Taggart (1959) by Louis L'amour Page B

and still in the half-light of the room, at once ready and at ease.
    One wrong move could shatter the darkness of the room with the lightning flash o f a gun battle, and Miriam heard herself speaking quietly. "Come in. We've coffee on."
    "I don't mind if I do." Shoyer stepped into the room and his face showed clearl y then, wide, dark, somber. He had large eyes that seemed to see everything at once.
    He was worn and stained, and on his shirt there was a stain of old blood. His slicke r was open and the firelight caught the reflection of the brass cartridges in his belt , which glowed like golden teeth.
    Pete Shoyer moved into the room and coolly removed his slicker and hung it on a peg , his hat over it. Swante Taggart had moved slightly to face him as he changed position , but had said nothing.
    When he turned from the coat peg Shoyer looked at Taggart. "I've come to take yo u in, Taggart," he said.
    "When you try," Taggart's voice was dispassionate, "I'll kill you. "
    Shoyer showed his teeth in a wide smile. "Nobody has," h e replied, and then he said to Miriam. "You spoke of coffee, ma'am. I can use it."
    Miriam, caught by the moment, the meeting of hunter and hunted, had forgotten th e coffee. "Oh ... yes." She brought the pot to the table, and a cup.
    Shoyer drew back a chair and seated himself. "You've led me a chase."
    "I don't like to kill a man wearing a badge. I've worn one myself. "
    "So I've heard." Shoyer gulped coffee noisily, then poured the hot coffee into hi s saucer and blew on it. "Need be no killing. You just come along quiet."
    "We'll decide that when the time comes."
    Both turned their heads as the door opened and Stark came in. His smile was friendly , with a hint of irony. "I see you've met," he said.
    He hung up his slicker and dried off his rifle barrel before racking it. "Had m y rifle on you coming up the draw," he told Shoyer. "I thought you were an Apache."
    "You were behind me?" Shoyer did not like the idea. "All the way from the river."
    Shoyer's eyes swept the room, assaying the situation carefully, not sure what h e had stepped into here. Suspicion was hot in his dark, slow eyes.
    Taggart made matters clear. "These people took me in, as they have you. What happen s here concerns only you and me. I would not want you to make a mistake."
    "We'll see."
    Taggart spooned honey into his coffee. "When this storm is over, why don't you jus t ride out of here?"
    "You're worth too much money to me, Taggart. Alive or dead." He sipped coffee fro m the saucer and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "Anyway, I can't rid e out. My horse broke a leg last night or I'd be in Globe by now."
    "How did you find this place?" Stark asked.
    "Now that's a coincidence," Shoyer explained agreeably. "A man in my business make s a point of marking down in hi s memory such places where a man might hide. One time when I was scoutin g for the Army I almost fell into this canyon, but until I needed a place I had clea n forgotten it."
    "You stirred something up," Stark said. "You've got the Apaches out and hunting.
    My advice is that nobody try to leave here until things simmer down. When they ge t out like this they prowl like hungry wolves, and I've the women to thin k Shoyer tipped back in his chair. "Suits me." He put a toothpick between his teeth.
    "Dry place to sleep, women folks to do for a man ... can't say I'd mind a rest."
    Outside the rain pounded on the roof, and Consuelo had put a pot under a leak i n the roof. Occasionally a huge drop fell into the water already gathered there, th e sound loud in the silent room.
    Only a trickle of water ran down the floor of the canyon, and the presence of th e buildings there after all these centuries indicated that there was rarely more a t any time. A flash flood would have torn out the stable and damaged the other buildings.
    The deep canyons and washes that scarred the desert were carved out by just suc h flash floods that would run bank full for a few hours and