The Loner 4

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The Loner 4 Page 4

by Sheldon B. Cole


  “Reke Bodie’s a good man. He can be hard at times, but mostly he’s fair and honest.”

  “Has he gone looking for Doubell?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did he make a deal with Carter?”

  Coulston straightened, his face rutting. “Hell, no! You think he’s a fool?”

  “Only if he throws in with Carter,” Durant said.

  Coulston pursed his lips, accepted his drink and downed it. When he looked at Blake Durant again, his face was creased thoughtfully.

  “Outside, I saw there wasn’t anythin’ close between you and Carter, Durant. But it could be that’s the way you wanted it to look …”

  “There’s no tie of any kind between us, Sheriff.”

  Coulston smiled. “Hoped there wasn’t. What about old Doubell?”

  “Nothing there either.”

  A glint of suspicion narrowed the lawman’s eyes but only for a moment. He leaned across the counter, and swirled his new drink around in the glass.

  “Then you’re just driftin’, Durant?”

  “That’s about it.”

  “Nothin’ much doin’ in this town for your kind, mister. Most of the ranchers have all the help they want right now. Hardly any outfit needing hands comes through with a drive these days. It’ll be a real borin’ stay if you decide to hang about.”

  Blake smiled to himself and finished his drink. “Sheriff, all I mean to do is let my horse freshen up and get some rest myself. Then I’ll move along.”

  “Be sensible, Durant. Carter ain’t the kind you want to lock horns with, no matter how good a man you might figure yourself to be. I wouldn’t like it one speck if you and him was to stay in my town together. So, just as soon as you’re ready to travel, then do it and you’ll be doin’ me a favor. All right?”

  Durant shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about Vance Carter and me facing off, Sheriff. Carter won’t crowd me unless he’s got some time on his hands. And time is one thing he hasn’t got. He’s caught gold fever and so he’ll concentrate on getting Doubell.”

  “Yeah,” Coulston admitted. When the barkeep stood before him with a raised bottle he shook his head, gave Blake Durant a nod and walked out. The batwings swung behind him and silence came to the saloon, a silence which hung heavy in the air.

  Blake Durant relaxed for the first time in days. He had Sundown back, unharmed. He wouldn’t have minded taking Carter down a rung, but he couldn’t see any wisdom in doing that and getting himself into trouble. This town held nothing for him. Doubell, Vance Carter, Sheriff Ray Coulston, Reke Bodie ... all were just men he had met, names to be forgotten along with all the others he’d come across in his travels. He decided to have some grub and push on in the cool of the evening after getting some information from Ray Coulston. Then there would be just the wide open spaces again, and some new incidents which probably wouldn’t amount to anything. But suddenly, standing there alone at the counter, he found himself thinking of Christine Doubell. It was a shame that such a young and pretty woman had to get caught up in the intrigues of rascally old Pete Doubell. Blood thicker than water? he asked himself, then with a grunt of annoyance he tried to push all thoughts of her from his mind. She wasn’t his concern. Still, he couldn’t help but hope she would find some measure of happiness to compensate for being born into a family that had Pete Doubell in it.

  Four – Trails Out

  Pete Doubell slipped inside the door of the old shack and locked the door behind him. His face gleaming with sweat, he turned to peer anxiously at Christine and an old-timer, who was seated at a table playing solitaire. The girl’s face showed concern when she saw the troubled look in her uncle’s faded eyes.

  “What is it, Uncle Pete?” she asked.

  “Nothin’, girl, nothin’ I can’t handle anyway. You go in the other room. Go on.” When she left, Pete shuffled slowly across the room and stopped at the table. Suddenly he swept the cards to the floor and said sourly, “Damn you, Hap, ain’t got time for that now. We got to work somethin’ out, and fast.”

  Hap Carne frowned up at him. “Near had it won, Pete. First time I got past stackin’ the nines. Had it, I reckon.”

  “To hell with the nines. What we’re facin’ is graves six feet down—graves for all of us maybe.”

  Hap Carne’s frown deepened. He fingered his stubbled jaw. “You can count me out, Pete. Hell, the minute you got here I figured you had a passel of trouble followin’ you. But you lied real fine about that, didn’t you?” Hap rose, hitching at his belt and shaking his head. “Nope, Pete, we travelled a lot of country together but by hell that don’t mean I got to wet-nurse you for the rest of my life. No, old friend, from here on it’s me on my own, livin’ quiet and ...”

