William Johnstone - Thunder of Eagles

The two men walked over to the table to get a cup of punch. Cletus got his, then smiled after he took the first swallow. “You’re right. This here ain’t half bad,” he said.

The set ended and the couples left the floor. Cletus finished his drink, then wiped his hand across his mouth. “I’ll be damn,” he said. “Lookie over there.”

“Where?” Ray asked.

“Over there, just comin’ in through the door,” Cletus said. “That’s our little brother with the Garrison girl.”

“What the hell is he doin’ with her?” Ray asked.

“Why don’t we just go find out?” Cletus replied. Putting the empty cup down, he started across the room toward Billy and Kathleen.

“Oh, no,” Billy said under his breath.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“My brothers are what’s wrong,” Billy said. “They’re coming over here to make trouble.”

“Maybe they won’t. I mean, not in a public place like this.”

“You don’t know my brothers.”

“Well, now, Billy boy, what do we have here?” Ray asked, coming up to them then. “You mixing with the enemy, are you?”

“Enemy?” Kathleen asked.

“Yeah, Miss Garrison, the enemy,” Ray said. “Maybe you don’t know that not all the cattlemen want you pa puttin’ in a railroad here.”

“Ray, whatever is goin’ on between pa and General Garrison has nothing to do with Kathleen and me.”

“Boy, you ain’t got the sense of a day-old goose,” Ray said.

“Oh, I don’t know, Ray,” Cletus said. “She is a good-lookin’ heifer, you gotta give him that. What do you say, little brother? Can I dance with your girl?”

Billy felt Kathleen cringe beside him, and he reached out to take her arm reassuringly.

“If you so much as even look at her, I’ll—”

“You’ll what, little brother?”

Billy sighed. “Go away, Cletus. Go away and leave us alone.”

Cletus laughed wickedly, then held up his hands. “All right, all right, don’t get yourself in a piss soup over it.”

As Cletus and Ray turned away from Billy and Kathleen, they saw Falcon MacCallister standing close by and looking at them.

“What the hell do you want?” Cletus asked.

“Are these men giving you any trouble, Miss Garrison?” Falcon asked.

“Please, Mr. MacCallister, it’s nothing I can’t handle,” Billy said.

Falcon stared for a moment longer, then he nodded. “You know, I believe you can at that, Billy,” he said. He started to turn away.

“Hold it, mister, don’t you be turnin’ away from me now,” Cletus called in a loud, angry voice.

Falcon stopped and turned back to Cletus and Ray. “You have something to say to me?” he asked.

“Yeah, I have something to say to you,” Cletus replied. “Ray, this here is Falcon MacCallister, the fella I was tellin’ you about.”

“The one who gave you two black eyes?” Ray asked.

“Yeah,” Cletus said. Cletus forced another smile. “Only this time, he ain’t holdin’ a gun, he ain’t holdin’ a club, and he ain’t behind my back.”

“That’s right,” Falcon said. “I’m standing right here in front of you.”

“Well, you ain’t goin’ to be standing long,” Cletus shouted and, stepping forward, he threw a wide, arcing roundhouse right fist toward Falcon.

Falcon dodged the blow easily, then counterpunched with a straight left jab that landed at the point of Cletus’s nose that was right between his eyes.

“Oww!” Cletus shouted in pain, and he threw both his hands up to protect his nose.

“Heavens!” one woman said aloud.

“Oh, my!” another added as several were in position to witness the disturbance.

Falcon threw a second punch to the gut, and when Cletus bent over with an audible expulsion of breath, Falcon followed up with a right cross to the chin.

Cletus went down and out.

“Ray, get Cletus out of here,” Billy said.

“Yeah, I will,” Ray said.

Seeing Ray move toward Cletus, Falcon turned away.

“Falcon, look out!” Rachael shouted.

Almost on top of the warning, Falcon felt a blow to the side of his head. He saw stars, but even as he was being hit he was reacting to the warning, so though it didn’t prevent the attack, it did prevent him from being knocked down.

Instead of picking up his brother as he had said he would, Ray Clinton had swung at Falcon, trying to take him down with one, huge blow.

He’d almost succeeded, but when Ray swung at him a second time, Falcon was able to avoid him. With his fists up, Falcon danced quickly away from Ray in order to have room to maneuver.

“MacCallister,” Ray said with a low growl. “I think it’s about time you got your due.”

“Fight!” someone shouted. “They’s a fight!”

Almost instantly, the music stopped as the dancers and observers all crowded around Falcon and Ray.

“Ray, why don’t we take this outside?” Falcon suggested. “There’s no need to break up the dance.”

Ray smiled, an evil smile. “Hell, what do I care if we break up the dance?” he asked. “I ain’t got me no woman like my little brother here.”

“You don’t have a woman?” Falcon said.

“No.”

“Well, now, do you think it might just have something to do with your personality?”

Some in the crowd laughed nervously.

“Enough talk, you son of a bitch!” Ray said. “I’m going to whip your ass good.”

Ray swung wildly at Falcon, but Falcon slipped the punch easily, then counterpunched with a quick, slashing left to Ray’s face. It was a good, well-hit blow, but Ray just flinched once, then laughed a low, evil laugh.

“Five dollars says Ray whups him,” someone said.

“I don’t know. Falcon ain’t quite as big as Ray, but I hear tell he’s tough as rawhide. I’m going with Falcon.”

With an angry roar, Ray rushed Falcon again, and Falcon stepped aside, avoiding him like a matador sidestepping a charging bull. And like a charging bull, Ray slammed into a support post, smashing through it as if it were kindling. He turned and faced Falcon again.

“Damn, these two fellas could bring the building crashing down on us if they keep this up,” someone said.

A hush fell over the crowd now as they watched the two men. They were watching the fight with a great deal of interest. They knew it would be a test of quickness and ability against brute strength, and they wanted to see if Falcon could handle Ray. Falcon and Ray circled around for a moment, holding their fists in front of them, each trying to test the mettle of the other.

Ray swung, a clublike swing that Falcon leaned away from. Falcon counterpunched and again he scored well, but again, Ray laughed it off. As the fight went on, it developed that Falcon could hit Ray at will, and though Ray laughed off his early blows, it was soon obvious that there was a cumulative effect to Falcon’s punches. Both of Ray’s eyes began to puff up, and there was a nasty cut on his lip. Then Falcon caught Ray in the nose with a long left, and when he felt the nose go under his hand, he knew that he had broken it. The bridge of Ray’s nose exploded like a smashed tomato and started bleeding profusely. The blood ran across his teeth and chin.

Falcon looked for another chance at the nose, but Ray started protecting it. Falcon was unable to get at it again, though the fact that Ray was favoring it told Falcon that the nose was hurting him.

Except for the opening blow, Ray hadn’t connected. The big man was throwing great swinging blows toward Falcon, barely missing him on a couple of occasions, but as yet, none of them had connected.

After four or five such swinging blows, Falcon noticed that Ray was leaving a slight opening for a good right punch, if he could just slip it across his shoulder. He timed it, and on Ray’s next swing, Falcon threw a solid right, straight at the place where he thought Ray’s nose would be. He timed it perfectly and had the satisfaction of hearing a bellow of pain from Ray for the first time.