Law Of the Desert Born (Ss) (1984) by Louis L'amour Read Free Book Online Page A

Walker. Then you buy a ranch here . . . I'll give you the money, an' then you hit the trail."
    Chasin was trying to double-cross Cary! To get the ranch for himselfl.
    Gatlin hesitated. That's a lot of money, but these boys toss a lot of lead. I might not live to spend the dough."
    -I'll hide you out." Chasin argued. I've got a cabin in the hills. I'd hide you out with four or five of my boys to stand guard. You'd be safe enough. Then you could come down, put your money on the line, an' sign the papers.'
    -Suppose they want Walker's signature checked?" Jim Walker never signed more'n three, four papers in his life. He left no signatures hereabouts. I've. took pains to be sure."
    Five thousand because he looked like a man. It was easy money, and he'd be throwing a monkey wrench into Wing Cary's plans. Cary, a man he'd decided he disliked. Sounds like a deal," he said. Let's go!" The cabin on the north slope of Bartlett Peak was well hidden, and there was plenty of grub. Pete Chasin left him there with two men to guard him and two more standing by on the trail toward town. All through the following day, Jim Gatlin loafed, smoking cigarettes and talking idly with the two men. Hab Johnson was a big, unshaven hombre with a sullen face and a surly manner. He talked little, and then only to growl. Pink Stabineau was a wide-chested, flat-faced jasper with an agreeable grin.
    Gatlin had a clear idea of his own situation. He could use five thousand, but he knew Chasin never intended him to leave the country with it and doubted if h e would last an hour after the ranch was transferred to Chasin himself. Yet Gatlin had been 'around the rough country, and he knew a trick or two of his own. Several times he thought of Lisa Cochrane, but avoided that angle as much as he could.
    After all, she had no chance to get the ranch, and Walker was probably dead. That left it between Cary and Chasin. The unknown Horwick of whom he had heard mention was around, too, but he seemed to stand with Cary in everything.
    Yet Gatlin was restless and irritable, and he kept remembering the girl beside him in the darkness and her regrets at breaking up the old outfit. Jim Gatlin had been a hand who rode for the brand; he knew what it meant to have a ranch sold out from under a bunch of old hands. The home that had been theirs gone, the friends drifting apart never to meet again, everything changed.
    He finished breakfast on the morning of the second day, then walked out of the cabin with his saddle. Hab Johnson looked up sharply. "Where you goin'?" he demanded.
    "Riclin'," Gatlin said briefly, "an' don't worry. I'll be back."
    Johnson chewed a stem of grass, his hard eyes on Jim's. You ain't goin' nowheres. The boss said to watch you an' keep you here. Here you stay."
    Gatlin dropped his saddle. "You aren't keepin' me nowheres, Hab," he said flatly. "I've had enough sittin' around. I aim to see a little of this country."
    "I reckon not." Hab got to his feet. "You may be a fast hand with a gun, but you ain't gittin' both of us, and you ain't so foolish as to try." He waved a big hand. "Now you go back an' set down."
    "I started for a ride," Jim said quietly, "an' a ride I'm takin'." He stooped to pick up the saddle and saw Hall s boots as the big man started for him. Jim had lifted the saddle clear of the ground, and now he hurled it , suddenly, in Hab's path. The big man stumbled and hit the ground on his hands and knees, then started up. As he came up halfway, Jim slugged him. Hab tottered, fighting for balance, and Gatlin moved in, striking swiftly with a volley of lefts and rights to the head. Hab went down and hit hard, then came up with a lunge, but Gatlin dropped him again. Blood dripped from smashed lips and a cut on his cheekbone.
    Gatlin stepped back, working his fingers. His hard eyes flicked to Pink Stabineau, who was smoking quietly, resting on one elbow, looking faintly amused. "You stoppin' me?" Gatlin demanded.
    Pink grinned. "Me? Now where did you