Read "Gunman's Reckoning" by Max Brand online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The smile of Joe Rix was the smile of a diplomat. It could be maintained upon his face as unwaveringly as if it were wrought out of marble while Joe heard insult and lie. As a matter of fact Joe had smiled in the face of death more than once, and this is a school through which even diplomats rarely pass. Yet it was with an effort that he maintained the characteristic good-natured expression when the door to Donnegan's shack opened and he saw big George and, beyond him, Donnegan himself.
"Booze," said Joe Rix to himself instantly.