  “Ten thousand dollars,” Pete Doubell breathed into his face. “A month to wait and then we go dig it up. You get a quarter share, Hap, and no sweatin’.”

  Hap blinked his eyes and ran a hand over his mouth. “Quarter?” he asked.

  “Nothin’ less. And all you got to do is take my horse, ride out and don’t stop till it’s dark, then you can circle back. Might be even better for you to drop in on Steeger and spend the night with him. Do that and you’ll take the pressure offa my back. Then I can get the girl some place safe. You might do it for her, Hap, you’re always talkin’ about how women are bein’ mistreated and mauled around along the frontier. You’d be helpin’ her, Hap, as much as me.”

  “Quit the fast talkin’, Pete, and tell me who’s trailin’ you. I ain’t gonna let my ears get all fuzzed with your noise so I can’t think straight. Did that too often in the past and I don’t ever remember comin’ out in front.”

  Pete Doubell gaped at him, eyes rolling. “Don’t remember comin’ out in front, you old buzzard?” He grabbed Hap by the shirt. Hap kept looking steadily into Doubell’s eyes, his face expressionless.

  “What about the Lukas business, Hap? Hell, did you forget all about that already?”

  “Nope, I ain’t forgot.”

  “Two thousand dollars was involved,” Pete pushed at him.

  “So you said in the beginning, Pete, but when it all boiled down all I got out of it was a few hundred loose dollars.”

  “There were heavy expenses,” Pete argued. “I told you all about that part of it.”

  “Mebbe so, Pete, but for a lousy few hundred dollars I had to be part of a kidnapping.”

  “You had to sit on your pants and watch old Lukas,” Pete barked. “Nothin’ more, just sit.”

  “Two whole weeks, and sweatin’ a treat all the time, and Lukas eyeing me like I was a rattler in full strike. Then, later, after you left and I got me my lousy rake-off, Lukas and all his damn outfit near tore me apart. I didn’t figure it was worth the effort then and I still don’t. Your schemes are always kinda weighed your way, Pete, and you can’t deny it.”

  Pete Doubell shook him roughly and said angrily, “I had to pay heavy for others to help me, Hap. Hell, by the time I split up with everybody there weren’t no more’n eight hundred dollars left. I cut that right down the middle.”

  Hap smiled crookedly at him. “Mebbe so, mebbe not,” he mumbled. “Don’t matter about that so much now, I guess. It’s just you ain’t haulin’ me into another mess I don’t get nothin’ out of. No, Pete, I been doin’ a heap of thinkin’ and I can’t see how throwin’ in with you has ever done me any good in the past and I ain’t stupid enough to think it’ll do me any damn good in the future.”

  “I’m talkin’ about two and a half thousand dollars, Hap, in pure gold. I’ll put that gold in your hands a month from now. All you got to do ...”

  “No!”

  Hap was adamant. He stood up, pushing Pete Doubell back from him. Pete swore under his breath, then Christine entered the room.

  “Uncle Pete, what is wrong? I don’t mean to interfere in your affairs, but what’s happening? Why did we have to come here? And what about the man who rode with us and the other, Mr. Durant, who we left in the cabin? Please let me know if
you’re in trouble or not. Perhaps I can help.”

  “Trouble?” Pete said in a shocked tone. “What you talkin’ about, girl? Did I ever get you into trouble? Haven’t I always looked after you proper?”

  Color rose in Christine’s face but there was still deep puzzlement in her eyes.

  “I gave you a good life all the time you been with me and I plan to give you better, you’ll see. There’ll come a day soon when you’ll have all the pretty things you want ... yeah, and good men callin’ on you and wantin’ to marry you, men with money and position and honesty to boot. Now you go outside and see to the horses, girl. Stay with ’em while old Hap and me talk some business.”

  Christine shook her head. “No, Uncle Pete. I won’t be pushed aside this time. I know you’re in trouble. You’re so much like Pa that I can almost read your mind. You’re acting just as he always did when something he planned wasn’t working out properly for him. I ... I must know what’s wrong.”

  Pete bit his lip and mumbled something about the impossible behavior of womenfolk. Then he drew himself tall and eyed the girl and Hap Carne in turn.

