The Gunsmith 385 by J. R. Roberts

make us breakfast, and then we can get an early start,” Clint said.
    â€œSeems to me you still got time to sneak over to the house—” Travis started.
    â€œWill you go to sleep,” Clint snapped.
    â€œWhy don’t you both shut up and go to sleep so I can sleep?” Davis whined.
    â€œSee what you did?” Clint said to Travis. “You woke up the bad man.”
    Clint heard deep breathing from Travis’s direction, couldn’t believe that the man had fallen asleep while he was talking to him.

TWENTY-FIVE
    In the morning Laura made eggs for them to the best of her abilities. They were a little dry, but hot.
    â€œThese eggs are really—” Davis started to complain, but a hard look from Clint changed his mind. “Good.”
    â€œIf you had just asked me to sell you a horse, I probably would have,” Laura said. “And then I might have even cooked you a meal.”
    Davis was young, just a little older than Travis, and probably did very well with the ladies. Clint wondered what else he would have gotten if he had been the only man there.
    â€œThat brings up a problem,” Travis said.
    â€œWhat’s that?” Clint asked.
    â€œWe need a horse for Davis.”
    Clint looked at the man and said, “Well, we could make him walk.”
    â€œAw no . . .” Davis said.
    â€œI can lend you a horse,” Laura said. “You can leave it for me at the livery in Millard.”
    Clint and Travis exchanged a glance.
    â€œI guess that means we’re goin’ to Millard,” Travis said.
    â€œOr,” Clint said, “one of us could go to Millard and the other could stay on the trail.”
    â€œAnd which one of us do you have staying on the trail?” Travis asked.
    â€œWell, me, of course,” Clint said.
    â€œAnd so you’ll catch up to them and have nobody to watch your back.”
    â€œYou’ll catch up to me before then,” Clint said.
    â€œMaybe.”
    â€œAll right, then,” Clint said, “we’ll both go to Millard. It’s not that big a detour.”
    â€œI could take him to Millard,” Laura said.
    They both looked at her.
    Sure,” she said. “Tie him up and throw him in the back of my buckboard. I’ll take him to the sheriff and tell him what happened.”
    â€œDo you have a gun?” Travis asked.
    â€œA rifle,” she said. “I was out in the barn when he got here, and my rifle was in the house, or I would’ve run him off. Believe me, I can take care of myself.”
    Again, Clint and Travis exchanged a glance.
    â€œHey, the lady can take me,” Davis said. “I won’t try nothin’.”
    â€œIf you do,” she said, “it’s the last thing you’ll ever try.”
    â€œWhat do you think?” Travis asked.
    â€œOh, come on,” she said. “I have to go to town for supplies anyway. What harm can he do tied up?”
    â€œWe wouldn’t lose any time this way,” Clint said.
    â€œBut I’ll do it under one condition.”
    â€œWhat’s that?” Clint asked.
    â€œThat you stop here on your way back and tell me what happened.”
    â€œIt’s a deal,” Clint said.
    â€œThen we better all get ready to go,” Travis said.
    Â * * * 
    About twenty minutes later Clint and Travis dumped Davis, trussed up even better than he had been overnight, into the back of Laura’s buckboard. She was sitting in her seat with her rifle propped next to her.
    â€œNow don’t stop anywhere along the way,” Clint said. “Just get him to town as quickly as you can.”
    â€œDon’t worry,” she said, “I can handle this.”
    They went to the livery and brought their saddled horses out. They rode part of the way with her, but when the road forked, she headed for Millard, and they headed north.

TWENTY-SIX
    Sitting at a table in the Queen of Hearts Saloon in