The Man from Battle Flat

by Louis L'Amour

  “That was Voyle,” Mabry said grimly. “He made a rush for his horse an’ met Rolly halfway. He made a grab for his gun, an’ I guess he wasn’t as gun slick as he figured.”

  “Tolman?”

  “Roped an’ hog-tied. He’ll go south with the Rangers, an’, unless I miss my guess, he’ll talk all the way. We’ve got Turner, too.”

  “Incidentally,” Mabry added, “don’t you jump to no conclusions about Kinney an’ Scott. I ain’t had much time to talk to Scott, but we moved down to May’s like you said, an’ all three of us seen you follered to Scott’s by some of Levitt’s crowd. They had us ’way outnumbered, an’ Kinney came up and said if he butted in he might keep you from gettin’ killed.”

  “That was my idea,” Scott put in. “I thought I seen somethin’ in the shadows when I let you in, an’ I knowed I either had to get you as my prisoner or we’d both be in a trap. Chubb would kill you sure as shootin’ if he got a chance, but as my prisoner I’d have the right to interfere.”

  “So, then Levitt, Chubb, an’ Berdue are the only ones that got away?” Ross mused.

  “Uhn-huh,” Mabry agreed, and then, running his fingers through his coarse red hair, he commented: “That ain’t good! I know that sort, an’ you can take my word for it, they’ll be back.”

  Yet as the days found their way down the year and the summer faded toward autumn, there was no further sign of the three missing men. The mornings became chill, but the sun still lay bright and golden upon the long valley, and the view from the growing house upon the mesa top changed from green to green and gold shot through with streaks of russet and deep red. The aspen leaves began to change and sometimes in the early morning the countryside was white with the touch of frost.

  Rumors came occasionally to their ears. There had been a bank held up at Weaver, a stage had been looted and two men killed at Cañon Pass, and one of the three bandits had been recognized by a passenger as Emmett Chubb. Then the town marshal in Pie Town was shot down when he attempted to question a big, handsome man with a beard.

  When Sherry rode the valley or over into the Ruby Hills, Ross Haney was constantly at her side, and the Appaloosa and Flame became constant companions. Despite the fact that no reports came of any of the three men being seen nearby, Haney was worried.

  “Ross,” Sherry said suddenly, “you’ve promised to take me to the crater in the lava beds. Why not today?”

  He hesitated uneasily. “That place has me buffaloed,” he said after a while. “I never go into it myself without wishing I was safely out. The way those big rocks hang over the trail scares a man. If they ever fell while we were in there, we’d never get out, never in this world.”

  She smiled. “At least we’d be together.”

  He grinned, and shoved his hat back with a quick, familiar gesture. His eyes twinkled. “That sure would be something, but I’d not like to have you confined in that place all your life. You might get tired of me. This way you can see a few folks once in a while an’ maybe I’ll wear better.”

  “But you’ve been there so many times, Ross, and Rolly tells me it’s perfectly beautiful. I want to see the ice caves, too.”

  Below them there was a faint rumbling and stirring within the mountain and they exchanged a glance. “I’m getting used to it now,” he admitted, “but when I first heard it, that rumbling gave me the chills. When we move into the house, we’ll have those holes fenced off. They are really dangerous.”

  “I know. Ever since you took me down there and showed me that awful hole, I’ve been frightened of it. Suppose someone was trapped down there, with a foot caught, or something? It would be frightful.”

  “It would be the end,” Ross replied grimly. “When that geyser shoots up there, it brings rocks with it that weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and they rattle around in that cave like seeds in a gourd. You wouldn’t have to have a foot caught, either. All you would have to do would be to get far enough away from the mouth of that cave so you couldn’t make it in a few steps. A man wouldn’t have a chance.”

  They were riding down the mesa through the slender aspens, their graceful white trunks like slender alabaster columns. The trail was carpeted with the scarlet and gold of autumn leaves.

