“Ain’t he something, though?”
“He’s a dandy, all right,” Megan agreed. “Where’d you get him?”
“He belonged to a gambler who was shot and killed after he got caught dealing from the bottom of the deck. The man owed everyone in town, but he owed me the most. So I paid off the others and took the horse.”
“I’m sure that you got a wonderful deal,” Megan said. “You probably got him cheap.”
“Not so cheap as you might think,” Kirkwood said. “I guess I’m out about two hundred dollars for him.”
“My, my! He isn’t that nice.”
Kirkwood’s eyes dilated. “What do you mean! He can run like the wind and never get tired. He’s intelligent—if you knew much about horses you could see that in his eyes.”
Megan smiled sweetly. “Why, I can see that is a fine animal, but a horse like that would only bring about a hundred dollars in Reno. And that, Mr. Kirkwood, would be the absolute tops.”
Kirkwood visibly deflated. “Really?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Well,” the man blustered, “he’s worth at least twice that in Bodie. I mean to enter him in a race one of these days and win a bundle of money.”
Megan nodded as if she believed this, but then said, “I just hope that the race you enter him in is short.”
“Why?” Kirkwood asked suspiciously.
“Why? Because it’s obvious that he’s been wind-broke. I doubt he’d be able to run more than a few hundred yards before he’d be gasping and wheezing.”
“That’s crazy! Why, this horse is as sound as a dollar.”
“A Confederate dollar, maybe,” Megan said, going to look at the other horses. “You own any of these?”
Kirkwood put the palomino back into its stall. He looked upset and distracted.
“This mare looks to be … what, about twenty years old?”
Kirkwood glanced up suddenly. “Ten!” he snapped. “I’ve owned her two years and she wasn’t even eight then.”
“Oh, no,” Megan said, shaking her head and smiling sadly. “This mare is ancient and I do mean that. I’d say she was on the sundown side of twenty, at least.”
“What makes you think so?”
“The way her teeth are parroting out. Not only do their teeth get worn down flat so that there are no cups, but they begin to point or ‘parrot’ outward. And look at the depth of those sockets over her eyes. And see how her-“
“All right, damit! Maybe she is older than ten. But she’s not twenty, dammit!”
“I’m quite certain that she’s real old,” Megan said, stroking the mare’s muzzle.
“Look at this one,” Kirkwood thundered, marching over to throw open a stall door and yank a fine-looking bay mare out by her halter. He grinned triumphantly. “I dare you to fault this handsome mare.”
Megan put her hands on her hips and then walked around the mare twice. She was about fifteen hands and just under a thousand pounds. Straight-legged with an excellent conformation. Her hooves were black and looked hard as diamonds, and when Megan studied her legs, they were straight and long.
“Well?” Kirkwood demanded.
“Not bad,” Megan said. “I’m sure that she’ll make a fine ladies’ horse.”
“Ladies’ horse!” the stableman thundered. “Why, she’s horse enough for any man.”
“A little light-boned for the average-sized man,” Megan argued. “But she looks like she could run.”
“The man I bought her from said she’d outrun everything in Aurora last fall and made him a lot of money. I ain’t raced her in Bodie, but I will some day.”
“I’d race her before I’d race that wind-broke palomino you paid way too much for,” Megan said.
Kirkwood reached for his chewing tobacco and crammed a big wad into his mouth. He chewed hard and fast. “So you like this mare, huh?”
“I do.”
“How much is she worth to you?”
Megan took her time and acted as if she had to struggle to come up with her best figure. “Maybe forty dollars.”
Kirkwood scoffed. “Why, you’re worse than a bank thief! I paid sixty and I stole her.”
“If you find a woman that can handle that much horse, you might get your money out of her,” Megan said, starting to turn away.
“Wait a minute! Could you handle her?”
“Yes.” Megan eyed the mare. “She’s strong-willed, though, isn’t she.”
“Yeah,” the man said. “I got the boy to saddle and try to ride her, but she pitched the kid off and he hurt his shoulder. He won’t ride her anymore, and I’m too busted up from other horses to risk getting pitched. I’ve been looking for someone to ride her out. I don’t suppose that you …”
