Twin Guns (15 page)

Kirby's answering smile was almost lost in his four-day-old beard. "Howdy, gents. Didn't mean to be throwing my weight around. I just want to set Ringo's mind at peace. I'll tell him he's a man to ride the river with."

Josh said dryly, "Do that, and you may have to marry him. He thinks you're a man who rides tall in the saddle. Pay him a compliment like that, and he might bust wide open."

Maria went out with the tray, and Doc took her place. He slipped a thermometer between Kirby's lips and seized his wrist. In a couple of moments he beamed.

"Temperature normal, pulse normal," he said. "You sure take a lot of killing, boy. For a man shot plumb through the bread basket, you come back fast. If you don't know it, Lon Peters had a lot to do with your being here. If he hadn't cleaned the wound with whiskey, you might have had a bad infection. And his bandage kept you from bleeding to death during the trip from Galeyville."

"Someone mention my name? Hope something nice was said for a change." The sheriff ambled into the room, clutching a cup of coffee. "Maria's brew is wonderful. My old lady…" He caught Jen's twinkle. "My old lady's coffee is only a mite better." He walked to the bed. "It's my turn to ask you to shake hands, boy. You done real good." Having delivered this accolade, he took a sip of coffee.

"You people hurry up and git," said Doc. "This boy is better, but he's not out of the woods yet by a long shot."

"Let me ask a few questions first," Kirby begged. "There's a lot of things I don't know yet. Sheriff, how about the gang… the Syndicate? Did we clean it up?"

Lon sighed. "This Wagon crew is the darndest bunch of hombres. Of course you cleaned up the gang, to the last man." His voice grew plaintive. "But I still don't see why you couldn't have let me in on the fun."

Josh looked at him and said wickedly, "Maybe you're gettin' too old!"

The sheriff glared at him, then exploded, "Old? Why, dang your buttons, you was a grown man before I started to school, you old goat." He caught their gleeful smiles and grinned ruefully. "Maybe I am gettin' old to let a joker rile me like that." He turned his attention to Kirby.

"Don't want to tire you out, but there's one more thing. We searched the saloon and King's room. We found a stack of money and the dangdest thing you ever heard about. King must have had the soul of a bookkeeper. We found a ledger in which he had been writing down every dollar he made, all crooked, for months. The money he won from Bill… cattle money and the five thousand he borrowed from Burch… were all entered. And a lot more. He was well on his way to bein' a rich man… or a rich skunk.

"Anyway, I figger Bill's money belongs to you. The rest will go to those pore devils he cheated. Their names and the amounts they lost are all down in the books."

Kirby listened in amazement. "Lon, I don't know if this will be legal or not. If it is, let's pay off the gambling money first. But I don't want all of Bill's money. Some of the smaller spreads who were rustled are almost out of business. Let's add up the money and divide it equally among us all. I don't need it. All I want is the old Wagon together again. It just might save some smaller ranches from going under, and there's lots of kids on those small outfits. I believe Bill would like us to do that. What do you think?"

Doc Williams cleared his throat huskily, and Josh's sniffle was almost a snort. The sheriff studied Kirby's face, his faded old eyes shining. Finally he sighed, the sound coming from his boots.

"I'll be dad-burned if you ain't gettin' more like old Muddy every day." He blew his nose violently in an equally violent red bandana. He turned his gaze on Jen. "Hope you know you got yourself quite a man here," he said. "I always liked what Spanish people say about such a feller. They say he's
muy hombre!
Wouldn't you say so?" he inquired of the slender girl kneeling by the bed.

Her eyes were bright with unshed tears as she looked up to answer the sheriff's question.

"
Muy hombre!
" she whispered.