Lone Calder Star by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page A

smoother when they reached the ranch yard.
    Emmpty nodded in the direction of the pick-up parked in front of the barn. "How come you didn't haul the grain In that truck?" , "It wouldn't start."
    "You'll probably find that somebody dumped sugar in the gas tank." There was no humor in the smile that twisted Empty Garner's mouth. "Don't bother hiring anybody around here to fix it.
    They'll just drag their feet about getting it done, knowing that's what Rutledge would want them to do. Spend the extra money and get a tow truck to haul it to a garage in the city. While they're at it, you might as well have them install a lock on the gas tank, or it'll just happen all over again."
    "Thanks for the warning."
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    "I'd tell you to get a mean dog, but it wouldn't do any good. They'd just wait until you were away from the place and either poison it or shoot it."
    Quint eyed him with growing interest. "I get the feeling you're talking from experience."
    There was a tinge of bitterness in the grim set of the old man's features. "I used to own the Robles Ranch south of here until Rutledge squeezed me out." He sliced a hard look at Quint.
    "Mind you, I can't prove that. Rutledge is too clever to leave any trail that'll lead back to him.
    But it was his doing-and him who ended up with my place."
    "How'd he go about it?" In Quint's experience, people rarely changed their modus operandi.
    The pickup jolted over a pothole, but Empty Garner didn't seem to notice as his thoughts turned back. "I guess the trouble started when Fred Barlow quit after being with me nearly ten years. He said he got a job in a big feedlot north of Dallas that would pay him more money, plus give him health benefits and paid housing. I didn't see Rutledge's hand in it at the time, but looking back, I know it was there now. After that, everybody I hired kept quitting on me. Some lasted a month or two, but most walked after a few days. Pretty soon I couldn't get anybody to work for me. Now I grant you, my ranch wasn't a big spread, but there was more work than I could handle by myself. If it hadn't been for my granddaughter pitching in like she did, I'd have had to hang it up sooner than 1 did."
    "What tipped the scale?"
    "Hay " Empty replied. "My cattle kept mysteriously getting into my hayfield. First time a gate was open; then a fence kept
    down. One time it looked like a rotten fence post, and another rusted-out wire-the sort of things that could lead you to think you were having a streak of bad luck. Anyway, you add the drought in and I didn't get enough hay out of the field to feed my cattle through the winter. When I started looking to buy some, there wasn't any to be found within fifty miles. Seems the Slash R
    had bought it all up, claiming they needed it to winter-feed their cattle. The cost of importing hay from up north was more than I could afford. Which meant I had to sell off part of my herd.
    A lot of other ranchers were doing the same, driving the price down. There I sat without enough money to pay the note payment, and the bank refusing to give me an extension, when up walks Rutledge's son Boone, offering to buy the place. That's when I started seeing his hand in all that had gone on before."
    Quint couldn't help observing, "That's not much to hang your hat on."
    Empty released a contemptuous snort. "I told you Rutledge was cagey."
    "Just the same, that's a stretch."
    "Think so, do you?" He threw Quint a look of disgust. "I guess I didn't mention that I told him to take his offer and stick it where the sun don't shine. That's when the meanness started-the dog crawling off to die from a bullet wound, the sugar in the gas tank, places where I'd had credit for years suddenly demanding cash on the barrelhead, banks turning me down all over the place when I tried to refinance, wells getting poisoned, cattle rustled. I managed to hold out for another year-" His voice tightened up on him. He paused, dragging in a deep breath, and continued.
    "Rutledge