“I’ll buy her from you for forty dollars cash,” Megan said.
“No, miss, I won’t do that.”
“Then you’ll be feeding the mare for a long, long time, Mr. Kirkwood.”
Megan went over to the mare, and the horse rolled her eyes and snorted, a clear indication that she had been mistreated by someone and was afraid of humans.
It was all that Kirkwood could do to hold her down, and when she lashed out at him with a forefoot, he shouted and released the halter crying, “Whoa, damn you!”
Megan dashed to the barn door and shut it before the mare could escape. Then, she took some more sugar cubes out of her pockets and began to talk to the bay mare while slowly moving in her direction.
The mare bolted and ran around inside the barn a couple of times, but Megan just kept talking and walking. Pretty soon, she was able to get a hold of the mare’s halter.
“See,” she crooned as the mare’s jaws pulverized sugar cubes, “that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“You got a way with ‘er,” Kirkwood said, folding his arms across his narrow chest. “I’ll have to admit that much. I’d like to see you ride the mare out, though.
“Forty dollars cash and I’ll give you another twenty dollars for the palomino.”
“Twenty!” Kirkwood screamed. “I told you that I paid two hundred.”
“Sometimes,” Megan said, “a person just has to swallow their losses and move on to bigger and better deals. Unless you know Paiute horse medicine like I do, Mr. Kirkwood, you’re just going to be throwing more good money after bad with that wind-broke palomino.”
“I think you’re trying to cheat me! That’s what I think you are trying to do, young woman!”
“Then let’s saddle and run him around a little,” Megan said. “Where’s a saddle?”
“Whoa! If what you say is true, then everyone in Bodie would see what a fool I was to spend so much money on that gambler’s horse. Why, I’d be the laughingstock of the town. I can’t afford that, being as I’m supposed to be the horse man around here.”
“Well,” Megan said, “you need to know that I’m telling you the truth about this horse. That it is wind-broke and it’s going to take some work and Indian medicine to restore the animal to its natural healthy state.”
Kirkwood removed his hat and ran his fingers through his rapidly thinning hair. “So,” he said at last, “you’re offering me just sixty dollars for the two finest-looking animals in Bodie.”
“One being wind-broke and the other half wild and slightly undersized.”
“Damn!” Kirkwood swore. “There’s just no doubt that you’re trying to skin me.”
“Then don’t take my money,” Megan said, pulling it out of her pocket and counting out sixty dollars. “I’m sure that there are plenty of other horses to buy in Bodie.”
“None as pretty as that pair.”
“Sixty-five and that’s my limit,” Megan said. “Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it.”
“And throw in the board bills for my sorrels plus these two for one full week.”
“No!”
“The board bill for five days and I do a day’s saddle repair work for you free.”
“You’re a saddle maker too?”
“I am.”
“Man, oh, man,” Kirkwood said, “you are one of a kind, young lady.”
“Do we have a deal?”
Kirkwood muttered something under his breath, but he took her money and then said, “I’ll write you out a couple of bills of sale and show you the saddle work that needs doing.”
Megan was pleased with herself. She’d not lied to Kirkwood. The mare was spooked, but mostly when it came to men. With plenty of attention and kindness, the mare would be a peach of a horse for someone, and Megan even had a few possibilities in mind. She thought that she might be able to double her money on the bay mare, especially if she looked to be the short-track sprinter that she appeared to be.
The palomino was another matter entirely. He was wind-broken, but horses like that could be cured by the Paiutes, who claimed that they did so by burning a medicinal mix of sagebrush, pine nuts, and several other secret ingredients and then forcing the horse to inhale this healing smoke. Megan had seen them cure horses like this one before, and she knew that there was a very good chance that the Paiute medicine men could cure this handsome palomino, whose breathing was slightly labored even as he stood at rest.
The two saddles that Kirkwood wanted repaired would take no more than a couple of hours.
“So tell me about Marshal Kane,” she said, giving the stable man a disarming smile. “Is he honest, or is he extorting the good businessmen of this town like yourself out of a lot of protection money?”
“I’d rather not talk about the sonofabitch,” Kirkwood snapped. “Talking about Marshal Kane just isn’t the healthy thing to do in Bodie.”
“I see.” Megan studied the badly abused saddle and acted like she did not even hear Kirkwood’s response. “So what about all the rumors that he is bleeding this town and shooting down people rather than arresting them and seeing them brought to trial.”
