Johnny Nelson: How a one-time pupil of Hopalong Cassidy of the famous Bar-20 ranch in the Pecos Valley performed an act of knight-errantry and what came of itMulford, Clarence Edward
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Johnny Nelson: How a one-time pupil of Hopalong Cassidy of the famous Bar-20 ranch in the Pecos Valley performed an act of knight-errantry and what came of it
Mulford, Clarence Edward
Cowboys -- Fiction; Ranch life -- Fiction; Western stories
An argument in one's own mind can be exhaustive and reach a conclusion
in a very short space of time. It took the Doc about a second to
weigh matters and abandon the idea of hurling the jar, and with the
decision his hand came slowly out and went up, with the other, above
his head. While he was doing this his eyes had not been idle and they
saw everything there was to be seen, for he was trained in observation.
They saw: A man of his own height, dressed in an old, well-worn, yellow
slicker; a sombrero so covered with gray dust as to resemble a hat only
in shape and function, its brim pulled well down in front; a pair of
common black trousers reaching from the slicker down to common boots,
so thickly covered with gray dust as to resemble the hat in everything
but the above-mentioned characteristics; a common cotton kerchief, of
a pattern found on half of the kerchiefs on the range, was tied across
the caller's face, hiding it from chin to eyes; a narrow strip of the
intruder's face, so indistinct in the shadow of the hat brim as even to
hide the color of the eyes; a pair of gloved hands, the right of which
was held in front of the intruder and on a level with his eyes; and
last, but emphatically not least, a heavy, common-calibered Colt, with
ivory grips yellowed by use and age, which weapon was firmly gripped by
the upraised hand. The hammer was up, and a crooked, gloved finger lay
in the trigger guard. As the Doc moved to obey, as he turned around, he
caught a glimpse of a heavy, black line running from the lower edge of
the ivory grip uncovered by the curling fingers. It looked as though
it was a crack filled with dirt, which was a little thing, but not too
small a thing to be forgotten.
"Whoa!" growled the man in the door.
The Doc obeyed. "What do you want?" he asked coolly.
"Nothin' you can lose," came the answer. "Back up a little more!"
The Doc backed, stopped when the gun pressed into his back and stood
motionless while a heavy hand felt him over. It took a Colt out of his
shoulder holster, and then the victim felt the gun at his back move a
little. He smiled slightly, for the fact that his captor had shifted
it to the left hand so he could use the right to empty the captured
gun and then toss it across the room onto the bed was no due, for the
reason that all of the men he knew were right-handed. The pressure
changed again as the right hand went back on the offensive, and then
the intruder gave him his second surprise.
"Pack yore tools--broken laig--take everythin' you need. Hurry!"
The Doc stepped forward and picked up a satchel, glancing out of the
corner of his eye as he did so. Only a hand, a foot, and part of the
hat and face were in sight, the rest of the visitor's body being behind
the outside wall. Filling the bag with what he would require, he took a
bundle of splints from a shelf, for he was a methodical person, usually
had plenty of time on his hands, and believed in having things to suit
him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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