Showdown at Gun Hill (Ranger Sam Burrack) - Softcover

Cotton, Ralph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 045147158X ISBN 13: 9780451471581

Verlag: Berkley, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

From the USA Today bestselling author of Scalpers comes a tale of gunslinging adventure in the Old West.

Arizona Territory Ranger Sam Burrack is sent to retrieve the sheriff of Big Silver, Arizona, and escort him to Yuma. Sheriff Sheppard Stone once saved the life of Territory Judge Albert Long, but the judge has heard stories of Stone turning into a reckless drunk—stories that are confirmed when Burrack rides into town.

Holed up in his office on a days-long whiskey bender, Stone has been terrifying the townsfolk and firing bullets into the street. Getting him sober is no easy task, but once they hit the trail, Burrack learns of the sheriff’s deadly enemies, which is sobering news indeed. 

As Stone dries out, Burrack begins to see the man he used to be. The only question is whether Stone will live long enough to be that man again.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ralph Cotton is a former ironworker, second mate on a commercial barge, teamster, horse trainer, and lay minister with the Lutheran church.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

DEADLY DRUNK

SIGNET

Part 1

Chapter 1

Big Silver, the Arizona Badlands

At first light, Arizona Territory Ranger Sam Burrack followed a series of pistol shots the last mile into town. The shots came spaced apart, as if offered by some wild-eyed orator who used a gun to drive home the points of his raging soliloquy. Sensing no great urgency in the shots, Sam had circled wide of the town limits and ridden in from the south, keeping his copper black-point dun at an easy gallop. At his side he led a spare horse on a short rope.

Being familiar with the position of the town, he knew if he’d followed the main trail into Big Silver at this time of morning he would have ridden face-first into the rising sunlight—not a wise move under the circumstances. Never a wise move, he reminded himself, given his line of work.

His line of work . . .

A Winchester repeating rifle stood in its saddle boot; his bone-handled Colt stood holstered on his hip, hidden by his duster but close to his right hand. Necessary tools for his line of work . . .

A block ahead of him another pistol shot rang out in the still air—the fourth, he noted to himself. Along the street townsfolk who had scrambled for cover a few minutes earlier when the shooting began now looked out at the Ranger from behind shipping crates, firewood and anything else sufficient to stop a bullet.

“He’s in his office, Ranger!” a nervous townsman’s voice called out from a recessed doorway.

“Thank God you’re here!” a woman’s voice put in. “Please don’t hurt him.”

“Hurt him, ha!” another voice shouted. “Shoot that drunken son of a—” His words stopped short under the roar of a fifth gunshot.

“Everybody keep back out of sight,” the Ranger called out.

He veered his dun into the mouth of an alleyway for safety’s sake and stepped down from his saddle. The big dun grumbled and pawed its hoof at the dirt, yet Sam noted that the animal showed no signs of being spooked or otherwise thrown off by the sound of gunfire.

“Good boy,” he said to the dun, rubbing its muzzle. The spare horse sidled close to the dun. As Sam spun the dun’s reins and the spare’s lead rope around a post, a townsman dressed in a clerk’s apron hurried into the alley and collapsed back against the wall of a building.

“Man, are we glad to see you, Ranger!” he said. “Didn’t expect anybody to show up so soon.”

“Glad I can help,” was all Sam replied. He didn’t bother explaining that he’d been headed to Big Silver to begin with, or that he’d ridden all night from Dunston, another hillside mining town some thirty miles back along the Mexican border. As soon as the telegram arrived, Sam had gathered his dun and the spare horse and headed out. He’d made sure both horses were well grained and watered. He’d eaten his dinner in the saddle, from a small canvas bag made up at Dunston’s only restaurant. “Good eten,” he could still hear the old Dutch cook say, handing him the bag.

He drew the Winchester from its boot and checked it. Hopefully he wouldn’t need it. But you never know, he told himself.

“Say, Ranger,” said the man in the clerk’s apron, eyeing the Winchester, “you’re not going in there alone, are you?”

“Yep,” Sam said. He started to take a step out onto the empty street.

“Because I can get half the men in this town to arm up and go with you,” the man said.

Sam just looked at him; the man looked embarrassed.

“All right,” he said, red-faced, “why didn’t we do that to begin with? is what you’re wondering. The fact is, we didn’t know what to do, a situation like this.” He gestured a nervous hand in the direction of the gunfire. “He claimed he’s a wolf! Threatened to rip somebody’s heart out if we didn’t all do like he told us!”

“A wolf . . . ,” the Ranger said flatly, looking off along the street. He took a breath.

“That’s right, a wolf,” the man said even though Sam hadn’t posed his words as a question. “Can you beat that?”

“It wasn’t their hearts he said he’d rip out,” another townsman said, cowering back into the alley. “It was their throats!” He gripped a hand beneath his bearded chin and stared at Sam wide-eyed with fear.

“It was their heart, Oscar,” the man in the clerk’s apron said. “I ought to know what I heard.”

“Throat,” the old man insisted in a lowered voice as he cowered farther back.

Sam looked all around. The alley had started to fill with people pouring into it from behind the row of buildings along the main street. Another shot rang out; people ducked instinctively.

Number six, Sam told himself.

“All of you stay back,” he said calmly.

As he stepped out and walked along the street, he knew that he only had a few seconds during reload to make whatever gains he could for himself. He pictured the loading gate of a smoking revolver opening, an empty shell falling from its smoking chamber to the floor. Another shell dropped, and another. . . .

As he walked forward he gauged his pace, keeping it deliberately slow, steady, trying to time everything just right. Now he saw the fresh rounds appear, being thumbed into the gun one at a time by a hand that was anxious, unsteady, in a boiling rage. Then, with the scene playing itself out in his mind, as if signaled by some unseen clock ingrained in his instincts, Sam stopped in the middle of the street—it was time—and faced a faded wooden sign that read in bold letters above a closed door: SHERIFF’S OFFICE & TOWN JAIL.

Here goes. . . .

“Sheriff Sheppard Stone,” he called out loud enough to be heard through the closed door, above an angry rant of curses and threats toward the world at large. “It’s Ranger Sam Burrack. Lay your gun down, come out here and talk to me.” Looking around, he saw empty whiskey bottles littering the ground and boardwalk out in front of the building. Broken bottle necks lay strewn where bullets had blasted their fragile bodies into shards.

“Well, well, well,” a whiskey-slurred voice called out through a half-open front window, “Saint Samuel Burrack. To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”

Saint Samuel Burrack . . . ? He hadn’t heard that one before. Just whiskey talking, he decided.

“Territory judge Albert Long sent me, Sheriff,” he said. “He wants to see you in Yuma.” He wasn’t going to mention that the judge had heard outrageous complaints about Stone’s drunkenness and had sent Sam to persuade the sheriff to step down from office. A year earlier, drunk, Stone had accidentally shot two of his toes off.

“Oh . . . what about?” Stone asked in a wary tone. “Is he wanting my badge?” He paused, but only for a moment. “If he is, tell him to come take it himself. Don’t send some upstart do-gooder to take on the job.”

Upstart do-gooder? A couple more names Sam hadn’t heard himself called before—although he’d heard himself called worse.

He took a breath. All right, this wasn’t going...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Berkley
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 045147158X
• ISBN 13: 9780451471581
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar