food down to do that.
“Your cooking is much too good to rush eating it, Juanita.”
She grinned again, and stroked his face.
“You are a gringo fool, senor. I wish Gilberto was not coming, but—” she took her hand from his face regretfully and went into the kitchen.
“Ramon!”
The voice was Jose’s, Decker saw, calling out to the man who had just entered.
“What kind of mood is the great Gilberto in? Should we hide our women and children?”
“You would be well advised to hold a civil tongue in your head, Jose. Gilberto is in a very bad mood.”
“Why is that?”
“Someone killed two of our men, and Gilberto wants blood for blood.”
Decker, chewed his food slowly and listened carefully.
“How did that happen?”
“Someone gunned them down with a shotgun before they could touch their guns,” Ramon explained, “and then finished them with a rifle.”
Decker washed down his mouthful with a swig of beer and wondered how many men this Gilberto had? He was obviously the leader of the bandit band that the two men he had killed belonged to.
“Is his sister with him?” Jose asked.
“Of course.”
Jose looked over at Decker and said, “You are in for treat, senor. Raquel Diaz is the most beautiful woman in all Mexico.”
“How interesting.”
Ramon looked suspiciously from Jose to Decker, and then back again. It was time to leave.
“You will be very impressed—that is, if you stay long enough.”
“Well,” Decker said, looking regretfully at his plate, “I’m afraid I really have to be moving on.”
Decker, not a man to frighten easily, knew that it would be prudent to be gone when Gilberto and his band arrived. He had started to stand when suddenly Ramon pulled his gun and pointed it at him.
“Stand very still, senor.”
Decker did as he was told, cursing himself for not having been prepared for this. The man called Ramon had clearly seen that he was a stranger, but Decker had hoped to be able to leave before the man realized that that meant he was a good bet to be the man who killed the two bandits.
“That is a shotgun in your holster, is it not?” Ramon asked.
“That it is.”
“I would ask you to keep your hand away from it,
“Whatever you say”
“I think Gilberto will be very happy that you are here, senor.”
“If you say so.”
“Please, take your gun out with your left hand and drop it to the floor.”
Decker did as he was told.
“Now, please sit and finish eating. Juanita is an excellent cook.”
“Isn’t that a coincidence,” Decker said. “I was just telling her that.”
Decker sat down, damning himself for a fool. His gun was on the floor and there seemed no sure way out of this short of charging the man and hoping he was a bad shot. He could upend the table, but the man was so much on edge that he might fire at a second’s notice.
In light of the circumstances, Decker did the only thing he could.
He continued to eat.
Chapter Seven
While they were waiting for Gilberto and his men—not to mention his sister—to arrive, Juanita brought out a plate of food for Ramon. As she passed Decker on the way back to the kitchen she gave him a long look. She had obviously been trying to pass him some sort of message, but he was too dense to see what it was.
Ramon, holding his gun in his right hand, picked up a dripping tortilla and took a bite out of it. He chewed, keeping his eyes on Decker, continued to chew, with some difficulty, then swallowed…
And gagged.
Blood came from his mouth suddenly as he doubled over, dropping his gun. Decker was on his feet quickly, rushing towards him. He pushed Ramon away from his gun, but he needn’t have bothered. He was past worrying about that. He staggered back, clutching his throat as blood continued to pour from his mouth, and then he fell over.
Decker picked up his gun and walked over to where Ramon was lying, Jose close behind him. Ramon was lying on his back, his eyes fluttering as blood oozed from his mouth.
Decker walked over to where Ramon’s plate was and poked around in it with his finger. He came up with little bits of ground glass stuck to the tip of his index finger.
“Looks like Juanita added something to a recipe that already had some bite.”
The bartender leaned over and said, “Glass?”
“Ground glass,” Decker said, looking down at Ramon. “This fella’s insides must be in pieces.”
Ramon’s eyes had rolled up into his head by now, and he was dead.
Juanita came out of the kitchen and walked over to Decker.
“Is he dead?”
“Thanks to you he’s dead and I’m alive, Juanita. I’m much obliged.”
“What have you done, girl?” the bartender demanded, holding his head in his hands.
“She saved my life, that’s what she did.”
“But she has forfeited all of ours,” the man said. “The entire town.”
“Paco is right, senor,” Jose said. “Gilberto will now take his revenge against the whole town.”
“I see.”
“I do not care,” Juanita said. “Senor, when you leave please take me with you.”
“Juanita!”
She shouted something at him in Spanish, during which Decker heard her call him
In English she said, “I am ashamed of you, and ashamed of everyone in this town. You continue to let Gilberto and his
“Foolish girl,” her father said.
“Senor…” she said to Decker.
“Maybe the girl is right,” Decker said, looking at Paco, Jose and the other men in the saloon. “Maybe it’s time for this town to stand up for itself.”
“Senor,” Jose said, “if we do that, will you stand with us?”
“All right, Jose,” Decker said. “If you can get enough men with guns who are willing to fight, I’ll stand with you.”
Jose grinned.
“Senor, I think I can do that.” He turned to the other men in the room, said something to them in Spanish, and they all stood up and nodded.
“This is a start, senor, and before we are done we will have many more men, as well.”
“Then get to it,” Decker said. “We don’t know how far behind this fella the rest of them are.”
As Jose and the rest of the men left, dragging the dead man with them, Juanita came over and pressed her