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The Draw By: Jerome Bixby (1923-1998) |
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This etext was produced from Amazing Stories March 1954. Extensive
research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this
publication was renewed.
THE DRAW
BY JEROME BIXBY
Illustrator : Wm. Ashman
Stories of the old West were filled with bad men who lived
by the speed of their gun hand. Well, meet Buck Tarrant, who
could outdraw them all. His secret: he didn't even have to
reach for his weapon....
Joe Doolin's my name. Cowhand work for old Farrel over at Lazy F
beyond the Pass. Never had much of anything exciting happen to
me just punched cows and lit up on payday until the day I happened
to ride through the Pass on my way to town and saw young Buck
Tarrant's draw. Now, Buck'd always been a damn good shot. Once he got his gun in his
hand he could put a bullet right where he wanted it up to twenty
paces, and within an inch of his aim up to a hundred feet. But Lord
God, he couldn't draw to save his life I'd seen him a couple of times
before in the Pass, trying to. He'd face a tree and go into a crouch,
and I'd know he was pretending the tree was Billy the Kid or somebody,
and then he'd slap leather and his clumsy hand would wallop his
gunbutt, he'd yank like hell, his old Peacemaker would come staggering
out of his holster like a bear in heat, and finally he'd line on his
target and plug it dead center. But the whole business took about a
second and a half, and by the time he'd ever finished his fumbling in
a real fight, Billy the Kid or Sheriff Ben Randolph over in town or
even me, Joe Doolin, could have cut him in half. So this time, when I was riding along through the Pass, I saw Buck
upslope from me under the trees, and I just grinned and didn't pay too
much attention. He stood facing an old elm tree, and I could see he'd tacked a playing
card about four feet up the trunk, about where a man's heart would
be. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him go into his gunman's crouch. He
was about sixty feet away from me, and, like I said, I wasn't paying
much mind to him. I heard the shot, flat down the rocky slope that separated us. I
grinned again, picturing that fumbly draw of his, the wild slap at
leather, the gun coming out drunklike, maybe even him dropping it I'd
seen him do that once or twice. It got me to thinking about him, as I rode closer. He was a bad one. Nobody said any different than that. Just bad. He
was a bony runt of about eighteen, with bulging eyes and a wide mouth
that was always turned down at the corners. He got his nickname Buck
because he had buck teeth, not because he was heap man. He was some
handy with his fists, and he liked to pick ruckuses with kids he was
sure he could lick. But the tipoff on Buck is that he'd bleat like a
two day calf to get out of mixing with somebody he was scared
of which meant somebody his own size or bigger. He'd jaw his way out
of it, or just turn and slink away with his tail along his belly. His
dad had died a couple years before, and he lived with his ma on a
small ranch out near the Pass. The place was falling to pieces,
because Buck wouldn't lift a hand to do any work around his ma just
couldn't handle him at all. Fences were down, and the yard was all
weedgrown, and the house needed some repairs but all Buck ever did
was hang around town, trying to rub up against some of the tough
customers who drank in the Once Again Saloon, or else he'd ride up and
lie around under the trees along the top of the Pass and just
think or, like he was today, he'd practise drawing and throwing down
on trees and rocks. Guess he always wanted to be tough. Really tough. He tried to walk
with tough men, and, as we found out later, just about all he ever
thought about while he was lying around was how he could be tougher
than the next two guys... Continue reading book >>
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