The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 7

by Louis L'Amour

It had the added advantage to Jim Yount of leaving only one witness to his treachery.

  Crouched below the window, Ward McQueen calculated his chances. Jim Yount was reputed to be a fast man with a gun. Red Lund had already proved his skill. Packer would also be good, even if not an artist like the others. Three to one made the odds much too long, and at the bunkhouse would be Hollier and Pete Dodson, neither a man to be trifled with.

  A clatter of horse’s hoofs on the hard-packed trail, and a horseman showed briefly in the door and was ushered into the room. It was the lean stranger who had played poker with Gelvin and Keane.

  “You Jim Yount? Just riding by and wanted to tell you there’s an express package at the station for Miss Kermitt. She can drop in tomorrow to pick it up if she likes.”

  “Express package? Why didn’t you bring it out?”

  “Wouldn’t let me. Seems like it’s money or something like that. A package of dinero that’s payment for some property in Wyoming. She’s got to sign for it herself. They won’t let anybody else have it.”

  Yount nodded. “All right. She’s asleep, I think, but come morning I’ll tell her.”

  The rider went out and a few minutes later Ward heard his horse’s hoofs on the trail.

  “More money?” Packer grinned. “Not bad, Boss! She can pick it up for us and we’ll split it.”

  Red Lund was wiping off his pistol. “I don’t like it,” he spoke suddenly. “Looks like a move to get us off the ranch and the girl into town.”

  Yount shrugged. “I doubt it, but suppose that’s it? Who in town has the guts or the skill to tackle us? Personally, I believe it’s the truth, but if it ain’t, why worry? We’ll send Packer in ahead to scout. If there’s any strangers around he can warn us. I think it’s all right. We’ll ride in tomorrow.”

  An hour later, and far back on a brush-covered hillside, Ward McQueen bedded down for the night. From where he lay he could see anybody who arrived at or left the ranch. One thing he knew, tomorrow was to be the payoff.

  At daylight he was awake and watching, his buckskin saddled and ready. It had been a damp, uncomfortable night, and he stretched, trying to get the chill from his muscles. The sunshine caught reflected light from the window. Hollier emerged and began roping horses in the corral. He saddled his own, Ruth’s brown mare, and Yount’s big gray.

  Ward McQueen tried to foresee what would happen. He was convinced, as was Red Lund, that the package was a trick. There were only nine buildings on the town’s main street, scarcely more than two dozen houses scattered about.

  The express and stage office was next to the saloon. Gelvin’s store was across the street.

  Whatever happened, Ruth would be in danger. She would be with Yount, closely surrounded by the others. To fire on them was to endanger her.

  And where did that young rider stand? He had been called Rip, and he had known of McQueen’s gun battle in Maravillas Canyon. Ward was sure he was not the aimless drifter he was supposed to be. His face was too keen, his eyes too sharp. If he had baited a trap with money, he had used the only bait to which these men would rise. But what was he hoping to accomplish?

  There were no men in Mannerhouse who could draw a gun in the same league with Yount or Lund.

  Gelvin would try, if he was there, but Gelvin had only courage, and no particular skill with a handgun, and courage alone was not enough.

  It was an hour after daylight when Packer mounted his paint gelding and started for town. Ward watched him go, speculating on what must follow. He had resolved upon his own course of action. His was no elaborate plan. He intended to slip into town and at the right moment kill Jim Yount and, if possible, Red Lund.

  The only law in Mannerhouse was old John Binns, a thoroughly good man of some seventy years who had been given the job largely in lieu of a pension. He had been a hardworking man who owned his home and a few acres of ground, and he had a wife only a few years younger.

  Mannerhouse had never been on the route of train drives, land booms, or mining discoveries, and in consequence the town had few disturbances or characters likely to cause them. The jail had been used but once, when the town first came into being, and few citizens could remember the occasion. John Binns’s enforcement of the law usually was a quiet suggestion to be a little less noisy or to “go home and sleep it off.”

  Ward McQueen, a law-abiding man, found himself faced with a situation where right, justice, and the simple rules of civilized society were being pushed aside by men who did not hesitate to kill. One prominent citizen had been murdered, another pistol-whipped. Their stated intention was to do more of the same, to say nothing of Jim Yount’s plan to marry Ruth, and his implication had been that it was simply a means to seize her land. Once they had won what they wished, there was no reason to believe the violence would cease. Gangrene had infected the area, and the only solution open to Ward McQueen was to amputate.

