Killoe (1962) by Louis L'amour Read Free Book Online Page A

were out there somewhere, we were sure of it. But where?
    The fires were ablaze when we rode in, and there was the good smell of coffee and of steaks broiling. Ben Cole and Freeman Squires had taken the first guard and were already with the cattle.
    The herd was still feeding, relishing the fine, rich grass of the meadow. A few head had returned to the creek to drink again. Somewhere out on the plains a quail called.
    Tap Henry came over to where I stood with Pa. "We'd best double the guard tonight," he said. "I've got a feeling."
    "We've been lucky so far. The way I see it," Pa said, "that outfit back on the Brazos decided to let us get far enough out so they can blame it on Comanches."
    Tap looked around at me. "Who's your Mexican friend?"
    "He had trouble with the Comancheros. Says the man after him had a spider sear on his cheek."
    Tap gave me an odd look. "Maybe we'd better give him the horse," he said, and then he got up and walked away.
    "Now, what's the matter with him?" Pa asked.
    It was unlike Tap to say such a thing, or to shy from trouble with anybody. "He must know something we don't," I said. "I'm getting curious about that man with the scar."
    We ate, and I caught myself a little shut-eye, spreading my soogan under a pecan tree and lying half awake, half asleep, listening to the bustle around the camp.
    All too soon, Zebony came to call me. He was pulling on his boots and, sitting there beside me, he said, "It's quiet out there . . . too quiet. You better come loaded for bear."
    Milo Dodge was at the fire, and so was Aaron Stark. They were drinking coffee, and Stark had his Sharps repeater beside him.
    Stamping my feet into my boots, I walked over to the fire. Once I had got to sleep I'd slept sound.., so sound it worried me, for I did not like to get into the habit of sleeping so soundly I could not be awakened by the slightest move.
    The coffee was strong, and hot as hell. Pa came to the fire and handed me a cold biscuit, which I ate with my coffee.
    "You boys be careful, now. I never knew Tap to be jumpy, but he surely is tonight."
    Tom Sandy had the line-back dun ready for me, and when I stepped into the saddle I glanced over at Tap's bed. The bed was there, but Tap was not. "You seen Tap ?"
    Tom turned away. "No, I haven't!" he said, almost snapping the words at me. Once we were away from the firelight, the night was dark, for the area was partly shielded by the bluffs and the trees. We rode out together, the four of us, scattering to places about the herd. At such a time all the little noises of the night become intensely clear, and sounds which one has always known are suddenly strange and mysterious.
    But the ears of men accustomed to the wilderness and the nighttime silences and sounds choose from among the many small noises those which are a warning. A bird rustling among the leaves, a small animal in the grass, a branch rubbing against another, the grunts and gasps and breathing of the cattle, the click of horns accidentally touching-- all these are familiar. We scattered out, circled , and then fell into pairs.
    As always, I rode with Zebony.
    It was very still. Some of the usual noises we did not hear, and this in itself warned us that something was out there, for the small animals and birds become apprehensive at strange movements among them. "What do you think, Zeb?" "They'll try to get close."
    Milo Dodge and Stark rode up from the other side. "Milo," I whispered, "Zeb and me, we're going to move out into the edge of the trees. We'll try to meet them before they get to US."
    "All right," he said, and watched when I pointed out where we would be.
    We never got the chance. There was one brief instant of warning, a rushing in the grass, and then they came with the black loom of the bluff behind them so that we could catch no outline at which to shoot.
    They came charging, but in silence, and then the first shot was fired.
    It was my shot, fired blindly into the blackness, as much as a warning to the