Read Reilly's Luck (1970) for Free Online

walked over to Val, who was standing by himself. He was half a head taller than Val, and sun-browned and tough-looking. Val felt vaguely uneasy, but he did not know why.
    "I think you're a sissy, and I'm going to wallop you in the dust."
    Now, one of the things Val had learned from Will Reilly was not to talk in such a situation. If you were going to fight, you must land the first blow.
    He doubled his fist and swung hard. The blow was quick and it was totally unexpected. It landed on the bigger boy's cheekbone, and then Val threw a second punch, which was to the body. The bigger boy backed up and sat down hard.
    Will Reilly stepped over and caught Val by the arm. "That's enough now. Let him alone."
    The other boy was up, his eyes blazing. "You turn him loose, mister. I'll show him!"
    "You just be glad that I don't turn him loose," Will said. Then he tipped his hat to the woman at the table. "I am sorry, ma'am, but boys will be boys."
    With a hand on Val's shoulder, he walked him outside and to the end of the overhang, away from the others.
    "I suppose you think you won that fight?" he queried, giving Val a quizzical look.
    "Yes, sir. I knocked him down, sir."
    "You did put him down, but he was surprised and off balance. You did not win the fight. I won it for you."
    Val stared at him.
    "He would have whipped you, Val. He is a little older, a little bigger, and a whole lot tougher. That boy has worked hard all his life, and he has nerve. I could see that as he started to get up.
    "Understand, you did the right thing. He was pushing you. He was hunting trouble. You hit him right, but not hard enough, and the first punch should have been in the belly. The second blow was not hard enough to hurt him. He would have whipped you, Val."
    Val was unconvinced.
    "The time will come when you have to take a licking, Val, so just see that you take it like a man. No whimpering, no crying--at least, not until you're alone.
    "I did not want you to take that licking now, so I stopped it. I've only taught you a little, and in not a very serious way, but I see the time has come. The next town where we stop will be the beginning of some real training."
    The stage was loading. Val walked out and got on with Will. There was a moment before they got into the stage when one of the riflemen nodded, "Howdy, Will."
    Reilly glanced at him, then nodded, "How are you, Bridger. Been a long time."
    "Long time, Will." He gestured to the lean, slope-shouldered man with him. "This here's Bob Sponseller. He s from Australia."
    They shook hands, and Sponseller measured him with cool gray eyes. "You ever been in Sydney, Mr. Reilly?"
    Will Reilly smiled. "Why, that's a possibility, Mr. Sponseller, it is indeed; but then there are a lot of Reillys in Australia, no doubt."
    "Aye, but there was one a few years back had himself a fuss with the Larrikins down in Argyll Cut when the Cut was a new thing."
    "What's the Larrikins?" Bridger asked.
    "It was a name for the street gangs," Sponseller said, "and they had a running feud with the sailors ashore from the ships. There was this young chap named Reilly who set his cap for a girl on Playfair Street, a girl one of the Larrikin chiefs had a preference for. There was a brawl, they say, that started with the two of them, and ended with half of Sydney fighting."
    "That is quite a story," Reilly said. "Has that man Reilly been back again?"
    "He daren't go back. That's one man they have their eyes ready for, and after their eyes, their fists and clubs."
    Will chuckled. "Then if he goes back he had better carry a gun."
    Sponseller smiled grimly. "Now, that would be a likely thing to do."
    Sponseller mounted the box with the driver, and Bridger Downs got inside. The whip cracked and the stage started to move. The boy Val had fought and his mother rode on the seat facing Will and Val. Bridger rode beside Val, while the miner and the man in the business suit sat on the seat in the middle.
    It was twenty miles to Tres Alamos, where