Kiowa Trail by L'Amour Louis

Author:L'Amour, Louis [L'Amour, Louis]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Louis L'Amour
Published: 2010-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

That year, for a short while I was not sure whether I wished to remain in the West, but that uncertainty lasted about as long as it took me to get a saddle on a horse, mount up, and feel the wind on my face and see the long grass bending under it

Now, riding back to the camp on the knoll, I tried to recall a Frank Shalett from those years before my trip to Europe, but I could not remember the name. So he must be someone I had known later, or the relative of someone I'd known.

In the camp there was much speculation on who McDonald and Shalett would have coming on the train.

"He'll round up some of those Bald Knobbefs," Harvey Nugent suggested. "There's aplenty of boys back in the Missouri hills who'd fight for wages."

Kate Lundy was waiting for me by her ambulance, face to the wind, a few strands of hair blowing. No getting around it, she was a handsome woman. Even among beautiful women in England or on the Continent she would have been considered so.

"What will they do, Conn?" she asked.

"It isn't what they will do. It is what we must do. We've got to stop that train before it gets here. We've got to turn it around and send those boys right back to where they came from."

"They'll fight."

"Sure - if we give them the chance."

That outfit we had, they were ready for it, I could see that, and man for man I'd match them with any bunch of fighting men anywhere. Only we were spread out too much. Priest and Naylor were over at the new town. Red Mike was off down the trail somewhere, rounding up more fighting men. Our fence ran down both sides of the town, so my force was split in two by the enemy. And that wasn't good at all, for the fence must be guarded or they'd get out there and cut our wire.

So far, we had turned away several herds, and I could imagine what they were thinking down there in town. Some of them would quit and go, especially the ones who had never favored McDonald or his ways, but there was no quit in Aaron McDonald himself.

"I'm going to head them off, Kate," I said. "I'm going to take a few of the boys and head them off before they are ready for us."

D'Artaguette I wanted. That Frenchman would stand hitched, come hell or high water. Red Mike wasn't here, but I'd take Meharry, Rowdy Lynch, Gallardo, and Battery Mason. That should do it.

Yet the whole setup worried me because we were spread so thin, and those men down there in town were not fools. Most of them were fighting men, and many of them had bought lots or built houses and so had at stake something more than merely a desire to fight.

"Kate," I said, "we're going to get some wire cut; and we're going to have to stand for it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.