by Alan David
‘Well I’m thirty-five. How old are you?’
‘I’m a confirmed old maid.’ She laughed tremulously. ‘I’m twenty-seven.’ Her face fell. ‘And now I’m all alone in the world.’
Lobo stood up. He pulled her gently to her feet and put an arm around her shoulders. She sagged against him and he supported her slim body. Tears glinted in her eyes. Lobo’s breath quickened. There was an undefinable softness about her. He cupped her chin in one of his big hands, and his fingers were surprisingly gentle. He tilted her face up to him.
‘If I may, Stella, I’ll stay here until dawn. Then I’ll be on my way to the Big R. I want you to stay quiet on this ranch until all the trouble is done. Then we’ll try and sort out things. Does that sound all right to you?’
‘Yes.’ She nodded and smiled wanly. ‘I’m greatly beholden to you, Lobo. How can I ever repay you for what you have done?’
‘Just give me a bed for the night. I’m mighty tired, and tomorrow will be a hard day.’
‘Have you had enough to eat?’
‘Yes, thanks. That cooking of yours is some treat.’ He stiffened then and inclined his head into a listening attitude. He raised a thick finger and pressed it against her softly curved lips. She watched his eyes slit and harden.
‘What is it?’ she whispered, and was aware that her heart was thumping madly.
‘Riders coming. Two, maybe three horses.’ He palmed one of his guns and checked its loads, spinning the cylinder before returning it to his holster. Then he checked the other weapon. ‘Can’t be enemies or they’d sneak in. Unless they figure you’re here alone.’
‘I can hear them now,’ she said, and gulped.
‘Sit down away from the door.’ He pushed her into a seat. ‘Don’t move for anything. You’ve got a back door? Good. I don’t fancy getting caught in a lighted room. Sit tight and I’ll scout outside.’
He squeezed her hand, moved swiftly to the back door and let himself outside. Now he could clearly hear the pounding of approaching hooves. He moved through the shadows around the side of the cabin and stood with palmed Colt at the front corner, hugging the blackness of the thick log wall.
The beat of the hooves faded as the riders slowed their approach. Lobo waited patiently, ears keened and eyes strained. Death lurked with him in the silent shadows.
Presently he saw the shapes of three horsemen appear out of the night. The riders reined in some fifteen yards from the house, and one of them got out of his saddle and came towards the corner where Lobo stood. Lobo edged back and lowered his face to conceal its tell-tale blur. His trigger finger tensed and a challenge trembled upon his thin lips. He was about to call when one of the riders shouted raucously.
‘Hello the cabin. Come out with your hands up. The place is surrounded. Come out quietly and there’ll be no shooting.’
Lobo pulled his lips back into a snarl. He stepped still further back into the shadows as the dismounted rider came towards him. With all the viciousness that his years of hardness and violence had instilled in him, Lobo struck the black shadow a powerful blow with the barrel of his gun. There was a dull thud, a little grunt of pain and shock from his victim, and Lobo caught the man and lowered him silently to the ground. He thoughtfully removed a short gun from a holster on the unconscious man’s belt and stuck it into the waistband of his pants. He returned to the corner.
‘You’ve got ten seconds to come on out. Then we start shooting,’ shouted the rider.
Lobo slid around the corner and placed his broad back against the front wall. He stood beside one of the lighted windows, and was invisible to anyone staring into the lamplight.
‘You’ve got just two seconds to throw down your guns,’ he replied loudly. ‘And sit very still on your mounts. You’re covered.’
There were two startled voices exclaiming in front of the house. Then both riders swung their mounts. Lobo snapped off a shot and the nearest rider tumbled from his saddle, his cry lost in the roar of the gunshot. Lobo stepped forward a pace as he recocked his long barrelled Colt. For a fraction of a second the other rider’s head was silhouetted against the full moon. Lobo fired again and a second saddle was swept clear.
Then the tension left him in a long sigh. He stood for a moment until the echoes of his shooting had died away. Then he strained his ears and listened to the noises of the night. He heard nothing suspicious. He holstered his gun and dropped to his knees, pressing an ear to the ground. For many long minutes he remained listening, but heard nothing. He picked up the movement of the three riderless horses near at hand, but nothing else, and was at last satisfied that only three had come.
