The Lawless West by Louis L’Amour Read Free Book Online Page B

a liar, boss,” spoke up Jones coolly. “She let me make love to her. An’ she agreed to ride out an’ meet me. Wal, it sure took her a spell, an’, when she did come, she was shy on the love-makin’s. I was packin’ her off to scare some sense into her when you rode in.”
    “Beady, I know your way with women. You cansave your breath, for I’ve a hunch you’re goin’ to need it.”
    “Mister Springer,” faltered Jane, getting to her knees, “I…I was foolishly taken with this cowboy…at first. Then…that Sunday after the dance when he called on me at the ranch…I saw through him then. I heartily despised him. To get rid of him I did say I’d meet him. But I never meant to. Then I forgot it. Today I rode for the first time. I saw someone following me and thought it must be Tex or one of the boys. Finally I waited and presently Jones rode up to me…And Mister Springer he…he grabbed me off my horse…and handled me most brutally…shamefully. I fought him with all my might, but what could I do?”
    Springer’s face changed markedly during Jane’s long explanation. Then he threw his gun on the ground in front of Jane.
    “Jones, I’m goin’ to beat you half to death,” he said grimly, and, leaping at the cowboy, he jerked him out of the saddle until he was sprawling on the ground. Next Springer threw aside his sombrero, his vest, his spurs. But he kept on his gloves. The cowboy rose to one knee, and he measured the distance between him and Springer, and then the gun that lay on the ground. Suddenly he sprang toward it. But Springer intercepted him with a powerful kick that tripped Jones and laid him flat.
    “Jones, you’re sure about as low-down as they come,” he said in dark scorn. “I’ve got to be satisfied with beatin’ you when I ought to kill you.”
    “Ahuh! Wal, boss, it ain’t any safe bet thet you can beat me,” returned Jones sullenly while he got up.
    As they rushed together, Jane had wit enough topick up the gun, and then with it and Jones’s, to get back to a safe distance. She wanted to run away out of sight. But she could neither do that nor keep her fascinated gaze from the combatants. Even in her distraught condition she could see that the cowboy, fierce and active and strong as he was, could not hold his own with Springer. They fought over all the open space, and crashed into the cedars, and out again. The time came when Jones was on the ground about as much as he was erect. Bloody, disheveled, beaten, he kept on trying to stem the onslaught of blows.
    Suddenly he broke off a dead branch of cedar and, brandishing it, rushed at the rancher. Jane uttered a cry, closed her eyes, and sank down. She heard fierce imprecations and sodden blows. When at length she opened her eyes in terror, fearing something dreadful, she saw Springer erect, wiping his face, and Jones lying prone on the ground.
    Then Jane saw him go to his horse, untie a canteen from the saddle, remove his bloody gloves, and wash his face with a wet scarf. Next he poured some water on Jones’s face.
    “Come on, Jane!” he called. “Reckon it’s all over.”
    Then he tied the bridle of Jones’s horse to a cedar and, leading his own animal, turned to meet Jane.
    “I want to compliment you on gettin’ that cowboy’s gun,” he said warmly. “But for that, there’d sure have been somethin’ bad. I’d have had to kill him, Jane. Here, give me the guns…You poor little tenderfoot from Missouri. No, not tenderfoot any longer, you became a Westerner today.”
    His face was bruised and cut, his dress dirty and bloody, but he did not appear the worse for thatfight. Jane found her legs scarcely able to support her, and she had apparently lost her voice.
    “Let us put you on my saddle till we find your horse,” he said, and lifted her lightly as a feather to a seat crosswise. Then he walked with a hand on the bridle.
    Jane saw him examining the ground, evidently searching for horse tracks. “Ha! Here we