Doctor Who_ The Gunfighters - Donald Cotton [44]
‘Not, for God’s sake, with the Clantons! They ain’t in your kind of class, Johnny!’
He admitted that, by all accounts, they weren’t company such as a mangy dog would choose to dine alongside of.
‘But you know how it is,’ he told her, ‘these days of the dyin’ West, you take what you can get. Which is why,’ he added, tactlessly, ‘I’m takin’ you back...’
So, being a girl who had always known which side her bed was bartered, she settled for that. And having whistled up Steven, and offered him their condolences on the tragic outcome of his love life, they set out, in their turn, for Tombstone – where the vultures certainly were gathering some.
And Steven, not being entirely sure where New Mexico might be, followed along... although just what he was going to say to the Doctor, Heaven alone knew!
And, for the moment, it wasn’t telling...
22
The Entry of the Gladiators
Back at the Clanton Ranch, the atmosphere, never of the best, was now redolent of yesterday’s hog-wash, left to get on with it in an air-tight container; Phineas having arrived at the homestead just previous, bearing Wyatt’s pressing come one – come all to a sun-up conference at the O. K.
Corral.
‘But we gotta settle it sometime, Pa,’ Ike was saying,
‘an’, for God’s sake, there’s four of us, ain’t there?’
‘An’ three of ’em’s you boys,’ agreed Pa, ever the realist,
‘while them two survivin’ Earps is not only fast an’
accurate, but consider they got a grievance. Thanks, that is, to you two goin’ off premature, an’ ventilatin’ their little brother! You know how folks feel about their brothers –
you’ve told me yourselves.’
They thought about the late Reuben Clanton; and it crossed their minds – which didn’t take long – that, in fact, they hadn’t liked him much anyway. But still an’ all, a man’s gotta do et cetera; and no doubt the Earps felt the same. If the boys had been figuring shrewd, they might have thought of that sooner; but it was, of course, too late now.
‘Well,’ said Phineas, searching for a silver lining, ‘at least Masterson ain’t gonna be with ’em. That means they’re as far outside the law as we are.’
‘What it means,’ said Pa, ‘is that, ‘less we emerge victorious tomorrow, I ain’t gonna make Mayor; an’ you boys can likewise whistle for any hopes you had of makin’
Town Clerk, Borough Surveyor, an’ Dog Catcher – which had been my dearest wish! ’Sides of which, we’ll be dead!’
The sun was going down now, for want of anything to detain it; and as it sank towards the cactus-packed scenic attractions, three long shadows fell across the floor; and lay there, commanding general interest. Well, one long shadow, and two medium-sized ones, actually.
Pa was the first to track the phenomenon to its source.
‘Well, Glory be!’ he exclaimed. ‘Slit me, if it ain’t Johnny Ringo! Now we’ve maybe got a chance!’
Phineas wasn’t sure. His keen eye had perceived that the pianola dude and that hellion choir mistress were also along.
‘Pa,’ he complained, ‘for pity’s sake, we don’t want no musical evening, do we? I mean, seein’ as how it’s maybe our last?’
Night in the gaol-house was an event not much enlivened by the brooding presence of two mourning Earps and a less than sanguine Doctor, trying to learn how not to shoot his own foot off with a twelve-bore.
‘For the love of your Eternal Salvation, Doctor,’ said Wyatt, ‘you hold it this a-way – pointing at the forces of Beelzebub – not at the Powers of Light!’
‘I appreciate that,’ said the Doctor, ‘it’s just that if at any juncture I need to ask your advice, then the weapon will tend to turn with me. Look...’ he illustrated. As one Earp, they all ducked.
‘Seems to me,’ advised Bat, ‘that you boys should let the old guy stay right here. What I mean is, cain’t you jest rely on the threat of his presence? That should do it, I’d say. He sure enough scares the hell outa me!’
‘Don’t give me no argument, Bat,’ said Wyatt. ‘Since you seen fit to get a rush of yellow-livered conscience to the bowels, I’m gonna need him out there