Buckskin Run (Ss) (1981)

by L'amour, Louis

  Lying there through the long day he tried to find a n answer for the Block C's enmity for him; so much hatre d could not stem from his original fight with Carr, nor eve n the shooting of Reuben Hart, which had been forced o n him.

  Behind it there had to be a reason, and he had a hunc h the trouble stemmed from the man he had never seen --Henry Childs himself.

  Hour after hour, as he lay in bed, he tried to fin d answers to the problem of the gold and the wagons.

  Three men had died and been buried, three wagons ha d vanished along with much gold and gear. It was not until the last day he was in bed that the idea came to him, a n idea so fantastic that at first he could not believe it coul d be possible; yet the more he considered it, the more i t 'seemed the only possible solution.

  He was recovering rapidly, and when he could sit outside in the sun, even walk a little by favoring his bad leg , he could see many evidences of Jed Blue's work. Certainl y the big man did not intend just to come along for the ride.

  A comfortable bench had been built, encircling a larg e tree close to the house, a shady, comfortable place i n which to sit. A new workbench stood near the log barn , and a parapet of stones had been built, fastened with som e home-made mortar. This parapet faced the canyon entrance , and had loopholes for firing. It had been built, however , so it could not be used by anyone attacking the house, fo r a rifleman from the house could command both sides of it , because of the angle at which it was built.

  A water-barrel had been moved into the house and kep t full. Several steers had been slaughtered, and the mea t jerked. It was hung u ? inside the house. Every precautio n had been taken for a full-scale siege, if it came to that.

  On a shelf near the door were several boxes of pisto l and rifle ammunition. Obviously, Blue had been to town , so he must know what had become of Lorna.

  On the fourth day on which Rod could be outside h e saddled the gray and, getting a steel hook from the odd s and ends on the workbench in the blacksmith shop, h e took an extra length of rope and rode u ? the canyo n toward the basin. Blue had left early and Rod had' talke d with him but a few minutes. He supposed the other ma n had ridden to town, but Jed had said nothing about hi s destination.

  Rod was quite sure he knew now what had become o f the vanished' wagons. Come what may, in the next fe w hours he would know for sure.

  He understood something else. Both Weisl and Tolber t had been killed in the canyon, and both apparently afte r arriving at a solution or coming close to it. He would hav e to be very, very careful!

  Rod Morgan's sudden appearance at Em Shipton's ha d startled and upset Lorna. Try as she might, she could no t get his face from her mind, nor the hurt expression on hi s face when Mark told him she was to marry him, Mar k Brewer.

  She had been standing in the boarding house when sh e heard the shots, and she had rushed to the door, panic -stricken that Bod might have been killed or hurt. Mar k Brewer caught her arm and stopped her.

  "Better not go out! You might be killed! It is always th e innocent ones who are hurt, and it is probably just Ro d Morgan killing somebody else."

  He had drawn her to him and kissed her lightly befor e turning to the door. She learned two things in that instant.

  She did not like to be kissed by Mark Brewer, and he ha d lied. He was carrying a gun. He was carrying it in a shoulder holster, for it pressed against her when she wa s in his arms.

  She knew all about shoulder holsters because her uncl e had been a plainclothes detective at a time when the y were first beginning to be used in the East. She had no t seen one since coming west.

  Why had he lied' Was he afraid of Rod ? Or did h e merely wish to avoid trouble'? Yet the lie worried her.

  There seemed to be something underhanded about tha t gun, for she had heard several times that Mark Brewe r never wore a gun. Apparently no one believed he wore a gun, yet certainly he did.

  The thought rankled as the days went by. She hear d that Rod had killed Dally Hart and Jed Blue had kille d Bob Carr. It was not until the third day that she hear d that Rod Morgan had been seriously wounded and tha t Jed Blue had carried him out of town.

  He might be dead! Horrified, she for the 6rst tim e considered her own situation. She knew none of thes e people. Rod she had known for a long time. He ha d always been a gentleman and a fine man. Could he chang e so quickly? Or was something else happening here o f which she knew nothing'?

  Coming downstairs from her room at Em Shipton's, sh e heard Rod's name mentioned in the dining room an d stopped on the steps.

