Cassidy, Hopalong (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Western stories
"It’s about that Saunders gal," answered Tex. He hitched his chair a
little nearer to the table. "You remember what I told you, couple of
nights ago? Well, I got to thinkin’ about it when I was near th’ station
yesterday, so I went in an’ got friendly with her brother." He rubbed
his chin and grinned reminiscently. "There was a box across th’ track
that he had been using for a target. I asked him what it was an’ he
told me, an’ he said he couldn’t hit it. I sort of egged him on, not
believin’ him; an’ shore enough he couldn’t--an’, Hennery, it was near
as big as a house! I cut loose an’ made a sieve of it--you must ’a’
heard th’ shootin’? His eyes plumb stuck out, an’ we got to talkin’
shootin’. Finally he ups an’ asks me can I show his sister how to throw
a gun an’, seein’ my chance to learn somethin’ about her, I said I shore
could show anybody that wasn’t scared to death of one, an’ that had any
sense. ’How much will you charge for th’ lessons?’ says he. I had a
good chance to pick up some easy money, but that wasn’t what I was
playin’ for. I just wanted to get sort of friendly with her, an’ him,
too. I says, ’Nothin’.’ Well, we fixed it up, an’ today we goes off
practicin’--you should ’a’ seen that lunch, Hennery! I’m cussed near
envyin’ you!" He laughed contentedly, leaned back, and rubbed his
stomach.
"Well?" demanded Henry, grinning ruefully.
"Well," echoed Tex. "You know that sewin’ an’ crochetin’ is a whole lot
different from shootin’ a .45; an’ so does she, now. I reckon a .22
would ’most scare her to death. Did you ever shoot with yore eyes shut?
You don’t have to try: it can’t be done, an’ hit nothin’. Six-guns an’
wimmin wasn’t never made to mix; an’ they shore don’t. We ate up th’
lunch an’ started back ag’in, an’ I was just gettin’ set to swing th’
conversation in yore direction, carelesslike, but real careful, an’ see
what I could find out for you, when cussed if that C Bar coyote didn’t
come dustin’ up, an’ I don’t know any more than I did before. But I’m
riskin’ one thing, Hennery: I’m near shore she ain’t got nothin’ ag’in’
you; an’ on th’ way out, when I refers to you she speaks up quicklike,
with her nose turned up a little, an’ says: ’Henry Williams? Why, he’ll
be a rich man some day, when his uncle dies. Ain’t some folks born
lucky, Mr. Jones?’ Hennery, there ain’t none of ’em that are overlookin’
th’ good old pesos, U.S. You keep right on like you are; an’ save me a
front seat at th’ weddin’."
Henry sat back, buried in thought. He glanced at the huddled figure
near the door and then looked quickly into his companion’s bland eyes.
"Her brother’s dead set ag’in’ it. He knows he done me a dirty trick,
stealin’ my job, an’ like lots of folks, instead of hatin’ hisself, he
hates me. Human nature’s funny that way. So he can’t hit a box, hey?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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