  “Okay, okay. I got only two people in the world who should be close to me, should be helpin’ me. But all they do is ask a lot of fool questions and they don’t trust me at all. Okay, so I’ll tell you. I’m in trouble, sure, but it ain’t none of my doin’. Carter pretended he was a friend of mine and ...”

  “You said he was your partner, Uncle,” Christine put in quickly.

  Hap Carne snapped, “Did you say Carter, Pete. Not Vance Carter, that killin’ jasper from the Platte I heard so much about?”

  “Same man,” said Pete. “Damned scum, he threatened me and I had to go along with him for a while. Hap,” he went on quickly now, pushing Carne back into his chair. “Hap, Carter had me cornered and I was willin’ to keep him happy with some promises which I didn’t for a minute mean to keep. He got the idea I might back out on him, so he got real mean and put the pressure on me here in turn. But I figured Christine had got to you and you’d already covered our tracks. So I ran out on Carter and right now he’s scourin’ the town for me, only he won’t find me here.”

  Hap Carne’s face went white. He began to shake his head. “Now listen, Pete, I don’t want no part of Vance Carter. Hell, what have you bought into now?”

  “I worked harder’n hell for a lot of gold and it’s mine, Hap. I don’t aim to let any stinkin’ polecat gun hand take a cent of it off me. Carter won’t find me here because he won’t look. He’ll just lay back and wait until I make a move. Soon’s I show face he’ll shoot me down like the killin’ scum he is. So what you got to do is get on my mare and ride out and keep going. By the time Carter gets wind of your goin’ and gives chase, which he’ll likely do, I’ll be ready to go the other way. The mare’s fast and can run a long way, so you won’t have any trouble keepin’ ahead of Carter. Then you bide your time and come back as if nothin’s happened.”

  Hap wiped a hand across his wet face. “You must be loco,” he gasped. “I ain’t puttin’ Vance Carter on my trail, not for you and not for anybody.”

  “But you are, Hap, so quit arguin’. What the hell you worryin’ about anyway? Carter don’t know you, and he don’t know we’re friends. If he catches up with you, just tell him who you are. What can he do to you? Here, you put on my hat and my old coat.”

  Hap Carne took the coat and put it on. He studied the battered hat thoughtfully.

  “He know your horse?” he asked.

  Pete frowned, looked quickly at the young woman and saw the deep worry in her face. “Well, maybe he does know my horse. But you can tell him you bought it off me in town. Say you made a swap, your horse for mine, and you got the best of the deal. Hell, he won’t even catch up with you. Look, if you don’t help me, I’m through, Hap. It’ll leave Christine with no kin to look after her, a young woman innocent in the ways of the frontier, alone and vulnerable to every stinkin’ woman-grabber in the territory. Do you want that, Hap, or do you want part of the gold?”

  Hap Carne drew in a heavy breath and shook his head. “You ain’t lost no swing in your talk, Pete, that’s for sure.” He stopped dead and asked, “When do I get my money, Pete?”

  “Soon as I can lay my hands on it. But Carter now, he ain’t got my kind of patience. He’ll stay about a time and get meaner and meaner. But somethin’ll crop up for him finally and he’ll move on. You’ll see, no more’n a month and we’ll all be rich. I can get a real fine home together for Christine and maybe you and me can get into some business together, Hap, skins or trappin’, somethin’ that ain’t too hard and shows a good profit. Well, how about it? You gonna wait till Carter comes and busts the door down and shoots my guts out?”

  Christine moved beside her uncle and touched his arm. There was deep worry in her blue eyes. “Is this the truth, Uncle Pete? That gold is really yours?”

  “Damn right it is,” said Pete and showed her his hands. He pulled them away quickly before she could get a close look at the calluses on them. “Now don’t you start, girl. I took you in when your pa died and I promised him I’d see you fixed right. That’s the only thing in life left to me that really matters.”

  Christine sighed wearily and brushed her silky hair back off her neck. The closed room was becoming unbearably hot. She couldn’t seem to get enough air into her lungs. Hap Carne moved about restlessly from time to time, looking suspiciously at Pete Doubell. Suddenly Doubell said:

  “Just ride out, Hap, no more. The mare’ll serve you good. Spend the night outa town and give us the chance to head the other way. In a month I’ll be back, and we’ll settle things so good you just won’t believe it.”

