by J. T. Edson
“He’s a tolerable funny hombre,” Tioga put in quietly. “Saw him both times he played in Tombstone. He was good. Thought he might have been a touch better this time but he didn’t look to be doing a different act.”
Once more the women’s eyes locked. Lily’s hate glowed like a living thing, although the smile never left her lips. Tioga was startled by the venom in the eyes but not afraid of it. She thought it was as if the painted features of a doll held human eyes behind the smiling mask.
“Of course, my dear,” Lily purred, each word dripping like molasses laced with strychnine. “We all yield to your good taste. It shows in everything about you. Your hair, your clothes, everything. Not conventional, but bizarre and suiting your personality so well.”
Curly Bill glared a warning at Tioga, not knowing what bizarre meant but guessing it was not complimentary. He expected Tioga to leap over the table and land on the star with both fists flying, for the girl’s temper was likely to be like his own, explosive. Tioga only smiled, but it was a smile that made Lily stir uncomfortably in her seat. The girl from the wild country did not know what bizarre meant any more than did Curly Bill. All she knew was that the woman aimed to push them into some trouble.
“Why thank you, ma’am,” Tioga said mildly. “I always like to hear a much older woman’s opinions.”
For an instant Tioga thought she had pushed the woman to making more than a verbal attack on her. Lily’s fingers curved into claws and her lips lost their smile. In that moment Tioga saw Lily Carlisle as she was, knew for certain that there sat a woman who would move heaven and earth to have her own way. Lily fought down the anger, brought a smile back to her face, although it did not reach her eyes, and turned to Curly Bill again.
At that moment Elwin entered the bar. He had finished packing his gear away and gone to the woman’s room, finding a note on the door asking him to call in the bar before he left the theater. So he came in, hesitating as he saw Lily seated with the men.
“Elwin, darling!” Lily exclaimed, rising. “Come in and meet Mr. Graham.”
The young juggler still hesitated. He did not drink when there was another show later in the day and hardly ever entered the theater bar. Lily glided over and took his arm to lead him to the table and wave him to a seat. However, he stayed on his feet. Suddenly Elwin knew the men were hostile to him and could not think why. During his act they had been among his most enthusiastic supporters; now each man’s face held blank dislike.
Curly Bill poured out a drink into the empty glass and held it up; he sat on the opposite side of the table to Elwin.
“Have a drink, juggling man,” he said.
“Not just now, thank you,” Elwin replied a trifle distractedly. He was still worried about Janice, scared of what might have happened while he did his act.
“I don’t like that!”
Elwin had been turning away when Curly Bill spoke again, thrusting back his chair and coming to his feet. The dark-faced man’s cheeks reddened under the tan and his eyes grew slitted, mean looking.
Elwin looked back. He knew gunmen; nobody who played the western houses could avoid meeting them at one time or another. Slowly he turned to face the table and the glass that now stood at its edge. He knew what to expect now. His refusal had offended Curly Bill. So the man would make him take drink after drink if he gave in to the first.
“I’ve got to go—” he began.
“Not until you’ve drunk with us,” Curly Bill answered.
Now the other men were on their feet also. Tioga shoved back her chair and stood up, her eyes flickering to Lily, who was falling back, moving toward the door leading into the theater. Tioga saw the mocking hate in the woman’s face and knew what Lily Carlisle planned. The girl also knew there would be no reasoning with Curly Bill at the moment. Most times she could control him, but right now he was carrying just enough liquor to make him a dangerous-when-wet proposition. Either the juggler would drink or get badly hurt.
“Perhaps after—” Elwin began.
“Now!”
An awkward and mean old mule could show Curly Bill no pointers in stubborn orneriness when his wild was up. Unfortunately Elwin had some mule in his makeup too and would not back down. “No!”
There the gauntlet lay, thrown down by Curly Bill, taken up and returned by Elwin. Slowly the dark man pushed back his coat to leave free the matched butts of his Colts.
“I was never a man to take an unfair advantage of anybody, juggler,” he said. “Sack, put your Colt cocked on the table in front of him.”