  “Somehow it all seems like some dreadful dream,” she said suddenly. “We’d been so happy, Bob and I. It was fun on the ranch, working with the men, building our own place, learning all the new things about the West. Bob loved handling the horses and working with cattle, and then, when we were happiest, Star Levitt came out to the ranch. You can’t imagine what a shock it was to us, for we thought all that had been left behind and forgotten. Our brother, the oldest one in the family, had gone down to Mexico and got mixed up with a girl down there, and started using dope. He’d always been Father’s favorite, and we all loved him, but Ralph was always weak and easily led. Levitt got hold of him, and used his name for a front to peddle dope in the States.

  “Father has been ill for a long time with a heart condition that became steadily worse. He had just two great prides, two things to live for. One was his family reputation and the other was his children. Principally that meant Ralph. We knew about it, but we kept it from Dad, and later, when Ralph was killed down there, we managed to keep the whole truth of the story from him. We knew the shock and the disgrace would kill him, and, if by some chance he lived, he would feel the shame and the disgrace so much that his last years would be nothing but sorrow.

  “Star told us that he needed our ranch. It was the proper working base for him, not too far from Mexico, yet in easy reach of a number of cities. He said he wanted to use the ranch for a headquarters for two months, and then he would leave. If we did not consent, he threatened to expose the whole disgraceful affair and see that my father heard it all. We were foolish, of course, but it is so hard to know what to do. And Levitt didn’t give us time. He just started moving in. The next thing we knew he had his own men on the ranch and we were almost helpless. Reynolds and Pogue were outlaws or as bad, and we could not turn to them. There was nobody, until you came.”

  Ross nodded grimly. “Don’t I know it? When I started digging into the background of this country, I found less good people here than anywhere I ever knew. And the best folks were all little people.”

  “It was after he had been here a few weeks,” Sherry continued, “that he decided to stay. He was shrewd enough to know he couldn’t keep on like that forever, and here was a good chance to have power, wealth, and an honest income. He saw the fighting between the Box N and RR was his chance.”

  The two rode on in silence, their horses’ hoofs making little sound on the leaf-covered trail. Suddenly, before Ross realized how they were riding, they were at the entrance to the lava bed trail.

  Sherry laughed mischievously. “All right, now. As long as we’re here, why don’t we go in? We can be back before dark, you told me so yourself.”

  He shrugged. “All right, have it your own way.”

  XVIII

  Very reluctantly the Appaloosa turned into the narrow trail between the great black rolls of lava. Once started, there was no turning back, for until a rider was well within the great cleft itself, there was insufficient room for any turning of the horses.

  When they reached the deepest part of the crevasse, where in some bygone age an earthquake or volcanic eruption had split the rim of the crater deep into the bedrock, Ross pointed out the great crags suspended over the trail.

  “This place will be inaccessible someday,” he told her. “There will be an earthquake or some kind of a jar, and those rocks will fill the cleft, so there will be no trail or place for one. From the look of them, a man might get them started with a bar or lever of some kind. I never ride in here without getting the creeps at the thought. They are just lying up there, and all they need is the slightest start, and they would come roaring and tumbling down.”

  Tilting her head back, Sherry could see what he meant, and for the first time she understood something of the fear that Ro
ss had of this place. One enormous slab that must have weighed hundreds of tons seemed to be hanging, ready to slide at the slightest touch. It was an awesome feeling to be riding down here, with no sound but the click of their horses’ hoofs, and to have those enormous rocks poised above them.

  Yet once within the crater itself, she forgot her momentary fears in excitement over the long level of green grass, the running water, and the towering cliffs of the crater that seemed to soar endlessly toward the vast blue vault of the sky. Great clouds piled up in an enormous mass in the east and north, seeming to add their great height to the height of the cliffs.

  It was warm and pleasant in the sunlight, and they rode along without talking, listening to the lazy sound of the running water, and watching the movements of the few remaining great red and brindle cattle that were becoming more tame due to the frequency of visits.

  Haney said: “There must have been more than six hundred down here, and probably would have been more, but there are a good many varmints around. I’ve seen cougars down here, an’ heard ’em.”

  “Where are the ice caves?” Sherry demanded. “I want to see them. Rolly was telling me about the crystals.”

