open; somebody fell to the floor with a crash.
By a dim reflected light in the room I could see a bed topped with a gray blanket, the brass bedstead gleaming dully, a dresser with a white bowl and pitcher. Stepping back, I held my gun on the fallen man and said quietly, “Get up slowly and light a light. I can see you well enough to shoot, and I’ve just killed one man.”
Whether that was true or not, I did not know, but I figured to see where I was and who I was with.
“Don’t shoot! For God’s sake, don’t shoot!”
Slowly the man got up, struck a match, and lit the kerosene lamp. Then he turned to face me…a perfect stranger.
“Mister,” I said, “I’d no right to bust in. I was hunting Kid Reese, Bob Heseltine, and them.”
“They pulled their freight,” he said. “Heseltine, the girl, and another gent. One of them was layin’ for you.”
“You knew that?”
“Heard talk.” He jerked his head toward the wall. “Nobody builds walls thick enough these days. I heard some talk, but I’d no idea what it meant. Then when the girl come up the steps, I seen her. Right off, she and two others left.”
“How?”
“Yonder.” He indicated the balcony. “A feller can step from this balcony to the next one pretty easy. There’s a stairway down.”
I took up the lamp and went down the stairs. I could hear voices, and folks coming along the street.
The dead man lay sprawled at the foot of the steps—only he wasn’t dead. I’d put two bullets in him, all right, but he was alive and staring up at me.
“Doc,” I said, and I still held the gun, “I want my money.”
“They…they got it.”
“You’re not carrying any of it?” I kicked the shotgun and bent over him.
Just then the door opened and Duggan came in. Con Judy was with him.
“I think this man is carrying some of my money,” I said.
“Take it off him then,” Duggan said. Looking down at Doc Sites he said, “You shot high, boy. You got to watch that.”
“It was in the dark, and when he came out of that door I dropped on the steps. He’d counted wrong and figured I was one step higher.”
Opening Sites’s coat, I saw a thick money-belt and took it from him. Sites lay still, staring at me. “Help me!” he said hoarsely. “I’m dying.”
“My pa died,” I said, “because of you and them.”
Duggan was sizing up the situation. Doc Sites’s position, the place where the double charge of buckshot had hit the step and my own bullet holes in Sites made it clear enough.
The man into whose room I had burst came down the steps, slipping his suspenders over his shoulders. They’d been hanging loose when I had him light the lamp.
“It’s like this here man says,” he told them. “I was fixin’ for bed when I heard all this sudden scurryin’ about and seen them take off across the balcony.
“Somebody—it must’ve been the wounded man—went down the steps in the dark an’ I heard the door close at the foot of the steps. Now that there is an empty room, and it didn’t seem right, somehow, a man goin’ into an empty room in the dark.
“Then I heard this man, comin’ cautious-like. I opened the door for a peek, then closed it. Heard the shots and opened it again.”
The smell of gunpowder hung in the narrow hall. Sites still stared up at us. “You goin’ to let me die?”
“Serve you right,” Duggan said, “but I’ll see you’re fetched.”
I showed him the money-belt. “I’m taking this along,” I said. “It’s part of my money.”
Duggan shrugged. “Lucky to get yourself part of it, but was I you I’d take after those others.”
Back at the Clarendon I opened the money-belt and counted out the gold. One hundred pieces—one hundred twenty-dollar gold pieces, but it was only a small part of what I had lost.
“Either they haven’t divided it up even,” I said, “or they have and Doc cached most of his share.”
“We’d better search his room,” Con said thoughtfully, “and right
By a dim reflected light in the room I could see a bed topped with a gray blanket, the brass bedstead gleaming dully, a dresser with a white bowl and pitcher. Stepping back, I held my gun on the fallen man and said quietly, “Get up slowly and light a light. I can see you well enough to shoot, and I’ve just killed one man.”
Whether that was true or not, I did not know, but I figured to see where I was and who I was with.
“Don’t shoot! For God’s sake, don’t shoot!”
Slowly the man got up, struck a match, and lit the kerosene lamp. Then he turned to face me…a perfect stranger.
“Mister,” I said, “I’d no right to bust in. I was hunting Kid Reese, Bob Heseltine, and them.”
“They pulled their freight,” he said. “Heseltine, the girl, and another gent. One of them was layin’ for you.”
“You knew that?”
“Heard talk.” He jerked his head toward the wall. “Nobody builds walls thick enough these days. I heard some talk, but I’d no idea what it meant. Then when the girl come up the steps, I seen her. Right off, she and two others left.”
“How?”
“Yonder.” He indicated the balcony. “A feller can step from this balcony to the next one pretty easy. There’s a stairway down.”
I took up the lamp and went down the stairs. I could hear voices, and folks coming along the street.
The dead man lay sprawled at the foot of the steps—only he wasn’t dead. I’d put two bullets in him, all right, but he was alive and staring up at me.
“Doc,” I said, and I still held the gun, “I want my money.”
“They…they got it.”
“You’re not carrying any of it?” I kicked the shotgun and bent over him.
Just then the door opened and Duggan came in. Con Judy was with him.
“I think this man is carrying some of my money,” I said.
“Take it off him then,” Duggan said. Looking down at Doc Sites he said, “You shot high, boy. You got to watch that.”
“It was in the dark, and when he came out of that door I dropped on the steps. He’d counted wrong and figured I was one step higher.”
Opening Sites’s coat, I saw a thick money-belt and took it from him. Sites lay still, staring at me. “Help me!” he said hoarsely. “I’m dying.”
“My pa died,” I said, “because of you and them.”
Duggan was sizing up the situation. Doc Sites’s position, the place where the double charge of buckshot had hit the step and my own bullet holes in Sites made it clear enough.
The man into whose room I had burst came down the steps, slipping his suspenders over his shoulders. They’d been hanging loose when I had him light the lamp.
“It’s like this here man says,” he told them. “I was fixin’ for bed when I heard all this sudden scurryin’ about and seen them take off across the balcony.
“Somebody—it must’ve been the wounded man—went down the steps in the dark an’ I heard the door close at the foot of the steps. Now that there is an empty room, and it didn’t seem right, somehow, a man goin’ into an empty room in the dark.
“Then I heard this man, comin’ cautious-like. I opened the door for a peek, then closed it. Heard the shots and opened it again.”
The smell of gunpowder hung in the narrow hall. Sites still stared up at us. “You goin’ to let me die?”
“Serve you right,” Duggan said, “but I’ll see you’re fetched.”
I showed him the money-belt. “I’m taking this along,” I said. “It’s part of my money.”
Duggan shrugged. “Lucky to get yourself part of it, but was I you I’d take after those others.”
Back at the Clarendon I opened the money-belt and counted out the gold. One hundred pieces—one hundred twenty-dollar gold pieces, but it was only a small part of what I had lost.
“Either they haven’t divided it up even,” I said, “or they have and Doc cached most of his share.”
“We’d better search his room,” Con said thoughtfully, “and right
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