Frank’s smile disappeared. “Gun trouble, you mean?”
“That’s what I’m worried about. Since you’re leaving Buckskin anyway, is there any chance you could see your way clear to riding down that way and checking to see if Stafford needs help?”
Frank pondered the request for a moment. Claudius Turnbuckle has been willing to leave San Francisco and come to Buckskin on a moment’s notice to help him. Just because things hadn’t worked out quite that way wasn’t Turnbuckle’s fault. And it had been Turnbuckle’s law clerk Luther Galloway, Frank reminded himself, who had saved the Lucky Lizard for Tip Woodford, at considerable risk to his own life.
Finally, Frank nodded. “I reckon I could do that.”
“Excellent!” Turnbuckle reached inside his coat and took out a folded telegram. “Here’s Stafford’s wire, telling you where he can be contacted. I appreciate this more than you know, Morgan. Stafford can be a cantankerous old badger, but he is my partner.”
Frank shook hands with Turnbuckle and said, “I’ll do what I can for him.”
Then he turned to Catamount Jack, pumped the old-timer’s hand, and slapped him on the back in a rough hug.
“Take care o’ yourself, you ol’ gunfighter,” Jack rasped.
“You, too, you old pelican.”
With that, Frank swung up into Goldy’s saddle and heeled the horse into a trot that carried them out of Buckskin. Stormy paced them to the right, and Dog bounded along on the left. Frank didn’t look back.
The Drifter was on the drift again.
PINNACLE BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
850 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Copyright © 2008 William W. Johnstone
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Following the death of William W. Johnstone, the Johnstone family is working with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Mr. Johnstone’s outlines and many unfinished manuscripts to create additional novels in all of his series like The Last Gunfighter, Mountain Man, and Eagles, among others. This novel was inspired by Mr. Johnstone’s superb storytelling.
PINNACLE BOOKS and the Pinnacle logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 0-7860-2103-9
The Last Gunfighter: Killing Ground Page 27