“That sounds pretty good—” Scratch began, but Bo held up a hand to stop him.
“Wait a minute,” Bo said. “Let me do some figuring. Do you have a place here we can sleep?”
The saloonkeeper shook his head. “Every bit of space in this building is being used. There’s a storage room down here, but it’s full. My quarters and a couple of other rooms are upstairs, but the girls who work here use those extra rooms…twenty-four hours a day if you know what I mean.”
“How much is a room in a hotel, assuming we could get one?”
The man smiled. “You might be able to get an eight-hour shift in one, but it would cost you dearly. The flophouses are easier to get into. Eight hours in a bunk there will run about twenty-five dollars.”
Bo figured rapidly, recalling what Lucinda Bonner had told them about the price of meals in Mankiller. When he finished his calculations, he said, “What you’re offering us as a week’s pay would only last us about three days.”
The saloonkeeper shrugged. “I can’t help that. It’s all I can afford.”
“We’d be losing money going to work for you. If we had any to lose, that is.”
The man just shrugged again. “Sorry.”
Bo turned to Scratch. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Maybe one of the other saloons will pay better,” Scratch suggested.
The bearded man’s laughter followed them out the door.
Over the next couple of hours, Bo and Scratch paid unobtrusive visits to every saloon, hash house, and mercantile they could find. Every business owner they talked to was eager to hire them, confirming what Francis had said about there being a shortage of able-bodied workers in Mankiller.
But no one was willing to offer more than fifty dollars a week in wages, and some offered even less. The Texans’ frustration grew.
“This is sure a bad layout,” Scratch said as they paused in an alley behind one of the general stores. “Everybody needs to hire some help, but they can’t afford to because of havin’ to pay that big cut to the Deverys. We need money, but if we take a job, we’ll be just as broke as we are now, maybe even broker, if there is such a thing!”
“Yes, it just goes around and around in one of those vicious circles, doesn’t it?” Bo said.
“Maybe we should mosey down to the bridge and jump whichever Deverys are on duty there collectin’ tolls. We could get a couple of guns that way and start huntin’ ’em down, one or two at a time.”
“If we did that, we’d be the ones breaking the law,” Bo said.
“Then, dadgummit, what
“You can come with me,” a woman’s voice said from behind them.
CHAPTER 11
Bo and Scratch looked around in surprise. Lucinda Bonner stood there wearing a dark blue dress and looking as lovely as ever. She had taken off the apron she wore while working behind the counter in the cafe.
Out of habit, Bo started to reach up and touch the brim of his hat before he remembered that he wasn’t wearing one. He settled for nodding and saying, “Ma’am. It’s good to see you again.”
“It sure is,” Scratch added. “Best not come too close to us. We’ve still got a little, uh, aroma about us…”
Lucinda smiled. “Yes, I know. Francis O’Hanrahan told me what happened.”
“Francis came to see you, did he?” Bo asked.
Lucinda nodded. “That’s right. He had an idea, and he seemed to think he ought to discuss it with me. Owning the cafe means that I’m acquainted with most of the businessmen in town. I’ve done a little asking around, and it appears that you gentlemen have talked to just about all of those businessmen this morning, asking them for jobs. Why didn’t you come to see me?”
“Well, for one thing, it didn’t take us long to figure out that folks here in Mankiller can’t afford to pay wages that’ll let a man make a living,” Bo said. “We didn’t figure you’d be any different.”
“And for another, we still sort of stink,” Scratch added.
Lucinda said, “It’s true, I can’t pay you a living wage, but if you’ll come with me back to the cafe, I have a proposition I’d like to discuss with you.”
“We don’t take charity,” Bo said. “At least, not on a permanent basis.”
“And that’s not what I have in mind. I assure you, if the two of you go along with what I and some others have in mind, you’ll earn every penny that you make.”
The Texans looked at each other and frowned. Scratch shrugged and said, “I reckon we might as well hear the lady out.”
“I don’t see that it would do any harm,” Bo agreed. “All right, Mrs. Bonner, we’ll come with you. We’d better be careful that none of the Deverys see us with you, though. That would probably get you on their bad side.”
“All right. We’ll go in the back door.”
She led them through the alleys to the rear entrance of the cafe. When they stepped into the roomy kitchen, which Bo and Scratch hadn’t visited before, they were surprised to see that more than half a dozen people were waiting there. The Texans recognized some of them as owners of Mankiller’s businesses that they had visited that morning. Lucinda’s two daughters were also there, along with a grizzled, middle-aged man that Bo assumed was
