fixed himself up. He's workin' at a dump way out on the desert - The Hacienda Altmira - an' as far as I'm concerned he can have it.'
She starts cryin'. This dame is plumb full of stagger-juice. 'Take it easy,' I say, 'an' tell me where this Altmira Is.
She comes back to earth.
'Go through the town an' keep goin', cowboy,' she says, 'an' when you're out the other side turn right at the gas station an' take the desert road. Keep goin' some more an' when you've done about thirty miles an' there ain't much more road, you'll see it away on the right. Only if I was you I'd leave your bankroll behind. They're funny guys out there.'
I say Thanks a lot; I pay Redhead an' I scram.
I drive fast an' plenty. Bit by bit I get out into the desert. I pass plenty places, roadhouses, an' hangouts an' a dude ranch or two. Pretty soon they start stringin' out, an' a bit after that there ain't nothing, nothin' but foothills an' joshua trees, cactus an' highway. The speedometer says I have done twenty, an' so I start singin' Cactus Lizzie again, because I have found that whenever I sing this song I seemta go faster.
I am wonderin'. I am wonderin' just how this guy Sagers has been gettin' along an' if he has found life interestin' around here. I get to thinkin' about him. He is a young sorta guy.
Then I see the dump. The road has sorta tailed off an' is good an' bumpy. It curves around to the right an' inside the curve, stuck right in the middle of a swell spot of desolation, is this Hacienda Altmira. It is the usual sorta adobe building, with a plaster veranda all the way round, an' a laid out front with some ornamental cactus stuck around. There is a bunch of neon lights over the front, an' as I get near I can hear hot music. Some guys are playin' guitars an' playin' 'em good.
I find a place for the car an' leave it. When I say I find a place for it I mean I leave it on one side of this dump in the shadow of a mud wall just so's I can put my hand on it quick if I wanna get outa this place in a hurry. There have been times before when I have wanted to vacate some spot very quickly an' I have always found it is not good to have your car stuck right in the front of the place where some guy can stick a knife in the tyres.
I go in the front door. The place is built Mexican fashion, an' there is a sorta passage with a curtain at the end. The guitar playin' is comm' from the other side of the curtain. I string along the passage an' pull the curtain an' lamp in.
I am surprised. The place is sweller than I thought. It is a big adobe walled room with a wooden floor. Dead opposite me is a bar and by the side of the bar is a flight of stone steps leadin' up the wall, turning left to some room half way up an' then turning right an' leadin' on to a wooden balcony that goes all around the room, except on the side to my left which has got big wire windows from floor to ceilin'. There are tables set all around the place and there are a bunch of people stickin' around.
In the middle of the tables there is a floor that has been planed down an' polished, an' dancin' on this floor, doin' a heavy tango with a dame that is old enough to be his mother, is what looks to me like the desert's swellest gigolo.
He is tall an' slim an' supple an' he is wearin' a pair of 'Mexican breeches, a silk shirt, an' a silly smile, an' he is pushin' this dame around as if he would rather have been flirtin' with a rattlesnake. The band, four guys in chaps on a little platform on the left of the bar, is hittin' up some swell Spanish stuff, an' there are four or five other guys stickin' around the bar. Most of these guys is wearin' cowboy chaps, or breeches, an' I reckon that maybe they come from some of the dude ranches that I passed on my way.
From above my head, in some room leadin' off the balcony I reckon, I can hear a lotta laughin' an' conversation. At a table away on the left near the windows three guys who look like Mexicans are havin' a few words over some tequila. On the right, there is a party of pretty high guys in tuxedos with some women wearin' some swell jewellery, an' as I have not seen any cars around this place I reckon that there must be a garage on the other side of the house where I couldn't see it.
When I go in the guys at the bar take a look at me, an' then go back to their wisecrackin' with the fly-lookin' jane who is workin' the bar.
