Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Outlaws -- Fiction; Western stories
"A murderer by intention," exclaimed Milligan. He had hunted long and
hard before he found a man with a face like that of Lewis, capable of
maintaining order by a glance; now he wanted revenge. "A murder by
intention!" he cried to the crowd, standing beside the place where the
imprint of Andy's knees was still in the sand. "And like a murderer he
ought to be treated. He aimed to kill Andy; he had luck and only broke
his hand. Now, boys, I say it ain't so much what he's done as the way
he's done it. He's given us the laugh. He's come in here in his dude
clothes and tried to walk over us. But it don't work. Not in The Corner.
If Andy was dead, I'd say lynch the dude. But he ain't, and all I say
is: Run him out of town."
Here there was a brief outburst of applause, but when it ended, it was
observed that there was a low, soft laughter. The crowd gave way between
Milligan and the mocker. It was seen that he who laughed was old Lebrun,
rubbing his olive-skinned hands together and showing his teeth in his
mirth. There was no love lost between Lebrun and Milligan, even if Nelly
was often in the dance hall and the center of its merriment.
"It takes a thief to catch a thief," said Lebrun enigmatically, when he
saw that he had the ear of the crowd, "and it takes a man to catch a
man."
"What the devil do you mean by that?" a dozen voices asked.
"I mean, that if you got men enough to run out this man Donnegan, The
Corner is a better town than I think."
It brought a growl, but no answer. Lebrun had never been seen to lift
his hand, but he was more dreaded than a rattler.
"We'll try," said Milligan dryly. "I ain't much of a man myself"--there
were dark rumors about Milligan's past and the crowd chuckled at this
modesty--"but I'll try my hand agin' him with a bit of backing. And
first I want to tell you boys that they ain't any danger of him having
aimed at Andy's hand. I tell you, it ain't possible, hardly, for him to
have planned to hit a swingin' target like that. Maybe some could do it.
I dunno."
"How about Lord Nick?"
"Sure, Lord Nick might do anything. But Donnegan ain't Lord Nick."
"Not by twenty pounds and three inches."
This brought a laugh. And by comparison with the terrible and familiar
name of Lord Nick, Donnegan became a smaller danger. Besides, as
Milligan said, it was undoubtedly luck. And when he called for
volunteers, three or four stepped up at once. The others made a general
milling, as though each were trying to get forward and each were
prevented by the crowd in front. But in the background big Jack Landis
was seriously trying to get to the firing line. He was encumbered with
the clinging weight of Nelly Lebrun.
"Don't go, Jack," she pleaded. "Please! Please! Be sensible. For my
sake!"
She backed this appeal with a lifting of her eyes and a parting of her
lips, and Jack Landis paused.
"You won't go, dear Jack?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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