L'Amour, Louis - SSC 31

by The Collected Short Stories Vol 2

  Bowdrie shrugged. “You may be right. I’ll just look around a little.”

  As he turned away, obviously sidestepping a fight, he caught the hard triumph showing in the gunman’s eyes. DeGrasse had him pegged as a four-flusher who would back down in a pinch.

  As he stepped through the door of the hotel, Bowdrie glanced back. DeGrasse had disappeared, probably into the saloon, but he saw something else. A man stepped from the shadows near the saloon, and Bowdrie recognized him as Al Conway.

  Later, Chick went to the telegraph office and sent two wires, then returned to the hotel and to bed. His needling of DeGrasse had brought out two facts. Mark knew something about the Spectacle Ranch on the Canadian, and there had been trouble with Ramey about Karen.

  The Spectacle brand offered interesting possibilities, and a vague theory was beginning to take shape in Bowdrie’s thinking.

  As yet it lacked any basis of probability, and the theory had a major flaw. What had become of Bert Ramey?

  No crime could be proved without evidence, and the facts indicated Bert Ramey was the thief, yet evidence can be misleading. Ramey was gone, and the fifteen thousand dollars was gone. Bowdrie must find Ramey and the money. If Ramey did not have it, what about Lee Karns? Mark DeGrasse? And where did Al Conway fit in? There were cattle missing, so there must be organized rustling, and a man who would steal cattle would steal money resulting from their sale.

  Daylight found him on the return trip, but now he was riding warily and looking for a horse trail that would lead off across the sagebrush country. When another day was almost gone, he found what he was looking for.

  He knew the trail at once, for he had taken the precaution of checking at the blacksmith shop in Comanche, learning that nearly all 0 Bar 0 horses were shod there. In most cases horses were shod right on the ranch, but the 0 Bar 0 had theirs shod in Comanche. Bowdrie had even found a set of shoes that had been recently removed from Ramey’s horse. The smith had indicated the shoes with his hammer.

  “Always liked his horses well-shod, Mr. Ramey did. He knew my work and figured the little extry it cost was worth it.” So Bowdrie knew Ramey’s tracks when he saw them.

  When it grew too dark to follow further, Bowdrie rode off the trail and made camp. He was on the verge of sleep when the idea came to him, and he believed he knew why Bert Ramey had left the trail.

  Awakening before day broke, Bowdrie hastily built a fire, for the morning was chill. While waiting for the coffee, he considered what he knew and suspected, yet trying to view all the facts objectively and trying to avoid jumping to conclusions.

  The trail Ramey had taken would lead him toward the Canadian. Had Ramey stolen the money so he could buy a ranch?

  Supposing, however, that Ramey was honest, and that from that high point on the trail he had observed a distant moving herd of cattle? The 0 Bar 0 had been losing cattle, and Ramey as its foreman would be inclined to investigate any such movements.

  The sound of a moving horse brought him to his feet. It was Karen Ramey, riding a gray gelding.

  “Trailin’ somebody?” he asked as he stepped into view.

  “Yes, I am! You may think my father is a thief, but I do not. He wouldn’t run off and leave me on that ranch! He knew I hated Lee Karns and was afraid of Mark DeGrasse

  “Maybe we should work together,” Bowdrie suggested. “Wait until I throw my gear together.” He started to turn away, then looked back.

  “Karen, you said something to Mark about El Paso. What did that mean?”

  “It may be nothing at all, yet he talked to Karns about El Paso, and they were so secretive, I was curious.”

  “You made a good guess, I’m thinking. You wait here until I get my horse.”

  Striding swiftly through the pinons, he rolled up his bed and thrust it under his arm. He was kicking dust over the fire when a voice warned him: “Make a wrong move and I’ll kill you!”

  It was a man’s voice, low and behind him. Chick was facing toward where Karen waited, so the man might have been lying in wait as he talked to her.

  “What do you want?” Bowdrie started to turn.

  “Hold it!” The hoarse whisper froze Bowdrie in place. “Ranger, you’re buttin’ your nose into things that don’t concern you. I’m tellin’ you now, light out of here an’ keep goin’. Another sun sets on you here, an’ you die!”