The man nearest to Elwin lifted his Colt from leather, cocking the hammer, and while it hung at half-cock reached down a finger to move the chamber slightly. Then he lay the revolver on the table in front of Elwin and stepped back a pace.
“It’s up to you,” Curly Bill said quietly. “Take up glass or gun.”
“No, Bill!” Tioga gasped, but made no attempt to move.
Suddenly Elwin was scared. He did not want to die. The most important thing in his life was to see that little piece of humanity that for several months now he had been able to feel kicking against him as he lay by his wife. He wanted to live, to teach the boy he hoped for the secrets of a juggler’s trade. Yet he did not want to go and see his wife smelling of liquor.
It was then that Elwin caught Lily’s eyes as she stood at the theater door. He saw her for the first time as she really was. Read the hate in her eyes, the envy and the jealousy. For the first time the meaning of old Reuben’s words began to make sense and he knew who Circe was.
“We’re waiting, juggler.”
“Hold it, Bill!”
The words came in a gentle, even drawl backed by the click of a Colt coming to full cock. They caused Curly Bill to stand very still, and not only the sound of the Colt did this. He knew the voice, knew the man who spoke did not say “hold it” unless he meant for things to be held.
Looking toward the open street door, Tioga bit down a gasp of relief. She did not know Waco, but could see what he was. Since joining up with Curly Bill, she had learned the signs and could read a man’s potential in the gun-throwing line as well as many women followed a dress design. If anybody in Bisbee could make Graham see reason, that man behind the aimed Colt Artillery Peacemaker stood best chance of doing it.
The tall young Texan stepped forward, his Colt never relaxing. Tioga licked her lips nervously as she saw the danger. Curly Bill would have thrown his lead to wound not kill the juggler, would have had the time to do so. If he matched shots with the Texan, that same time would be absent, and what started as a hooraw session might wind up a corpse-and-cartridge affair.
Not one man moved as they watched Waco come nearer to the table. Every man knew who he was, although Tioga did not. They also knew not one of them could move fast enough to down the Ranger before he killed Curly Bill, so they stood fast.
“Howdy, Waco,” Curly Bill said, the flush leaving his cheeks as he recognized the newcomer. “Was just set to teach the juggler it’s not mannerly nor neighborly to refuse a drink.”
“That’s a tolerable permanent way to teach a man, Bill,” Waco answered, but did not holster his Colt. “And you’re surely taking a chance, aren’t you?”
Suddenly Waco’s left hand dropped, brought up the Colt, lined it on Curly Bill’s chest, and pressed the trigger. A click came and nothing more. Waco drew back the hammer and lay the Colt down again.
“An even break, huh, Bill?” he asked quietly. “You could have drawn and put three bullets in Elwin before he cocked back the hammer for a shot with a bullet in the chamber that came under the firing pin.”
Again silence fell on the room. The customers in the bar had been watching everything.
Then Tioga moved. She came forward, throwing back her head and letting out peal after peal of laughter that had some slight touch of hysteria in it. The men stared at her.
“Lord, your faces!” she gasped. “You too, Bill. All set to have a laugh on the juggler when he grabbed th
e gun and pulled the trigger. And this gent here turns the game right around on you.” She laughed again. “Lordy Lord. I ain’t had so much funning since my drinking uncle, Silas, picked up a live rattler instead of his rope one morning!”
It gave Curly Bill a chance to back out without gunplay. He
did not fear Waco’s gun speed and would have faced the young Ranger if there was need for it. Yet Curly Bill owed Waco something important. He had been captured by an army patrol at a time when the army sought him on a matter of horse stealing. Through Waco’s help he got free, and Curly Bill was not a man to forget his debts.
Swinging from the table, Curly Bill caught Tioga around the waist and kissed her hard, then held her at arm’s length for a moment. He slipped one arm around her shoulder and faced Waco.
“You took a chance with my life there,” he said with a wide grin.
