Free Squire's Quest by Judith B. Glad

believe a word he said.
"I don't hold with foreigners."
    Knowing it did no good to argue with someone who had her mind made up, Merlin let
his arm drop from her shoulders. "Let's go find your pa."

Chapter Six
    Emmet Lachlan hadn't ever forbade his children to go to saloons, but he hadn't
encouraged it, either. Merlin had been curious enough to sneak into one when he was about
thirteen, but then he got in the fight with the panther, and after that he'd stayed close to home for
a long time. What with this and that, he'd never gone back.
    Even inexperienced as he was, he knew the High Grade Saloon was a dump the minute
they stepped across the threshold. It stunk of vomit, sweat, tobacco, and spilt beer.
    The man behind the bar looked about as unsavory as the place smelled.
    "I don't like this place," Cal whispered as she kind of edged in behind him.
    Without going more than two steps inside, Merlin said, "We're looking for Lemuel
Smith. He around?"
    "What's your business with him?"
    To prevent her from answering, Merlin stepped back onto Cal's toes. "It's with
him."
    "Mr. Smith--" The bartender said it with an emphasis on the "mister" "He don't see
nobody without an appointment."
    "That's fine with me. I'll be at the freight yard for another day. If he wants the news I
bring about his family, he can contact me there."
    Turning, he pushed Cal ahead of him through the doorway and across the uneven
boardwalk. "Quiet. Not a word until we're out of earshot." He was afraid he'd have to pick her up
and haul her away before she finally got moving.
    He managed to get her fifty paces from the saloon before she turned and faced him,
hands on hips. "What the dickens are you trying to do? He could've told us where my pa is. Why
didn't you make him?"
    "Because he's bigger than me and he had a club in his hand. Keep walkin'."
    She did, backwards, so she could jaw at him. "I didn't see no club."
    "Neither did I, but I didn't see his left hand, either. If he wasn't holding a club, it was a
handgun. Count on it. I had no hankering to be beat or shot. Watch it!"
    His warning came too late. She stepped on a chunk of rock and went tail over
teakettle.
    He kept his face straight and reached down to help her. "Be better if you watched where
you're walking. We can sort this out when we get to the bunkhouse."
    Callie dusted her britches off. She'd cracked her elbow good, but she wasn't going to
admit how much it hurt. "Darn you, Merlin. You think you know it all. Why didn't you just tell
him why we were looking for my pa? Why should it be a big secret?"
    "If your pa wants it known he's got a daughter, he can tell folks. Until you know if
you've got a welcome here--"
    "That's awful. My pa will be glad to see me." At least she hoped he would. She had so
few memories of him, for she'd been only a tyke when he went off to war. Then when he came
home, he'd been different. Quiet and short-tempered. Restless. He'd sometimes gone off for days
at a time, and when he came back he'd yell at Ma if she asked where he'd been.
    Finally he'd told Ma he was heading West. Callie had been hiding in the kitchen, just
inside the door, so she could hear them talking. "To make a better home for you and the girl,"
he'd said. "I'll send for you in a while, once I'm settled."
    That had been more than three years ago. They'd had a few letters, the last one from
Virginia City. He'd got himself a mining claim and was working it. "Not getting rich, but making
a living and then some," he'd told Ma. She'd been so happy, believing it would be only a little
while before he sent for them.
    Then she'd got sick, and nothing Doc Barnes could do would make her well. And Pa had
never written again.
    "He'll be glad to see me," she said again. "I know he will."
    Merlin didn't say anything. He just gave her a quick squeeze, one arm across her
shoulders.
    They waited at the freight yard all the rest of the day. Nobody came. By evening she was
fit to be tied. Ready to cry. Scared to death.
    Come