The Desperado by Clifton Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

he looked more
like a tired old man than a killer.
    And maybe that was the reason I wasn't afraid of him. If I felt
anything at all for Pappy Garret, it was sympathy. I'd had one night of
running from the law, and that was plenty for me. I wondered how Pappy
must feel after running for four or five years.
    In the back of my mind, I realized that ten thousand dollars in
bounty money was mine if I wanted it. All I had to do was dry my gun
and empty it into Pappy Garret's skinny body and it was mine. There
wouldn't even be any trouble when I rode back to John's City. The
carpetbag law would be so glad to see Pappy's lifeless body dangling
across that big black horse of his that they would forget the grudge
they had against me. I'd be a hero, and a rich one at that. With ten
thousand dollars, I could buy a piece of free range and have the
beginnings of a ranch of my own. I could even marry Laurin Bannerman,
which was what I wanted more than anything else.
    But I didn't think I would be able to sleep at night without seeing
that ugly, tired face of Pappy's; so the thought of killing him never
really got to be an idea.
    Ray Novak had ideas of his own. He stood up quietly, his hand
unconsciously going down to his hip and feeling of the butt of his gun.
I said, “Just what do you aim to do?”
    There had never been a doubt in Ray's mind about what to do, after he
had figured out who Pappy was. I don't think it was the bounty that set
his mind for him. He probably never even thought of that. He just had
too much law in him to let a killer like Pappy Garret lie there and do
nothing about it. He glanced at me briefly, without saying anything. I
guess he figured that my question wasn't worth answering.
    I said, “Let him alone. He hasn't done anything to us.”
    Ray had his gun out now. He glanced at me curiously, and there were
two small clicks as he pulled the hammer back. “Are you crazy?”
    “We can saddle up and go our own way,” I said. “Let the law catch him
if they want him. What has the law ever done for us?”
    “You must be crazy,” Ray Novak said softly, not bothering to
keep the scorn out of his voice. “Didn't you hear me? That man's Pappy
Garret. He's killed twenty men. He'll kill that many more if somebody
doesn't stop him. Stopping a man like that isn't just a job for the
law. It's a job for every man who wants to live in peace, for every man
who wants to see law and order come back to Texas.”
    I don't think I would have done anything if he hadn't made that
speech, but when he got to talking about the right of law, and the
wrong of outlaws, he got a holier-than-thou glint in his eyes like a
camp-meeting preacher. Anyway, I was tired of Ray Novak. I was tired of
his reverential respect for a tin sheriff's badge. I said, “Oh, hell,
stop being so goddamn self-righteous!”
    He looked as if I had kicked him in the gut while he wasn't expecting
it. Over beneath the cottonwood, Pappy Garret stirred uneasily, and it
occurred to me to wonder why a man like that would go to sleep in the
company of two strangers. Because he was asleep. There was no mistake
about it now. Ray threw one quick angry glance in my direction—a
glance that said that he was through with me, that from now on we could
ride our separate ways.
    “Very well, Tall,” he said tightly. “I'll take care of it myself. You
don't have anything to do with it.”
    “You're going to shoot him while he's asleep?”
    “I'll take him any way I can. You don't give a mad dog a chance to
protect itself, do you?”
    All the talk had been in low whispers, but it was over now. Ray
stepped out quietly, his gun at the ready. I could see what was going
to happen. Ray would say something to wake Pappy—I knew he didn't have
it in him to shoot a sleeping man. He would wake Pappy and Pappy would
see how it was and try to get his guns. That would be the last move he
would ever make. I had seen Ray handle guns and I