Outlaw Life by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480487482
Publisher: Open Road Media

SEVEN

The sky was clear with only a few scattered puffballs of cloud as they neared the mesa road. Chase, who had been teetering between terror and jubilance, felt his spirits rise again as they made their way to the shadow of the huge landform and started up along the trail to the shelf where Bandolero sat, huddled against the base of the mesa.

‘What are you going to do first?’ he asked Dan.

‘What do you think?’ Quick said with an easy smile.

‘Just ride up to the house and ask for Christine’s hand?’

‘I can’t think of a better time to do it, or any easier way.’

‘But the St Johns – Christine – will know that you’ve been up to something illegal,’ Chase said, amazed by Dan’s boldness.

‘I suppose they will,’ Dan said, tilting his hat back a little with his thumb, ‘but Christine will know that I did it for her. St John – well he’s seen a lot of strange doings in his time. He might not like it, but the old bird must realize that he won’t be around forever to take care of his daughters, that it’s probably best for Christine to go now, while I have some money to take care of her.’

‘I suppose so,’ Chase answered dubiously. Dan’s brashness had become a little reckless, he thought. Considering, he asked, ‘What about Louise? Will you be taking her, too?’

Dan frowned, his forehead wrinkling. ‘I guess I hadn’t thought about that much – Lou and I don’t get along well. If Christine says we should, I guess I’ll have to take Louise with us, though it will complicate things.’

‘Maybe Louise won’t want to go,’ Chase said. ‘She might feel obliged to stay and take care of the old man.’

Dan’s expression brightened again. ‘You know, Mad Dog, you’re probably right!’

Chase winced at the use of the hastily invented nickname. Quietly he asked Dan, ‘Don’t call me that again, all right?’

Dan laughed, apologized, said it was only a jest and guided his sorrel pony along the narrow trail, Chase riding silently beside him. Chase found his thoughts inexplicably concerned with Louise’s future. He scolded himself mentally – what did he care about the dark-eyed girl? He had Laura Wheaton waiting for him back in the Colorado mountains, and he knew Louise St John not at all, really.

The sun was warm on their backs when they rode up through the familiar chute of gray stones where nopal cactus flourished. They rounded a bend in the trail … and found Jeb Tucker waiting for them.

He was squatted beside the trail where the rocks shaded him, holding the reins to his pony. He stood and dusted off his trousers as the two young men approached. He squinted at them and shook his head.

‘I’ve been waiting for you two,’ he said. ‘We need to have a little talk.’

‘What about, Tucker?’ Chase asked curiously.

Tucker growled out his answer, ‘I think I’d better talk to your partner here,’ he said nodding in Dan’s direction, ‘You’ve already proved that you’re slow to listen or learn, Chase.

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.