Collection 1986 - The Trail To Crazy Man (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour Read Free Book Online Page B

They got outside in a hurry, fearing someone was rustling their stock. In the corral they could see the horses, and there was no one nearby.
    Bo Marsh had walked over to the corral, and suddenly he called out.
    “Boss! Lookit here!”
    They all trooped over and then stopped. Instead of five horses in the corral, there were ten!
    One of them was the paint they had loaned the young squaw, but the others were strange horses, and every one a picked animal.
    “Well, I’ll be durned!” Gill exploded. “Brung back our own horse and an extra for each of us. Reckon that big black is for you, Boss.”
    By daylight, when they could examine the horses, Tex Brisco walked around them admiringly.
    “Man,” he said, “that was the best horse trade I ever heard of! There’s four of the prettiest horses I ever laid an eye on! I always did say the Sioux knowed horseflesh, and this proves it. Reckon your bread cast on the water sure come back to you, Boss!”
    Rafe studied the valley thoughtfully. They would have another month of good haying weather if there was no rain. Four men could not work much harder than they were, but the beaver were building their houses bigger and in deeper water, and from that and all other indications the winter was going to be hard.
    He made his decision suddenly. “I’m ridin’ to Painted Rock. Want to come along, Tex?”
    “Yeah.” The Texan looked at him calculatingly. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
    “How about me?” Bo asked, grinning. “Johnny went last time. I could sure use a belt of that red-eye the National peddles, and maybe a look around town.”
    “Take him along, Boss,” Johnny said. “I can hold this end. If he stays he’ll be ridin’ me all the time, anyway.”
    “All right. Saddle up first thing in the mornin’.”
    “Boss—” Johnny threw one leg over the other and lighted his smoke. “One thing I better tell you. I haven’t said a word before, but two, three days ago when I was down to the bend of the Crazy Man I run into a couple of fellers. One of ’em was Red Blazer, that big galoot who was with Boyne. Remember?”
    Rafe turned around and looked down at the little leather-faced cowhand.
    “Well,” he said, “what about him?”
    Gill took a long drag on his cigarette. “He told me he was carryin’ a message from Trigger Boyne and that Trigger was goin’ to shoot on sight, next time you showed up in Painted Rock.”
    Rafe reached over on the table and picked up a piece of cold cornbread.
    “Then I reckon that’s what he’ll do,” he said. “If he gets into action fast enough.”
    “Boss,” Marsh pleaded, “if that redheaded Tom Blazer, brother to the one you had the run-in with—if he’s there, I want him.”
    “That the one we saw on the National stoop?” Rafe asked Gill.
    “Uh-huh. There’s five of them brothers. All gun toters.”
    Gill got up and stretched. “Well, I’ll have it pretty lazy while you hombres are down there dustin’ lead.” He added, “It would be a good idea to sort of keep an eye out. Gee Bonaro’s still in town and feelin’ mighty mad.”
    Rafe walked outside, strolling toward the corral. Behind him, Marsh turned to Gill.
    “Reckon he can sling a gun?”
    Tex chuckled. “Mister, that hombre killed one of the fastest, slickest gun throwers that ever came out of Texas, and done it when he was no more than sixteen, down on the C Bar. And also, while I’ve never seen him shoot, if he can shoot like he can fistfight, Mr. Trigger Boyne had better grab hisself an armful of horseflesh and start makin’ tracks for the blackest part of the Black Hills—
fast
!”
    CHAPTER VII
    Challenge Accepted
    Nothing about the town of Painted Rock suggested drama or excitement. It lay sprawled comfortably in the morning sunlight in an elbow of Rock Creek. A normally roaring and plunging stream, the creek had decided here to loiter awhile, enjoying the warm sun and the graceful willows that lined the banks.
    Behind and among the willows