  Yet he was no fool. He knew something of the gun skills of the men he would face. Even if he was killed himself he must eliminate them. The townspeople could take care of such as Hollier and Packer.

  If he succeeded, Kim Sartain could handle the rest of it, and would. That was Kim’s way.

  Mounting the buckskin he started down the trail toward Mannerhouse, only a few miles away. When he had ridden but a few hundred yards he saw from his vantage point above the ranch that three riders were also headed for town. Jim Yount, Ruth, and a few yards behind, Red Lund.

  Pete Dodson, riding a sorrel horse, was also headed for town but by another route. Jim Yount was taking no chances.

  The dusty main street of Mannerhouse lay warm under the morning sun. On the steps of the Express Office, Rip was sunning himself. Abel, behind his bar, watched nervously both his window and his door. He was on edge and aware, aware as a wild animal is when a strange creature nears its lair. Trouble was in the wind.

  Gelvin’s store was closed, unusual for this time of day. Abel glanced at Rip, and his brow furrowed. Rip was wearing two tied-down guns this morning, unusual for him.

  Abel finished polishing the glass and put it down, glancing nervously at Packer. Suddenly Packer downed the drink and got to his feet. Walking to the door he glanced up and down the street. All was quiet, yet the big man was worried. A man left the post office and walked along the boardwalk to the barbershop and entered. The sound of the closing door was the only sound. A hen pecked at something in the mouth of the alley near Gelvin’s store. As he watched he saw Pete Dodson stop his horse behind Gelvin’s. Pete was carrying a rifle. Packer glanced over at Rip, noting the guns.

  Packer turned suddenly, glaring at Abel. “Give me that scatter-gun you got under the bar!”

  “Huh?” Abel was frightened. “I ain’t got—”

  “Don’t give me that! I want that gun!”

  There was an instant when Abel considered covering Packer or even shooting him, but the big man frightened him and he put the shotgun on the bar. Packer picked it up and tiptoed to the window and put the gun down beside it. Careful to make no sound, he eased the window up a few inches. His position now covered Rip’s side and back.

  Abel cringed at what he had done. He liked Rip. The lean, easygoing, friendly young man might now be killed because of him. He’d been a coward. He should have refused, covered Packer, and called Rip inside. Now, because of him a good man might be murdered, shot in the back. What was going on, anyway? This had been such a quiet little town.

  Jim Yount rode up the street with Ruth beside him. Her face was pale and strained, and her eyes seemed unnaturally large. Red Lund trailed a few yards behind. He drew up and tied his horse across the street.

  From the saloon Abel could see it all. Jim Yount and Ruth Kermitt were approaching Rip from the west. North and west was Red Lund. Due north and in the shadow of Gelvin’s was Pete Dodson. In the saloon was Packer. Rip was very neatly boxed, signed, and sealed. All but delivered.

  Jim Keane, Logan’s much older brother, was the express agent. He saw Jim Yount come, s
aw Red Lund across the street.

  Rip got up lazily, smiling at Ruth as she came up the steps with Jim Yount.

  “Come for your package, Miss Kermitt?” he asked politely. “While you’re here would you mind answering some questions.”

  “By whose authority?” Yount demanded sharply.

  Ward McQueen, crouched behind the saloon, heard the reply clearly. “The State of Texas, Yount,” Rip replied. “I’m a Texas Ranger.”

  Jim Yount’s short laugh held no humor. “This ain’t Texas, and she answers no questions.”

  Ward McQueen opened the back door of the saloon and stepped inside.

  Packer, intent on the scene before him, heard the door open. Startled and angry, he whirled around. Ward McQueen, whom he had buried, was standing just inside the door. The shotgun was resting on the windowsill behind Rip. Packer went for his six-gun, but even as he reached he knew it was hopeless. He saw the stab of flame, felt the solid blow of the bullet, and felt his knees turn to butter under him. He pitched forward on his face.

  Outside all hell broke loose. Ruth Kermitt, seeing Rip’s situation, spurred her horse to bump Yount’s, throwing him out of position. Instantly, she slid from the saddle and threw herself to the ground near the edge of the walk.

