Reilly's Luck (Louis L'Amour's Lost Treasures)

by Louis L'Amour

  The snow had stopped, but outside the window, which he could scarcely see through because of the frost, everything was white and still. He could hear an axe being used, and from time to time the sound of voices. He could see big chips lying on the snow, and a couple of long poles, curved on one end. Will Reilly had chosen young saplings with a slight curvature for the runners. Now he was trimming them to smooth the surface that would ride on the snow.

  Sonnenberg, Tom, and Reilly wheeled the buckboard into view and Reilly went to work to remove the wheels. The buckboard had been built so that runners could be mounted for winter use.

  After a while they all came in. Tom went to work preparing a meal, and Reilly tilted his chair back against the wall. “I’ve got some extra grub,” he said, “and we’re obliged for your help. If you stay here until you get a chinook, or spring comes, you’ll need more than you’ve got.”

  “It would help,” Tensleep agreed.

  “I can leave you a couple of slabs of bacon, some frozen beef, maybe half a dozen cans of beans. We didn’t pack flour because we didn’t figure to have any place to bake.”

  “See?” Tensleep said. “I told you he was all right. You never lose anything if you stand by Will Reilly.”

  Reilly drank coffee, and then nodded to Val. “Get bundled up, Val. We’re pulling out.”

  “You got a long drive.” Sonnenberg studied him warily. “How do we know you ain’t just goin’ out to meet the sheriff some place?”

  “If you knew Daily Benson,” Reilly answered, “you wouldn’t worry. You couldn’t get him three miles from town in this weather for twenty thousand dollars. He’s a warm-weather sheriff…and he isn’t looking for you boys, anyhow.”

  Reilly put down his cup and got to his feet. “Come on out, a couple of you, and I’ll give you what I can.”

  Outside he loaded Sonnenberg down with the bacon and beans, and while the outlaw went inside, Reilly said, “Thanks, Tensleep. I’ll remember this.” He dug into the buckboard and came up with a ten-pound sack of dried apples. “Take this for an added benefit.”

  “Thanks.” Tensleep started to turn away, then came back. “I just recalled, Will. You be careful down to Helena. The Gorman boys are down there.”

  Henry Sonnenberg stood by sullenly, but Tom stepped forward and picking up Val, placed him in the buckboard, and tucked the buffalo robe around him. “You ride warm, son. You’ve got a cold drive ahead of you.”

  “Thank you, Tom,” Val said. “Thank you very much.”

  Will Reilly stepped up into the buckboard and sat down, then he clucked to the horses and slapped them with the reins. “You boys take care,” he said. “And scatter some snow after I’m gone.”

  He drove down the trail toward the main road, and Val saw his coat was still unbuttoned and the flap loose on Reilly’s holster. Will Reilly was a gambler, they said, but he did not gamble in every sense, and it was only when they had put two good miles behind them that he buttoned his coat.

  For a few miles they rode in silence, and then Will glanced down at the boy. “Are you cold?” he asked.

  “A little.”

  “Did you watch what happened back there, Val? It is always important to watch…and listen.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do you know why we’re alive now, Val?”

  “They were afraid of you.”

  “No, they weren’t. Especially, Tensleep wasn’t. But neither were the others. What was important was that they knew I wasn’t afraid of them, and that they couldn’t injure me without being injured themselves.

  “And there was something else, Val. A man who is strong has to know when to use his strength. I did not challenge Henry Sonnenberg. If I had challenged him he would have felt he had to prove me wrong. There would have been a fight, and some of us would have been hurt. In such a case it is a fine line one must draw, Val. I accepted Sonnenberg as a dangerous man, while not yielding in the least.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Of those men back there, Val, Sonnenberg is the toughest and meanest. Tensleep is the best with a gun, and by far the most cunning, but Tom is the most dangerous.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he is not right in his mind. He looks all right, and most of the time he acts all right, but you can’t count on what he will do under strain when it comes to a tight spot. He could very easily go wild and kill everybody around him. Afterward he might be sorry for a little while, but more than likely he would forget all about it.”