“Likely. Only I couldn’t see you being such a fool as to let even a man you thought hadn’t a chance get that much start. Your pard’s like most of us, loads five and leaves the one under the hammer safe. So he slips the chamber back when he takes it out. Only now there’s an empty chamber next to the hammer instead of under it.”
“Shucks boy, we was only fixing to throw a scare into the juggler so he’d drink with us.”
“You don’t take drink when you’ve serious work to do later in the day, Bill,” Waco answered. “So why expect Elwin here to? He’s got two more shows today and he can’t do them loaded with coffin varnish.”
“Is there any word from Jan, Waco?” Elwin gasped.
“Wasn’t when I came by. You’d best go see,” Waco replied. “That one drink won’t hurt you none, neither.”
Elwin took up the glass, knowing he would not be expected to take more.
“Your lady sickening, friend?” Curly Bill asked worriedly. “That little blond gal who sang with you at Tombstone?”
“Not sickening,” Elwin answered, his hand shaking slightly. “No more than any gal having her first baby.”
Instantly all the enmity against Elwin was forgotten. The rustlers of Galeyville were hard and tough men but they, like many of their kind, were sentimentalists. Janice’s songs had brought nostalgic tears to their eyes in Tombstone. That she was the juggler’s wife raised him in their esteem. That the two were about to have a child set him even higher. In fact some of the party threw hard looks at their boss, although usually these six would excuse anything Graham said or did.
“I’m sure sorry about that bit of fooling,” Curly Bill said, coming around the table with his hand held out. “You wait until you’ve had the baby, then show or no show, we’re going to wet its head.”
Lily Carlisle watched all this with blazing eyes. Once more her plans to remove the juggler had failed and the same man caused both tries to fail. Her hate left Elwin to come down full on Waco. She fought down the desire to tell her two men to smash Elwin with their fists in some alley. Unless she had Waco killed, the story would get out and not even Lily Carlisle could stand up to the storm of indignation that would rise when people heard. More so as Elwin and his wife were in the process of having their first child.
“That no-good cowhand,” she hissed, turning to walk away. The men moved on either side of her. “Get him down some side alley and smash him!”
For a long moment as they walked toward the rear of the stage, the two men did not speak to Lily and neither showed the willingness she was used to when ordered to work over some man who incurred her displeasure.
“Did you hear?” she hissed.
“It’s no go, Lily,” the taller said. “We found out who he is. That’s Waco, one of Mosehan’s Arizona Rangers. If we worked him over, this town’d be crawling with his pards so fast we’d not know what hit us. The only way we could stop his mouth would be to kill him and I’m not chancing that.”
“You lousy cowards,” Lily snarled. “I’m going to the hotel.”
“Want us along?” the other man asked.
“I don’t want you anytime. Get out of my sight until I have to see you on the stage.”
Lily stormed from the theater, not even acknowledging the young deputy who held the door open for her. She reached the hotel and was in her room before she remembered she still wore her stage makeup. Screaming at Reuben to arrange a bath for her, she cursed more when she heard he had done so. Throwing a vase at him, she ordered him to the theater to fetch her street clothes. Stripping, she flung herself into the bathroom, a small room usually used for stowing baggage but now fitted with a bath for her. Splashing water violently, she bathed herself and then took her spite out on whoever might have to clean the floor by tipping the remaining water over. Lily pulled on her lace panties in the bedroom and slipped her robe on as she heard a knock at the bedroom door.
At the theater Elwin drank and departed, followed by Curly Bill’s demand that he be let know when the baby came. The dark man took up his hat and looked at the rest of his men.
“Let’s go and wind up our business, boys,” he said.
“I’ll come with you, Bill,” Tioga suggested.
“Nope, gal,” Curly Bill replied. “Say, boy, whyn’t you take her along to the Grand Hotel for me. We’ve got us some rooms there.”
An angry glint came to Tioga’s eyes. “I’d rather go with—”
“I said no! Happen you feel like it, go out and buy some clothes, or some fancy doodads. Tell them I’ll pay when I come back.”
