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BarbyAnn was on the steps, and I walked toward her. Ben went on into the
bunkhouse. She looked white and strained. Her eyes were unnaturally bright and
her hands trembled a little. "Talon," she said, "do you want to make five
hundred dollars?"
Startled, I stared at her.
"I said five hundred dollars," she repeated. "That's more than you'd make in
a year, even at fighting wages forBalch and Saddler."
"That's a lot of money," I agreed. "How do I do it?"
She stared at me, her lips tightening. At that moment she looked anything but
pretty. "You kill a man," she said. "You kill RogerBalch ."
Chapter 16
WELL, I JUST stood there.Barby Ann didn't look to be the same woman. Her skin
was drawn tight, and there was such hatred in her face as I'd rarely seen on
any man's, and never on a woman's.
"Kill him," she said, "and I'll give you five hundred dollars!"
"You've got me wrong," I said. "I don't kill for hire."
"You're a gunfighter! We all know you're a gunfighter. You've killed men
before!" she protested.
"I've used a gun in my own defense, and in defense of property. I never hired
my gun and never will. You've got the wrong man. Anyway," I said, more gently,
"you're mad now, but you don't want him dead. You wouldn't want to kill a
man."
"Like hell, I wouldn't!" Her eyes were pinpointed with fury. "I'd like to see
him dead right here on the floor! I'd stomp in his face!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am."
"Damn you! Damn you for a yellow-bellied coward! You're afraid of him!
Afraid! It's just like he says, every damn one of you is scared of him!"
"I don't think so, ma'am. None of us have any reason to jump RogerBalch . I
don't think anybody likes him too well, but that's no reason to kill him."
"You're scared!" she repeated contemptuously. "You're all scared!"
"You'll have to excuse me, ma'am." I backed away. "I'm no killer."
She swore at me, then turned and went into the house. Fuentes came to the
door of the bunkhouse as I went in. "What was that all about?" he asked,
curiously.
I told him.
He looked at me thoughtfully,then shrugged. "I guess he told her he was
through. Or that he was marrying AnnTimberly ."
"Marryingwho ?" I turned on him.
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"He's been courting her. Going to call, setting out with her ... Everybody
knows that. I guessBarby Ann found out and faced him with it."
Joe Hinge had been listening. "She'll get over it," he said, carelessly.
"I don't think so," I said, after a minute. "I think we'd better tie down for
squalls. The way she feels now, if she can't get somebody to kill him, she'll
do it herself."
Hauling mydufflebag from under my bunk, I got out a shirt that needed mending
and started to stitch up a tear in it. Most cowhands have a needle and thread
somewhere, but this was a buckskin shirt, and I was stitching it with rawhide.
Hinge watched me for a minute. "Hell," he said, "you do that like you was a
tailor!"
"Me? I learned watching Ma," I said. "She was handy."
He looked at me thoughtfully."Where you from, Talon? You never said."
It was a question rarely asked in western country. So I just said, "That's
right, I never did." He flushed a little, and started to rise and, not
minding, I said, "Up north a ways ...Colorado ."
"Good country," he commented, and went outside.
Fuentes was stretched out on his bunk. Now he sat up and tugged on his boots.
"I've got a bad feeling," he said. "I feel like amossyhorn steer with a
stormcomin ' up."
I looked at him, then forked out my knife and cut the rawhide, tucking in an
end and drawing it tight. "Me, too," I agreed.
Ben Roper rode into the yard and stepped down, stripping the gear from his
horse. Then he shook out a loop and roped a fresh one. "Now where d' you
suppose he'sgoin '?" I asked Tony.
"He feels it, too," Fuentes said. "He's justgettin ' ready."
BarbyAnn came out from the house and called to Ben. "I forgot. Harley wants
one of you boys should spell him. He's got to ride over home."
Fuentes started to rise but I waved him back. "I'll do it."
Outside, I told Ben. "Long'syou got that rope in your hands, fish out one for
me. That gray gelding will do. I'll take over for Harley."
"You just come in," he protested.
"Who didn't?" I grinned at him. "I got to get out of that bunkhouse.
I'mgettin ' cabin fever."
He put a loop on the gray,who quieted down when he felt the rope. It was a
good horse, one I'd never ridden but had seen around. I threw my saddle on him
and cinched up.
Ben stood by, coiling his rope. He kept looking at me, and finally he said,
"Joe tells me you had words withBarby Ann. That she wanted you to kill
RogerBalch ."
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"Uh-huh."
"How much did she offer?"
"Five hundred."
"Whew!" he glanced at me. "She's really mad!"
"Mad enough to do it herself." I glanced around. Nobody was close to us. "I
wonder if her paknows? "
Ben Roper finished coiling the rope. "Hedon't miss much," he commented.
"Seems like he would, but he knows everything, seems like."
Harley was waiting by the herd when I came down. "Took you long enough," he
said.
"She just told me." I didn't like his attitude very much.
He just turned his mount and rode out of there, not toward the ranch, but
south toward where his place was, I guess. I walked my horse around the herd,
bunching them a little. They had fed well, and watered, and now they were
settling down for the night, although it was just evening. A bit later one of
the other boys would be out to help, but the cattle were quiet enough, liking
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