Lobo got to his feet and moved forward to the two men he had shot. He checked them silently. They both were dead. He returned grimly to the unconscious rider. With a powerful heave he got the man off the ground and across his shoulder. He went into the cabin through the back door and dropped his burden at the feet of the pale faced Stella.
‘There were three of them,’ he said. ‘This one will be out for a long time. The other two are dead.’
She shook her head slowly and sighed.
‘When is all this going to end?’ she demanded.
‘When the men responsible are either dead or behind bars. It’s the only way to stop trouble of this sort. Violence must be met with violence. Killers must be killed. Have you seen this hombre before?’
Stella studied the unconscious face. Her eyes were wide and filled with shock. She shook her head.
‘I don’t know him.’
‘Well I’m going to look at the brands on the horses they rode. It’s certain that they are Ridge riders. Here.’ He held out the gun he had taken from his victim. ‘I don’t expect he’ll wake up yet, but if he does just wave this under his nose or hit him on the head with it.’
Lobo left the cabin again by the back door, and Stella sat watching the man on the floor. It seemed ages before Lobo returned.
‘I’ve put the horses into your corral,’ he said. ‘The bodies can stay where they are until sunup.’
‘Did you find a brand on the mounts?’
‘Sure. They’re Big R all right. Someone at Ridge’s headquarters will have a lot to answer for when I get there. I’ll hogtie this feller for the night. We ain’t going to lose any sleep watching him. Tomorrow I’ll take him with me to see Ridge.’
Chapter Eleven
THE NIGHT PASSED uneventfully, but Lobo slept little. He occupied the room that had been Stella’s brother’s, and several times during the darkness he tiptoed down the stairs and left the house to listen for suspicious noises.
He rose finally at dawn and made some coffee. He took a cup to Stella and awoke her.
‘How are you feeling this morning?’ he asked, noting that the strained look was still in her eyes.
‘I didn’t sleep much. I heard you go down several times. Is everything all right?’
‘We’ve had no more callers, and our prisoner is still breathing down in your store cupboard. I’m going to question him now.’
‘I’ll get up and cook breakfast. I’ve got a bad feeling, Lobo, that makes me think this is going to be a dreadful day. I feel depressed and I don’t know why. Of course I have a lot to be depressed about; my father and my brother. But this is something different.’
‘Well you’re going back to Pommel today to live, and I’m taking you. My business with Page can wait. You’re not safe out here until all this is settled.’
‘All right, I’ll go back to town. But there’s no need for you to take me. You have a job to do, and Gruber may not like it if you ride back without Page.’
‘Page will keep. You won’t go short in town. There’s still plenty of money in my bank account. You can use that.’
‘But I don’t like living on that money,’ she protested.
‘As far as I can see you’ve got no option. Anyway I may not live long enough to spend it myself.’
‘You’ll be especially careful today, won’t you?’ she pleaded.
>
‘Believe me,’ he replied. ‘I’m always careful.’
He went back to the kitchen, helped himself to some coffee, then went to the store cupboard and brought out his prisoner.
‘Well,’ he said, helping the man into a seat. ‘You’ve got a lot to answer for. What were you doing outside this cabin last night?’
‘I ain’t got anything to say.’ The man’s shifty eyes flickered to Lobo’s law badge. ‘I could do with some of that coffee.’
‘Your two pards are lying dead outside.’ Lobo fetched the man some coffee and untied his hands. He stood back with his right hand at his hip while the man drank thirstily. ‘This must be my week for killing Big R riders. Those two bring my tally up to nearly a dozen. On whose orders did you come here prepared to murder? That’s what I want to know.’
‘I ain’t saying anything. It would be more than my life is worth.’
‘Your life ain’t worth a plugged nickel right now,’ Lobo told him flatly. ‘If I don’t get the answers I want I’ll take you outside, stand you with your dead pards and gutshoot you. I ain’t fooling. If you want to go on living you’d better start talking.’
‘You’re a lawman. You wouldn’t shoot a man in cold blood.’
