Skeleton Lode by Ralph Compton Read Free Book Online

you do, with us still legally under his and Mother’s control?”
     
    “Maybe more than you think,” said Arlo. “Does he plan to take you and Kelsey into the Superstitions while he looks for the mine?”
     
    “Yes,” Kelly said. “Kelsey and me are his only legal means of going after Uncle Henry’s claim. He’s afraid we’ll run away again if we have the chance.”
     
    “Keep him thinking that way,” said Arlo. “You won’t be too far away from us during the search for the gold. If you need us, we’ll help you. He may have a legal hold onyou and Kelsey back in Missouri, but in the mountains of Arizona Territory, the only law is the gun.”
     
    “When this search for the gold is done,” Dallas said, “things may have changed some. I’m givin’ you my word—we’ll free you from this Gary Davis, if I have to shoot him myself.”
     
    “God bless you both,” she whispered, “for being Uncle Henry’s friends and for being friends to Kelsey and me.”
     
    She opened the door just enough to slip through and closed it softly behind her. It was a while before Dallas broke the silence.
     
    “If just half of what she says is true, this Gary Davis ought to be gut-shot and fed to the coyotes.”
     
    “I don’t doubt a word of it,” Arlo said, “and even if we never find the gold, we’re going to free Kelly and Kelsey. I think Hoss would approve.”
     
    Come first light, Arlo and Dallas loaded their provisions on the pack mule and rode out to the northeast, bound for Hoss Logan’s cabin. As expected, they were pursued by more than thirty riders, all would-be gold seekers. Davis and his bunch brought up the rear, led by the newly acquired guides Yavapai and Sanchez. Gary Davis, Bollinger, and the Logan girls seemed comfortable in the saddle, though Paulette Davis and Rust were suffering mightily.
    “What a bunch of damn fools,” said Dallas in disgust. “They ain’t even smart enough to know we’re just ridin’ out to Hoss Logan’s cabin. If we rode into the Superstitions from the north, we could lose these pilgrims so bad they’d never find their way out.”
     
    “That’s how we’re goin’ to rid ourselves of most of them,” Arlo said. “We’ll have Paiute to guide us, and we’re going to waste a few days wandering through the roughest damn country we can find. We’ll lose some of this bunch so completely that when they get out of the Superstitions, they’ll be glad to just ride on home.”
     
    They found Paiute with his back to the same pine,seeming not to have moved. There was ample evidence to the contrary, however. Not a scrap of food remained in the cabin, and there was an enormous pile of fish bones outside the back door.
     
    “Our very own Indian,” Dallas sighed. “He smells like a grizzly that just crawled out of hibernation, he eats like a starving lobo, and he can’t talk.”
     
    “The Lord works in mysterious ways,” Arlo grinned. “If I didn’t know better, I would suspect that Paiute devoured all the grub and Hoss starved to death.” He took from his pocket the leather poke in which Hoss Logan had sent the letter, the map, and the gold ore. He held up the poke, getting the Indian’s attention. He then pointed to Paiute, to the mule, and finally to the Superstition Mountains. Paiute nodded his understanding. The gold seekers who had followed Arlo and Dallas from town had halted within sight of the cabin.
     
    “Now,” said Arlo, “let’s lead this bunch into the Superstitions and burn some of the gold fever out of ’em.”
     
    Paiute had rounded up Hoss Logan’s mule, and he mounted with an agility that surprised both cowboys.
     
    “Either he ain’t as old as he looks,” observed Dallas, “or he’s in mighty good shape.”
     
    Paiute rode out, heading south, paralleling the Superstitions. Arlo and Dallas followed, Dallas leading the pack mule. The horde of gold seekers from town rode in pursuit. Gary Davis galloped ahead, catching up to