15 Western Short Stories — page 66: what you’re looking at

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66 WESTERN SHORT STORIES drove a hail of lead after him. Casey was in the alley then. He tripped over a pile of garbage, fell, and lunged on. The secesh men were on the back stairs, firing at the sounds of his pounding feet. Bullets sang a high song as they searched for him, but it was wild shooting, and Casey gained the street with nothing more than a gash along his ribs. A moment later he was panting his story to Red Mas- ters in the Elephant Corral. Masters nodded grimly. “Thanks, Dan. I'll see the Governor tonight. It is my guess we'll have an order to disarm the civilians like Tilton is afraid we'd do. It’d be a pretty thing for him to have all the precussion caps in the Territory, and his men running roughshod over us. We'd have the rebel flag up all over Colo- rado.” Masters grinned. “What'd you think of finding Rose? I promised her I wouldn’t tell...” Anger roared through Casey. “Didn't I do enough? Do you have to rawhide me because I made a fool of myself over a woman?” Masters cuffed back his hat. “What are you talking about? Any man in- cluding Dan Casey is luckier than he deserves when a woman like Rose O’Hearn loves him.” “Loves me!” Casey’s big fist waved under Masters’ nose. “Look, you red- haired son. She walked out on me. Didn’t leave any word....” “IT made her do it, you muddle- headed idiot. I had to talk for half the night to get her to come here and take this job. She was the only woman I knew of that I could trust. I had to have somebody in the Alamo who was smart enough to find out what Tilton was up to and pretty enough so he’d hire her. She wanted to tell you, but there wasn’t time, and I didn’t want her telling anybody. Even a blamed fool Irishman named Dan Casey. She said you’d understand there was a good reason...” 80 he had been the craziest, most bull-headed idiot who ever misunder- stood a woman! He grabbed a hand- ful of Masters’ shirt front. “If you’ve got any fighting men in your sol- dier outfit, get "em over there to the Alamo. You haven’t got time to see the Governor.” “Now what’s the matter with you?” “T’m going after Rose.” “She’s safe enough. Tilton know....” “The devil he won't. I was in her room when Ricker jumped us. I had to kill him to get out.” “But I've got to have orders,’ Mas- befe eridd. “Forget orders. T’ll get her out alone,’ and Dan Casey headed back to the Alamo on the run. He should have trusted her! He should have thought of what Tilton would do! He should have got her out when he left! Regret and self- condemnation ran like an acid through him. If Rose died because of his lack of forethought...’ But it was a prospect that Dan Casey's brain would not hold. won't FYE PLUNGED down the alley, # 5 stumbling through the litter and lunging on without thought of the nolse he made, intent on only one thing. His own life wasn’t important. Rose O’Hearn’s was. He'd get her out of the Alamo if he had to kill every secesh son in the place. And then if she’d listen.... He had reached the back stairs then and took them two at a time. He tried the door, It was locked. He blasted it open with a single shot and spilled forward on his face as a man standing at Rose’s door opened up with a raking fire. Another time Dan Casey might have stopped. Or paused to estimate his chances. Now he did neither, In- stead he rolled to the wall and lay hard against it. Pronging back the hammer, he coolly waited until the man fired again. He squeezed the trigger before the echoes of the shot had died, snuffing out the man’s life with a single bullet. He was on his feet again, racing along the wall to Rose’s room. , It had been only minutes before that Dan Casey had left. Tilton would not expect him back so soon nor in this manner. Therein lay his chance of success and he made his gamble that way, boldly and without caution. He kicked the door of Number 10 open. A lighted lamp was on the bu- reau. Rose was sitting in a chair, head thrown proudly back, Tilton and an- COMmicboOoks.€©