Dutchmans Flat (Ss) (1986) by Louis L'amour Read Free Book Online Page B

lifted his glass with his left hand, his eyes sweeping the crowd, all of whom had drawn back slightly. "To honest ranchers!" he said loudly and clearly and downed his drink.
    A big, hard-faced man shoved through the crowd. "Maybe yuh're meanin' some of us ain't honest?" he suggested.
    "That's right!" Tack Gentry let his voice ring out in the room, and he heard the rattle of chips cease, and the shuffling of feet died away. The crowd was listening.
    "That's exactly right! There were honest men here, but they were murdered or crippled. My Uncle John Gentry was murdered. They tried to make it look like a fair and square killin'-they stuck a gun in his hand!"
    "That's right!" A man broke in. "He had a gun! I seen it!" Tack's eyes shifted. "What hand was it in?"
    "His right hand!" the man stated positively, belligerently. "I seen it!"
    "Thank you, pardner!" Tack said politely. "The gun was in John Gentry's right hand-and John Gentry's right hand had been paralyzed ever since Shiloh!"
    "Huh?" The man who had seen the gun stepped back, his face whitening a little.
    Somebody back in the crowd shouted out, "That's right! You're durn tootin' that's right! Never could use a rope, 'count of it!"
    Tack looked around at the crowd, and his eyes halted on the big man. He was going to break the power of Hardin, Olney, and Soderman, and he was going to start right here.
    "There's goin' to be an investigation," he said loudly, "and it'll begin down in Austin. Any of you fellers bought property from Hardin or Olney better get your money back."
    "Yuh're talkin' a lot!" The big man thrust toward him, his wide, heavy shoulders looking broad enough for two men. "Yuh said some of us were thieves!"
    "Thieves and murderers," Tack added. "If yuh're one of the worms that crawl in Hardin's tracks, that goes for you!"
    The big man lunged. "Get him, Starr!" somebody shouted loudly.
    Tack Gentry suddenly felt a fierce surge of pure animal joy. He stepped back and then stepped in suddenly, and his right swung low and hard. It caught Starr as he was coming in, caught him in the pit of the stomach. He grunted and stopped dead in his tracks, but Tack set himself and swung wickedly with both hands. His left smashed into Starr's mouth, and his right split a cut over his cheekbone. Starr staggered and fell back into the crowd. He came out of the crowd, shook his head, and charged like a bull.
    Tack weaved inside of the swinging fists and impaled the bigger man on a straight, hard left hand. Then he crossed a wicked right to the cut cheek, and gore cascaded down the man's face. Tack stepped in, smashing both hands to the man's body, and then as Starr stabbed a thumb at his eye, Tack jerked his head aside and butted Starr in the face.
    His nose broken, his cheek laid open to the bone, Starr staggered back, and Tack Gentry walked in, swinging with both hands. This was the beginning. This man worked for Hardin and he was going to be an example. When he left this room Starr's face was going to be a sample of the crashing of Van Hardin's power. With left and right he cut and slashed at the big man's face, and Starr, overwhelmed by the attack, helpless after that first wicked body blow, crumpled under those smashing fists. He hit the floor suddenly and lay there, moaning softly.
    A man shoved through the crowd, and then stopped. It was Van Hardin. He looked down at the man on the floor; then his eyes, dark with hate, lifted to meet Tack Gentry's eyes.
    "Lookin' for trouble, are yuh?" he said.
    "Only catchin' up with some that started while I was gone, Van!" Tack said. He felt good. He was on the balls of his feet and ready. He had liked the jarring of blows, liked the feeling of combat. He was ready. "Yuh should have made sure I was dead, Hardin, before yuh tried to steal property from a kindly old man!"
    "Nothing was stolen," Van Hardin said evenly, calmly. "We took only what was ours, and in a strictly legal manner." "There will be an investigation," Gentry replied