With that Curly Bill turned and headed for the door, with the others trooping out after him. Tioga stood watching him go, then she turned back to Waco, brought an inviting smile to her lips, and waved a hand to the table.
“What say we nibble a few before we start?”
“I don’t want none and neither do you,” Waco replied. “Curly wanted me to see you safe to the hotel and that’s what I’ll do.”
“And then?” asked Tioga, her voice low and her hands clenched into dangerous little fists.
“Happen you’d like me to take you for a meal, I’ll do it, someplace that I could eat and not be scared the waiter thought a hawg was at the table. Which same’d be like to happen at the Bisbee Grand.”
“What after that?”
“Take the chip off your shoulder, gal,” said Waco, his voice taking on a harder edge. “So I’m a lawman, does that mean you reckon Curly Bill could keep me off his back by loaning you to me? If it does, I reckon you’re selling both me and Bill damned poor.”
Tioga’s hand shot out to grip the neck of the bottle. “I should smash this into your face,” she hissed.
“Happen that’s the way you see it, ma’am,” Waco replied quietly. “You can walk to the hotel without help.”
He reached the door before she caught up to him. “You’re Waco, one of Mosehan’s boys, aren’t you?”
“Sure.”
“Bill talks about you. You saved him one time. Allows that there’s only one lawman you can trust, one that totes a Ranger’s badge. I got you wrong.”
Waco grinned. “Why sure. You got a lot of things wrong, gal. First, I’ve got a law badge but that don’t mean I got horns and a forked tail. Bill didn’t ask me to take you to keep me from following him. He’s known me long enough to figure it’d take a hell of a sight more than the offer of a gal, even one as pretty as you, to stop me taking cards, happen I thought he aimed to bust the law hereabouts. Whatever he’s doing now, Bill’s not looking to break the law. I saw him drink and he never does that when he’s working. He wouldn’t have brought you with him, happen he was working either.”
A woman drew aside hurriedly, throwing Tioga a disgusted glance. The girl swung her hips brazenly and leaned closer to Waco until they were past, then drew away again.
“The way she looked at me,” she hissed. “Like I was some slut from a cathouse.”
“Knowed a man one time,” Waco drawled. “Always said folks looked at him like he was hawg dirty. He looked in a mirror one day. Know what, he found he’d looked hawg dirty all the time.�
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For a long moment Tioga did not reply. Then she said, “You’re a strange man, Ranger. I never knew one like you.”
“How’d you get mixed in with Bill?”
“How does a gal like me tie in with any man?” she answered. “I was in a town and Curly Bill rode in. Took a shine to me, and when he headed back to Galeyville I went with him. It’s something being known as Curly Bill’s girl.”
“Uh-huh!”
“I know what you think! I’ll tell you something, Ranger, and you can believe me or not, I don’t give a damn which. But I’ve never yet bedded with Bill or any man. Nor has Bill ever asked me. We sleep in separate rooms at his place in Galeyville, and up at that hotel there’s three rooms, a bedroom on either side of the fancy sitting room. I’ll be in one room, Bill in the other, both at bedding time and dawn.”
They walked on in silence for a time. The girl glanced sideways at Waco and wondered what he thought about her.
“Whyn’t you do what Bill said, go buy a dress, or at best a shirt that’s at least a size larger?”
“And let the women in town think they’ve made me?”
“Thought you didn’t like the way they looked at you?”
“How long have you known the juggler?” Tioga asked, changing the subject to hide her confusion.
“On and off for three years.”
“He’s a good friend?”
“Just a man I met and fought alongside in Baptist’s Hollow, ran across a couple of times since.”
“Yet you’d have took on Bill and his boys to stop them hoorawing him.”
“That wasn’t hoorawing. Bill’d’ve put lead into him.”
Tioga shook her head. “Wouldn’t have killed him. Might have put a bullet through his arm.”
“Which’d be the same as killing him,” Waco drawled. “You never heard of nor saw a one-armed juggler, did you?”
“Man, and I thought I’d seen all the meanness a woman could do,” Tioga said quietly. “Somebody ought to hand that Lily Carlisle her needings.”