Novel 1955 - Heller With A Gun (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour Read Free Book Online Page A

westward. The air was crisp and cold. There was no wind and the smoke of the chimneys at Hat Creek had lifted straight into the sky. The black horse was impatient, tugging at the bit. “Going home, boy?” Mabry asked him. “Back to Wind River?”
    Rising over the crest of a hill, the black’s ears went up suddenly and Mabry turned in the saddle to look where the horse was looking.
    Nothing.…
    He was not fooled. The black horse was mountain bred, born to wild country. He had seen or smelled something.
    Mabry swung down the slope to the edge of the trees and skirted the timber, keeping the line of trees between himself and the direction of the horse’s attention.
    This was an old game, one he had played too often to be easily trapped. Whoever was out there must be trailing the vans or himself. He changed direction several times, avoiding snow fields and keeping to hard ground.
    Barker had camped at Lance Creek the first night out. Seeing that, Mabry pushed on. The black horse ate up space and that night they camped at a spot Mabry chose as he rode past. Riding by, he swung wide and circled back, camping where he could watch his own trail.
    He made shelter for himself and his horse in a matter of minutes. He cut partly through a small tree, then broke it over to the ground, trimming out the branches on the under side, leaving those on top and at the sides. The cut branches he piled on top or wove into the sides. With other boughs he made a bed inside on the snow.
    He tied his horse under a thick-needled evergreen close by, then wove branches into the brush for a windbreak.
    Over a small fire he made coffee and a thick stew. When he had eaten he rolled in his blankets and closed his eyes for sleep.
    Before he slept he thought of Janice. Yet it was foolish to think. What could there be with him for any girl? He was a warrior in a land growing tame.
    The wind rose and moaned low in the evergreens. The coals of the fire glowed deeply red against the dark. Irritably he thought of Healy and the company up ahead. They were making good time, getting farther and farther from any possible help or interference, farther into this wide, white land of snow and loneliness. Barker had rushed them out of Hat Creek…to get them away before Mabry returned?
    Most men would not have taken that ride to Cheyenne, but he had accepted the job offered in good faith, and only after he arrived in Deadwood did he discover that he had been hired for his gun rather than for his knowledge of cattle.
    He had been hired to ramrod a tough cow outfit, which was all right, but it meant pushing the Sioux off their hunting grounds and killing any that objected. He had been hired because of his reputation, and he wanted no part of it.
    He said as much in Cheyenne. That was what he told Old Man Hunter when he told him what he could do with his job. And what he would do if Hunter sent any more killers after him.
    A cold branch rattled its frozen fingers. Snow whispered against the boughs of his shelter. He slept.

    D URING THE BRIEF halt when they stopped the teams for a breather at the top of a long hill, Tom Healy ran ahead and rapped on the door of the women’s wagon.
    Dodie opened the door and he scrambled in. His face was red with cold, but he was smiling.
    Inside the wagon the air was warm and close. Along one side were two bunks, narrow but sufficient. On the other side was one bunk and a table that was no more than a shelf. On it was a washbasin and a small cask filled with water. In the front of the wagon was a potbellied stove.
    Under the bunks were chests for the packing of clothing. At the end of each bunk was a small closet for hanging clothes. It was neat, compact, and well ordered.
    The van in which the two men rode was built along the same lines, but with just two bunks and more storage space. In each van there were two lanterns, an ax, and a shovel. In each van there was stored a considerable supply of food, with the