‘Don’t bet on that.’ Lobo smiled coldly. ‘I don’t happen to like killers, especially when they were all set to murder me. And if I hadn’t been here you would have found a woman alone. I don’t like to think what would have happened to her. I’d like sure as hell to make certain that you never pull a gun again. But that’s up to you. Now, my questions. Who gave the order for you to come here last night?’
The gunman looked into Lobo’s merciless face, and a deathly coldness filled him. He could not match Lobo’s unwavering stare, and quickly lowered his eyes.
‘Page sent us to live in the house here and watch the herd,’ he said finally. ‘We were told that no one was living here. We heard the girl was staying in town. We were surprised to see the lights in the windows. But we had no intention of killing anyone.’
‘I heard one of your two pards shout that you would start shooting if we didn’t come out,’ Lobo said grimly.
‘It was their way of throwing a scare into the girl. When we saw the lights we figured she had come back from town, and thought she was alone.’
‘Good thing she wasn’t. What’s Page’s game? Hasn’t he taken the warning he got in Pommel? If he is smart he would have seen that law has come to this range. But he’s gone too far. He carries a Colt .41, doesn’t he?’
‘I guess he does. What about me?’
‘You’re riding with me to the Big R, and then you’re coming with me and Page to Pommel.’
‘You’re going to try and arrest Page?’ The man’s face showed astonishment. ‘Mister, you don’t know how fast Page is with a gun.’
‘He’s ten years older than the last time I saw him in action,’ Lobo retorted. ‘I’ll allow that those ten years have taken the edge off his gunspeed.’
‘You’re Lobo Johnson the outlaw, aren’t you?’
‘Is that any of your business?’
‘No. But it sure as hell beats all that an outlaw rides around wearing a lawman’s badge.’
‘I’m doing a lawman’s job.’ Lobo’s voice was brittle.
‘Who is making my identity known on this range?’
‘Not me. But it’s common knowledge on the Big R.’
‘If I hear you breathe it to a living soul I’ll put a gun in your hand then kill you.’
‘Some of our riders say you’re faster than Page. It’s a fact though that you shoot straight. But even you can’t take on all Ridge’s crew and live. You’d get some of them, but they’d down you.’
‘They may get their chance at that before I’m through,’ Lobo said grimly. ‘Is Ridge in on this crooked deal or is Page the kingpin?’
‘It’s all Page’s idea. He wants the Big R, and he’s been working years to get it.’
‘He’ll have to kill Ridge first.’
‘He’ll do that when he’s ready. He wanted to get the spread the easy way by marrying Virgie Ridge, but she wasn’t having none of that, and old man Ridge told Page his daughter was too good for a gunslinger. They had a helluva row last night. It finished with Ridge being a prisoner in his own house, and Page has taken the girl away to keep her a prisoner. She’ll be a lever to use against Ridge.’
Lobo mulled over what the man had said. He had expected something like this; had planned something similar if he’d found at the outset that Ridge was the crooked pin in the pile. Now this proved that Page was getting nervous. It showed that he was worried by Lobo’s presence on this range as a deputy sheriff. Lobo tried to reason out the situation from Page’s angle. The girl refused to marry him and her father was dead set against the idea of his daughter getting hitched to a gunman. That washed out Page’s easiest method of getting control of the Big R. Now what would he do? Killing Ridge wouldn’t solve anything unless Page had married Ginny. Perhaps Ridge was aware of that. Taking Ginny away would put a cinch on Ridge’s resistance. But Ridge would figure that Page would not kill the girl.
‘We’re riding to the Big R as soon as I’ve saddled up,’ Lobo told the gunman.
‘Suits me,’ the man replied. ‘The crew out there will soon deal with you. It will be a pleasure to watch you and Page shoot it out.’
Stella prepared breakfast, and after he had eaten Lobo unbound his prisoner and fed the man. When they were ready to leave Lobo took the man out to the barn with him and saddled three horses. Stella tidied the cabin to her liking before she came out.
‘All set?’ Lobo asked. He held the reins of his prisoner’s mount. The man’s hands were tied to the saddle horn. Stella swung into her hull, riding close to Lobo. ‘You’re to ride straight into Pommel, you know,’ he said. ‘And you’d better tell Gruber my plans in case anything happens to me. He’ll want to know where to pick up. Tell him what happened here last night and that I have a prisoner.’
