登陆注册
15441100000018

第18章 CHAPTER FIVE(5)

He stopped then to put on his shoes, made his way to the drift opening and listened again for voices or footsteps.-When he found the way clear he hurried out and back to the dugout.-The first thing he did was to fill his pipe and light it.-Even then the sonorous voice of the old woman intoning her dreadful proclamation against the world rang in his ears and sent occasional ripples of horror down his spine.-Seen through the window, she had looked a sad, lonely old lady who needed sympathy and help.-At closer range she was terrible.-Casey was trying to forget her by busying himself about the stove when Joe walked in unexpectedly.

Joe stood just inside the door, staring at Casey with a glassy look in his eyes.-Something in Joe's face warned Casey of impending events; but with that terrible old woman still fresh in his mind, Casey was in the mood to welcome distraction of any sort.-He shifted his hand in the sling so that his concealed weapons lay more comfortably therein, secure from detection, and waited.

Joe leaned forward, lifted an arm slowly and aimed a finger at Casey accusingly.

"Pap says that you're a Federal officer!" he began, waggling his finger at Casey.-"Pap thinks you come here spyin' around t' see what we're up to on this here butte.-Now, you can't pull nothin' like that!-You can't get away with it.

"Hank, he wants t' bump yuh off an' say nothin' to anybody.-Now, I come t' have it out with yuh.-If you're a Federal officer we're goin' t' settle with yuh an' take no chances.-Mart, he's more easy-goin' in some ways, on account of havin' his crazy ol' mother on 'is hands t' take care of.-Mart don't want no killin'--on account of his mother goin' loony when 'is dad got killed.-But Mart ain't here. Pap an' Hank, they been at me all mornin' t' let 'em bump yuh off.

"But Pap an' Hank, they're drunk, see?-I'm the only sober man left on the job.-So I come up here t' settle with yuh myself.

Takes a sober man with a level head t' settle these things.-Now, if you come up here spyin' an' snoopin', you git bumped off an' no argument about it.-Mart's got his mother t' take care of--an' we aim t' pertect Mart.-If you're a Federal officer, I want t' know it here an' now.-If yuh ain't, I want yuh t' sample some uh the out-kickin'est 'White Mule' yuh ever swallered.-Now which are yuh, and what yuh goin' t' do?-I want my answer here an' now, an' no argument an' no foolin'!"

Casey blinked but his mouth widened in a grin.-"Me, I never went lookin' fer nothin, I wouldn't put under my vest, Joe," he declared convincingly.-So that was it!-He was thinking against time. Moonshiners as well as would-be murderers they were--and Joe drunk and giving them away like a fool.-Casey wished that he knew where Hank and Paw were at this moment.-He hoped, too, that Joe was right --that Hank and Paw were drunk.-He'd have the three of them tied in a row before dark, in any case.-The thing to do now was to humor Joe along--leave it to Casey Ryan!

Joe was uncorking a small, flat bottle of pale liquor.-Now he held it out to Casey.-Casey took it, thinking he would pretend to drink, would urge Joe to take a drink; it would be simple, once he got Joe started.-But Joe had a few ideas of his own concerning the celebration.-He pulled a gun unexpectedly, leaned against the closed door to steady himself and aimed it full at Casey.

"In just two minutes I'm goin' t' shoot if that there bottle ain't empty," he stated gravely, nodding his head with intense pride in his ability to handle the situation.-"If you're a Federal officer, yuh won't dast t' drink.-If yuh ain't, you'll be almighty glad to. Anyway, it'll be settled one way or t'other.

Drink 'er down!"

Casey blinked again, but this time he did not grin.-He debated swiftly his chance of scaring Joe with the dynamite before Joe would shoot.-But Joe had his finger crooked with drunken solemnity upon the trigger.-The time for dynamite was not now.

"Pap an' Hank, they lap up anything an' call it good.-I claim that's got a back-action kick to it.-Drink 'er down!"

Casey drank 'er down.-It was like swallowing flames. It was a half-pint flask, and it was full when Casey, with Joe's eyes fixed upon him, tilted it and began to drink.-Under Joe's baleful glare Casey emptied the flask before he stopped.

Joe settled his shoulders comfortably against the doorway and watched Casey make for the water bucket.

"I claim that's the out-kickin'est stuff that ever was made on Black Butte.-How'd yuh like it?"

"All right," Casey bore witness, keeping his eyes fixed on Joe and the gun and trying his best to maintain a nonchalant manner.