  After that they rode in silence again, but presently Reilly said, “Val, you are alone in the world. Don’t ever forget that, and don’t forget that he who stands alone is the strongest. It is a wonderful thing to have friends, but you must know who your friends are. Learn to judge men, Val. If you do, you will live longer…and better.”

  The air was crisp and clear, and the horses moved briskly. Val burrowed down in his warm clothes and watched the ears of the horses. From time to time Will Reilly talked of one thing or another.

  This was only the first of many rides, in buckboards, on trains, on steamboats, and on horseback, and on every occasion Will Reilly talked. He liked to talk, and Val was a good listener.

  It was only a long time later that Val began to realize that Will Reilly was doing his best in his own way to teach him the things that he himself valued. Among these things were to have responsibility and courage, to be a gentleman always, and to realize that a man’s word is his bond. There were many other things, too, little things about working at various jobs, getting along with people, noticing the mannerisms that men develop, the tricks of expression or gesture that may indicate when they were lying, or when they are uncertain or afraid. In the hit-or-miss way of the gambling table, the steamboat and the mining camp, Will Reilly’s own education had been gained the hard way.

  On that first night in the strange hotel in Helena, Will Reilly dressed to go out. As he turned away from the dresser he opened a fresh pack of cards and handed them to Val.

  “Take these. Shuffle them a hundred times tonight. Learn the feel of them, learn how to handle them easily. Even if you never play cards it will make your fingers more agile, your eyes quicker.” Reilly went out then, and Val was alone.

  He went to the window and listened to the crunch of footsteps on the snow, remembering what Tensleep had said about the Gormans. Would they find Will? Would they kill him? Would he never come back?

  He watched the lights on the snow, and he thought of all that had happened—of Myra and Van, of Tensleep, Henry Sonnenberg, and Tom…did Tom have another name?

  Then he began to shuffle the cards. He shuffled, dealt, gathered them up again…a hundred times, and a few more.

  And so it was to be, night after night. He learned to handle the cards smoothly and with dexterity, to deal, second-deal, to deal off the bottom. He learned to cut cards and shift the cut, to build up a top stock or a bottom stock from which the hands he wanted could be dealt.

  “A gentleman never cheats, Val,” Will Reilly told him the next night while brushing his hair, “but you will not always play with gentlemen, and is it well to know when you are being cheated; and to know that, you must know what it is possible to do.

  “If you suspect a game of being crooked, get out. Use any excuse, but leave it. Don’t call a man on cheating, because if you do you’ll have to kill him, and a dead man doesn’t rest easy on your mind.

  “Train your memory…and observe. Learn to know and recall every card that has been played, and who played it; but above all, notice people, places, things.”

  Will Reilly had turned from his hair brushing. “Go to the window, Val, and look out.”

  When the boy had stood looking out for a minute, Will called him back and said, “All right, how many buildings are there across the street? That you can see from that window?”

  “I
don’t know. I think…”

  “There are seven that front on this street. Three of them are two-storied, two have balconies.”

  Will Reilly put on his coat, straightened his tie. “Don’t just look out the window, Val. You must learn to see, and to remember.

  “Now let’s go to dinner.”

  CHAPTER 3

  BY THE TIME he was eight years old, Valentine Darrant knew everything there was to know about a deck of cards. He knew that, in draw poker, when holding a pair and drawing three cards, his chances of making three of a kind were eight to one, his chances of four of a kind, three hundred and fifty-nine to one. He knew all about check-cop and hideouts, and he could detect the whisper of a bottom deal as well as Will Reilly himself.

  He had ridden horseback more than a thousand miles over the roughest kind of country, and he had ridden the stage three times that far. He had ridden steamboats from New Orleans on the Mississippi to Fort Benton on the Missouri.

