Riders Of the Dawn (1980) (3 page)

"I'll see him in hell first!" Maclaren replied flatly. "Youn g man, you stop using my daughter's name, or you'll face me."

"No one," I said quietly, "has more respect for you r daughter's name than I. It's true that I've said she was to b e my wife. That is not disrespectful, and it's certainly true. A s for facing you, I'd rather not. I'd like to keep peace with m y future father-in-law."

Canaval chuckled, and even Olga seemed amused. Ke y Chapin looked up at Rud. "One aspect of this may hav e escaped you. Sabre is now a partner of Ball. Why not make i t easy for Sabre to stay on and then buy him out?"

Maclaren's head lifted as he absorbed the idea. He looke d at Sabre with new interest. "We might do business, youn g man.

"We might," I replied, "but not under threats. Nor do I i ntend to sell out my partner. Nor did I take the partnershi p with any idea of selling out. Tomorrow or the next day I shal l choose a building site. Also, I expect to restock the Two Ba r range.

"All of which brings me to the point of this discussion. I t has come to my attention that the Bar M cattle are trespassing on Two Bar range. You have just one week to remov e them. The same goes for the CP. You've been told and yo u understand. I hope we'll have no further trouble."

Maclaren's face purpled with fury. Before he could fin d words to reply, I was on my feet. "It's been nice seeing you,"

I told Olga. "If you care to help plan your future home, wh y don't you ride over?"

With that I stepped out the door before Maclaren coul d speak. Circling the building, I headed for my horse.

Pinder's black-haired man was standing there with a gu n in his hand. Hatred glared from his eyes. "Figured yo u pulled a smart one, hey?" he sneered. "Now I'll kill you!"

His finger started to whiten with pressure, and I hurle d myself aside and palmed my gun. Even before I could think , my gun jarred in my hand. Once! Twice!

Blacky's bullet had torn my shirt collar and left a trace o f blood on my neck. Blacky stared at me and then lifted to hi s toes and fell, measuring his length upon the hard ground.

Men rushed from the buildings, crowding around. "See n it!" one man explained quietly. "Blacky laid for him with a drawed gun."

Canaval was among the men. He looked at me with cool , attentive gaze. "A drawn gun? That was fast, man."

Ball was at the gate when I arrived. -Trouble?" he aske d quickly.

My account was brief.

"Well, one less for later," said Ball. "If it had to b e anybody it's better it was Blacky, but now the Pinders will b e after you."

"Where does Morgan Park stand?" I asked. "And wha t about Key Chapin?"

"Park?" Ball said. "He's fixin' to marry the Maclaren girl.

That's where his bread's buttered. He's got him a ranch o n the Arizona line, but he don't stay there much. Chapi n publishes the Rider's Voice, a better newspaper than you'
d expect in this country. He's also a lawyer, plays a good han d of poker, an' never carries a gun. If anybody isn't takin'
s ides, it's him."

Mostly I considered the cattle situation. Our calves ha d been rustled by the large outfits, and if we were to prospe r we must get rid of the stock we now had and get some youn g stuff. Our cattle would never be in better shape and woul d get older and tougher. Now was the time to sell. A drive wa s impossible, for two of us couldn't be away at once, an d nobody wanted any part of a job with the Two Bar. Ball wa s frankly discouraged. "No use, Matt. They got us bottled up.

We're through whenever they want to take us.-

An idea occurred to me. "Bv the way, when I was driftin g down around Organ Rock the other day, I spotted an outfi t down there in the hills. Know 'em?"

Ball's head came up sharply. "Should have warned you.

Stay away. That's the . Benaras place, the B Bar B brand.

There's six in the family that I know of, an' they have n o truck with anybody. Dead shots, all of 'em. Few years bac k some rustlers run off some of their stock. Nobody heard n o more about it until Sheriff Will Tharp was back in the badlands east of here. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of man no r beast for miles when suddenly he comes on six skeleton s hanging from a rock tower.-

"Skeletons?"

Ball took the pipe from his mouth and spat. "Six of 'em, an' a sign hung to 'em readin. 'They rustled B Bar B cows.'

