"Harlan Ellison - The End of the Time of Leinard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ellison Harlan)

Gus Tabbert took a tentative step, felt at himself and twisted
forward, face-first into the dust. He was dead before he hit. He lay
there with the revolver halfway out of its holster, his legs crushed
up under him.
The breeze ruffled his gray hair.
****
тАЬLook, Frank, you gotta understand somethin'.тАЭ
Pete Redallo, who ran the livery, and was also the spokesman for
the City CouncilтАФwhat there was of itтАФstood with his sweat-
stained hat in his hand. He stood before Frank Leinard's desk in the
Sheriff's office with three of his fellow councilors. He had come to
ask Frank Leinard to resign.

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тАЬYou gotta know Bartisville ain't the same as it used to be. Things is
changed, Frank.тАЭ
Leinard was a big, rangy man, with small, deep-set eyes of black
and a full, gray-flecked mustache. He wore heavy lumberjack shirts
and no vest, and he sweated a great deal: there were always two
heavy, dark semicircles under his armpits. He wore the .44 low on
the right side, with the concho thongs tied down on his thigh. There
was a quiet competence about him, a strength, an assertiveness. He
was the kind of man youngsters followed around with knives and
whittle-sticks, begging for a little attention. He was the Sheriff, bred
in the bone, anywhichway you looked at him, awake or on the nod.
His voice was soft, but never wheedling. Stronger than ever now, as
he said, тАЬHow do you mean, Pete? Changed?тАЭ
Redallo twisted the hat. He looked to his friends for aid. They
nudged him with their eyes, to continue.
тАЬWell, like this, Frank. Ya see, before, when Bartisville was just
gettinтАЩ started, when we was the end of the trail drive for everybody
in this territory, we was a pretty wild town. Now we ain't belittlinтАЩ
what you done here; you made this a decent town for our wives and
kids, Frank.тАЭ
тАЬBut you got to understand something, Frank,тАЭ Morn Ashley said,
with that sweet voice of his. тАЬYou gotta understand that those days
are behind us. Hell, Frank, it's cominтАЩ up on the Turn of the
Century. New times! New ways of doinтАЩ things diff'rent from
before. Why, I can run the bridge across the Shawsack without no
trouble't'all nowadays. Used to be that I'd have to drop down every


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man thought he could pass without payinтАЩ my toll. But things is