I pick myself a table on the edge of the dance floor, an' I sit down. After a bit some guy, who looks like he would die any minute, he is so thin, comes over and says what do I want. I give him an order for some ham an' eggs an' a lotta whisky an' he goes off. I then amuse myself watchin' the guy on the dance floor doin' his stuff.
He goes on pushin' this dame around an' by the way the guys who are playin' the guitars are lookin' I can see that there is a big laugh somewhere. Maybe they think that the big boy is playin' her for a sucker, and I gotta admit that he is certainly goin' on like a hired dance partner. When they come around opposite me he turns her around so that he is lookin' at me an' he gives me a sorta apologetic grin an' a double wink.
After a bit the boys stop playin' an' the couple go off to a table where I can see there is a bottle of champagne, and then after a minute some guy in a swell cut tuxedo an' a silk shirt comes outa the room half way up the stairs. He sees me an' sorta smiles an' runs down the stairs and comes across to me.
'Goodnight to you, senor,' he says. 'I am mos' pleased to welcome you to Altmira. I 'ope you get everything you want.'
I grin.
'Me too!' I tell him.
Then I shut up.
'You are in thees neighbourhood a long time?' he asks me. 'I deed not theenk I 'ave seen you before. You see, senor, you are ver' lucky to find us open at thees time-eet is nearly three o'clock-but tonight we 'ave a little party 'ere as you see. I 'ope we shall see you some more.'
The waiter guy comes back with the whisky. I pour myself a stiff shot an' pass the bottle to this guy.
'Have a drink,' I tell him, 'an' who might you be?'
He smiles an' waves his hand that he don't want a drink.
'I am Periera,' he says. 'I manage thees place. Eet is a ver' good place, when you get to know eet.'
'Swell,' I tell him. 'I'm stickin' around the neighbourhood for a bit,' I go on, 'so you'll see some more of me.'
He grins an' he goes off.
After a bit the waiter comes in with my ham an' eggs an' I start eatin'. After a bit the guitar guys start playin' again, an' sure as a gun the gigolo guy gets up an' starts cavortin' around with the dame. This old lady is so keen on doin' a hot rumba that it looks as if she is goin' to bust outa her gown at any minute.
As they come swayin' around my way, I swallow some whisky quick an' make out that I am a little bit high. When they get opposite me I look up at the guy an' I grin. He grins back.
'Hi'yah, sissy?' I say, good an' loud.
You coulda heard a pin drop. The party on the right stop drinkin' an' the guys at the bar spin around. The big boy stops dancin' an' takes the dame back to the table an' then he walks sorta casually over to me.
'An' what did you say?' he asks me.
'I asked you how you was, sissy,' I tell him.
This guy is quick. He takes one step forward, an' as I am about to get up he kicks my feet sideways an' busts me in the nose at the same time. I go down with a wallop, but I am pretty quick an' I shoot after him an' mix it. I put up a quick uppercut, which he sidesteps an' when I try a straight one he blocks it. I get hold of his shin an' yank him over to me an' he trips me, Japanese scissor fashion, an' we go down again. The band has stopped playin' an' as I flop I can see Periera comm across.
As I go to get up sissy smacks me down again, an' when I do get on my feet I am lookin' not quite so hot.
I stand there swayin' a bit as if I was high, an' I let out a hiccup so's they'll be certain.
Periera stands smilin' at me.
'Senor,' he says. 'I am sorry that you should make some troubles with people in my service. Pleese don't do eet some more. Eef you are hurt I am sorry.'
He starts brushin' off my coat where it is dusty.
The sissy has gone off back to his table to the dame. I look across at him.
'Pleese not to start sometheen else, senor,' says Periera. 'We do not like some troubles here.'
I flop down in my chair.
'I reckon you're right at that,' I tell him. 'I reckon I had too much before I come here an' anyhow he was right to smack me in the puss. It looks like he ain't as big a sissy as he looks,' I go on.
