Cassidy, still smiling, but
his eyes and jaw belied the smile. "Yu took them cayuses out because
yu wanted yourn to be found in their places. Yu remembered Santa Fe
an' it rankled in yu. Not being man enough to notify me that yu'd
shoot on sight an' being afraid my friends would get yu if yu plugged
me on th' sly, yu tried to make out that me an' Red rustled yore
cayuses. That meant a lynching with me an' Red in th' places of honor.
Yu never saw Red afore, but yu didn't care if he went with me. Yu
don't deserve fair play, but I'm going to give it to yu because I
don't want anybody to say that any of th' Bar-20 ever murdered a man,
not even a skunk like yu.
My friends have treated me too square for that. Yu can take this gun
an yu can do one of three things with it, which are: walk out in th' open
a hundred paces an' then turn an walk toward me-after you face me yu
can set it a-going whenever yu want to; the second is, put it under yore
hat an' I'll put mine an' th' others back by the cayuses. Then we'll toss up
an' th' lucky man gets it to use as he wants. Th' third is, shoot yourself."
Mr. Cassidy punctuated the close of his ultimatum by handing the
weapon, muzzle first, and, because the other might be an adept at
"twirling," he kept its recipient covered during the operation. Then,
placing his second Colt's with the captured weapons, he threw them
through the door, being very careful not to lose the drop on his now
armed prisoner.
Pages:
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178