Free .44 Caliber Man by J.T. Edson

youngster
came to a halt at Colin’s left side.
    ‘ Who asked you to bill in?’ Branch demanded
belligerently.
    ‘ Easy, Spring!’ Moore whispered urgently. ‘That’s the Ysabel
Kid.’
    Instantly a
change came over Branch. While he had not recognized the Kid, he
was fully aware of the other’s reputation. Stacking up against
Kenny Schell and the unarmed Scot suddenly lost all its attraction,
when to do so also meant taking on the Ysabel Kid. So a weak grin
twisted at his lips.
    ‘ Hell, we were only kidding,’ Branch declared. The boys just
wanted to know what the feller wears under his skirt.’
    ‘ He killed Adàn Flores for trying to find out,’ the Kid
replied. ‘So if you bunch’ve a mind to see, come ahead.’
    Having flung
down his challenge, the Kid stood in relaxed readiness to meet any
attempt to take it up. So did Kenny, his hand hovering to scoop the
Army Colt from its holster at the first hostile move.
    None came.
Instead Branch shrugged and said, ‘We’ll forget it if he feels that
strong about it. Come on, boys. Let’s go drink someplace where they
ain’t so all-fired touchy.’
    ‘ Mister,’ the Kid put in, stopping Branch in mid-turn. ‘Should
anything happen to these two gents, accidental-like, I’ll come
looking for you—and I fight real dirty.’
    ‘ We’ll mind it,’ Branch promised and stamped from the saloon
followed by his men. None of them offered to as much as look back,
for fear that the Kid might regard doing so as a hostile
act.
    On the street,
the Trimbles and Moore took turns in describing the Kid’s ancestry
and possible fate using the most lurid terms they could lay tongue
to. All the time, however, they walked at a fair clip away from the
Black Bear Saloon.
    ‘ What’re we going to do now, Sprig?’ Moore inquired.
    ‘ What can we do?’ Branch replied. ‘You boys want to lay for ’em
as they come out?’
    ‘ Naw!’ Eric Trimble stated emphatically.
    ‘ Folks might call it murder,’ Sam went on. ‘We could get Kenny
on his lonesome—’
    ‘ You figure the Kid didn’t mean what he said?’ Moore inquired
derisively. ‘If you do, lay for Kenny. But don’t ask me to go
along.’
    ‘ Huh!’ Branch snorted. ‘What’re we worrying over? The Army’ll
not be so eager to give them the contract with Trader
dead.’
    With which
consolation, he led the way into another saloon.
    After the
quartet had left, Kenny gave a long sigh and turned towards the
bar. ‘Let’s have three drinks, bar-keep,’ he said. ‘Kid, you were
as welcome as rain in a dry summer.’
    ‘ Likely,’ the Kid answered dryly and looked at Colin. ‘Friend,
if you’re going to keep on wearing that kilt, you’d best start to
pack a gun.’

Chapter Six
    Carefully Colin
Farquharson poured a measure of powder into the left-hand barrel of
the pistol he held. Its mate lay in the open box on the bed at his
side, along with the cased pair’s accessories. Working with smooth
precision, he rammed the charge and its wad down the barrel then
followed it with the rest of the load. He had already attended to
the other barrel, so he fitted the percussion caps in place and set
the hammers at half-cock. For a moment he sat looking at the second
pistol, then decided not to bother with it.
    Hearing a knock
on the door, he crossed the room and opened it.
    ‘ Howdy,’ greeted Kenny Schell, entering. ‘Ma says for you to
come over and have breakfast with us.’
    ‘ That’s kind of her,’ Colin said, and meant it. ‘How did you
know where to find me?’
    ‘ Met the Kid going out,’ Kenny explained. ‘He told me that he’d
changed rooms with you last night.’
    ‘ So he did, although I’d never have thought a man like him
would be superstitious.’
    With the
departure of Branch and his men from the Black Bear, Colin had
spent a pleasant evening at the saloon. April Hosman joined them,
then later Dusty Fog, Mark Counter and a couple of the OD Connected
cowhands arrived. There had been four