THE GRAVE 22

when shug stepped out side the office the crowd had disapated. he turned to the livery stable. he knew where there was good place in the loft that he could get some rest. \before he reached the livery, carrie came up behind him and grabbed his arm. "where you going?"she asked. without looking back shug said to catch some sleep." his steps were heavy as he trudged toward the livery. " then you come with me, you cant keep sleeping in the stable. come to my house."she tugged at his arm. shug stopped and looked at her" you will have every tounge wagging in town you cant just let anyone sleep at your house. ill be fine over here."shug told her. " when you get some sleep we gotta talk and as far as the gossips in this town they already call me a soiled dove behind my back letting you sleep there wont make it any worse. now come along."carrie tugged on his arm harder to emphasise her point. shug followed along as if in a daze. when in her cabin she pointed to her bed" take your teguas off first then go to sleep. ime going back to the dress shop. ill come back and cook supper later like i said we gotta talk." slaughter stood his back to the wall outside of blakes cell. blake wouldnt look at him. " i want you to tell me about neils wife. why did you kill her?"slaughter asked "she was a accident. i was trying too get my money back from that gambler i had been playing with, you know the injun lover."blake growled as he looked at the floor between his feet. " gamblers are all crooks, they all need to be shot. then when they take up with a squaw its worse."blake was spilling the beans. " your a gambler blake does that hold with you too? "slaughter asked as he turned to go. " i guess so your gonna hang me sooner than later. i want to talk to that girl that was liveing with the gambler i need to make a clean breast of things."blake never looked up. "wht about the deputy? the gambler was his daddy. you want to confess to him too?" slaughter stopped and looked back. " not that blanket ass. his ole man made a mistake when he sired him. he s just another injun to me." blake spit out the answer. slaughter went on into the office and closed the door to the cell block. he sat down behind the dest shakeing his head. he was from south texas, people there hated the commanche , but they also respected them. here the apache was looked at in a worse way. he hoped the people in this town understood that shug was looking out for them he could have killed blake, he was given a free roll by slaughter but he didnt do it. he brought him back alive. these people need to understand, being apache didnt make you a killer.