Those Jensen Boys! by William W. Johnstone Read Free Book Online Page A

of the men who work for that fella Eagleton?”
    Ace shook his head. “No telling, but he sure might have been. He could have been posted here to ambush Bess and Emily if they made it past those other varmints. Or he might have been just a run-of-the-mill owlhoot looking to rob you.”
    â€œEither way, he’s gone now. Let’s take a look at the place where he was holed up. He might’ve left something behind.”
    They rode over to the slab of rock where the bushwhacker had been hiding and dismounted to look around. Chance found some empty cartridges from the man’s rifle and the butt of a slender black cigarillo, but that was all. The ground was too hard to take boot prints.
    Ace said, “He had his horse over here behind this other boulder, but the ground’s too rocky for there to be any tracks.”
    â€œSame here.” Chance studied the cigarillo for a moment, then tossed it away. If he ran across a man who smoked stogies like that, it might be worth remembering, but it wouldn’t really prove anything. “We’d better get back to the girls and let them know what happened. They must’ve heard all the shooting.”
    That proved to be the case as Ace and Chance rode out of the gap. They found the stagecoach stopped in the road near the entrance. Emily held her coach gun ready to fire, and Bess had drawn the old pistol from her holster. The young women visibly relaxed as they saw the Jensen brothers riding toward them.
    â€œAre you two all right?” Bess called.
    â€œWe heard a lot of gunfire,” Emily added.
    Ace and Chance reined in beside the coach.
    Ace said, “Somebody was waiting in the gap, all right. Whether he was there to ambush you or was proddy for some other reason, we don’t know. But after we’d traded some lead with him, he took off for the tall and uncut.”
    â€œDid you get a good look at him?” Bess asked.
    Ace shook his head. “He was just an hombre on a horse, riding away from us as fast as he could.”
    â€œSo you think it’s safe to go on through the gap?” Emily wanted to know. “You cleaned out anybody who might want to stop us?”
    Ace and Chance exchanged a look.
    Chance shrugged. “That fella’s gone, and nobody else took a shot at us. We didn’t see anybody else, but I don’t suppose we can guarantee anything.”
    â€œWell, all life is a risk, I guess. Sometimes you’ve just got to take a—” Emily glanced at Chance, stopped short, and frowned. “Get that damn grin off your face, Jensen.”
    â€œYes, ma’am. You’re right, though, about life being a risk.”
    Emily blew out an exasperated breath and told her sister, “Let’s get this rattletrap moving again.”
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    Nobody shot at the coach as it rolled through the half-mile-long gap. Ace and Chance had their rifles out, ready to return any fire that came their way, but nothing happened.
    â€œPlumb peaceful,” Emily muttered as they came out the other side and started down a long, fairly gentle slope onto some flats that stretched for miles to the east.
    Still high enough, Ace was able to spot the settlement several miles away. A dark line cut across the flats beyond the town and he figured that was the railroad Bess had mentioned.
    It took only a half hour for the stagecoach to reach Bleak Creek, named, Ace supposed, for the little stream that meandered past it. It was a decent-sized town with a business district that stretched for several blocks along the main street and quite a few houses on the cross streets. The redbrick railroad station at the far end was the largest building in town.
    â€œThe stage line has an office in the depot, so that’s where we’re headed,” Bess explained to the Jensen brothers. “There’s a stable next door where we keep the coach and the horses.”
    â€œYou should be safe enough here in town,” Ace