Nothin' more."

But quite enough! The Benaras outfit had been let strictl y alone after that. Nevertheless, an idea was in fully mind, an d the very next morning I saddled up and drifted south.

It was wild and lonely country, furrowed and eroded b y thousands of years of sun, wind, and rain, a country tumble d and broken as if by an insane giant. There were miles of raw , unfleshed land with only occasional spots of green to break it s everlasting reds, pinks, and whites. Like an oasis, ther e appeared a sudden cluster of trees, green fields, and fat , drifting cattle. "Whoever these folks are, Buck," I commente d to my horse, "they work hard."

The click of a drawn-back hammer froze Buck in hi s tracks, and carefully I kept my hands on the saddle horn.

"coin' somewhere, stranger?" Nobody was in sight amon g the boulders at the edge of the field.

"Yes. I'm looking for the boss of the B Bar B.-

"What might you want with him?"

"Business talk. I'm friendly."

The chuckle was dry. "Ever see a man covered by tw o Spencers that wasn't friendly?"

The next was a girl's voice. "Who you ridin' for?"

"I'm Matt Sabre, half owner of the Two Bar, Ball's outfit."

"You mean that old coot took a partner? You could b e lyin'."

'Do I see the boss?"

"I reckon.- A tall boy of eighteen stepped from th e rocks. Lean and drawn, his hatchet face looked tough an d wise. He carried his Spencer as if it was part of him. H
e motioned with his head.

The old man of the tribe was standing in front of a hous e built like a fort. Tall as his son, he was straight as a lodgepol e pine. He looked me up and down and then said. "Get down a n' set."

A stout, motherly woman put out some cups and poure d coffee. Explaining who I was, I said, "We've some fat stoc k about ready to drive. I'd like to make a swap for some of you r young stuff. We can't make a drive, don't dare even leave th e place or they'd steal it from us. Our stock is in good shape , but all our young stuff has been rustled."

"You're talkin'." He studied me from under shaggy brows.

He looked like a patriarch right out of the Bible, a hard-b itten old man of the tribe who knew his own mind and ho w to make it stick. He listened as I explained our setup and ou r plans. Finally, he nodded. "All right, Sabre. We'll swap. M
y boys will help you drive 'em back here."

"No need for that. Once started down the canyons I'l l need no help. No use you getting involved in this fight.-

He turned his fierce blue eyes on me. I'm buyin' cows,"
h e said grimly. "Anybody who wants trouble over that, le t 'em start it!"

"Now, Paw!" Mother Benaras smiled at me. "Paw figure s he's still a-feudin'."

Old Bob Benaras knocked out his pipe on the hearth.

"We're beholden to no man, nor will we backwater for an y man. Nick, roust out an' get Zeb, then saddle up an' rid e with this man. You ride to this man's orders. Start no trouble , but back up for nobody. Understand?"

He looked around at me. "You'll eat first. Maw, set u p the table. We've a guest in the house." He looked searchingly at me. "Had any trouble with Jim Pinder yet?"

It made a short tale; then I added, "Blacky braced me i n town a few days ago. Laid for me with a drawn gun."

Benaras stared at me, and the boys exchanged looks. Th e old man tamped tobacco into his pipe. "He had it comin'.

Jolly had trouble with that one. Figured soon or late he'
d have to kill him. Glad you done it."

All the way back to the Two Bar we watched the countr y warily, but it was not until we were coming up to the gat e that anyone was sighted. Two riders were on the lip of th e wash, staring at us through a glass. We passed through th e gate and started up the trail. There was no challenge. Nic k said suddenly, "I smell smoke!"

Fear went through me like an electric shock. Slappin g the spurs to my tired buckskin, I put the horse up the trail a t a dead run, Nick and Zeb right behind me. Turning the ben d in the steep trail, I heard the crackle of flames and saw th e ruins of the house!

All was in ruins, the barn gone, the house a sagging , blazing heap. Leaving my horse on the run I dashed aroun d the house. "Ball!" I yelled. "Ball!" And above the crackle o f flames, I heard a cry.

