Collection 1999 - Beyond The Great Snow Mountains (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour Read Free Book Online Page A

moment Ward McQueen sat still, resentment burning within him. He had a half notion to say that he certainly did mind. Then he shrugged it off.
    “No,” he said, “I’ve got to talk with Gerber, anyway.”
    Yet as she arose and walked with Buff Colker into the other room, he glared after them. “Make a nice-lookin’ couple,” Gerber suggested thoughtfully. “She ain’t married, is she?”
    “We came here to talk about cattle.” McQueen’s voice had a faint rasp.
    “Sure,” Gerber agreed. He pulled his tally book from his pocket. “Got money, that young Colker has. I often wonder why he works for the KT, but maybe he figures to go into the cattle business.”
    He put on his glasses and peered at the book. “Now let’s see: there were a couple of hundred head in Seminole Canyon. Did you get those out?”
----
    T WO HOURS LATER Ward McQueen stalked into the saloon, irritated and unhappy. Despite their discussion and the careful checking of the record Gerber had kept, there was no accounting for the missing cattle. Yet a thousand head of cattle cannot just vanish, nor can they be hidden with ease.
    Sartain was sitting alone at a card table idly riffling a deck of cards. He had his flat-brimmed gray hat shoved back on his head and was watching Black like a cat. The big gunman looked around when Ward came in, and watched as he walked over and dropped into a chair with Kim.
    Sartain riffled the cards through his fingers and, without looking up, commented, “That Black has money. He buys drinks pretty free for a forty-dollar cowhand.”
    He has money. The words flitted through McQueen’s mind, and then were lost as the door shoved open and Ernie Yost came in, accompanied by Villani and Taylor.
    Taylor averted his eyes hastily. One of the three, McQueen reflected, was content to let well enough alone. Watching them, Ward was struck by the fact that Yost, staring straight across the bar, was speaking out of the corner of his mouth. The man beside him was Black.
    Black’s eagerness for trouble and a few words exchanged with Yost lingered in Ward’s brain. What was between those two? Was Black tied in with Yost? What was going on around here?
    “Let’s leave, Kim. We’ve got a hard day tomorrow.”
    Mounting, they turned down the trail toward the ranch, but as he glanced back, Ward saw Ruth saying good night to Colker on the steps of the hotel. “He’s got money.” That was what Gerber had said of Colker. It was also what Sartain had said of Black. Could there be a tie-up there? Did their money come from the same source? Or was jealousy leading him down a blind alley?
    What was the source of Black’s money? The man had the earmarks of an owlhoot.
    “Glad you got me out of there,” Kim said, “I reckon I’m sleepier’n I thought.”
    Sleepier was right.
Sleep—er
.
    Ward’s dark mood was gone in a flash. He jerked around in the saddle. “Kim, have you been over to that herd of cattle we’ve cut for the other brands?”
    Kim looked up, half awake. “No, why should I? We’re through with them.”
    There must be at least two or three thousand head of KT, Broken Arrow, and Running M cattle in that herd, McQueen thought. That was a big herd, a very big herd.
----
    I T WAS ALMOST noon the next day when he rode down to the roundup crew. McQueen had been thinking and checking. Sartain was sitting on a small gray horse, and Jackson was nearby. They had just knocked off for a brief rest.
    Perkins and Lopez were sitting on the ground while Gallatin and Jensen were just riding up. Ward dropped from his horse and walked up to Lopez.
    “Lopez, what horse did you ride yesterday?”
    Lopez hesitated. “Bay pony,
señor
.”
    “A bay?” Baldy looked around. “You must be forgetful. You rode that blaze-faced black with the broken hind hoof.” The Mexican looked at him, then got to his feet, and he suddenly looked sick.
    “That’s right, Lopez.” McQueen’s thumbs were tucked in his belt, and around him the