the Outlaws Of Mesquite (Ss) (1990) by Louis L'amour Read Free Book Online Page A

circulation, then removed the thongs from around his boots and put them on. Crossing to the stack of guns, he picked up his own and belted them on, then put his rifle carefully to one side and considered the situation.
    The Herrings were not doped. Not, at least, to the extent that they had passed out. From what he had heard, the qualities of the plant he had used were sufficient only to induce a sound sleep, which, added to their natural drowsiness from the long day in the saddle and warm food, had been sufficient. Yet he was sure that the slightest sound of a squabble and they would awaken.
    Knowing them, he knew they would come awake fighting.
    They would gamble. Whether he could manage without awakening them he did not know, and his first instinct was for flight. Yet here they were, the men wanted so badly, and the reward would do a lot toward stocking a ranch as well as removing from circulation some badmen no better than mad dogs.
    Red was sleeping with his guns on and his rifle beside him. Benny had been more careless, yet his weapons were close. Joe, who had been carrying the Kid's weapons, had left them all together.
    Moving carefully out of camp, the Kid got the piebald and saddled him. When he was ready, in case of emergency, the Kid walked slowly back to camp.
    Very gently, he slipped a loop over Joe's wrists and drew it as tight as he dared. The big man was sleeping with his knees drawn up, so the Kid bound his wrists down to his knees. He was just straightening up when, lifting his eyes, he looked into the startled, staring eyes of Ben Herring!
    Instantly, Ben yelled. "Red! Look out! The Kid's loose!" And at the same instant he grabbed for his gun.
    "Drop it!" The Cactus Kid's gun leaped into his hand. "Drop!"
    Ben's finger whitened on the trigger and the Kid's gun bellowed. It was point-blank range and a fast shot. The bullet hit the cartridges in Ben's belt and glanced, smashing his elbow. The thin man dropped his gun and grabbed his arm, while on the ground Joe thrashed around, trying to free himself.
    A gun bellowed from the brush and the Kid dove for shelter among some rocks. Red had not waited to draw iron, but had leaped instantly for shelter.
    Now he crouched there across the fire, and the Cactus Kid knew he was in for the fight of his life.
    "Quiet down, Joe," the Kid called, "or I'll put a slug in you!"
    Joe ceased struggling and Ben sat there by the fire, gripping his bloody arm. "I'm out of this! You crippled me!"
    "See you stay out of it!" the Kid replied shortly. Then he faded back into the deeper darkness.
    He was desperately worried. The night was intensely dark, and he knew from his own moving around that a man could move easily and make no sound. The trees were not too close together, and the clumps of brush could be avoided. And Red Herring was a killer, a man with every sense alert, knowing that if captured he would hang.
    Moreover, the man would be filled with hatred now, and the Kid knew he had never faced a man more dangerous, more filled with concentrated evil and malice than Red Herring.

    Chapter IV
    Jenny's Party .
    The Cactus Kid lay still, well back from the fire. He knew that every second he was out of sight of the camp was a second fraught with even greater danger, for if they realized he was gone, Ben would free Joe and he would be facing two men and possibly a third.
    There was no sound. The darkness lay thick and still around him. The stars were lost above a cushion of thick cloud; there was no wind. Somewhere a stone rattled, but it was far away. The Kid began to sweat. His stomach felt hollow and he stared, straining his eyes into the darkness, fighting down his desire to move, to get away from there. Yet to move might mean death, and his best plan was not to move, but to lie still, to force Red to come to him. And he knew that Red Herring, outlaw and murderer, would do just that.
    One of the horses stamped, and somewhere a grouse called into the night. The Cactus Kid shifted