Boone's Lick Read Free Page A

farmers there were happy to sell what they had to Uncle Seth, the result being that our mules were the best-conditioned animals anywhere around Boone’s Lick. No wonder the sheriff wanted to borrow them, if he had a hard job to do.
    Ma was whetting her knives, which made such a racket that the rest of us went outside.
    â€œI guess I can’t blame you for wanting your posse to have decent mounts,” Uncle Seth said to Sheriff Baldy. “That’s correct thinking, as far as it goes, but it don’t go far enough.”
    Sheriff Baldy just looked at him. It might be that the shock of having his horse shot out fromunder him by a woman he had once courted had just hit him. His mouth hung open again, inviting flies and bugs.
    â€œOf course, I have no objection to you borrowing our mules for a patriotic expedition, provided the expedition is well planned,” Uncle Seth said. “How many posse men have you signed up so far?”
    â€œOne, so far,” the sheriff admitted.
    â€œUh-oh, there’s the incorrect part of your thinking,” Uncle Seth said. “There’s a passel of Millers, and Jake ain’t the only one that’s mean. If you go wandering over there with an inadequate force our mules will be at risk. Jake Miller can spot a valuable mule as quick as the next man.”
    â€œI know that,” Sheriff Baldy said. He looked a little discouraged.
    â€œI expect you were counting on our fine mules to attract a posse,” Uncle Seth said. “It might work, too. At least, it might if you’re offering cash payment too.”
    â€œI can offer five dollars a man, and fifty dollars to Wild Bill Hickok, if he’ll come,” the sheriff said.
    Something about that remark irked Uncle Seth, because the red vein popped out again on his nose. I don’t think the sheriff noticed.
    â€œYou mean if I was to join your posse you’d offer me forty-five dollars less than you’re offering Bill Hickok to do the same job, even though the two of us were commanded by General Phil Sheridan and
I
was the sharpshooter and Bill just a common spy?” Uncle Seth inquired.
    It didn’t take the sheriff but a second to figure out what he had done wrong.
    â€œWhy, Seth, I never supposed you’d want to join a posse,” he said.
    â€œFor fifty dollars I’ll join it and enlist Shay and G.T. too,” Uncle Seth said. “The boys will work for nothing, of course.”
    That remark startled me so that if I had been sitting on a fence I expect I would have fallen off. Ma wouldn’t hear of our fighting in the war, though plenty of fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds
did
fight in it; and now Uncle Seth, with no discussion, was offering to trot us off to Stumptown to take on the notorious Miller gang, an outfit filled with celebrated killers: Cut-Nose Jones, Little Billy Perkins, and the four violent Millers themselves.
    The sheriff didn’t immediately respond to Uncle Seth’s offer, but he didn’t immediately reject it, either.
    â€œIf I had you and Hickok and the two boys and myself, I don’t suppose I’d need much more of a posse,” he finally said.
    â€œThat’s right, you wouldn’t,” Uncle Seth said. “Here comes G.T., leading Old Sam. Old Sam could pull a house up a hill, if somebody hitched him to it.”
    Sheriff Baldy still looked worried.
    â€œThere’s two problems, Seth,” he said.
    Before Uncle Seth could ask what they were Ma came outside and stuck little Marcy in his arms again.
    â€œYou keep running off and leaving this baby,” she said. “I can’t have a baby around when I’m sharpening knives.”
    Little Marcy was still in a perfectly good humor.She began to wave her arms and kick her feet.
    â€œWhat were the two problems, Baldy?” Uncle Seth said. He looked a little put upon.
    â€œA hundred dollars is a lot to pay for a posse,” the sheriff said. “We