bottle of Old Stump-Blaster dwelling in the wood-pile of the shiny-butt’s sudden flow of hospitality.
With that in mind, and knowing something of Muldoon’s way when roused. Hack turned to take a hurried departure. Before he had taken two strides he found his progress halted as surely as Eileen Tradle’s had been earlier, through the same person though in a less gentle manner. The lash of Calamity’s whip coiled around his fat neck and dragged him back on his heels. Angrily he turned to face the girl as she bore down on him. His anger oozed from him when he saw her change the whip handle to her left hand and draw her gun. While Calamity could not truthfully claim to be fast with a gun—in the West one needed to be able to draw and shoot in at least three-quarters of a second and the best Calamity could manage was a full second—she sure as hell looked fast to Hack.
Stepping forward, Calamity stabbed out the barrel of her Navy and sent it deep into Hack’s lard-soft belly.
‘Talk, Fatso!’ she said. ‘Talk up a storm!’
‘Huh?’ Hack gurgled. ‘Ooof!’
The first exclamation had been to indicate his lack of understanding, the second came when the Navy’s barrel jabbed home again.
‘Talk, you lard-gutted shiny-butt!’ Calamity growled. ‘Tell Paddy why you fed him rot-gut whisky and stirred him up agin me.’
‘Now that’s a good point, Hack,’ Muldoon said thoughtfully, rubbing his sore butt-end. ‘I never remembered you being generous afore.’
‘Was I you. I’d talk up, hombre,’ Resin commented, ‘afore ole Calam pokes that ‘Navy clear through your backbone belly first.’
‘I—I don’t—ooof!’
‘I’ll tell you why!’ Calamity snapped, after ending his protests with another savage jab. ‘It’s ‘cause of what happened on the river bank this morning.’
‘And what did happen on the river bank this morning, darlin’?’ asked Muldoon eyeing Hack with renewed interest.
‘Ask him,’ replied Calamity.
‘Now you’ve got a real smart point there, gal.’
On hearing Muldoon’s reply, Hack decided the time had come to depart, and had been passed several belly-aching minutes before. The whip’s lash had come free and so Hack turned and fled. Letting out a bellow, Muldoon took after him and most of the soldiers followed to see the fun.
The crisis had been postponed and Calamity decided to make an end to it. When he returned, Muldoon might still retain his amatory interests and Resin would not take kindly to that. So Calamity figured to remove temptation from Muldoon’s way.
‘That hurt?’ she asked as Resin rubbed his whip-stung rump.
‘Stings like hell.’
‘I got me a real good cure for what ails you,’ she told him, ‘only I can’t do it here.’
‘Then let’s go someplace where we can.’
‘I thought you’d never ask.’
Together they walked from the camp circle and into the darkness. At dawn Resin returned to the wagon he shared with the wagon boss’s outfit. His rump no longer hurt him and although he had missed the end of the dance, Resin had no complaints, Calamity’s cure had been well worth it.
CHAPTER FIVE
MISS CANARY INCREASES AN OFFICER’S LADY’S ENMITY
‘THOSE are my bags, the ones marked with my name,’ Eileen Tradle told Calamity as they stood by the lead wagon of the train. ‘I suppose you can read?’
Eileen would never know how close she came to getting hand-scalped at that moment. It was the morning after the dance and the wagon train’s travellers prepared to move on. At such a moment Calamity’s temper had never been the best and she did not take kindly to sarcasm. The harnessing of a six-horse team took time and Calamity wanted to get her guest’s baggage loaded so as not to delay the start of Killem’s outfit. Due to loading the stores on the previous day, Killem failed to collect Eileen’s baggage earlier, but had sent Calamity and two of his men to collect it as soon as they hitched up their teams in the
With that in mind, and knowing something of Muldoon’s way when roused. Hack turned to take a hurried departure. Before he had taken two strides he found his progress halted as surely as Eileen Tradle’s had been earlier, through the same person though in a less gentle manner. The lash of Calamity’s whip coiled around his fat neck and dragged him back on his heels. Angrily he turned to face the girl as she bore down on him. His anger oozed from him when he saw her change the whip handle to her left hand and draw her gun. While Calamity could not truthfully claim to be fast with a gun—in the West one needed to be able to draw and shoot in at least three-quarters of a second and the best Calamity could manage was a full second—she sure as hell looked fast to Hack.
Stepping forward, Calamity stabbed out the barrel of her Navy and sent it deep into Hack’s lard-soft belly.
‘Talk, Fatso!’ she said. ‘Talk up a storm!’
‘Huh?’ Hack gurgled. ‘Ooof!’
The first exclamation had been to indicate his lack of understanding, the second came when the Navy’s barrel jabbed home again.
‘Talk, you lard-gutted shiny-butt!’ Calamity growled. ‘Tell Paddy why you fed him rot-gut whisky and stirred him up agin me.’
‘Now that’s a good point, Hack,’ Muldoon said thoughtfully, rubbing his sore butt-end. ‘I never remembered you being generous afore.’
‘Was I you. I’d talk up, hombre,’ Resin commented, ‘afore ole Calam pokes that ‘Navy clear through your backbone belly first.’
‘I—I don’t—ooof!’
‘I’ll tell you why!’ Calamity snapped, after ending his protests with another savage jab. ‘It’s ‘cause of what happened on the river bank this morning.’
‘And what did happen on the river bank this morning, darlin’?’ asked Muldoon eyeing Hack with renewed interest.
‘Ask him,’ replied Calamity.
‘Now you’ve got a real smart point there, gal.’
On hearing Muldoon’s reply, Hack decided the time had come to depart, and had been passed several belly-aching minutes before. The whip’s lash had come free and so Hack turned and fled. Letting out a bellow, Muldoon took after him and most of the soldiers followed to see the fun.
The crisis had been postponed and Calamity decided to make an end to it. When he returned, Muldoon might still retain his amatory interests and Resin would not take kindly to that. So Calamity figured to remove temptation from Muldoon’s way.
‘That hurt?’ she asked as Resin rubbed his whip-stung rump.
‘Stings like hell.’
‘I got me a real good cure for what ails you,’ she told him, ‘only I can’t do it here.’
‘Then let’s go someplace where we can.’
‘I thought you’d never ask.’
Together they walked from the camp circle and into the darkness. At dawn Resin returned to the wagon he shared with the wagon boss’s outfit. His rump no longer hurt him and although he had missed the end of the dance, Resin had no complaints, Calamity’s cure had been well worth it.
CHAPTER FIVE
MISS CANARY INCREASES AN OFFICER’S LADY’S ENMITY
‘THOSE are my bags, the ones marked with my name,’ Eileen Tradle told Calamity as they stood by the lead wagon of the train. ‘I suppose you can read?’
Eileen would never know how close she came to getting hand-scalped at that moment. It was the morning after the dance and the wagon train’s travellers prepared to move on. At such a moment Calamity’s temper had never been the best and she did not take kindly to sarcasm. The harnessing of a six-horse team took time and Calamity wanted to get her guest’s baggage loaded so as not to delay the start of Killem’s outfit. Due to loading the stores on the previous day, Killem failed to collect Eileen’s baggage earlier, but had sent Calamity and two of his men to collect it as soon as they hitched up their teams in the
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