Quicksilver Passion (194 page)

A fella just told me something. I’m not sure he meant to. Might have been a little drunk. The Duchess is Injun, Ed, a dog-eatin’ Injun—Arapaho.”

Ed stared at him through the drifting cigar smoke, thunder-struck.
Ain’t that one of the two tribes that’s been causing all the trouble around here?”

Yep.” Lon fiddled with his string tie.
When you stop and think of it, don’t she look Injun?”

Big Ed stood up and looked at Lon a long moment. Then he pushed his way through the crowd to the bar, and banged on it with one of the big mallets used to knock the plug out of a barrel of whiskey.
Listen, everyone!” he shouted.
Listen!”

The noise and piano music hardly slowed at all. He nodded at Lon and banged the mallet against the bar again.
Free drinks on the house!” he shouted.
Free drinks for everyone!”

Almost miraculously, the crowd heard that. The men raised a cheer, then pushed their way to the bar for their reward.

Big Ed looked around as everyone drank.
And now another free round of drinks on the house!”

More cheering as the bartenders poured cheap whiskey into dozens of outstretched glasses.

Big Ed jumped up on the bar.
A toast!” he shouted.
I want to make a toast!”

Men paused, glasses in hand, listening.

Lon leaned against the table and watched. Big Ed held his glass high and looked around at the crowd.
A toast! A toast to this town that won’t let that damned bunch of redskins get by with what they been doing to decent folks!”

A cheer went up, but Big Ed held up his hand for silence.
It only grieves me we got to put up with a damned Injun running a place wide open and calling herself a fancy Duchess! We all know she’s nothing but an Injun! Who does she think she’s fooling anyhow?”