  The voice was that of Jeff Cordell, whom she knew a s one of the four men who had faced Rod that day besid e the stage.

  "Got to hand it to him," Cordell was saying. "Morga n has plenty of nerve, and I've never seen a faster hand wit h a gun. Why, that day on the trail he could have got m e sure as shootin' if I'd moved a hand. I "d lay odds he'd hav e gotten three or maybe all of us."

  "Speaking of fast hands," said another voice, "what abou t that Jed Blue?"

  "He's good, all right. Bob Carr never knew what hi t him. You know, that Blue puzzles me. Where did h e come from? Why did he tie in with Morgan? He claims h e was in here with Kit Carson, but I know the name o f every one who ever rode with Kit, and none of them wa s named Blue."

  Somebody laughed. "You always use the same name , Jeff. I doubt if Childs has a single rider who uses his rea l name. Hell, we've all had our ups and downs."

  "What will come of it, Jeff?" asked the other voice.

  "Morgan will be killed. You can't beat Childs. If h e doesn't want a man in the country, he doesn't stay. Je d Blue will get it, too."

  "Why? What s his idea?

  "Don't try. Don't even think about it. You're getting twice a regular cowhand's wages, so just do what you're told and keep your trap shut. Childs knows why, an d Brewer knows. Personally, I think the two of them ar e land-hungry. This is good country, and they want to control it. Can't blame 'em for that."

  Aloma had gone on to her room, and after she undresse d and got into bed she could not sleep. What she had over -heard disturbed her. There was a plot against Rod Morgan , just as Bod had implied. Childs did want him killed.

  Why, Henry Childs was the wealthiest rancher any -where around! Why would he be involved in such things?

  Mark Brewer and Em Shipton both spoke so highly o f him, but on the other hand, who was it who gave her th e first doubts about Rod ? It had been Em Shipton and Mar g Brewer.

  Lorna Day decided she must talk to Jed Blue. Sh e recalled that he had defended Rod that day on the stage.

  Had he known him then? No... he had not. She remembered his comments at the time she recognized Rod.

  It was the next day she saw Henry Childs for the firs t time.

  She was talking to Jeff Cordell, for after overhearing th e conversation in the dining room she had decided she mus t cultivate him and learn what he knew.

  "Did you ever kill a man, Jeff ?"

  He looked at her quickly. "Why, I reckon I have, ma'am.

  I suppose there are a good many of us who have killed a man or two, not that we want to or are looking for it.

  These are rough times, ma'am, and a man can't alway s look to the law to defend him. He has to do it himself. Ou t here the law expects a man to do just that."

  "How about that day on the trail when Rod Morga n killed Reuben Hart'"

  Jeff gave her a sharp look. He knew enough of the gossip to know Lorna . Had come west to marry Morgan. He also knew that now Mark Brewer was riding herd on th e girl. He had his own opinion of Brewer, and it was no t flattering. Jeff Cordell had rustled a few head here an d there, and occasionally stood a stage on its ear for drinkin g money, but he had a wholesome respect for a decen t woman.

  "Ma'am, there's some would have my hide for sayin g this, but you asked an honest question, and you'll get a n honest answer. If Rod Morgan had been a mite slower t o shoot that day, he would have been killed. Reuben Har t was sent out there to kill him."<
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  "Sent? By whom?"

  Jeff Cordell had talked all he planned to. He was turning to leave when the door opened and a big man wit h white hair came into the room. He glanced at Jeff an d then at her.

  Somebody has been doin' Childs' killin' for him, and I k now he wants Shipton dead, so who does he send for?

  Mark Brewer!"

  "Oh, no! You must be mistaken!" Even as she said it sh e remembered the gun. "Mr. Blue, I do know this, when h e told Rod that he didn't carry a gun, he lied. He wears on e in a shoulder holster."

  Blue was pleased. "Now, then, ma'am, that's the bes t news you've given me so far. That little item might sav e my life or Rod's."

  "Why should Mr. Childs want Josh Shipton killed ?"

  Jed Blue hesitated. "There's the question behind thi s whole affair. Only two men know what happened in Buckskin Run when that gold vanished. One of them wa s Henry Childs; the other one is Josh Shipton."

