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difference between what was right and what wasn't.
"How'd you happen to know Annie?" I asked.
"Her aunt used to sew for my mother. I knew she was in Loma Parda, and I knew
of no one else I could go to. I suppose you think a nice girl shouldn't even
recognize Annie."
"I think nothing of the kind. Annie's all right. I've known her for quite a
spell ... in a manner of speaking.
"You know what would happen if anybody realized you had that gold? It would
blow the lid off this town. And right at this moment they're hunting you."
"Annie knows a freighter. She was going to get him to help me get to Santa
Fe." Then she said, "I had just made coffee would you like some?"
While she went into the kitchen for the coffeepot and some cups, I sort of
eased back in that plush chair. I didn't rightly trust the furniture. Benches
and bunks or saloon chairs were more what I was used to, and I'm a big man.
This sort of fine furniture didn't seem exactly made for my size. But it was a
comfortable place and, looking around, I admired it. Even to the butt of the
gun that showed from under a bit of sewing on the table.
Penelope returned with the coffee, poured some for me, and then seated
herself, near the gun.
"The freighter was to leave tonight," she said. "He has ten wagons. Annie is
arranging for me to have one of them."
"Where's the gold?"
She didn't answer that, but said, "I want you to have a share of it. After
all, without you I might never have found it, and certainly I couldn't have
kept it."
"Thanks," I said. "I can't set here waiting for them to come. I've got to
find Loomis ... and Flinch."
"Be careful of him. I had to run, you know. After Flinch killed Mr. Mims
there was nothing for me to do. I was afraid of him."
I still held my coffee cup, but I was doing some fast thinking. Not that I
don't trust folks, but it began to seem to me she had been out of the room
after that coffee just a mite longer than she should have been. I swallowed
some coffee, put the cup down, and stood up.
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"You're not going?"
"You'll be seeing me around. And when the time comes for that freighter to
leave, I'll be back here."
Bending over, I picked up my hat. Her hand was near the gun was that just
accident? I took my time straightening up and saw she was looking at me, all
bright-eyed. The trouble was, I wanted to trust her and almost believed that I
could, but just wasn't able to gamble on it.
I went past her quickly and into the kitchen, opened the kitchen door, and
stepped outside. On the small back porch I turned my eyes to the sun, and
blinked a couple of times before stepping clear of the porch.
Back here there was a small stable, and the yard and the house were shaded by
the cottonwoods. Somebody moved swiftly inside the house, and then I was at
the front corner, looking across the street and up and down it. The first
glance was swift, to locate any immediate danger, the second slower, carefully
searching each possible hiding place.
It was a faint whisper of movement behind me that warned me. Turning sharply,
I was in time to see Loomis lifting a shotgun. I palmed my gun and shot him
through the middle, and both barrels of his shotgun emptied into the ground
with a dull roar.
Instantly I was back under the cottonwoods and ran behind a long building,
slowed down, and then walked out into the street to join a few others from the
saloons.
"What happened?" somebody was asking.
"Shooting down the street," I said. "Maybe somebody killing a turkey."
I turned and walked up to Baca's, where things were stirring around. But
there was no sign of Bishop. The corral was my next stop. I got the black out,
saddled him up, and left him tied outside the corral but well in the shadows.
A thought came to me, and I looked around the corral. Her horses were there,
including the pack horses. But I saw no sign of the pack saddles. I had not
been far behind her when she rode into town, and she must have known that. She
could not have known where Slanting Annie lived, so she could not have taken
the gold there. A young girl riding through Loma Parda's street with three
horses, two of them pack horses, would have aroused interest, and this she
would have guessed. So what then?
She would not have brought the gold to the corral, for she would have to
unload it by herself, piece by piece ... unless she just loosened the cinches
and let the saddles fall. She could not have done that in town for fear of the
packs bursting, or somebody seeing them and becoming curious at their weight.
So the gold must be somewhere out of town, quickly unloaded and left there
before she rode in. Standing with my hand on the saddle, I thought back along
the trail. The sort of place she would need to hide the gold, where it could
not accidentally be discovered, would be rare. Moreover, I had followed her
trail in to Loma Parda, so how could she have veered off without my being
aware of it?
Then I recalled that I had not actually followed her trail all the way into
town. When her tracks merged with those of others coming or going, I had
ceased to follow them and had merely taken it for granted that she was going
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on into town.
Stepping into the saddle, I skirted around the far side of the corral and
rode down the alley toward the edge of town, and so out of sight of any
watcher not in the stable itself.
There was another trail, I remembered, that led westward from Loma Parda
toward the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and then went south to Las Vegas and so
on to Santa Fe. That trail was occasionally used by freighters, I knew.
Supposing Penelope had skirted the town, come up close to that trail, and
hidden the gold there?
In less than ten minutes I was riding along that trail, looking for possible
hiding places. If I wanted to dump a heavy load, to be easily picked up again,
where would I leave it? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]