The Return of Caulfield Blake by G. Clifton Wisler Read Free Book Online

lately?”
    â€œNot at people.”
    â€œYou were good with a handgun once.”
    â€œGuess I’ll have to be again. Tell me, Dix, have you discussed any of this with Hannah?”
    â€œNot even with Rita. The less they know, the better.”
    â€œI agree. I think we should meet with Simpson first. Then we try a few diversions. Finally, if necessary, we blow the dam.”
    â€œHow do you think it’ll turn out?”
    â€œI think we’ve got too few people to make it work.”
    â€œWell, the Mexicans over in Ox Hollow will pitch in. And Marty Cabot, of course. Three or four families from town, too.”
    â€œCan they fight?”
    â€œJoe Stovall and Art Powell you remember from the war. I ordered us a case of Winchesters. That ought to even things a bit.”
    â€œPeople are goin’ to get killed over this, Dix.”
    â€œSeems likely.”
    â€œIs it worth it?”
    â€œIf it isn’t, I don’t know what is. I don’t make my livin’ out here anymore, Caulie, but it’s my land. My daddy passed it on to me, and I aim to do the same to Charlie. No fat old man’s goin’ to chase me off it. I never retreated from Grant, and I’ll be hanged if I back down now.”
    â€œThen it’s settled.”
    â€œCaulie, you plannin’ to stay with Hannah?”
    â€œI didn’t feel I’d be welcome.”
    â€œNobody stays at the cabin anymore. You’re welcome to it. We’ve got a spare bed in town, but if it’s all the same, I’d feel better havin’ someone out here.”
    â€œSeems like a hard proposition to pass up.”
    Dix smiled, and the two old friends clasped hands in a firm shake. Then Dix excused himself. Blake watched sadly as his old friend rode toward town and his family, bound for a warmth, a sense of belonging Blake hadn’t known in seven long years. It was painful to think of it.
    As the gathering darkness settled in all around him, Blake rode to the cabin. He spread out his blankets on one of the two beds. The place was clean. Dix had obviously prepared for him. Then Caulie remembered he hadn’t seen Rita in town. The cabin definitely showed a woman’s touch.
    Caulie enjoyed a light supper of boiled beef and corn bread, then readied himself for sleep. As he sat in the bed, staring out the open window at the distant light that marked the Bar Double B, he frowned. He had ridden so far, and yet he was no more at home than when he’d been in the little picket cabin on the Clear Fork of the Brazos. He sighed and closed his eyes.
    No sooner had he fallen into a light slumber than he heard hoofbeats on the road. Instinctively he sat up, grabbed his revolver. He rolled off the bed and slipped over behind a great oaken chest. A horse came to a stop outside, and a lone rider entered the house.
    â€œWho’s there?” Caulie asked cautiously. “Make yourself known.”
    â€œIt’s just me,” a young voice called out. “Zach.”
    The boy stepped into the moonlight streaming through the window and held his hands out to each side of his body.
    â€œFor heaven’s sake, son, don’t you know better’n to ride up on a man in the middle of the night?”
    â€œIt’s not that late,” Zach said, walking over and sitting beside his father on the bed. “’Sides, Ma wasn’t eager to have me come.”
    â€œShe know you’re here?”
    â€œNo, sir.”
    â€œYou didn’t tell her?”
    â€œI was afraid she’d be angry. She doesn’t take to talking about you much. It saddens her, I think.”
    â€œAnd what else do you think?”
    â€œYou came ’cause she asked. I heard Ma talking to Marsh about the letter. He wasn’t any too happy.”
    â€œAnd you?”
    â€œI’m glad you came. People always say I’m like you. I guess it’s about time I found out.”
    â€œYou don’t