Rolling out the trash in Escondido Monday night, this paperback probably fell out of another bin. Under the cover:
DESERT SHOWDOWN
It was hot and still. Far off over the desert a dust devil danced among the Galleta grass and the creosote brush, but I saw no dust of human make. It could be we had shaken them. Maybe we would have no trouble after all.
What made me turn my head I’ll never know, but glancing over my left shoulder I caught just a glimpse of a rifle muzzle as somebody drew sight on me.
Mister, I left off of that rock like I was taking a free dive into a swimmin’ hole, and I hit that heaped-up sand on my shoulder and rolled over. When I came up it was on one knee, the other leg stretched out ahead of me, and my Winchester coming up to firing position.
That was the teaser, of course; got me to the first paragraph.
When I saw that black-eyed woman a-looking at me I wished I had a Bible.
I could see where this hombre was headed.
Read this find to my wife after dinner all excited. She tells me this is why the male species needs to be exterminated.
Louis L’Amour – Mojave Crossing 1964
