Part 41 (2/2)
”Not any more, I reckon.” She unwound the cloth I'd wrapped it in. ”Or are you gonna shoot me?”
”Do you always do just as you please?”
”Pretty near.” She bared her teeth and ripped a chunk out of my hare. Her eyes closed. She chewed a few times and sighed. Then she tore off another chunk and worked on it. Some juice dribbled down her chin. She wiped it off with the back of her hand, then opened her eyes and said, ”Mighty fine, Trevor.” Her words came out sounding thick and mushy. ”It's gonna be a pure pleasure riding with a feller that's such a good cook.”
”You have a notion to ride with me, do you?”
”Name's Jesse. Jesse Sue Longley.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE.
Pardners ”Which direction are you traveling?” I asked, figuring this might let me off the hook.
”None in particular,” said Jesse Sue Longley.
”Why, you must be going to to somewhere.” somewhere.”
”Ain't going to to anyplace. Just anyplace. Just away away from where I been.” from where I been.”
”Where's that, then?”
”That's my nevermind.”
”It's my nevermind if you aim to ride with me. What is it you're running away from? Have you got someone after you?”
Her eyes narrowed. ”n.o.body's after me. What about you? How'd you get yourself shot?”
”That's my my nevermind,” I said. nevermind,” I said.
She smiled. ”Looks like we're even, huh?”
”Looks that way. Far as I know, though, I'm in the clear. Those who caused my troubles aren't looking for me.”
”I can say the same,” she said.
Mine were all dead. From Jesse's manner, I couldn't help but wonder if maybe hers were dead, too. Instead of putting me off, the notion made me feel like we had more in common.
”Where is it that you don't want to go?” I asked.
”Only just Texas.”
”Well, that's not where I'm going.”
”I knew that. I saw you on the trail. You was heading the wrong way for a feller bound for Texas. Not as it would've mattered if I could've nabbed your horse.”
”How'd you get out here, at all, without a mount of your own? Did you walk the whole way, or...?”
”Do I look like an addle-head?”
”Not at all.”
”I should say I'm not. No, sir.” She dipped her head down and brought it up sharp as if agreeing with herself rather fiercely. Even though she had a frown on her face, something in her eyes stayed amused-like she was up to some brand of mischief. She'd pretty much had that same glint in her eyes all along. It seemed fitting the times I knew she was having me on, but times like now it didn't rightly belong there and seemed peculiar-as if she carried a secret knowledge inside that maybe set her apart from whatever was actually going on.
”I had me a horse,” she said, ”till yesterday when a dang rattler spooked him and he threw me. He run off, and I ain't seen him since. Sorriest excuse for a flea-bitten nag I ever did did see. Lost him, and everything I owned but the clothes on my back. Lost me a good Sharps rifle,” she added, as if that were an especially sore point. see. Lost him, and everything I owned but the clothes on my back. Lost me a good Sharps rifle,” she added, as if that were an especially sore point.
”A spot of bad luck, that.”
”Worse luck for the rattler.” A grin came up, matching the usual gleam in her eyes, and she patted her tummy.
”You ate ate it?” it?”
”Killed it first. Stove in its ugly head with a rock.”
”The same as you did to me?”
”Well, your head ain't so ugly, and I didn't stove it in.”
”You certainly had a go at it, didn't you?”
”I only just meant to knock you off your saddle,” she protested. ”If I'd aimed to kill you dead, you'd be stretched out in the dust before now.”
”I doubt that.”
”Not me.” She bent over, hitched up a leg of her dungarees, and s.n.a.t.c.hed a knife out of her boot top. It was just about the biggest knife I'd ever seen, the blade near as long as my forearm. She tapped its point against my chest. ”This here's my Bowie knife,” she said.
I gazed at it, and felt myself shrink and get cold here and there. She'd had that awful weapon all along. If she'd used it instead of the rock, she could've split my head open. She hadn't even gone for it when we were fighting hard on the ground, and there'd been moments when she'd had the chance. She'd chosen chosen not to pull it and gut me. not to pull it and gut me.
”Why didn't you use it?” I asked.
”Makes a terrible mess,” she said, and slid it back down into her boot. Standing up straight in front of me, she lost her smile. ”I didn't have any call to kill you. I just needed a horse to ride on.”
”I'd be pleased to have you ride along double with me,” I told her.
”Much obliged,” she said.
She gave me the water pouch. I took my hat off the saddle horn and hung the pouch there by its strap. I needed both hands to mount General, so I put my hat on and winced as it squeezed the lump on my head. Then I reached down. Jesse took hold of my hand, and I gave her a tow as she swung up behind me.
”Mind?” she asked.
Before I could inquire what she meant by that, she plucked the hat off my head. ”Lost mine down a canyon two days back,” she explained.
”It seems you've lost a good deal.”
She slapped my shoulder. ”Gained more than I've lost, pardner.”
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