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

"What about appointments?"
"You mean meetin' somebody? If I am wishful to see somebody, I go to his house
or the field where he's workin'. He does the same if he wishes to see me. Or we
can meet at church of a Sunday."
"And if he doesn't go to church?"
"In the mountains? Everybody goes to church. Even George Haliday ... he's our
atheist. We go to meet folks as well as to hear the preachin' an' singin'.
George, he goes so he can hear what the preacher says so's they can argue about
it at the store."
"They are friends?"
"Of course. Everybody likes George, and the preacher looks forward to those
arguments. Ever'body down to the store does. They argued about the whale
swallowin' Jonah until the preacher came up with evidence showin' two men had
been swallowed and lived to tell of it.
"Preacher, he says for all his mistaken ways George knows more Bible than
anybody he ever knew. He says that down inside, George Haliday is a good
Christian man who just likes to argue. I wouldn't know about that, but ever'
once in a while the preacher throws a sermon right at him; and all the folks
know it and they watch George."
"The tinker who brought the Advocate? Do you see him often?"
"Ever' two, three months. Sometimes oftener. He comes down along the ridge trail
carryin' a pack so big you'd think it would take three men. Packs it all by
hisself."
"Doesn't he ever get robbed?"
Well, I just looked at him. Where was he raised? Nobody would rob a pack
peddler, but especially not this one. Anyway, even among Injuns, peddlers an'
traders were respected an' let be. We all needed their goods. If the peddler
stopped comin', we'd all lack for things.
"Nobody would rob the Tinker. I reckon nobody could. He's got him a special kind
of knife he makes himself, and knows how to use it. I often wished I had one
like it, but I have to make do with my pick."
" 'Pick'?"
"Arkansas toothpick." When I said it, I could see he was ignorant. "It's a kind
of knife."
He stared at me there for a moment, tryin' to make me out. I reckon I was a
different kind of person than he'd ever met. So I changed the subject on him.
"About that money. Folks where I come from, Mr. White, are right serious about
money. When somebody owes money, they pay it or explain why they can't. You have
money for me. I want it."
"Of course. You are impatient, but I understand that." He reached in his desk
and drew out a paper with all kinds of writin' on it and indicated a line at the
bottom. "You just sign right there and you shall have your money."
Me, I just looked at him. "Mr. White, I don't figure to sign anything until I
have the money in hand. All of it. You put the money on the desk and I'll sign
fast enough."
"I am sorry, Miss Sackett. Your signing would expedite matters. In any event, it
shall have to be tomorrow, as I naturally would not have such a sum in my
office."
I stood up. "Yes, sir. I understand, sir. Tomorrow morning I will be here and
you had better be, with that money. If it ain't here or you aren't, I'll start