Читать книгу Hands Up! онлайн

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It was only an arrival in town.

The men on the verandah smiled and tilted their chairs afresh and leant their backs to the wall, puffed their cigars into a glow. The horsemen, with final yells, rode clean up to the hitching-posts, flung off their horses, and came over to the hotel (less elegant on foot than on horseback, for they were both bow-legged with much riding) clattered up the steps and entered. The section men's car slid into the depôt beside the platform before they could stop it. They stepped off laughing. Then we saw them talking to hay-beard and presently hay-beard got up from where he had been lying limp, and with much grimacing with the pain of his arm got over to the pump-car and stood on it. The men all piled on again and away they went, hay-beard propped in the centre beside the pump.

"That section boss is a very good sort," said a man, bringing his chair down from the tilt, rose, said: "Well, so-long, gents," and departed.

Scotty also rose, and stretched.

"Come over," he said. "I got to get over."