"Louis L'amour - sackett05 - Ride The River" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Amour Louis)

age, although, Finian admitted, Dorian was a bit broader in the shoulders and
somewhat more muscular than he himself had been.
"I have a mission for you."
"A mission? Or do you mean a job?" Dorian revealed even white teeth in a
flashing smile.
"A mission. Did you happen to see the young lady who was with me last night at
supper?"
"Everybody else was paying attention. It seemed to me she could do without
mine."
"Then you would not recognize her if you saw her?"
"I would not."
"She left town this morning carrying something over three thousand dollars and a
gem in a small iron box just about three inches by two. I am worried about her."
Dorian Chantry drew back a chair and sat down. "Uncle," he said, "I have
promised Frances that I wouldЧ"
"Send her a note explaining you have been called away on business. She will
understand."
"Me? Called away on business? She will not understand. When have I ever let
business interfere with pleasure?"
Finian Chantry's eyes chilled. "If you do not wish to write the note, then do
not do so. But I shall expect you to be riding west within the hour to overtake
the stage for Pittsburgh.
"I wish you to see that the young lady in question, Echo Sackett by name,
arrives safely at her home somewhere in the mountains east of Tuckalucky Cove,
Tennessee.
"You are twenty years old, andЧ"
"At that age you were master of your own vessel. I know. You have told me the
story a number of times since I was a child. NowЧ"
"If you are not in the saddle headed for Pittsburgh within the hour, and if the
young lady in question does not arrive safely home, you may expect your
allowance to be trimmed to six dollars per week."
Dorian started to speak, then looked again at his uncle. Finian Chantry, in this
mood, was no one to argue with. "Six dollars a week? I would starve!"
"Many a good job pays no more than that. No, you would not starve, but you would
have to find a job. You would have to go to work, which would be the best thing
in the world for you."
Dorian Chantry studied the backs of his hands. Echo Sackett ... He had heard the
Sackett story often enough to know what it meant to Uncle Finian, and what it
had meant to his father as well.
"Where is she going from Pittsburgh? I mean, how will she go? By steamboat? By
stage? How? And where is Tuckalucky Cove? Is there such a place?"
"The Sacketts are backwoods people, mountain people. They have always preferred
wild country. There's a town called KnoxvilleЧ"
"I've heard of it."
"Tuckalucky Cove is somewhere east of there, but whatever happens will probably
happen before she reaches her mountains."
"Happens? You expect trouble?"
"Why else would I send you? And you had best take a brace of pistols and your
rifle." Before Dorian could interrupt, he added, "Have you ever heard of Felix
Horst?"