  “You know I’m not goin’,” Bowdrie replied quietly, “and if you kill me, there’ll be others in my place.”

  There was no reply. He waited just an instant, then dodged into the brush from which the voice came. He found himself in a nest of boulders and more pinons. The man had disappeared.

  He started away, disgusted. Then, on the ground near a boulder, he saw a small black book. It was a tally book such as many cattlemen carry to keep a tally of brands and cattle. Flipping over the front pages, he glanced at the owner’s name. It was there, plainly seen: “bertramey. 0 Bar 0, Comanche.”

  “You were gone a long time,” Karen said.

  He held the book out to her. “Have you ever seen that before?”

  “Why, that’s Father’s tally book! Where did you get it?”

  “Found it.” He turned his horse down trail.

  “Let’s go, shall we?” When the horses had walked a few steps, he glanced around at her.

  “Did you see anybody back there? Or hear anything?”

  She shook her head, eyes curious. Bowdrie scowled irritably and looked along the trail that wound down into the flats, leaving the pinon behind. The tracks of Ramey’s horse, old tracks, were plain in the dust.

  What of the voice from the rocks? The dropped tally book? Suppose Ramey had stolen the money and was hiding nearby? Would the tracks they followed lead them into a trap?

  Chick studied the trail, lifting his eyes from time to time to scan the horizon and the country about them. Despite himself, he was growing prejudiced in favor of Ramey. This was a nice, decent girl, and she obviously loved the man. He had cared for her when his wife died, and before. He was a respected cattleman, trusted by the bank, liked by people until his disappearance.

  “I figure,” he said aloud, “that he left the trail to check the movement of cattle.”

  “What did you say?”

  He flushed. “Sorry, ma’am. When a man’s much alone, he gets to talkin’ to himself.”

  She glanced at him curiously. “You have no family?”

  “No, ma’am. Comanches killed my folks when I was a youngster. I got nobody, nowhere.” He paused. “Except the Rangers. They taken me on when I was about to take myself down the wrong trail.”

  “You must have a girlfriend.”

  “No, ma’am. Ranger work keeps me on the move. I’ve known a few ladies, but I guess I’m not their type. An’ I don’t have nothin’ but a horse, a saddle, and a few guns. Ain’t much on which to court a woman, especially when a man can end his days with a bullet in his hide .”

  “You’re very good-looking.”

  Bowdrie blushed. He had to change the subject. He never had known what to say to a girl, and as for being good-looking, she was teasing him.

  “No, ma’am, I’m just a reeformed cowhand, and no hand with women. Never could read their sign. This here’s my life, ma’am, ridin’ a trail through a big empty country with Injuns or outlaws around.”

  The horseman they followed had ridden at a fast canter, heading directly across the open country toward a deep cut in the hills. Sometime later, leading the way, Bowdrie rode up to the deep cut. The ground here was chewed up by the hooves of cattle driven through the cut a few days before.

  She saw the tracks, too.

  “What do you think happened?” he asked.

  “I think my father was murdered.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. It is just a feeling I have. If he could have come back, he would have, long before this.” She lifted her chin defiantly.

  “He loved me like he was my own father. I doubt if he ever though
t of me as anything but his daughter. I know that when he got his money from Karns he was quitting. He told me so.”

  Chick let the roan move forward, taking his time. He drew up suddenly when crossing a bench. At the edge the earth had caved away, and when he looked to the ridge crest ahead, he saw a low, thick, gnarled juniper. An easy place for someone to wait with a rifle until a man rode through the cut. The distance was an easy rifle shot, not quite two hundred yards, and if the first shot missed, there was no place for the target-rider to go. He would be right out in the open, as Chick and Karen were now.

  Leaving his horse, he went up to the juniper. Looking back, he saw Karen had her rifle in her hands.

  There were the prints of boots, some cigarette butts. They had known Ramey was following. Perhaps they had intended that he should. They had not waited long, just long enough for the rifleman to smoke two cigarettes. Perhaps they had known Ramey was coming this way and had deliberately let him see the cattle.