  He had followed a dozen rushes to boom towns, had seen those towns born and had seen them die. He knew hundreds of the professionals of the frontier, the gamblers, the bartenders, the shady ladies, and the law officers who drifted from town to town.

  Will Reilly liked to sing, and Val had learned dozens of songs which they sang while riding across country, and he knew as many poems, some of them fairly long, that Will was given to reciting to pass away the long hours of travel. Will had read a lot, from anything available, and he had a ready memory for facts gleaned from histories and almanacs. This had begun as a pleasure, but had developed into another source of gambling income, for he had learned very early that men will back their opinions with money, and that the memories of most men were hazy as far as historical facts were concerned. He was also a fine athlete, and an extremely fast foot-racer.

  Foot-racing was a favorite frontier sport, and such races could be set up at a moment’s notice, and they were features of every frontier celebration. Will Reilly kept a small black book in which he listed the vital facts about the racing and fistic abilities of hundreds of men.

  “Percentages, that’s the important thing,” he told Val. “Always play on the percentages; and never be enticed into a bet when you’re angry. Don’t ever risk money on sympathy or anger.

  “Now you take Ray”—he indicated a stocky man who sat across the room, a dead cigar in his teeth—“Ray is one of the fastest men on his feet west of the Mississippi. He isn’t smoking that cigar. He never smoked or drank in his life. It’s all for show. He looks fat, but he isn’t really. And he can run like a bullet out of a gun—for a hundred to two hundred yards. Beyond that he’s no good. For him, the short distances are best.”

  The black book also listed the speed of known horses, many of which were taken around the country and brought into town hitched to a buckboard or a farm wagon to fool those who might be led into betting.

  “Never buck the other man’s game, Val,” Reilly said, “but watch the percentages. It is not one or two pots that make a poker player, but the consistency with which he plays. Winning big pots, while it can be spectacular, can also attract unfavorable attention. Thieves may decide you’re fair game, or some may get the idea that you are cheating.”

  By this time Val had noticed that Will usually won several small pots during several days of play, and often would seem to let the big ones go by. “The secret of gambling, Val, is to gamble as little as possible. Nobody has to be dishonest to win. It is a matter of card sense, good memory, knowledge of people, and just a shading of luck.”

  Will Reilly was strict, too, with Val. He demanded cleanliness, neatness, and gentlemanly conduct from him, and he made sure that he got them. What schooling Val got, he received from Will himself, for they rarely stayed anywhere long enough for the boy to enter a school.

  Will taught him how to read, although he had already begun to learn, when he came to him, and how to cipher, and to make quick, accurate calculations of probabilities and percentages. And always there were the lessons in observation. Rarely a day passed when Val was not suddenly called on to describe country they had passed through, the clothing of a man, or the location of articles in a store.

  “I don’t want you to be a gambler,” Will commented, “but the handling of cards will give dexterity to your fingers, improve your memory, and give you a quick grasp of a situation.”

  Will never mentioned Myra, and Val did not ask about her. Actually, it was Van he remembered best, because Van had been kind when no one else had been.

  Will Reilly had an Irishman’s addiction to eloquence, and a natural love of politics. He had memorized passages from dozens of speeches, and on their long rides they often recited together, or one of them would begin a poem, the other would complete it.

  They were eating in a restaurant and talking of poetry when a bearded man at the next table turned around in his chair. “What you tryin’ to do, make a mollycoddle out of the boy? Teachin’ him all that sissy stuff?”

  Will Reilly looked at him coldly for several seconds. Then he took the cigar from his mouth and placed it on the edge of a saucer.

  “My friend”—his voice was cold—“I read poetry, I like poetry. Do you wish to call me a mollycoddle?”

  The bearded man started to speak, and his companion kicked him under the table. “Jeff!” he said warningly, but Jeff was not listening.

  “Now maybe I might. Just what would you do about it?”

