Slocum and the Diamond City Affair (9781101612118) by Jake Logan Read Free Book Online Page B

sounds wonderful.” They went under the thatched-roof squaw shade.
    â€œWhat do you need me to do?” the man, who certainly looked Apache, asked as he squatted in his knee-high boots facing Slocum.
    â€œHave you ever been to Old Man Clanton’s ranch?”
    â€œYes, but that is a bad place to go for a man who likes to live.”
    â€œI am looking for two horses. A stallion and a mare that were stolen in Tucson and taken there, I think.”
    â€œWhat should I do about them if I find them?”
    â€œFind them there, I’ll pay a twenty-dollar gold piece. You bring them out, I can pay you fifty dollars.”
    Benny whistled through his teeth and held his right knee with both hands as they squatted. “That is
mucho dinero
for a poor man.”
    Slocum agreed. “My man can tell you what they look like.”
    He made a distrusting face. “I hate to scout at night. I know that is a fable of my people, but I worry about such things. Dying in the dark, you know?”
    â€œI do know all about your fears.” All Apaches feared being killed in darkness because they believed that if that happened, their spirits would never get out of this world to the other one.
    â€œHow soon must I go?”
    â€œWe are going back to Jim Davis’s ranch tonight. Meet us there.”
    â€œI know Jim.” He nodded that that was no problem. “I will be there in two days. I may find a friend to help me.”
    â€œJust so that the Clantons don’t know what we’re doing.” Slocum listened for his reply.
    â€œAh,
sí
. This man won’t tell them nothing.”
    â€œGood. Here is five dollars in case you need some things.”
    He paid the man in silver cartwheels that clunked into his hand. Both of them rose, then shook hands. Two days to wait wasn’t long at this point. Those horses might be there and if so, Slocum could have O’Riley on his way to Nogales with them soon. The final page in his diary would be they were delivered. Slocum nodded to Rosa that he was ready to leave and thanked Maria for her help. They left for Jim’s place.
    They avoided any crossroads, stores, or settlements. Slocum didn’t want attention drawn to their passing through. The Clantons paid for any and all information that might be had in regards to them. Not much moved or went by in the border country that they didn’t know about.
    It was late when they reached the ranch. On the way in, Rosa promised to cook him something, since it had been long hours since they last ate. A sleepy-eyed Jim got up from his bed and asked how things had gone. He also told Rosa there were beans cooked and she could reheat them. In minutes she had the wood cookstove heating and was making tortilla dough.
    â€œI found an Apache to go scout inside the Clanton stronghold and see if the horses are in there. He and another will be here in two days, and O’Riley can tell him how to identify his horses.”
    â€œSounds like you did some good.” He went by and kissed Rosa on her proffered cheek as she worked on the dough. “You should find yourself a real man,” he said to her.
    â€œI will think about it,” she promised, laughing and shaking her head at his teasing, busy making the food.
    Slocum just about fell asleep in the chair at the table. If he’d been by himself, he’d have eaten some jerky and gone on to the bedroll—but he wasn’t going to disappoint Rosa since she was making such efforts for him.
    Jim talked about the mining business, but he said the main silver and gold was under the mesa that Tombstone sat upon. No one else had made another major strike.
    â€œThat’s been the thought all the time. Ed Schieffelin had found the main easy one that came to the surface and that was it. Lots of folks had been led to it in the past by hired Mexican guides who, in the end, murdered them and took the high-grade stuff they’d dug up. It had been a