He was back in a niche of rock near the spring. How h e had lived this long I could not guess. His clothes wer e charred and it was obvious he had somehow crawled, wounded , from the burning house. He had been fairly riddled wit h bullets.

His fierce old eyes were pleading. "Don't let 'em ge t .
. . get the place. Yours . . . it's yours now." His eyes went to Nick and Zeb. "You're witnesses . . . I leave it to him.

Never to sell . . . never to give up!"

"Who was it?" For the first time in my life I reall y wanted to kill. Although I had known this old man for only a few days I had come to feel affection for him and respect.

Now he was dying, shot down and left for dead in a blazin g house.

"Pinder!" His voice was hoarse. "Jim an' Rollie. Rollie , he . . . he was dressed like you. Never had no chance.

Fun-funny thing. I ... I thought I saw . . . Park."

"Morgan Park?" I was incredulous. "With the Pinders?"

His lips stirred, but he died forming the words. When I g ot up, there was in me such hatred as I had never believe d was possible. "Everyone of them!" I said. "I'll kill every ma n of them for this!"

"Amen!" Zeb and Nick spoke as one. "He was a good ol d man. Pappy liked him."

"Did you hear him say Morgan Park was with th e Pinders?"

"Sounded like it," Zeb admitted, "but it ain't reasonable.

He's thick with the Maclarens. Couldn't have been him."

Zeb was probably right. The light had been bad, an d Ball had been wounded. He could have made a mistake.

The stars came out, and night moved in over the hill s and gathered black and rich in the canyons. Standing there i n the darkness, we could smell the smoke from the burne d house and see occasional sparks and flickers of tiny flame s among the charred timbers. A ranch had been given me, bu t I had lost a friend. The road before me stretched dark an d long, a road I must walk alone, gun in hand.

Chapter
3

For two days we combed the draws and gathered cattle, ye t at the end of the second day we had but three hundred head.

The herds of the Two Bar had been sadly depleted by th e rustling of the big brands. On the morning of the third da y we started the herd. Neither of the men had questioned me , but now Zeb wanted to know, "You aim to leave the ranc h unguarded? Ain't you afraid they'll move in?"

"If they do they can move out or be buried here. Tha t ranch was never to be given up, and believe me, it won't be!"

The canyon channeled the drive, and the cattle were fa t and easy to handle. It took us all day to make the drive, bu t my side pained me almost none at all, and only that gnawin g fury at the killers of the old man remained to disturb me.

They had left the wounded man to burn, and for that the y would pay.

Jonathan and Jolly Benaras helped me take the herd o f young stuff back up the trail. Benaras had given me at leas t fifty head more than I had asked, but the cattle I had turne d over to him were as good as money in the bank, so he los t nothing by his generosity.

When we told him what had happened, he nodded.

"Jolly was over to Hattan's. It was the Pinders, all right. That Apache tracker of theirs along with Bunt Wilson and Corb y Kitchen an three others. They were with the Pinders."

"Hear anything about Morgan Park?"

"No. Some say Lyell, that rider of Park's, was in th e crowd."

That could have been it. Ball might have meant to tel l me it was a rider of Park's. We pushed the young stuff har d to get back, but Jonathan rode across the drag before w e arrived. "Folks at your place. Two, three of 'em.

My face set cold as stone. "Bring the herd. I'll rid e ahead.-

Jonathan's big Adam's apple bobbed. "Jolly an' me, w e ain't had much fun lately. Can't we ride with you?"

An idea hit me. "Where's their camp?"

"Foot of the hill where the house was. They got a tent."

"Then we'll take the herd. Drive 'em right over th e tent!"

Jolly had come back to the drag. He chuckled. "Why , surer' He grinned at Jonathan. "Won't Nick an' Zeb be sore?

Missin' all the fun?"

We started the herd. They were young stuff and still ful l of ginger, ready enough to run. They came out of the canyo n not more than four hundred yards from the camp and abov e the gate. Then we really turned them loose, shooting an d shouting; we started that herd on a dead run for the camp.