Blood on the Verde River

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Book: Read Blood on the Verde River for Free Online
Authors: Dusty Richards
someone did know her?”
    â€œOne boy had seen her on the street several times and said she was real pretty.”
    Chet nodded. “There was a fight in Big Nose Kate’s. This guy had another facedown on the table and was hitting him in the head with his fist. Made me mad and I tried to separate them. The puncher kept trying to break by me, so I cold conked him with a haymaker.”
    â€œWow. What happened?”
    â€œLast I saw him, they had him laid out on his back in a wagon bed, trying to revive him.”
    â€œYou kill him?”
    â€œI don’t think so. But his name is Billy Bragg and he works for old man Clanton.”
    Jesus opened his brown eyes wide. “That is the big outlaw, huh?”
    â€œClanton is.”
    â€œWhat should we do?”
    â€œWhen JD comes back we’ll talk about it. I never asked, but does that six-gun of yours work?” Chet nodded toward the well-oiled looking side arm.
    â€œOh, sí. I can hit tin cans with it. I have practiced much with it.”
    â€œI hope you don’t ever need it, but these people we face will be mean and would kill you for ten cents.”
    â€œOh, I know that, señor.”
    They lounged on the porch waiting for JD. Jesus saw him coming. “There he is.”
    JD shook his head when he reached them. “I found Eclare. She had some cock and bull story how Bonnie Allen ran off with a cowboy.”
    â€œYou didn’t believe her?” Chet asked.
    â€œAw, she was so sold on herself, I really found her a boring liar.”
    â€œTell him about the fight,” Jesus said.
    Chet explained the incident in the saloon and JD agreed they’d have to be on their guard.
    â€œLet’s go find this famous diner and eat supper. You talk to anyone else in the parlor house besides Eclare?”
    â€œNo, they were all sleeping, except her. And I couldn’t shut her up.” JD shook his head in defeat.
    Chet and Jesus laughed at his obvious disgust over the experience.
    Nellie Cashman’s restaurant was impressive. Chet would have expected to find such an establishment in a major city. The hostess put their hats on a wall rack and promised they would be there when they were through with their meal. They filed to their table behind her. Grizzly-faced, dust-floured prospectors and men and women in formal dress ignored their passage, all busy eating or reading the fancy menus.
    Seated across from Chet, Jesus peered around from behind the menu. “I will have what you order.”
    Chet agreed amused, but he was somber when he realized that Jesus could not read.
    â€œSays here, oysters when available,” JD said. “How would they get them here?”
    Chet shook his head. Obviously the most sought after delicacy in the west, he once saw where such seafood was twelve dollars a pound when they made it to Preskitt. “Better ask the waiter.”
    They ordered sliced roast beef, potatoes, and sweet corn. Chet offered a short prayer before they ate and Jesus crossed himself after “Amen.” The rolls were made with yeast in the dough and they melted in their mouths. The coffee served in china cups was delicious and the cherry pie mouthwatering. The meal went smoothly.
    â€œWe better eat at a street vendor after this,” JD said, after wiping his mouth on a linen napkin.
    Chet laughed. “I was celebrating the three of us getting here.”
    Both of his men nodded that they approved of this place. Chet paid the bill for seven dollars and they went back to sleep in the livery their first night in Tombstone. A few gunshots woke him once and he decided that some drunk cowboy was taking target practice at the moon and went back to sleep in the sweet smelling alfalfa hay.
    In the morning, they saddled up and went to look for a place to stay. They found a rancher out on the flats west of town. His windmill by the corrals creaking in the wind, he shook their hands.
    â€œIra Hampton’s my

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