  All seemed to have begun firing at once. Yount, cursing bitterly, fired at Rip. He in turn was firing at Red Lund. Ward stepped suddenly from the saloon and saw himself facing Yount, who had brought his mount under control. He fired at Yount, and a bullet from Dodson’s rifle knocked splinters from the post in front of his face.

  Yount’s gun was coming into line and McQueen fired an instant sooner. Yount fired and they both missed. Ward’s second shot hit Yount, who grabbed for the pommel. Ward walked a step forward, but something hit him and he went to his knee. Red Lund loomed from somewhere and Ward got off another shot. Lund’s face was covered with blood.

  There was firing from the stage station and from Gelvin’s store. There was a thunder of hoofs, and a blood-red horse came charging down the street, its rider hung low like an Indian, shooting under the horse’s neck.

  Yount was down, crawling on his belly in the dust. He had lost hold of his six-shooter, but his right hand held a knife and he was crawling toward Ruth. McQueen’s six-shooter clicked on an empty chamber.

  How many shots were left in his other gun? He lifted it with his left hand. Something was suddenly wrong with his right. He rarely shot with his left hand, but now—

  Yount was closer now. Ruth was staring across the street, unaware. McQueen shot past Ruth, squeezing off the shot with his left hand. He saw Yount contract sharply as the bullet struck. McQueen fired again and the gambler rolled over on his side and the knife slipped from his fingers.

  Abel ran from the saloon with the shotgun, and Gelvin from his store, with a rifle. Then Ruth was running toward him and he saw Kim Sartain coming back up the street, walking the red horse. He tried to rise to meet Ruth, but his knees gave way and he went over on his face, thinking how weak she must think him. He started to rise again, and blacked out.

  When he could see again Ruth was beside him. Kim was squatting on his heels. “Come on, Ward!” he said. “You’ve only been hit twice and neither of ’em bad. Can’t you handle lead anymore?”

  “What happened?”

  “Clean sweep, looks like. Charlie Quayle got to us and we hightailed it to the ranch. Hollier wanted to give us trouble but we smoked him out. I believe there were others around, but if there were they skipped the country.

  “Whilst they were cleanin’ up around I took it on the run for town. Halfway there I thought I heard a shot and when I hit the street everybody in town was shootin’, or that’s what it looked like. Reg’lar Fourth of July celebration!

  “Pete Dodson is dead, and Red Lund’s dying with four bullets in him. Yount’s alive, but he won’t make it either. Packer’s dead.”

  Ward’s head was aching and he felt weak and sick, but he did not want to move, even to get out of the street. He just wanted to sit, to forget all that had taken place. With fumbling fingers, from long habit, he started to reload his pistols. Oddly, he found one of them contained three live shells. Somehow he must have reloaded, but he had no memory of it.

  Rip came over. “My name’s Coker, Ward. I couldn’t figure any other way to bust up Yount’s operation so I faked that package to get them into town, hoping I could get her away from them. I didn’t figure they’d gang up on me like they did.”

  They helped him up and into the saloon. Gelvin brought the doctor in. “Yount just died,” Gelvin said, “cussing you and everybody concerned.”

  He sat back in a chair while the doctor patched him up. Again he had lost blood. “I’ve got to find a bed,” he said to Kim. “There must be a hotel in town.”

  “You’re coming back to the ranch,” Ruth said. “We need you there. They told me you left me, Ward. Jim Yount said you pulled out and Kim with you. I hadn’t seen him, and Yount said he’d manage the ranch until I found someone. Then he brought his own men in and fired Kim, whom I hadn’t seen, and I was surrounded and scared. If you had been there, or if I’d even known you were around, I—”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Ward leaned his head back. All he wanted was rest.

  Baldy Jackson helped him into a buckboard, Bud Fox driving. “You know that old brindle longhorn who turned up missin’? Well, I found him. He’s got about thirty head with him, holed up in the prettiest little valley you ever did see. Looks like he’s there to stay.”

  “He’s like me,” Ward commented, “so used to his range he wouldn’t be happy anywhere else.”

