Read Online Lassiter Tough by Loren Zane Grey - Free Book Online Page A

to a job. Looks like I got one. How’s the pay?”
    â€œAsk your cuz.”
    Busher turned inquiringly to Krinkle, who said, “Pay’s good.”
    â€œDamned good,” Sanlee added, “if you’re successful, that is.” He let it hang there while Busher thought it over, then nodded. Sanlee called to O’Leary for a clean glass, then poured whiskey from his bottle for the three of them.
    â€œI want you an’ Doug to stick with me wherever I go,” Sanlee said quietly when O’Leary had departed. “Not right with me, you understand, but close enough. So I can give you a signal in a big hurry.”
    â€œYou want this Lassiter real bad,” Busher said with a smile.
    â€œOn a dark night I want to be able to stomp on his grave an’ bellow at the moon.”
    Busher and Krinkle laughed.
    Then Busher looked Sanlee in the eye. “How much pay, in dollars, not talk?”
    â€œOne thousand each.”
    â€œThe sooner you give us that signal, the sooner I can start spendin’ the money,” Busher said, a pleased look on his scarred face.
    Sanlee nodded, feeling confident that Lassiter was as good as dead.
    The following day, Lassiter glanced at the sky. It was mid-morning, and he could make Santos well before noon. He had a hunch that Millie would be early for her meeting with Chandler. He told Herrera to take over for him and rode in the direction of town.
    With most able-bodied men hired on extra for roundup, the town was practically deserted. Spring heat bore down and some old men were in chairs under an overhang out of the sun. Women in tight-waisted dresses fanned themselves as they pickedup supplies or examined the latest in yard goods at the Hartney Store.
    Isobel Hartney saw Lassiter coming with a long-legged stride, his dark face a blend of the piratical and benevolent. She quickly removed an apron, smoothed her yellow hair and put on a bright smile.
    â€œMr. Lassiter! It’s an honor to have you in my store. What can I show you?”
    He remembered her from that day on the east road. He stood by one of the crowded counters, admiring her. Women customers looked at Lassiter, then at Isobel Hartney standing tall in a blue silk dress, much too fancy for a small-town Texas store. Some of them exchanged glances and spoke together in whispers behind fingertips.
    Isobel knew they were gossiping about her and she didn’t give a hoot and a holler what they said or thought. She found Lassiter to be an interesting man and was toying with the idea that he just might be a companion—until she tired of him—which she did with all the others. One day she’d probably get around to marrying Brad Sanlee, but until that day. . . .
    He stood at a counter, his dark face tight, looking over the customers in the store. Isobel waved away one of her clerks and personally sold Lassiter a sack of tobacco and some papers. He had just paid her and she was about to initiate some bright conversation when he stiffened at the sight of someone through a front window.
    Isobel stood on her tiptoes so she could see who he was staring at. Her smooth forehead creased in a faint frown as she saw Millie Sanlee just dismounting at the tie rack in the big vacant lot beside the store. Millie had her black hair peeled back with theusual sullen look on her face. Her brother Brad was with her.
    He said something and crossed the street to the saloon.
    Lassiter had gone outside and removed his hat as he stood talking to Millie. “Damn,” said Isobel under her breath.
    In the vacant lot, Lassiter was saying, “I heard you were coming to town. So I gambled that I’d have a chance to talk to you.”
    â€œYou’re Lassiter. My brother told me about you.”
    â€œI’m here to give you a hand, if you’ll take it.”
    She glanced across the street and up the block at the long two-story building that housed O’Leary’s. Sunlight was reflected