Texas Bluff

CHAPTER 18

Luke Short took Butler to eat in the White Elephant’s restaurant. Butler felt it was probably to prove the food was decent. He decided not to order steak. The place might suffer by comparison. Instead, he ordered a bowl of beef stew, which came piping hot with big chunks of meat and vegetables, and a basket of biscuits.

Luke Short had chicken.

“How is it?” he asked, pointing to the beef stew with his fork.

“Very good.” It was passable, at best, but Butler didn’t want to say so.

“I want to offer you a job,” Short said. “I want you on the payroll.”

“To do what?”

“Gamble,” Short said. “Play poker here.”

“You think I’m going to draw anyone? You need Bat, or Doc, or Ben Thompson for that.”

“Word will get around,” Short said. “We’ll get some comers.”

“And that’s all you want me to do? Gamble?”

“No,” Short said. “I want you to do what you did today. Watch my back.”

“You think Cramer will move against you?”

“As soon as—” he stopped himself.

“As soon as he checks me out,” Butler said.

“I’m sorry but, yes, he will check you out. You took two of his men out of the play this afternoon, and you saw him embarrassed.”

“So he’s going to come after me?”

“Likely, he’ll send somebody for both of us.”

“Any idea who?”

“There’s a few men I can think of,” Short said, “but he’ll import some talent to lead them.”

“I’m not a gunman, Luke.”

“You don’t have to be a gunman to handle a gun, Butler,” Short said. “I’m not hirin’ your gun. I’m hirin’ the whole package. All your talents.”

“Talents,” Butler said. “I’ve really only got two.”

“What are those?”

“Poker,” Butler said, “and getting myself wrapped in other people’s problems.”

“Yeah, Bat told me that about you, too.”

Over dessert Short asked, “So whataya say?”

“I suppose I could stay around for a while.”

“Good,” Short said. “Let’s talk about salary.”

“Whatever you think is fair,” Butler said, “but I get to keep all my winnings, right?”

“Definitely,” Short said. “I don’t want a cut of anything. I just want you around.”

“Why not send for Bat? Or Wyatt?”

“They’ve got their own lives,” Short said. “Sure, if they walked through the front door I’d press them into service, but I’m not going to put out a call for help. Not until I’m sure you and me can’t handle what comes along.”

“There’s one other thing I want before I say yes.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“You’ve got to promise me you’ll sit down at a poker table with me, at least once, before I leave.”

“You want to test yourself against me?”

“I want to test myself against the best,” Butler said. “You know anybody else fits that description?”

Luke Short smiled and said, “Okay, you got a deal.”