  Slowly he walked back to his horse, stood there for a moment, and then walked to the edge of the bench where the earth had caved in.

  Karen had followed, and she was looking down.

  “Karen,” he said gently, “you’d better go back to the horse. Remember him as he was. That’s the way he’d want it to be.”

  Without a word she walked back to her horse. He waited a moment; then with his hands he moved some of the earth and rocks until he had exposed the face of a man whom he knew by description as Bert Ramey. He had been shot twice, at close range, by a rifle.

  When he climbed back to the bench, he carried Ramey’s pistol, a Winchester, and several letters. There was a small packet of bills and some change.

  He handed it to her, but when she drew her hand away, he said, “Don’t be foolish, Karen. You will need money, and who is more entitled to it? Consider it a gift from him. That’s what he would want.

  “As for the guns, I’ll keep them for now. They are evidence. And I shall want to read these letters and study that tally book.”

  He stuffed the letters into his saddlebags and hung the gunbelt over his pommel. The Winchester he slipped under the binding on his blanket roll, drawing the knots a little tighter.

  Who was the killer? Who?

  “Mr. Bowdrie? Somebody is coming.”

  So intent on the problem had he been that although the sound registered, he had not been alerted. Yet. Karen rifle was ready.

  The horseman rounded into view, then pulled up. It was Al Conway.

  “Howdy! I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  Chick’s eyes went to the 0 Bar 0 brand on the black’s hip. His eyes held on Conway’s. “I found Ramey,” he said. “He’s been murdered.”

  Conway got out the makings and rolled a smoke. “Figured so,” he said bluntly. “Ramey was no thief.”

  Digging into his pocket, he drew out two telegrams. “These are for you. I judged you’d like to see them before they fell into the wrong hands.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Whatever you like. It was just an idea I had.”

  Bowdrie ripped open the messages, glanced at each, and then looked up at Conway.

  “You want to do something for me, Al?” He hesitated, thinking.

  “Ride back to the ranch and tell Karns that DeGrasse has bought him a ranch and registered a brand in his name alone.”

  Conway shrugged. “You know what you’re doin’, but I’m sure glad DeGrasse is in Comanche. I ain’t up to a shootout with him. He’s tellin’ it all over the country that he backed down the famous Chick Bowdrie, that you’re all bluff.”

  Bowdrie looked after Conway, his eyes cold with speculation.

  Conway had been on the scene almost too suddenly, and how had he found them? Had they been followed? Or had Conway come to cover the scene of the crime more thoroughly?

  “You found Father …” Karen said. “Are you going to leave him there?”

  “Nothing will bother him, ma’am. He never knew what hit him. Later, if you like, we can send a wagon for him.”

  Comanche was shadowed by late dusk when they fast-walked their horses down the street. Bowdrie sent the girl to the hotel and then took a stance across the street from the saloon when he saw Mark DeGrasse was inside.

  He was worried by a vague impression of something overlooked, of some mistake or error in his calculations.

  It was almost midnight when Mark DeGrasse left the saloon and went to the hotel.

  Bowdrie sighed with relief. Had DeGrasse mounted and headed for the ranch, Bowdrie would have had to follow. Suddenly a vague thought that had lingered in his mind became stark and clear. He came to his feet and went down the street to the blacksmith shop. All was dark and still, the shop like an empty cavern.

  There was a pile of old horseshoes…. He crossed to it, then knelt and began to strike matches. A footstep behind him sent a prickly chill up his spine.

  “Hey!” It was the blacksmith. “What’re you doin’ here?”

  Bowdrie straightened. “Have you got a lantern? I want to check something.”

  Grumbling, the blacksmith went into his home, adjoining the shop, and returned with a lantern.

  “You told me which of the old shoes had belonged to Ramey’s horse. Do you know any of the others in this pile?”

  “There ain’t a shoe I ever put on or took off that I don’t remember.”

  “Good!” Chick placed a pair of worn shoes on the ground near the pile.

  “Who owned these?”

  The shoes showed much hard travel, yet on each arm of the shoe was an arrow-shaped design.

  The blacksmith picked up one of the shoes.

