Sitka by Louis L’Amour

would relish a fight. None of them had any love for Freel and his crowd, who frequently shanghaied and robbed seafaring men, but Jean did not want help. This was a situation he wanted to handle himself. He wanted it understood that he did not need help, even when it was ready to hand.
    “You fellows sit tight,” he told them when he was back inside. “Watch if you want to, but don’t interfere. And stay inside.” “There’s at least three of them out there.” Turk looked at him curiously. “That Freel is bad with a knife.”
    LaBarge dropped his hand to the latch. Suddenly he felt very good. He felt better than he had for a long time. There was too much fear in San Francisco, too many people were afraid of the hoodlums, of their beatings, their murders, of their looting. “Just stay out of it, boys. This one’s my show.” He pulled the door shut after him, and stood on the dock.
    The edge of the wharf was perhaps fifteen steps from the door of Hutchins & Company. And Bartlett Freel was standing over there under a dock light. A light rain was falling, a fine mistlike rain. The hour was not late but due to the clouds it was already dark. There was a faint light showing from the front window of the warehouse, and besides the light under which Freel stood, there was another light on the street corner a dozen yards away, and there was a light up the dock, perhaps a hundred yards off.
    Obviously they would not attack near the warehouse where help waited, but would follow him up the street into the darkness. They would have no reason to doubt their success and little reason to expect retaliation, and certainly there was nothing to fear from the law or the corrupt political machine behind it. Since the Vigilante movement the town had shown little disposition to fight back.   Without too much reason Jean decided the attack had been instigated by Baron Zinnovy. Freel moved to the dictates of Yankee Sullivan who was a henchman and friend of Denny O’Brien, and O’Brien was a man who would arrange beatings, murders, disappearances for a price. Neither LaBarge nor Hutchins had had trouble with the hoodlums, neither had antagonized any of them, and neither had any local enemies. The attack that he could see shaping up came immediately following his trouble with Baron Zinnovy. True, there had been only a few words passed between them, but Jean’s hunch was that Zinnovy had other motives.   Suppose Zinnovy, for reasons of his own, did not want wheat shipped to Alaska?
    Or did not want Jean LaBarge taking it there.
    As Jean LaBarge moved away from the building Freel turned. Up the street the two men started to move; Jean heard a foot scrape up there in the darkness.   The reading of Greek history might seem a dull occupation, but there is an axiom to be found there that suggests the military principle of “divide and conquer.” It was a good thought ... Jean started for the corner and when Freel moved to follow Jean turned quickly and faced him, his hand gripping his left lapel.   “Looking for me, Freel? The name is LaBarge. Jean LaBarge.”
    Freel hesitated. Why didn’t those fools huriy? “And if I am?”
    “Who sent you, Freel?”
    Harriett Freel was a lean, savage man, surly even among those who knew him best, but more intelligent than most of his kind. He had a flaring temper and he both envied and resented LaBarge. “You won’t know,” Freel said, “you’ll never know.

You been comin’ it mighty big, and now—“
    There was a time for words, but the other two men were coming swiftly now.   LaBarge’s left hand gripped his lapel lightly and when he struck he struck from that position and he stepped in with the punch. He felt Freel’s nose crumple under the blow but before the man could even stagger, Jean hit him hard with his right fist.
    The other men ran up. Grabbing Freel, who was badly hurt, Jean turned swiftly and threw him into their path. The nearest of the oncoming men tripped and fell and Jean