.44 Caliber Man Read Free

the
answer. She had always been a merry tomboy, with an impish sense of
humor and an explosive, soon-come-soon-gone temper. Instead of
cussing him out for his forgetfulness, her lips quivered a little
and her eyes blinked like they tried to hold back tears.
    ‘ Ma and Kenny’re fine,’ she replied, then sucked in a deep
breath and continued. ‘Likely you haven’t heard Pappy was killed a
couple of months back.’
    ‘ I hadn’t heard,’ the Kid admitted contritely. I’m real sorry I
asked about him like I did.’
    ‘ It was a hoss,’ Jeanie said quietly, blinking her eyes again.
‘The best-looking and meanest critter we’d brought in since that
big paint stallion Pappy sold to Ole Devil Hardin.’
    Silently
cursing himself for starting the conversation, the Kid wondered how
he might end it without adding to the girl’s grief.
    ‘ It’d have to be a real mean hoss to lick him, Jeanie-gal,’ he
said gently. ‘Your pappy was a forty-four caliber man.’
    ‘ Thanks, Kid,’ Jeanie answered, a hint of pleasure and
gratitude creeping into her voice and onto her face. Then the
bitter lines returned. ‘There’re some who don’t—’
    The words died
away and Jeanie turned to look out of the window. Moving into a
more comfortable position on the seat, the Kid wondered what had
brought out the girl’s lost, unfinished sentence. Trader Schell had
been a mustanger, catching and breaking wild horses, well-liked by
the people who bought stock from him, even though a shrewd
businessman. However, Jeanie showed no inclination to resume the
conversation and the Kid did not consider himself a sufficiently
close friend to force the matter further.
    Hefting the
rifle in his hands, the Kid looked for some way to avoid nursing it
during the journey to Fort Sawyer. The Overland Stage Company had
foreseen the need and fitted hooks to the woodwork above the seats
on which travelers could hang their shoulder arms. Before the Kid
could rise and make use of the hooks, the young man sitting
opposite him indicated the rifle and asked:
    ‘ Would that be a Henry you have?’
    ‘ Sure,’ the Kid agreed, trying to recall where he had heard
such an accent as the man used.
    ‘ I’ve never seen one with a wooden fore grip before,’ the man
commented. ‘All the Henrys I’ve seen have a bare metal barrel and
magazine.’
    ‘ This here’s one of the new model,’ the Kid explained with an
air of conscious pride. He held out the rifle so that the man could
see the slot let into the right side of the brass frame. ‘You load
it through here in the breech instead of pulling the tube
open.’
    ‘ That’s an improvement,’ the man said soberly. The magazine was
always the Henry’s weak point. This new model looks a stouter gun
all round. I haven’t seen any of them on sale yet.’
    ‘ Or me,’ the Kid admitted. ‘I got this ’n’ for helping a
salesman who was taking a whole slew of the old model Henrys to
Juarez.’ ii
    Although it
later gained fame as the Winchester Model of 1866—first in a long
line of successful lever-action repeaters—the type of rifle in the
Kid’s hands made its appearance on the market under the name of the
New Improved Henry.
    After the Kid
had hung the rifle on the hooks, he talked with the man for a time
about the relative merits of various firearms and discussed hunting
opportunities. Although the man did not introduce himself, or say
what brought him to Texas, the Kid asked no questions. However, the
Kid felt that he had been sufficiently sociable to satisfy his
curiosity on one point.
    ‘ No offence, friend,’ he said. ‘But do all the folks dress this
fancy back where you come from?’
    ‘ It’s a kilt, cowboy,’ April Hosman put in, following the
direction of the Kid’s gaze. ‘Folks in Scotland wear
them.’
    ‘ The gals too?’ asked the Kid, for he had never seen a saloon
girl dressed in such a short garment.
    ‘ No!’ the man replied shortly, his voice losing its friendly
note.