  “That’s the first pair of shoes I replaced for Lee Karns. Right after he come into this country an’ bought that ranch. That arrowhead’s the mark Indian Joe Davis puts on his work. He’s the blacksmith over at Monahan.”

  Bowdrie turned away. “Thanks. You’ve been a help, and I appreciate it.”

  When Chick Bowdrie walked into the hotel dining room for breakfast the next morning, his dark features seemed sharper, his eyes restless. Scarcely had he seated himself when he was joined by Karen.

  “I saw Mark DeGrasse last night. I saw him in the hallway.”

  “Did he see you?”

  “I’m sure he didn’t. When I heard his step, I thought it might be you, with something to tell me, but I drew back and closed the door. Mr. Bowdrie? What’s going to happen? This morning, I mean?”

  Before he could reply, Al Conway entered and walked directly to their table.

  “Karns came into town early, Bowdrie. We met on the trail this side of the ranch.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Not much, just glanced my way and mentioned some work that needed to be done. Soon as he was out of sight, I circled into the hills and came into town myself.” Conway turned his hat in his hand. “Bowdrie, I don’t want you to come up with the wrong idea. I never killed Bert Ramey. He was a good man. One of the best.”

  “I know you didn’t, Al. Although for a while I wasn’t sure. You’ve rustled a few head of stock here and there, Al, and if I were you I’d keep my rope on my saddle and get rid of that cinch ring. It shows too much evidence of being used in a fire.”

  “Thanks.” Al hesitated. “But can I help? This here DeGrasse …”

  “What about DeGrasse?” The gunman had walked up behind him. “What were you about to say, Al?”

  “He was about to say,” Bowdrie interrupted, “that you were a bad man with a gun, Mark. Won’t you sit down?”

  DeGrasse simply stared at him, contempt in his eyes.

  “You’d better,” Bowdrie said, “because you’re in this up to your neck.”

  DeGras se shrugged carelessly. “D’you think I killed Ramey, is that it?”

  “Sit down!” Bowdrie’s voice boomed in the small room. “Sit down. Mark!”

  Chick Bowdrie had a gun in his hand, and it had not been there a moment before. Mark’s tongue touched his suddenly dr
y lips.

  Mark eased into a chair, keeping his hands in sight.

  “You registered a brand in El Paso, the Spectacle brand. It was registered in your name. You moved cattle off the range here up to your ranch on the Canadian.”

  DeGrasse touched his tongue to his again dry lips. The pistol appearing from nowhere had destroyed his poise. He realized suddenly that he had no business touching a gun in the presence of Chick Bowdrie.

  “That was for Karns. We did it together.”

  “But the brand was registered in your name only. And it is mighty easy to change an 0 Bar 0 to a Spectacle. Are you implying Karns would steal his own cattle?”

  The door opened gently, and Bowdrie looked up into the eyes of Lee Karns.

  “I see you got him, Bowdrie. DeGrasse was plannin’ to steal my ranch. He’s been rustlin’ my cows, and I never even guessed!” His eyes turned to DeGrasse “Where’s the money you stole? I found the sack it was carried in … in your bunk!”

  DeGrasse lunged to his feet. “You lie! I stole no … I” He made a stab for his gun—too late!

  Lee Karns had a gun in his hand, and he fired, then again.

  DeGrasse sank at the knees, tried to straighten up, his hand working to draw the gun that was suddenly too heavy. Then he fell to the floor, his lips struggling with words that refused to come.

  There was an instant of silence and then Lee Karns looked over at Bowdrie. “There’s your killer an’ your case, all wrapped up.”

  Chick Bowdrie had sat very still; now he got to his feet. “Conway? Take Miss Ramey out of the room, will you?”

  Bowdrie picked up his flat-brimmed, low-crowned hat and put it on.

  “You’re right, Lee. My case is all wrapped up. I am arrestin’ you for the murder of Bert Ramey, for conspiracy to defraud, and for the kinin’ of Ranger Tomkins in the robbing of the Valverde Bank.”

  “Are you crazy?” Karns protested. “What’s this nonsense about Valverde?”

  Chick faced Karns across the table, his left side toward him. Karns still held his gun in his hand, and the range was pointblank.