THE HUNT
41
to sell his famous
1
6-gauge Damascus twist. "We's poor as piss
on a rock. Jesus, who'd a thought I'd ever sell."
The long-barreled shone like a knife just off the stone. It
had been hammered out of horseshoe nails and was over
100
years old. Old Hone had replaced the firepin with a hammer.
Gordon bought the beauty, sealing the bargain with a jug
of corn. The Hon·es invited sim to come up to th-eir farm.
There were more game wardens in the woods than game, but
they could scare up something, license or no license.
·
Gordon laughed. "Scare up a woman? My spigot's dried
hot."
Hub said there was a big strapping girl in the family, had
a mipd all her own.
When Lanky learned about the gun, he wrote, "What .in
hell are you wasting your money for? Whom are you going to
shoot up, wild Indian? The gun is the end of this stage of or–
ganization, not the beginning."
Gordon felt he was on the right road. The buying of the
gun had made the Hones friendlier. He could go hunting, see
what was doing up in the hills. The gun would give him the
chance to develop into a good shot. He spent evenings and Sun–
days shooting at bullseyes.
Fall soon slid around, and he had not as yet gone up to
the Hones. He heard the old man was down in bed again. Hub
didn't show up at the McFarlane's. There was trouble up at
Halleck Point for the Saddler brothers had been arrested for
bagging deer without hunting licenses. Big Ed Pusley had been
shot at from the bushes several times.
Gordon was getting soured on the town. McFarlane's was
the only place he could stand. At the beginning he had visited
the churches. He had watched the girls with their laced breasts
and little asses he could close one hand over. He had accepted
an invitation to chicken dinner with a Sunday school superinten–
dent. It wasn't repeated after he had discussed politics. He had
rounded up some of the boys thinking he might help them with
their football team. The boys shied away from him.
And then the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Gordon felt so
goddamned restless, he asked Hendrickson for the week end off.
Hendrickson told him to go ahead, but he could let him have
the truck only for a day because of the milk. Gordon drove
over to the hotel. He would get the road up to the Hone farm.
He bought three bottles of Golden Cock. He tore across the
