Powder Burns (A Powder Burns Western--Book One) by Al Cody

Author:Al Cody
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action hero, wild west fiction, gunfighters and outlaws, westerns 1880s, piccadilly publishing westerns, best western ebooks, al cody westerns, archie jocelyn, sudden westerns, william m johnston
Publisher: Piccadilly

Laredo rode furiously, without purpose for the first few miles. But gradually a plan began to take shape in his mind, one which pleased him more as he considered the details. After that he rode with some thought for the welfare of his horse, since it was the only one he had and must carry him far.

What had happened was a setback, but he proposed that it should be of a temporary nature. Before he was finished, he’d have all that he had aimed at in the first place, and, sweetest of all, revenge. The means would be ready to his hand, requiring only that he grasp it.

While still below the Red, he’d talked with a couple from Boake Queen’s crew, and had learned enough to be able to piece together the chain of events which had plagued him. No-Brand Burley had been saved from hanging by Queen, to the mystification of his own men, but Queen’s reason had become clear to Laredo as Burley continued to pester. The sort of proposition that the cattleman would have made the rustler was not hard to figure.

Laredo scowled at the reflection that Burley would twice have outsmarted him, and won, had it not been for Powder Burns. But there had been a lot of luck in that, he corrected himself, and luck had a way of going just so far, then turning sour on a man, as witness his own of late. Powder would soon be having some of the same brand.

With a good notion in mind of what the rustler crew would do under such circumstances, it required only three days of hunting for him to come up with them. He saw their camp fire, a warm beacon against the dusk, and jogged openly toward it. As he had expected, they were making no effort to hide, but had the outward look of honest men, even as himself.

They eyed him suspiciously as he rode up, and some of them he knew and was known by, including Burley. Old Leather nodded in noncommittal fashion and went on with his supper, quite as though this was the normal pattern for life.

“Light and eat,” Burley invited, and was careful to ask no questions while that was done. A man who came openly to your camp was entitled to the hospitality of the land.

Soft night lay across the country once the meal was finished. Here, back away from settlements and the dust of the herd, it was peaceful. Laredo lounged on an elbow and disregarded the conventions, which dictated that he speak first to the man who was boss. That wasn’t the way he cared to handle it.

“You’re wonderin’ about me,” he said abruptly. “I’m not with the Broadaxe any more. Most of you know Powder Burns, and you haven’t any cause to love him.”

That struck a responsive chord. There was hate for the man who had foiled them so persistently. Only Leather and Burley seemed apathetic.

“Is Powder roddin’ the herd now?” Old Leather queried, and was rewarded with a malicious glare.

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