Riders Of the Dawn (1980) by Louis L'amour Read Free Book Online Page B

laughter in her eyes. "H e probably doesn't know as much about them as you."
    "Me?" I was astonished. "What gave you that idea?"
    "Your approach that first day. You knew it would excit e my curiosity, a man less sure of himself would never hav e dared. If you knew no more about women than most wester n men you would have hung back, wishing you could meet me , or you would have got drunk to work up your courage."
    "I meant what I said that day. You re going to marr y me."
    "Don't say that. Don't even think it. You've no idea wha t you are saying or what it would mean."
    "Because of your father?" I looked at her. "Or Morga n Park?"
    "You take him too lightly, Matt. I think he is utterl y without scruple. I believe he would stop at nothing."
    There was more to come, and I was interested.
    "There was a young man here from the East," she continued, "and I liked him. Knowing Morgan, I never mentioned him in Morgan's presence. Then one day he asked m e about him. He added that it would be better for all concerned if the man did not come around anymore. Inadvertently I mentioned the young man's name, Arnold D'Arcy.
    "When he heard that name he became very disturbed.
    Who was he? Why had he come here? Had he asked an y questions about anybody? Or described anybody he might b e looking for? He asked me all those questions, but at the sam e time I thought little about it. Afterwards I began to believ e that he was not merely jealous. Right then I decided to tel l Arnold about it when he returned."
    "And did you?"
    There was a shadow of worry on her face. "No. He neve r came again." She looked quickly at me. "I've often thought o f it. Morgan never mentioned him again, but somehow Arnol d hadn't seemed like a man who would frighten easily."
    Later, when she was mounting to leave, I asked her , "Where was D'Arcy from? Do you remember?"
    "Virginia, I believe. He had served in the Army an d before coming west had been working in Washington."
    Watching her go, I thought again of Morgan Park. H e might have frightened D'Arcy away, but I could not shake of f the idea that something vastly more sinister lay behind it.
    And Park had been close to us during the night. If he ha d wanted to kill me, it could have been done, but apparentl y he wanted me alive. Why?
    "Mulvaney," I suggested, "if you can hold this place, I'l l ride to Silver Reef and get off a couple of messages."
    He stretched his huge arms and grinned at me. "Do yo u doubt it? I'll handle it or them. Go, and have yourself a time."
    And in the morning I was in the saddle again.

    Chapter 6
    High noon, and a mountain shaped like flame. Beyond th e mountain and around it was a wide land with no horizons, bu t only the shimmering heat waves that softened all lines t o vagueness and left the desert an enchanted land withou t beginning and without end.
    As I rode, my mind studied the problem created by th e situation around Cottonwood Wash. There were at least thre e and possibly four sides to the question. Rud Maclaren wit h his Bar M, Jim Pinder with his CP, and myself with the Tw o Bar. The fourth possibility was Morgan Park.
    Olga's account of Arnold D'Arcy's disappearance ha d struck a chord of memory. During ten years of my life I ha d been fighting in foreign wars, and there had been a militar y observer named D'Arcy, a Major Leo D'Arcy, who had bee n in China during the fighting there. It stuck in my mind tha t he had a brother named Arnold.
    It was a remote chance, yet a possiblity. Why did th e name upset Park? What had become of Arnold? Where di d Park come from? Pinder could be faced with violence an d handled with violence. Maclaren might be circumvented.
    Morgan Park worried me.
    Silver Reef lay sprawled in haphazard comfort along a main street and a few cross streets. There were the usua l frontier saloons, stores, churches, and homes. The sign o n the Elk Horn Saloon caught my attention. Crossing to it I p ushed through the door into the dim interior. While th e bartender