  For two hours they rambled on foot over the great crater and in and out of the caves. They found several where cattle and horses had been drinking, and whatever cattle they found, they started back toward the trail. Then suddenly, as they were about to leave, Sherry caught Haney’s arm. “Ross!” There was sudden fear in her voice. “Look!”

  It was a boot track, small and quite deep. Her breath caught. “It might be . . . Rolly!” Her voice was tight, her fear mounting.

  “No, it wasn’t Rolly.” Mentally he cursed himself for ever bringing her here. “That foot is smaller than either Mabry’s or Burt’s, an’ a heavy man made it. Let’s get out of here.”

  When they were outside, he could see the pallor of her face in the last of the sunlight. He glanced at the sky, surprised at the sudden shadows although it was drawing on toward evening. Great gray thunderclouds loomed over the crater, piling up in great, bulging, ominous clouds. It was going to rain, and rain hard.

  Leading the way, he started for the horses, every sense alert and wary, yet he saw no one. His movements started the cattle drifting again, and, as they reached the horses, he told her, glancing at the sky: “You go ahead. I think I’ll start the rest of the cattle out of here while I’m at it.”

  “You can’t do it alone,” she protested.

  “I’ll try. You head for home now. You’ll get soaked.”

  “Nonsense! I have my slicker, and . . .” Her voice faded and her eyes fastened on something beyond Ross’s shoulder, widening with fear and horror.

  He knew instantly what it was she saw, and for a fleeting moment he considered making his draw as he turned, but realized the girl was directly in the line of fire.

  “And so, after so long a time, we meet again!” The voice was that of Star Levitt. But there was a strange tone in it now, less of self-assurance and something that sounded weirdly like madness, or something akin to it.

  Carefully Ross Haney turned and met the eyes that told him the worst. All the neatness and glamour of the man was gone. The white hat was soiled, his shirt was dirty, his face unshaven. His eyes were still the large, magnificent eyes, but now the light of insanity was in them. Haney realized the line between sanity and something less had always been finely drawn in this man. Defeat and frustration had been all that was needed to break that shadow line.

  “Oh, this is great!” Levitt chortled. “Today we make a clean sweep! I get you, and later, Sherry! And while I am doing that, Chubb and Berdue will finish off Mabry and Burt. They are up on the mesa now, waiting for them!”

  “On the mesa?” Haney shrugged. “They’ll never surprise the boys there. Whenever one of us has not been on the mesa all day, we are very careful. We’ve been watching for you, Levitt.”

  Star smiled. “Oh, have you? But we found our own hiding place. We found a cave there, an ideal spot, and that’s where they’ll wait until they can catch Mabry and Burt without warning them.”

  “A cave?” Ross repeated. Horror welled up within him and he felt the hackles rising along his neck and his scalp prickled at the thought. “A cave? You mean you’ve been in that cave on the mesa?”

  Levitt smiled. “Only to look, enough to know that it was an ideal hiding place. At first, I planned to stay, too, but then, when I saw you two leaving the mesa and heading for the lava beds, I decided this was a better chance. Besides”—he glanced at Sherry—“I want her for a while . . . alone. She needs to be taught a lesson.”

  Ross Haney stared at him. “Levitt, you’re mad. That cave where those men are hiding is a deathtrap. If they aren’t within a few feet of the opening, they won’t have a chance to get out of there alive. Did you see that black hole in the center? That’s a geyser. Those men will be trapped and drowned.”

  Levitt’s smile vanished. “That’s a lie, of course. If it isn’t, it won’t matter. I was through with them, anyway. And Mabry and Burt are small fry. It is you two that I wanted.”

  Ross Haney had shifted his position slightly now and he was facing Levitt. His heart was pounding, for he knew there was only one chance for them. He must draw, and he must take a chance on beating Levitt to the shot. He would be hit, he was almost sure, but regardless of that he must kill Star Levitt.

  Wes Hardin had beaten men to the shot several times when actually covered with a gun. There were others who had done it, but he was no fool, and knew how tremendously the odds weighed against him. Thunder rumbled and a few spatters of rain fell.

  “Better get your slicker, Sherry,” he said calmly. “You’ll get wet.”