  He smiled widely. "Trouble is, for them at least, that a third one has figured it out, and I'm the third.

  "Ma'am, you go back and tell them you met a man o n the road, and don't describe me, who told you to tell the m that Tarran Kop ? is back.

  She was seated in the small sitting room at the boardin g house when Mark Brewer came in. Before she could spea k he went on u ? to his room, and when he returned he wa s dressed for the trail. He walked over and sat down besid e her.

  "I hear you met Henry Childs. Quite a fellow, isn't he?"

  "He's big," she admitted, "and a fine-looking man."

  Then, giving her face a puzzled expression, she asked , "Mark, who is Tarran Kopp?"

  If she had expected a reaction she was not disappointed.

  He started as if stung, grabbing her wrist in a grip tha t hurt. -Who' Where did you hear that name?"

  "Please don't! You're hurting me!" She rubbed her wris t as he released it. "Why, it was nothing at all!" She spok e carelessly. "I get so restless here, so I took a walk over b y that old mill, it is so quiet and peaceful there, and I met a man. He was very polite.

  "Actually, he was just watering his horse there at th e millpond, and he asked me if I wasn't living at Em Shipton's.

  I told him I was, and he asked me to tell Henry Child s that Tarran Kop ? was back."

  Mark Brewer got to his feet. "He said Kop ? was back?

  What did he look like?"

  "Oh, he was just a man. As tall as you, 1 think, bu t spare. He was riding a black horse." The horse Jed Blu e had been riding was a blue roan.

  'This changes everything," Brewer muttered, talkin g more to himself than her.

  "Who is Tarran Kopp? What is he?"

  "Oh, he was just an outlaw who was active out her e fifteen or twenty years ago. It's believed he was the on e who robbed those wagons you've heard about."

  He 'turned toward the door. "Look, if Childs comes in, tell him what you just told me, will you? An d tell him I need to see him."

  Before noon, Rod Morgan reached the basin. After lyin g among the rocks for about twenty minutes while studyin g the terrain to be sure he was unobserved, he went dow n to the edge of the pool and, putting his rifle down besid e him, he began to cast with the heavy iron hook. He woul d cast the hook as far out as possible, let it sink to th e bottom, and slowly drag it back to him.

  He worked steadily, tirelessly, taking occasional breaks to study the country around. He was well into his thir d hour, without finding anything but broken branches o r moss, when the hook snagged on something. Twice it sli d off before it held, and then hand over hand he drew in hi s catch.

  A wagon tire!

  An iron wagon tire, showing evidence of having bee n subjected to heat. So then, they must have burned th e wagons, thrown the metal parts into the pool, and... w hat about the gold ?

  He was. squatting beside the wagon tire when he hear d the sharp, ugly bark of a rifle.

  He hit the ground in a dive from his squat, grabbed hi s rifle, and rolled over behind a rock. He was lying, waitin g for another shot, when he realized the hu1let had com e nowhere near him.

  Starting to lift his head he heard two more shots, quick , sharp, fired only a breath apart.

  Stones rattled, a larger one plopped into the basin, an d then Bod caught a fleeting glimpse of a man's body falling.

  There was a terrific splash, and the body sank from sight.

  Peering up, he saw a shadowy outline, a man's figure, atop the cliff; peering down. Then the shadow disappeare d and, jerking off his boots and gunbelt, Morgan went int o the water. Its icy chill wrenched a gas ? from his throat , and then he saw the body, only it was not merely a bod y hut a man, still struggling to live.

  Diving low, he slipped an arm around the man's bod y and struck out for the surface. It was a struggle to get hi m to the surface and out upon the shore, and the man wa s bleeding badly.

  It was Josh Shipton, and one look at the wound in hi s side and Rod knew there was no chance.

  Shipton's lids fluttered . "B -- Brew -- Brewer dry-gul -- dry-g ulched me. ' He waved a feeble arm. "Childs -- gold --Childs." He seemed to be trying to point toward th e graves; or was it only one grave?

  Brewer had killed him, but what had he been trying t o say? At what had he pointed'? Or was it only a wild gestur e from a dying man ?

  Horse's hoofs pounded on the sod, a racing horse. Ro d wheeled, rifle ready. It was Jed Blue.