  “I will tell you what I’d do about it,” Reilly replied coolly. “If you had a gun, I would kill you. If you did not have a gun, I’d whip you within an inch of your life.”

  The big man had been drinking, which destroyed any natural caution he might have possessed. Suddenly he dropped his hand to his boot and flashed his knife.

  Val never saw Will’s own hand move, but suddenly his blade was out and the big man’s hand was pinned to the table. The bearded man gave a choking cry of pain, and a trickle of blood ran from his hand.

  “Val,” Will Reilly spoke calmly, “hand me that copy of Tennyson, will you? I believe this gentleman should have his education improved.”

  Taking up the bottle on his table, he filled a glass and handed it to the bearded man. “Use your free hand, and drink that,” he said, “then listen.”

  Val never forgot those next few minutes. With the man’s hand pinned to the table, Will Reilly leafed through the pages of Tennyson, one volume of a two-volume set he had recently acquired, and then read slowly, in a strong, beautiful voice:

  It little profits that an idle king,

  By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

  Matched with an aged wife I—

  Slowly, while men gathered around and watched in awe, Will Reilly read the whole of Tennyson’s “Ulysses.”

  Then he reached over and grasped the hilt of his knife and said, “Let that be a lesson to you, my friend, and if I were you I would cultivate the study of poetry. There is much to be learned, and poetry can be a companion for your lonely hours.”

  He lifted the knife clean from the man’s hand and the table and, reaching over, wiped the blade clean on the big man’s beard. “I am a quiet man,” he said, “and prefer to eat and talk in peace.”

  He got up. “Come, Val. And bring the book.”

  They went outside. Val felt sick at his stomach, and he was trembling.

  “I am sorry, Val, that you had to see that, but the man was a trouble-hunter and he might have forced me to kill him, which I would not want to do.”

  They walked slowly down the street together. “I do not like violence, but ours is a time of violence, and there are some men who understand nothing else.”

  At daybreak they were on the stage to Silver City.

  The driver had walked to the station with them when the last stars were fading. “You won’t be crowded none, Will,” he commented. “Not many riding the stage
these days. Skeered of the ’Paches.”

  “I put my faith in you, Pete,” Will said, smiling. “If you can’t outrun them, you can outfight them.”

  “Me? You’re funnin’.” He glanced at Reilly. “That true, about you an’ Jeff Reinert?”

  “I met somebody called Jeff last night,” Will admitted. “He didn’t tell me his other name, and I didn’t ask.”

  “Heard you pinned him with a blade and then read poetry to him.”

  “Something like that.”

  “You’re a hard man, Reilly.” They walked a few steps further. “You come close. Reinert killed a man over to Tubac a few weeks back, an’ they do say he cut up somebody over to Yuma.”

  “He was a reckless man.” They had reached the station. “It is never a good idea to call unless you have some idea of what the other man is holding.”

  The driver glanced at Val. “You want to ride topside with me, young feller? Glad to have the company.”

  “Nobody riding shotgun?”

  “Later. We’ll have two good fightin’ men, at least, an’ goin’ through the Pass we’ll need them.”

  Val was swung up to the box, and he looked back, watching Will Reilly get in. Whenever they were apart, Val waited in a kind of fear, worrying that Will might be separated from him and not come back.

  He thought back to Van, who had left him, and he wondered why he had done it. Was there something about him that people did not like? Why didn’t his mother like him? But Will Reilly liked him, he knew, and seemed to enjoy having him with him.

  The horses were restless, and when the driver swung up to the box, Val clutched the handrail excitedly. He had never ridden on top of a stage before, but he knew it was considered a privileged position. Pete gathered the lines and took up his whip. The whip cracked, the driver shouted at his team, and they were away, at a fast pace. After a short run they might slow down, but most drivers liked to leave town with a rush.

  The air was clear, the day cool. It was early autumn, with occasional cloudy days, but today the clouds were far away, and one could see for miles upon miles.