, an' you're yellow. That's all."
    Whereupon he turned to the amazed and discomfited Lize and, hal f leading, half dragging her, left the room. The business of th e gamblers was resumed, with a loud laugh here and caustic remark s there. Nevada heard the content of some of them: "What the hell' s got into Lacy?" . . . "He always was a decent chap." . . . "Recko n he couldn't kill thet durn fool right before the girl's eyes." . . .
    "You're wrong, gentlemen," said a cold-voiced gambler. "That wa s a little by-play between a real gunman and a would-be. I've see n it often."
    As Nevada resumed his chair and drew it closer to the fire thes e and other remarks did not escape him, and that of the gamble r lingered with him moodily. Gradually his momentary depressio n passed away. He saw Hettie Ide's face in the golden glow of th e fire. How he quivered in heart and body! He had been put to th e test and he had been true to what she would have expected of him.
    Nevada went early to his lodgings and his sleep was untroubled.
    When he awoke in the morning he was glad to face the sun.
    There was plenty of work for him to do, which he set about with a will. He found tasks that Mrs. Wood did not think of. Thus, wit h most of the daylight hours passed in manual labor, Nevada began hi s winter in Lineville.
    For nearly a week he stayed away from the Gold Mine. Then on e night at supper Mrs. Wood spoke up seriously:
    "Jim, that big-mouthed Link Cawthorne is braggin' around you'r e afraid to come downtown."
    "Wal, you don't say," drawled Nevada.
    "Yes, I do say. I don't like it at all, Jim. You can't let hi m keep that up."
    "Shore, I don't care what Link says."
    "Son, that's not the way of the West," she went on, gravely. "I'v e lived all my life on the frontier. No man can afford to lose th e respect of his associates, even if they are mostly a worthles s outfit of gamblers, rustlers, an' sech. They can't understand it.
    Least of all Link Cawthorne can't. He's likely to shoot you fro m behind a corner an' swear he met you on an even break."
    "But, Mother Wood, what can I do?" queried Nevada, robbed of hi s imperturbability.
    "Well, as long as you're here in Lineville be Jim Lacy as THEY use d to know him," she declared, forcefully. "If you let this towhea d run amuck with his brag, pretty soon he'll get the nerve actuall y to draw on you. Now, Jim, you don't want to have to kill him.
    Lize was fond of him. An' if she's fond of anyone it keeps he r straight. You go downtown an' slap Link's face. Take his gun awa y from him an' stick it down the back of his pants!"
    Nevada laughed mirthlessly. "Wal, maybe you're right," he said , with a sigh. "By gosh; I wish spring would come, so I could hi t the trail."
    "Mark my words, son," she replied, earnestly, "the best way for yo u to make sure of spring an' summer an' fall is to be