CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Dust cloud to the west of us, Johnny,” Dave Quarrels said.
“I see it,” Johnny Teague said. “Looks like a herd on the move.”
“Ain’t the Talbot ranch over that way?” Quarrels said.
Crystal Casey drew rein beside the two men. “Yes, that’s the Talbot range. Why would they move cattle at this time of the year?”
Teague said, “Well it ain’t Apaches lifting a few head, so it’s probably rustlers.”
“Any profit in it for us, Johnny?” Slim Porter said.
Teague shook his head. “Nah, I was never much interested in rustling cows. I don’t like them that much. We’ll show some professional courtesy and leave them rustlers to their work.”
“Listen,” Crystal said. “I hear shooting.”
“Yeah, so do I,” Teague said. “Seems like the Talbot hands have caught up with their stolen herd. I wonder if Luna Talbot is there?”
“I reckon she’s still searching for her mine in the Cornudas or digging out gold already,” Crystal said.
Teague said, “I hope she’s found it before we get there. Save us some time and work.”
“The shooting has stopped,” said Daphne Loveshade, now Dumont.
“Time we were on our way,” Teague said. “We’re wasting daylight.”
The two women fell in behind Teague and then Slim Porter, leading the mustang packhorse, fell back to join them.
“What do you think, Slim,” Crystal said. “Will Johnny share the gold we find?”
“If we find it,” Porter said. “But if there’s gold to be found, I’m sure Johnny will split it up in equal shares, and that includes you . . . ah . . . Miss Dumont.”
The girl smiled. “I could be a rich whore.”
Porter laughed. “Lady, if you’re rich you won’t need to be a whore.”
“I know, but even if I’m rich I’d like to keep busy,” Daphne said.
Crystal and Porter laughed at that.
The girl was genuinely perplexed. “What did I say that’s so funny?”
“Nothing, nothing at all,” Porter said. “I’m sure you’re going to make a mighty interesting whore, rich or not.”
Crystal looked at Teague, Dave Quarrels, and Townes Pierce who were riding twenty yards ahead of her. As he always did, Juan Sanchez was out front on point. “Slim, I don’t want Johnny to hear this, but if Mrs. Talbot has found the mine, will there be a gun battle?”
“You mean when Johnny takes it? Yeah, I think that’s possible. But maybe he and Mrs. Talbot can reach some kind of agreement.”
“To share the gold, you mean?” Crystal said.
“Yeah, they may work something out, so it might not come to shooting.” Slim’s smile was grim. “Right now, after what happened with Arch Storm and them, I think Johnny has had a bellyful of gunfighting. At least for a spell.”
“I certainly hope so,” Crystal said. “I wouldn’t like it if something bad happened to Mrs. Talbot.”
“I’m sure Johnny wouldn’t like it either,” Porter said. “We’ll wait until the cards are dealt and play our hand from there.”
* * *
The day was moving toward dusk when Johnny Teague and the others rode up on the Cornudas Mountains. The evening promised to be dreary. Gray clouds dominated the sky and there had been a steady drizzle for the past hour.
“Smoke rising,” Teague said, drawing rein.
“The Talbot woman’s campfire, you think, Johnny?” Dave Quarrels said.
“Seems like,” Teague said.
“How do we play it?” Quarrels said.
Teague considered that for a few moments, then said, “We ride in grinning, like we’re visiting kinfolk. Let Luna Talbot make the next move.”
“Johnny, she ain’t gonna welcome us with open arms like we was kissin’ kin,” Quarrels said. “She’ll know we’re there because of the mine.”
“Which maybe she ain’t found yet,” Teague said. “Maybe she’ll welcome the help.” He turned in the saddle. “Hey, Crystal, how will Mrs. Talbot react when she sees us?”
“She’ll either offer us coffee or shoot us. Take your pick.”
“My money is on the coffee,” Teague said.
“Not mine,” Crystal said. “Mrs. Talbot can be a hardcase when she feels like it.”
“So can I.” He kneed his horse forward. “Let’s go find out which way the wind blows.”
Teague found out in a hurry when a volley of rifle fire kicked up dirt around him and filled the air with angry hornets. “What the hell!” he yelled, fighting his restive horse. “They’re shooting at us.”
“Just found that out, huh, Johnny?” Crystal said.
Teague studied the drifts of gun smoke along the rocky slope of the nearest mountain. “Five shooting. Back up everybody, I ain’t riding across two hundred yards of open ground into rifle fire.”
After retreating out of range, he said, “Crystal, go talk to Luna Talbot. She won’t shoot at a woman, and she knows you. Tell her we’re friendly. Tell her anything you like that gets her to stop shooting.”
“I quit her, remember,” Crystal said. “She might plug me out of spite. Besides, there are four other people shooting.”
“And I bet it’s them damned Patterson stage men,” Quarrels said. “Shotgun guards are always handy with a gun.”
“They won’t shoot at a woman,” Teague said. “Now give it a try, Crystal.”
“Johnny, if they put a bullet in me, I swear to God I’ll come back and haunt you.” She took off her hat, shook out her long hair, and finger-combed it over her shoulders. “Now I look like a woman. I hope.”
“Crystal, you could show your tits,” Daphne said, her face serious. “Then they’ll know you’re a woman for sure.”
“The hair is enough,” Crystal said, grimacing. “Thanks for the suggestion, though.”
That pleased Daphne and it showed in her smile. “I always have good ideas.”
Crystal glanced at the gloomy sky. “It’s getting dark, and this damned rain doesn’t help. I hope they can see me well enough to recognize me as a female.”
“They’ll see you all right,” Slim Porter said. “A pretty girl like you.”
“Well, here goes.” Looking closely at the mountain, Crystal urged her horse forward. “I sure hope you aren’t nursing any hard feelings, Mrs. Talbot.”
She rode out waving, smiling, a sweet, attractive girl coming for a friendly visit. At least Crystal hoped that’s how she looked. But her hopes were shattered when gunfire again erupted from the mountain’s slope. She turned and galloped back in a hail of bullets.
“She tried to kill me!” Crystal said after she’d reined her horse to a skidding stop. “She tried to shoot me right out of the saddle. For a minute there, I thought I was a goner. Mrs. Talbot can sure hold a grudge.”
Teague shook his head in disappointment. “It didn’t work, did it?”
“No, it didn’t work,” Crystal said, her eyes blazing. “Johnny, don’t ever ask me to do something like that again.”
Townes Pierce and Slim Porter looked glum, and then Dave Quarrels asked the question that was on their minds. “Where do we go from here, Johnny?”
“It seems that Luna Talbot is mighty anxious to keep folks away from the Cornudas. That tells me she’s found the mine and discovered gold in it. Now all we have to do is take it away from her, or at least make her give us our fair share.”
“And how do we do that?” Quarrels said.
“I’ll study on it,” Teague said. “I’ve never been one for nighttime gunfighting, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some walking in the dark. Let me think it through. In the meantime we’ll camp here. Rustle up anything that will burn and put on the coffee and bacon. I’m mighty hungry.” He looked up at the dark sky. “At least the rain’s stopped.”