  His eyes were riveted upon Star Levitt, but what he waited for happened. As the girl started to move, Levitt’s eyes flickered for a fraction of an instant, and Ross Haney went for his gun.

  Levitt’s gun flamed, but he swung his eyes back and shot too fast, for the bullet ripped by Haney’s head just as Ross flipped the hammer of his gun.

  Once! Twice! And then he walked in on the bigger man, his heart pounding, Levitt’s gun flaming in his face, intent only upon getting in as many shots as possible before he was killed.

  A bullet creased his arm and his hand dropped. Awkwardly he fired with his left-hand gun, and knew the shot had missed, yet Star Levitt, his shirt dark with blood, was wilting before his eyes, his body fairly riddled with the bullets from Haney’s first, accurate shots.

  Ross held his gun carefully, then fired again, and the shot ripped away the bridge of Star’s nose, smashing a blue hole in his head at the corner of his eye.

  Yet Star wouldn’t go down. The guns wavered in his hands, then as his knees slowly gave away, some reflex action brought the guns up. Both of them bellowed their defiance into the pouring rain, their flames stabbing, then winking out. As the echoes of the gunfire died, there was only the rain, pouring down into the crater like a great deluge.

  Sherry rushed to him. “Oh, Ross! You’re hurt! Did he hit you?”

  He turned dazedly. He didn’t feel hurt. “Get into that slicker!” he yelled above the roar of the rain. “We’ve got to pull out of here! Think of those rocks in this rain, and the lightning! Let’s go!”

  Fighting his way into his slicker, he saw the girl mount, and then he crawled into the saddle. The cattle moved when he started his horse toward them. Suddenly he made a resolution. He was taking them out—now.

  Surprisingly the big steer that took the lead seemed to head into the cleft of his own choice, or possibly because it seemed to offer partial shelter from the sweep of the rain, or perhaps because he had seen so many of his fellows go that way in the weeks past.

  Waving the girl ahead of him, Ross followed on into the cleft, casting scared glances aloft at the huge rocks. “Get on!” he yelled. “Get going!”

  He glanced up again as they neared the narrowest part. He grabbed a stone and hurled it at a loitering steer, and the anim
al sprang ahead.

  Sherry cast a frightened look upward and her eyes widened with horror. Her face went stark white as though she had been struck.

  A thin trickle of stones fell, splashing into the cleft. A steer ahead stopped and bawled complainingly, and Ross grabbed a chunk of rock from the bank and hurled it, and the steer, hit hard, struggled madly to get ahead.

  Sherry moved suddenly, closing up the gap between her horse and the nearest cattle, harrying them onward with stones and shouts. Ross looked up again, and, caught as in a trance, he saw the great slab stir ponderously, almost majestically. Its table-like top inclined, and then slowly, but with gathering impetus, it began to slide!

  Shale and gravel rattled down the banks, and Ross touched spurs to his horse. The startled Appaloosa sprang ahead, forcing Flame into the steers, that began to trot, and then, as the two horses crowded up into the folds of lava but out of the cleft in the crater wall, the air behind them was suddenly filled with a tremendous sound, a great, reverberating roar that seemed to last forever.

  The rain forgotten, they sat, riveted in place, listening to the sound that was closing the crater forever, and leaving the body of Star Levitt as the only thing that would ever tell of human movement or habitation.

  Yet as they remembered what Star Levitt had said about Berdue and Emmett Chubb, they unconsciously moved faster, and once out of the lava beds they left the cattle to shift for themselves and turned toward the mesa trail.

  There was no let-up to the rain. It roared down in an increasing flood. They bowed their heads and hunched their slickers around them. The red of Flame’s coat turned black with wet. Under his slicker, Ross rode with one hand on his gun, hoping for no trouble, but searching every clump of brush, every tree.

  Rolly Burt ran from the cabin and grabbed their horses when they swung down. “Hustle inside an’ get dry!” he yelled. “We’ve been worried as all get-out!”

  When they got inside and had their slickers off, Mabry looked up, rolling a smoke. “Burt thought he saw Chubb today. We were worried about you.”