"I'd call it purty fair hootch."

"It's GOOD hootch!" Joe declared impressively, apparently quite convinced that Casey was not a Federal officer.-"Can yuh feel the kick'to it?"

Casey backed until he sat on the edge of the table his good right hand supporting his left elbow outside the sling.-He grinned at Joe and while he still keenly realized that he was playing a part for the sole purpose of gaining somehow an advantage over Joe, he was conscious of a slight giddiness.-An unprejudiced observer would have noticed that his grin was not quite the old, Casey Ryan grin.-It was a shade foolish.

"Bet your life I can feel the kick!" he agreed, nodding his head.

"You can ask anybody."-Then Casey discovered something strange in Joe's appearance.-He lifted his head, held it very still and regarded Joe attentively.

"Say, Joe, what yuh tryin' to do with that six-gun?-Tryin' to write your name in the air with it?"

Joe looked inquiringly down at the gun, eyeing it as if it were a new and absolutely unknown object.-He satisfied himself apparently beyond all doubt that the gun was doing nothing it should not do, and finally turned his attention to Casey sitting on the table and grinning at him meaninglessly.

"Ain't writin' nothin'," Joe stated solemnly.-"It's yore eyes.

Gun's all right--yo'r seein' crooked.-It's the hootch.

Back-action kick to it.-Ain't that right?"

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 天字龙组

    天字龙组

    一场突如其来的雷暴,一块玄妙的五彩石,竟造就了四个无以伦比的异能少年,从此,绝密的特殊人类训练营里,又多了一个无敌团队——天字龙组。他们是:天王严庆,飞蛛冬平,魅影杨艳,金刚吴元。第一个绝密而险恶的任务:穿越平行空间,去往另一个时空。意外发生了!严庆来到了一个计划外的时空,所有的一切都毫无准备,毫无头绪,毫无对策。一切都必须随机应变。
  • 师父别来无恙

    师父别来无恙

    她,大安王朝赫赫有名的克夫公主;他,神秘莫测的世外高人。她喊他一声师父,原想着可以破掉克夫的命运,没想到各种奇怪的事情接踵而来——离奇死去的驸马、南疆蛊师的追杀,还有神秘的玉人传说……就连向来不好的桃花运也开始转变,先是当朝的肱骨之臣,再是清心寡欲的师父。随着真相一一浮出水面,事情却变得更加扑朔迷离……
  • 金陵望汉江

    金陵望汉江

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • tfboys你会爱上我

    tfboys你会爱上我

    她,邂逅了王源,随之又遇千玺小凯,一切的一切令她难以置信。天哪,她在做梦吗?当然,除了幸福,尾随她的还有噩梦,一连串的噩梦......
  • EXO救赎者

    EXO救赎者

    冥界?人界?魔界?哪里是我的归宿?而我又是谁?吴亦凡——你是在别人面前冷若冰霜,而在我面前温柔似水,你给了我生命,可你却又把我推进无尽的深渊鹿晗——遇见你……是幸还是不幸?朴灿烈——只要你想去,纵使前方,布满荆棘,我也愿意为你披荆斩棘边伯贤——若不想被利用,就成为掌握命运的强者吴世勋——遇见你,是我的宿命…前方等着我的是光明?还是更暗的深渊?
  • 宙域尊王

    宙域尊王

    当普通人突然拥有了各种游戏中的技能,整个世界开始疯狂。不趋同,不附和。书友群:573398512
  • 永不变的爱

    永不变的爱

    奶昔不想剧透,读者们可以进来看哦~写不好的话也要多多包涵
  • 石剑仙魂传

    石剑仙魂传

    什么?她居然在新婚之夜逃跑?狼牙做梦也没想到自己居然会误嫁黑羽魔君。没错,就是传说中的黑蛇。不多说了,逃命要紧。
  • 我穿越的那些年

    我穿越的那些年

    秦朝末年,九曜双星化凡,陈胜吴广大泽乡起义掀开反抗大秦王朝的序幕千年后,作为陈胜的后代,陈晗将如何抉择?失落的巫族文明,隐伏的乱界之物,神秘的九斗天纹……一个又一个谜团,在陈晗面前徐徐展开最终,陈晗在起点中文网留下了一本笔记,翻开第一页:记住,陈家的子孙,没有一个是孬种(二组A签作品,更新稳定,加时常爆更,放心收藏,求推荐,求支持!)
  • 伤寒寻源

    伤寒寻源

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。