‘Don’t you think you’re being foolhardy, Lobo? Page and his gunmen are getting desperate. They’ll shoot you down in cold blood if they see you. They all know you are the only law around here. You’re the one who has stirred up the town against them. They would welcome the chance to get you alone so they can shoot you.’
‘Maybe they’ll get the chance now,’ he replied grimly. ‘I’ve got a job to do, Stella, and nothing is going to stop me. So get on your way to town. I’ll see you back in Pommel when I return.’
‘I’m worried about you, Lobo. I’ve still got that awful feeling. I hope it isn’t a premonition.’
‘We’ll see.’ He touched spurs to his mount. ‘Ride straight to town, Stella.’
She nodded and pulled round the head of her mount. Lobo watched her ride along the trail that led eventually to Pommel. When she had disappeared beyond a grove of trees Lobo rode forward beside his silent prisoner, and they headed for the gap in Ridge’s fence.
‘Did you fellows do this?’ he asked as he rode through the breached wire.
‘Another party rode through before us,’ the gunnie replied. ‘They had orders to cut all fences where they joined smaller ranches. Then we were supposed to haze in some cows, and shoot the small ranchers for rustling.’
‘So you did ride up to the Stadden place last night ready to kill.’ Lobo’s lips tightened. ‘Well we’ll soon put a stop to Page’s game. How come you’re loosening your tongue?’
‘Because you’re riding straight to the Big R, and I’m certain you won’t leave it alive. From the tales I’ve heard about you, Johnson, I would have thought you are clever. But this proves you ain’t. I’ll allow you’ve got gall. But that won’t be enough on the Big R.’
Lobo did not reply. He shrugged his shoulders uneasily. He kept turning in his saddle, studying his back trail and scanning the country on both sides. He saw nothing to alarm him. But he did not relax his vigilance. He was on Big R range, and knew he could not afford to take chances.
Th
e ground ahead became broken and rough, and great rocks reared up their copper coloured bulks to disturb the pleasant greenery of the rangeland. The breaks stretched eastwards as far as the eye could see.
‘Where has Page taken Ginny Ridge?’ Lobo asked the gunman.
‘You’ll have to ask him. He’s the boss.’
‘I’ll ask him all right.’ Lobo’s blue eyes hardened in expression. ‘How far now to the ranch house?’
‘Close to ten miles. If we cut through here, along a hidden trail, we’ll save a couple of hours.’
‘Ride on then, and remember that I can jerk my Colt faster than you can blink. So don’t try anything. I shoot to kill now. Don’t try and get too far ahead of me.’
An hour’s ride found them coming into gentler country again. Lobo felt relieved when they began cantering over open range. He watched ceaselessly for Big R riders, but saw no sign of life in this vast green wilderness.
Another hour’s ride found Lobo picking his way down the steep back trail that gave access to the great natural basin in which Ridge’s ornate house stood. His prisoner reached the bottom and waited for Lobo to join him. The man was affable now.
‘If I was in your boots, Johnson, I wouldn’t have come within ten miles of this place.’ The gunman pointed to the big ranch house. ‘There are close on forty guns in Page’s gang. They would welcome the chance to tear you to pieces. Some of them are pards to the men you’ve killed. Page wouldn’t have to give the order for them to kill you.’
‘I sharpen my teeth on gunhawks,’ Lobo replied shortly. ‘Get moving. And I don’t want any trouble from you when we reach the house. You’re my prisoner, and I’ll shoot you down in cold blood if you try anything.’
‘It won’t be my play at the house.’
They rode forward, and Lobo checked his guns and rifle. He allowed the gunman to draw slightly ahead. They rode at a canter for the house. Lobo noted, as they rode into the yard, that four saddled mounts stood at the rail outside the bunkhouse under the trees.
‘Ride straight up to the house,’ he ordered. He had spotted a man sitting on the porch, holding a rifle. ‘Pull over to the right and sit your horse at the end of the hitchrail. Don’t say anything, and don’t dismount. If you’re not there when I want you again I’ll come looking for you, and you know what that means.’
