Free the Man from the Broken Hills (1975) by Louis - Talon-Chantry L'amour Page A

see. I should have been ashamed of myself, but I was remembering how she had tried to hit me with a quirt, and her arrogance.
    The box went to Roger Balch for five dollars and fifty cents.
    China Benn's box went up, and somebody opened the bidding at a dollar. I countered with two dollars, and saw Ann turn to look at me. I did not bid again, and China's box finally went to Kurt Floyd for four dollars, largely because nobody wanted to bid against him and run into trouble. I'd have done it, but I had other ideas.
    There was that quiet little girl in the faded gingham dress. I had a notion nobody might bid for her box, and I could see she had that notion, too. She was edging a bit toward the door, wishing she had not even come, afraid of being embarrassed and having to eat her dinner alone. No doubt it took a lot of nerve to come alone, and it began to look like her nerve had just about petered out.
    Her box came up. I knew it was hers by the frightened way she reacted and the sudden move she made toward the door. Nobody knew her, and that counted against her, and also the fact that so many of the cow-punchers present, despite their loud talk, were really very shy about meeting a new girl.
    Finally the auctioneer, seeing there would be no bidding, opened the bid with one of his own. He bid fifty cents and I came up with a bid of a dollar. I saw her eyes turn to me, and she stopped moving toward the door. And then something happened.
    Tory Benton bid two dollars.
    Tory was young, good-looking in a kind of a flashy, shallow sort of way, and he was tough. I knew a little about him. He'd stolen a few head of stock here and there, had carried a gun in a couple of cattle wars. He wanted to be considered a bad man, but was nowhere nearly as tough as Ingerman, for example. That girl was nowhere and no way the type who should be with him, and being alone, he'd surely want to take her home. And there was nobody to tell him no. And she knew it.
    "Two-fifty," I said, casually.
    Fuentes had drifted away, now he started back toward me, stopping a few feet away.
    Tory had had a few drinks, but I was not sure if it was that, or if he really wanted the girl, or whether it was a deliberate matter of policy by Balch and Saddler, who were watching.
    "Three dollars!" Tory said instantly.
    "Three-fifty," I replied.
    Tory laughed and said "Four dollars!"
    The room was silent. Suddenly everybody knew something was happening. The girl's face was white and strained. Whoever she was, wherever she came from, she was no fool. She knew what was happening, and she could see it meant trouble.
    "Five dollars," I said, and saw Danny Rolf turn away from the girl he was with and face toward the front of the room.
    Tory laughed suddenly. He glanced right and left. "Let's get this over with," he said loudly. "Tendollars!"
    Even at forty dollars a month fighting wages, that was a strong bid, and he had no idea it would go any further.
    "Fifteen dollars," I said quietly.
    Tory's face tightened and for the first time he glanced at me. He was a little scared. I did not know how much money he had, but doubted whether he had more than that in his pocket, at least not much more.
    "Sixteen dollars!" he said, but from his manner I figured he had about reached the end of it.
    Suddenly from behind me there was a whisper. It was Ben Roper. "I got ten bucks you can have."
    Keeping my manner as casual as possible, I said, "Seventeen."
    Roger Balch pushed through the crowd behind Tory, and I saw him taking some coins from his pocket. He whispered something to Benton and Tory put a hand back for money.
    He glanced quickly at what was in his hand. "Twenty dollars!" he said triumphantly.
    "Twenty-one," I replied.
    For a moment there was silence. The auctioneer cleared his throat. He looked hot and worried. He glanced at Roger Balch, then at me.
    "Twenty-two," Tory said, but with less assurance. Roger had his feet apart staring at me. I suppose he was trying to bluff