Free A Coffin Full Of Dollars by Joe Millard Page B

you've run out on me?"
    "If I do, Dandy, you can be sure I'll take my guns with me." He swung down, got his rifle out of its boot and leaned it against the stage. "What's your big worry now?"
    Dandy pointed northward. " That's my big worry."
    When the bounty hunter rode away in the morning, the jagged peaks of the Horse Range had loomed in purple majesty across the horizon. Now the whole broad sweep of broken range had lost its sharpness and many of the higher peaks were almost totally obscured by gathering clouds. The hunter shrugged.
    "You mean the mountain storm? That's nothing uncommon. Up in the high country you can expect those almost any time. I don't see why it should bother you."
    "Because it isn't your money, that's why," Dandy shouted. "Everything I've got is tied up in this circus. The wind's from that direction. Suppose it blows the storm down here and today's performance is rained out? That means I take a big loss. All you take is a day off."
    "That's about as unlikely as anything I can think of. Any rain down here at this time of year would be a seven-day wonder. But if it makes you feel better to worry about it, you go right ahead."
    He unsaddled, exchanged the bridle for a halter and led his horse over to the shady willow thicket where the other stock was tethered. When he returned, Dandy, unconvinced, was still pacing and muttering to himself.
    "Now that you reminded me, speaking of money," the hunter said, "it seems to me this is the day some is supposed to drop from your clutching hands into mine as sort of token payment, shall we say, for my contribution to your prosperity."
    "Prosperity, he calls it!" Dandy rolled his eyes heavenward. "He cashes in a fortune in bounties at my expense, and still demands his pound of flesh." He caught a glimpse of the hunter's cold eyes and added hastily, "Don't take me serious, Nameless. I'm only funning with you. Wait right here and I'll bring your pay."
    He clambered into his wagon and emerged a few minutes later with an envelope of bank notes and a pack of playing cards. He handed the envelope to the bounty hunter.
    "There's your pay. You earned it, Nameless. With a gun, you're the nerviest gent I've ever seen, but I wonder how your nerves are with a deck of cards. I'll cut high card with you for that envelope, double or nothing."
    "Why not?" the hunter said. "Providing I shuffle, cut and deal. I've seen how you can make cards do everything but sing Yankee Doodle."
    Dandy pretended to hesitate but there was a sly glint in his eye.
    "All right. I'll be a sport. Go ahead." The bounty hunter took the pack in his left hand, his right hanging down at his side. Using only the one hand, he put the deck through a dazzling sequence of shuffles and cuts that had Dandy's eyes bulging. He finished by slapping two cards down, face-up. Dandy's was the three of clubs, his own the jack of diamonds.
    "My, my," he murmured shaking his head in mock wonder. "It looks like luck is turning my way at last."
    " Luck , you sonofabitch!" Dandy said bitterly. "And with my own cards, too—that I marked myself! All the time I've been thinking you were a pilgrim. I've pulled that or seen it pulled on the chumps a thousand times, but never one - handed until now. How'd you come to learn that stunt?"
    "I saw a fast gunman killed because he had both hands occupied with shuffling and dealing when the other fellow drew. I swore I'd learn to do it left-handed, leaving my gun hand free, or give up gambling. So I learned. You want to try it again, double or nothing?"
    "Go to hell! I'll get the money you won, you crook."
    When he returned, The Man With No Name had brought out rags and equipment and was carefully cleaning and oiling his guns. Dandy slammed a sheaf of bills down on the stand.
    "There's your loot, you slicker. Getting roped in is bad enough, but to get taken at my own game and with my own cards is piling insult on top of injury. Now I know we'll get rained out. This is one of those days when