  "You all right? I heard shots." Then he saw Shipton.

  Aha So Brewer got him."

  "How did you know that?"

  Blue explained what Lorna had told him, and what sh e overheard. He also added the bit about Mark Brewer's shoulder holster.

  "What made Childs so afraid of Shipton?"

  "They were afraid of what he knew. Shipton knew al l three of the men buried there, and if he saw Henry Child s he would smell a rat, and rat is right."

  "What do you mean?"

  Shipton was trying to point at one of the graves. Th e grave of Harry Kidd."

  "Kidd? Childs? Are you telling me Kidd didn't die ?

  That there's nobody in that grave ?"

  "Kidd murdered the other two, cached the gold, marke d the graves so people would grow superstitious about them , then left the country. Coming back later, he started a ranch and helped spread the stories about the ghosts o f Buckskin Run."

  "Smart," Rod admitted.

  "Except for one thing. He accused the wrong man o f the murders. He spread the story around that the thre e had been killed and the gold stolen by Tarran Kopp.

  "Kop? killed a few men here and there, but all in fair fights. He never murdered a man in his life, and that stor y made him mad. 1 know, because I am Tarran Kopp."

  From far down the canyon they heard a thunder o f racing hoofs, a wild cry, and then a shot. Both me n turned, rifles lifting.

  A small black horse was coming toward them on a dea d run, and they could see a girl's long hair streaming in th e wind. Behind her, still some distance away, a tight grou p of racing horsemen.

  It s Lorna!" Rod said. "And the Block C riders!"

  Dropping to one knee, he opened u ? with his Winchester. A rider threw u ? his arms and dropped from his horse, and the group split, scattering out across the smal l plain.

  The black horse swung in toward their position and wa s reined in. Lorna slid from the horse's back into Rod's arms. The black horse wheeled and raced off a few yards , tossing its head with excitement.

  "Never figured on making a stand here," Rod said.

  "Jed? Have you got enough ammunition'"

  "Plenty. How about you?"

  -The same... there s one behind that spruce!

  He fired as he spoke and the man cried out, staggerin g into the open where a bullet from Jed put him down.

  Bullets spattered on the rocks around them, but thei r position in the small basin around the pool was excellent.

  A man could stand erect alongside the pool and still b e under cover. A ring of boulders almost surrounded th e p
ool, and a stream of them fanned out downslope fro m them where the attackers were.

  Rod turned to Lorna. "Can you fire a rifle?"

  "Just give me a chance! My father taught me to shoo t when I was a little girl. Only, I -- I never shot a man."

  "You won't get much chance here. Those boys are prett y well snuckered down now, and they aren't about to ge t themselves killed. Just fire a shot in that general directio n once in awhile.

  "Jed, I'm going to circle around and try to get whoeve r is leading this bunch. My guess is it will be Brewer."

  "Or Childs. Don't forget him."

  Rod slid back to lower ground, wormed his way throug h some brush, and descended into a small wash. All of thi s was on land he claimed, and over which he had ridde n many times. He knew every inch of it.

  There had been no more than eight or ten men in th e original group, and at least two were out of action. Unles s he was mistaken, the Block C boys had enough. Thei r loyalty was largely money loyalty, and nobody wants to di e for a dollar, at least nobody in his right mind.

  He moved swiftly and silently along the sandy bottom , his boots making no sound in the soft sand. He wa s rounding a boulder when he heard a voice. It was Mar k Brewer.

  "Think we've got 'em, Henry's"

  "Got 'em' Oh, sure! We'll finish them off, send the boy s home, and dig u ? that gold. It's high time we dug it up.

  Something always kept me from going after it before.

  Price on gold has gone up, so we'll have more money , Mark."

  You mean," Brewer's voice was so low Rod could scarcel y hear', "I'll have more!"

  Through an opening in the rocks, Rod could see the m now. He saw the surprise and shock on Childs's face tur n to horror as Brewer drew a gun on him.

  "Very simple, Henry. I've been waiting for this chance.

  I'll have it all for myself, and everybody will blame Morgan and Kop ? for killing you."

  Childs's hand went to his holster, but it was empty.