Read Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 08 - Sudden Takes The Trail(1940) for Free Online

I see Toler here a while
back?” The butcher’s face contradicted the too hasty denial. “Well, I must get
some better glasses. I’d ‘a’ sworn ”
                 “Now
I think again, he did stop as he was passin’,” Cleaver corrected, but the other
appeared to have lost interest in Mister Toler’s movements.
                 “Mrs.
Gray is a good cook, but the finest in the world couldn’t make boot-leather
appetizin’,” he remarked. “Yu supply Mullins, don’t you?”
                 “Yeah,
but I don’t play favourites.”
                 “Shore,
but it would help him if got the prime cuts an’ she on’y had the leavin’s,” the
marshal reflected aloud. He saw that he had hit the mark, and added meaningly, “I’m
aimin’ to feed reg’lar at the Widow’s, an’ my teeth ain’t made o’ steel. Understan’?”
                 “I
can fix that by sendin’ her a special for you,” the tradesman said eagerly.
                 “Fix
nothin’—yu don’t play favourites—an’ I ain’t askin’ yu to. Yu’ll make ‘em all
specials.”
                 “But
Jake’s my biggest buyer.”
                 “Mrs.
Gray’ll be that soon, an’ if she don’t get good meat
in future, I’ll have to go into the butcherin’ husiness my own self.” On the
following morning, soon after noon, Sudden contrived to meet Toler on his way
to the eating-house. With a surly look, the man would have brushed past, but
the officer stopped him.
                 “Jake’ll
have to do without yore custom to-day,” he said. “Yo’re feedin’ at the Widow’s.”
                 “Like
hell I am,” was the retort. “I’ve had some.”
                 “An’
left without payin’, which is dishonest.”
                 “I didn’t eat nothin’.”
                 “Yu
bent that steak considerable—just naturally ruined it, in fact,” the marshal
said gravely.
                 “Bent
it, yeah, an’ that was hard to do,” Toler replied. “A dawg couldn’t ‘a’ got
teeth into it.”
                 “ Which accounts for yore failure. Anyways, yu ordered a meal
an’ she supplied one; what yu do with it is yore affair. Yu likewise caused a
ruckus an’ come near bustin’ a chair, thus committin’ a breach o’ the peace.
Now, either yu apologize, pay for that meal an’ eat another, or, well, the
calaboose is empty an’ I’m afraid yu’ll find it lonesome.”
                 “I’ll
see you”
                 “Resistin’
the law—that entitles me to blow yore light out,” the marshal said. “March.”
                 The
badgered man’s eyes bulged; in some mysterious manner one of the speaker’s guns
had leapt from its holster and was pointed at the pit of his stomach. If the
thumb holding back the hammer was relaxed—the marshal had no use for triggers.
. Toler did not pursue the thought. The lady’s eyes widened when they entered,
but her welcoming smile was for both.
                 “Mister
Toler figures he was a mite hasty in his judgment; I’ve persuaded him to give
yu another trial,” Sudden explained.
                 Nothing
more was said until the business of feeding was finished, and then the
unwilling customer sat back with a sigh of satisfaction.
                 “That’s
the best feed I’ve had in years, an’ I’m right sorry I was rude to you, ma’am,”
he said. “I expect I did oughta blamed yore butcher.” The little woman’s face
flushed with pleasure.
                 “Please
don’t say another word,” she begged. “Perhaps it was conceit, but I did think I
could prepare a meal.”
                 “I’ll
wallop the linin’ out’n any fella who sez different,” he told her.
                 In
the street, the convert pushed