Free A Horse Called Mogollon (Floating Outfit Book 3) by J.T. Edson

A career officer, with no political or
‘liberal’ axe to grind, the colonel had always insisted that the
soldiers under his command should steer clear of friction or open
clashes with the native Texans. He would, therefore, take a very
serious line of action should he learn why the three enlisted men
had attacked the blond giant.
    ‘ They
jumped the big feller there for no reason I could see, mister,’
announced the man with the shotgun, before Heaps could produce any
acceptable explanation. ‘Only they sure as hell picked on the wrong
laddie for their games.’
    Darting an indignant scowl at
the intruder, Heaps also recognized him as the
colonel ’s
visitor and left unsaid his proposed denial. Lebel looked at the
civilian for a moment, then swung his gaze back to the
sergeant.
    ‘ How
about it, Heaps?’ the lieutenant demanded, not quite sure of his
ground and wanting to avoid taking chances of doing the wrong
thing.
    ‘ Why
don’t we say it was a piece of horsing around that got a mite too
rough, mister?’ Mark suggested, lowering the hammer and holstering
his Colt. ‘It’ll likely be easier for all concerned that
way.’
    ‘ I’ll
go with you on that, friend,’ declared the man with the
shotgun.
    ‘ Is
that what happened, Sergeant Heaps?’ Lebel insisted, not willing to
appear too openly influenced by the civilians’ comments.
    ‘ It was
like the bee—big feller said—sir,’ the sergeant growled, looking
slightly relieved. ‘We was just horsing around and it got too
rough.’
    ‘ Do you
want to make charges against these men?’ Lebel asked the big blond,
indicating the three soldiers.
    ‘ Nope,’
Mark replied. ‘I’m willing to forget the whole thing, if they
are.’
    Feelings of friendship for the
soldiers did not influence Mark ’s attitude. The last thing he wanted was for the
incident to be taken any further. If it should be, the whole of the
previous night’s affair would be brought into the open. So far
Lansing and the other card players had kept quiet about what they
had found on breaking into Mark’s room. That was in part due to Ben
Thompson’s warning about the blond giant’s probable reaction to
idle gossip on the subject. In addition, the Vicomte had asked that they should not
embarrass his wife by discussing the ‘attempted attack’ upon her.
While disinterested in how the truth would affect the Vicomtesse, Mark had no wish to
have Libby’s participation made public.
    ‘ Very
well,’ Lebel said coldly. ‘If you feel that way, we’ll let the
matter drop. Take these men back to the post, sergeant. I’ll be
seeing you later.’
    ‘ Yo!’
Heaps grunted. ‘Help Going up, Noris, and move out.’
    ‘ My
apologies for this incident,’ Lebel said stiffly to Mark, watching
the three soldiers depart.
    ‘ It’s
forgotten,’ the big blond drawled. ‘Likely they didn’t mean any
real harm with their fooling.’
    Letting out a sniff that might have
meant anything, the lieutenant made a smart about-face and marched
off after his men. Satisfied that there would be no further
developments, the crowd broke up and moved away.
    ‘ You
said that as if you meant it,’ Libby remarked, walking towards the
big blond. She looked by him and continued, ‘I’m real pleased to
see you, Tam.’
    Mark turned his attention to the man
whose intervention had most likely saved his life. Stepping from
the sidewalk, Libby went forward with a smile and her right hand
extended. Showing equal pleasure, the stocky man cradled the
shotgun on the crook of his left arm.
    Although his rescuer had not made any
adjustments to them since taking the shotgun out of line on Private
Noris, the blond giant noticed that the hammers rested at the safe
half-cock position. If the man had been bluffing, it was a safe
enough bluff. Nobody in his right mind would take a chance when
looking into the yawning twin tubes of a ten-gauge
shotgun.
    ‘ You
look younger and lovelier than when I last saw you, Libby,’ the