  Hap Carne shrugged his shoulders and looked into the sun-soaked yard. Then, with a low-toned curse, he went down the old warped steps to the barn at the back of the house. Pete Doubell stood holding the door open, his face grooved with worry. Christine watched him closely for a long moment before she crossed to stand behind him.

  “Has he always been a good friend of yours, Uncle Pete?” she asked.

  “Hap?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hell, yeah, always. Hap and me worked a lot of times together.”

  “What about the Lukas affair you mentioned, Uncle Pete? He didn’t sound too happy about the end of that.”

  “Hap, he don’t know business like I do.” When Hap Carne came into sight riding the mare, Pete elbowed his niece away. Then, when Carne rode into the side alley and set the mare for the town limits, riding hard, he breathed in a deep sigh of relief. Turning, he grinned widely at Christine and took her hands in his.

  “Girl, don’t worry your pretty little head about nothin’ any more. Old Pete has everythin’ worked out fine. We’ll wait until after sundown, then we’ll sneak out of town.”

  “After sundown?” Christine said. “But I thought you said that as soon as Mr. Carter left town ...”

  “Hell, leave the thinkin’ to me, will you? You gonna worry the life outa me all the time?” Pete brushed past her and checked the front street from the porch window. He stood there, his jowls working. Christine studied him frowningly for a time before she said:

  “Uncle Pete, I know you’ve done something wrong. I want to know about it. If somebody is trying to rob you of what is rightly yours, then we should go to the law. It’s the only way.”

  “The law?” Pete snapped, heeling about. “You loco, girl? In a town like this, the law is out to get everything it can. Lawmen are scared to the teeth of men like Carter. Now leave me be, girl. I’ve worked a lifetime and I’ve been so lonely there were times I could cry. I sent money to my brother, Ben, to see you and your ma looked after. I worked in the hills, in the heat of summer and the cold of winter. I been shot at, beat up, robbed, chased, called about everything a man could be called, and given no quarter in any direction just because I like to work hard and make my way honestly. If you don’t approve of a man doing that, then I guess I better just send you back home where you can
stop other people being as lonely as I’ve always been.”

  Christine crossed to him and placed a hand on his arm. But Pete Doubell shook the hand off and turned away. “Always figured I’d have somebody like you one day, Christine, somebody who would make workin’ and livin’ worthwhile. I never minded my life, rough as it was, because I always prayed someday you or somebody like you would need me, would want to be with me, maybe cook a meal for me now and again, give me some home comforts I never had.”

  “Uncle Pete,” Christine said quietly, and he patted her arm.

  “Don’t mean to hurt you, girl, but if you feel I’m doin’ wrong by you or anybody else, the thing to do is back out now. I got myself the first decent break I ever had in my whole life—found me some gold which was there for the takin’ and which belonged to nobody else. I figured the Lord had seen what I want to do for you and threw in with me. But no matter what happens, I’m damned if I’m gonna let a killer and drifter bust me up and take my gold offa me. Nope, I don’t aim to let that happen no how. Hap, he’s helpin’ me some and I reckon he ain’t no fool, no matter how slow he is to make up his mind on somethin’. But you’ve got a mind of your own, girl. You go if you like and I’ll be all right, you’ll see.”

  Tears came into Christine’s eyes. She gripped his hand and slowly turned him so he faced her. She bit her lip and suddenly threw herself against him. Pete Doubell lifted his hand and stroked her hair, holding her close.

  “Now, now, girl,” he said as he felt her hot tears on his leathered cheeks.

  Christine lifted her head and moved back. “Oh, Uncle,” she said, “I’m so ashamed of myself.”

  “No need to be, girl. Things ain’t always like they look and you’ll soon find that out, especially in this hell country. If you start lookin’ at things the way they appear it won’t be long afore you won’t have a bead of faith left on your prayer beads. Get some rest now. We’ll be movin’ out soon as the daylight goes. We got a long ride ahead of us.”

  Christine kissed him on the cheek and turned way, wiping the tears from her face. Watching her move across the room, Pete Doubell swore under his breath and felt a stirring of guilt. But he soon cast off his mood of depression and his keen-eyed gaze once again took in the empty street. He grinned to himself when he saw Vance Carter riding at full gallop down the street. The Bodie outfit, still grouped together, watched him go. When they also broke into a gallop, he chuckled. He straightened at the sound of his own laughter and glanced anxiously behind him. But Christine had gone into Hap Came’s bedroom.

 

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