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

camp as anything.
    There was an instant burst of firing in reply, and I heard a heavy fall somewhere near me, and the grunt of a man hitting the ground. A spot of white ... a man riding a paint horse showed, and I fired again.
    The horse swerved sharply and then we were all firing. The surprise had been mutual.
    They came unexpectedly from the night, but they charged when all four of us were almost together, and our fire smashed them back, caused them to swerve. Shouting and yelling, they bore down on the herd.
    The cattle lunged to their feet and stampeded down the valley and away from camp.
    Catching the momentary outline of a man against the sky, I fired again, and then again. Hastily I reloaded and started after them. But as suddenly as it had happened, it was over. The attackers were gone and the herd was gone.
    Zeb came riding up out of the night. "Dan! Dan?'"
    "Yeah . . . somebody's down."
    There was a rush of horsemen from camp, and Pa yelled out, "Dan? Are you all right?"
    Zeno Yearling spoke from nearby. "Here he is. I think it's Aaron."
    Pa struck a light. Aaron was down, all right. He was shot through the chest and he was dead.
    "They'll pay for this," Pa said. "By the Lord Harry, they'll pay!"
    We circled warily, hunting for other men who were down. We found two of theirs. One was a man named Streeter, a hanger-on who had drifted to the Cowhouse country from over on the Nueces after trouble with the Rangers. The other man we had seen around, but did not know.
    "Two for one," Tap said.
    "Two, hell!" Pa exploded. "I wouldn't swap Stark for ten of them! He was a good man."
    "We'll wait until daylight," I said, "then go hunting."
    We rode back to camp with Aaron across a saddle. Nobody was feeling very good about it, and I didn't envy Pa, who would have to tell his widow.
    There was no talking around the fire. Picking up some sticks, I built the flames up. We checked around, but nobody else had been hurt.
    "Two doesn't seem right," Zeb said. "I know we hit more of them. They came right at us, close range."
    Karen and Mrs. Foley were at the fire, making coffee. Taking the Patterson, I cleaned it carefully, checked the loads, and reloaded. Then I went out and looked the line-back dun over to see if he'd picked up any scratches. He looked fit and ready, and I knew him . For a to6gh little horse.
    The day broke slowly, a gray morning with a black line of trees that slowly took on shape and became distinct. With the first light, we saddled up again.
    Tim Foley, despite his arguments, was forced to stay behind with the wagons, and Frank Kelsey stayed with him.
    "You'd better stay, Tom," Pa said. "We've lost one married man already."
    "Be damned if I will!" Sandy replied testily. He hesitated. "We should leave another man. Suppose they come back?"
    4/5
    "Free"--Pa looked over at Squires--"you stay. You stood guard last night."
    "Now, look here!" Squires protested.
    "As a favor," Pa said. "Will you stay?"
    Freeman Squires shrugged and walked away. The rest of us mounted up and moved out.
    The trail was broad enough, for they had followed the herd into the night, and the herd had taken off into the broad, empty lands to the south.
    This was Lipan country, but the Lipans, of late, had been friendly to the white man.
    We rode swiftly into the growing light, a tight bunch of armed horsemen, grim-faced and bitter with the loss of Aaron Stark and our cattle. No longer were we simply hardworking, hard-riding men, no longer quiet men intent on our own affairs. For riding after lawless men was not simply for revenge or recovery of property; it was necessary if there was to be law, and here there was no law except what right-thinking men made for themselves.
    The brown grass of autumn caught the golden light of morning, and the dark lines of trees that marked the Concho fell behind. Our group loosened, spread out a little to see the tracks better. Among the many cattle tracks we searched for those of riders.
    Away off on the flank, I