  Roundup in Texas

  The instant Ward McQueen saw the horsemen in the basin below, his heart leaped with quick apprehension. That would be Kim Sartain astride the sorrel, and the other riders, three of them, had him neatly boxed.

  Touching spurs to the strawberry roan, McQueen went down the hill at a dead run, then slowed up as he neared the group. He saw Yost’s face flash with anger and disappointment as the man recognized him. Ward drew up.

  “All right, boys,” he said. “Break it up!”

  In a moment the situation had changed appreciably. The three riders had Sartain in such a position that he would be covered from three sides if he started to fire.

  There would be no chance for escape.

  Ernie Yost’s expression showed his uncertainty. The odds still favored them three to two, but now one of the three, Ike Taylor, had his back to McQueen. Ward had stopped his horse to the left rear of Sartain, and could fire at all three men without endangering Sartain. Taylor was now in the middle, between Ward and the guns of his two friends.

  “If any shootin’ starts, boss,” Kim suggested quietly, “I’ll take Yost!”

  Ernie’s face flamed with dark blood, but he hesitated. He was no fool. Kim Sartain had once flashed a gun in his presence at Sotol, against a half-crazed Mexican killer who had Kim covered, but the Mexican never got off a shot.

  As for Ward McQueen, the foreman of the Tumbling K had held a reputation in Texas long before he went off to Wyoming and Nevada. He was known to be a deadly gunfighter. Taylor was as good as dead if shooting started, and without Taylor, Ernie Yost wanted no part of it.

  Yost spoke calmly. “This rider of yours is on the prod, McQueen. He ordered us off the range.”

  “What business have you here?” McQueen demanded. Ike Taylor was sweating blood in his present position. He started to shift around.

  McQueen’s voice was sharp. “Ike, you sit still or I’ll drill you!”

  Taylor swallowed and sat still, his eyes haunted. He was filled with regrets, wishing he were in Sotol, or any other place but here.

  Yost’s face had darkened again. “A man has a right to ride anywhere he wants!”

  “No, he doesn’t!” McQueen wasn’t hedging. Had he arrived thirty seconds later, Sartain might have been dead. “You don’t run any cattle, Yost. You have no business on this range at any time. We’re w
orking cattle here, and we don’t like rustlers. Now you get off and stay off!”

  Yost was bursting with hatred. His hands trembled as he strove to compose himself. “Some day you’ll go too far, Ward!”

  “Call it when you’re ready!” Ward answered sharply. He stepped his horse nearer at a walk. He was angry and ready. “Why not now?”

  No one had ever accused Ernie Yost of cowardice, yet in this situation, he could see no hope. He had never faced deadlier gunmen than Ward McQueen and his dark-faced segundo, Kim Sartain.

  “All right,” he flared suddenly. “I’ll stay off!” He turned his horse with a jerk and started to walk away. Villani and Taylor wasted no time in following.

  The two riders sat on their horses and watched until they were over the rise. “Reckon we ought to follow?” Sartain wondered. “No. Let’s get back. There’s work to do.”

  Sartain glanced up at him. “You showed up at the right time, boss,” he said dryly. “Another minute and they would have had me.”

  “They were set for a killing, all right,” Ward agreed. “I don’t savvy it. Ever had any trouble with them?”

  “Not until I ordered them off.” Sartain was puzzled. “But there’s more to this than meets the eye.”

  They rode away. But as they topped the rise, Ward removed his hat and anxiously mopped his brow as he stared down at the dusty herd below them. When Ward had bought that stock from Old Dick Gerber, it had looked like a godsend. Long ago, he had worked for Gerber, and knew the tight-fisted old rancher well. That was before Ward had gone to Nevada and become foreman of the Tumbling K, Ruth Kermitt’s ranch.

  In all his dealings, the old man had seemed to be strictly honest and reliable, so when he showed McQueen a tally book, and the records amounted to over four thousand head, Ward decided to buy. The price seemed reasonable enough. Ward had, however, insisted upon a guarantee. At first Gerber had balked, but finally agreed to guarantee three thousand head.

  The guarantee was something on which Ward would never have insisted had he been buying the herd for himself. He just wanted to be sure that Ruth got her money’s worth. The price he paid had been for four thousand head, the whole procedure handled in the somewhat loose and careless manner typical of the West of that era.