‘That was for Tom Blade!’ Maisie hissed.
Dusty and his men moved forward to disarm the Considine bunch. Hammer might live and Red’s victim would be on his feet in a few weeks but the rest lay as dead as cold mutton.
They took their chances, made their play and fell at the hands of the law.
Hearing a tearing sound Dusty turned and looked to where Maisie knelt by Miss Considine. She’d dragged the big woman on to the street, rolled her on to her back and torn open the blouse. With angry hands Maisie ripped the woman’s underskirt.
‘There’s your proof that she shot Collins, Captain Fog,’ she said, pointing to a small but deep and barely healed scar just under Miss Considine’s breasts. ‘She didn’t want the other women to see the knife scar and went downstream of them. I sneaked up on her and saw she was bathing a new cut and guessed it was something she didn’t want talking about. That’s what you had the girls check me out for, I reckon.’
Raines and several of the ranchers came up, a crowd following. Dusty turned to face them.
‘All right, folks, it’s all over,’ he said. ‘Keep back.’
Raines with the ranchers came forward. They were the leading citizens of the community and had the right to investigate such an incident. Mark and the Kid left matters in Dusty’s hands as they stepped forward and halted the rest of the crowd.
Maisie went to Biscuits who sat on the ground holding his leg. The .36 bullet had passed through missing the bone and blood pumped from the wound. ‘Let me fix it for you,’ she said gently.
‘You take care of your prisoner, ma’am,’ Biscuits replied. ‘If I’d a wife she’d handle the she-male prisoners for me.’
‘I reckon I might be able to do that for you,’ Maisie whispered. ‘Let’s talk about it later.’
Raines stood by Dusty, while on the street beyond, Terry and Red went to meet the girls as they came from Maisie’s tent. The Colonel pointed down to the groaning woman as Miss Considine fought her way back to consciousness.
‘It was her after all,’ he said.
‘Sure, Colonel. All the time,’ Dusty replied. ‘It’s the end of the chore for us. We’ll be headed back to Texas as soon as the trial’s over.’
‘You won’t stay on here with us then?’
Dusty laughed. ‘And have Uncle Devil rolling up in his wheelchair to give us hell?’ he asked. ‘I’d as soon not, thank you ’most to death. Lon, Mark and I’ll be riding home as soon as we can and Red ’n’ his missus’ll follow as soon as they’re Red and his missus. Which same won’t be long at all.’
THE FLOATING OUTFIT 11: WAGONS TO BACKSIGHT
By J. T. Edson
First published by Brown Watson Limited in 1964
Copyright © 1964, 2017 by J. T. Edson
First Smashwords Edition: May 2017
Names, characters and incidents in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.
This is a Piccadilly Publishing Book
Series Editor: Ben Bridges
Published by Arrangement with the Author’s Agent.
The Floating Outfit Series by J. T. Edson
The Ysabel Kid
.44 Caliber Man
A Horse Called Mogollon
Goodnight’s Dream
From Hide and Horn
Set Texas Back on Her Feet
The Hide and Tallow Men
Quiet Town
The Hooded Riders
Trail Boss
Wagons to Backsight
... And more to come every month!
But the adventure doesn’t end here …
Join us for more first-class, action-packed books.
Regular updates feature on our website and blog
The Adventures continue…
Issuing new and classic fiction from Yesterday and Today!
More on J. T. EDSON