The Lonely Men by L'Amour Louis

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

Chapter 11

We passed a quiet night. Until the last of the twilight was gone I could still hear the quail. These were the Mexican blue quail that run along the ground more than they fly, oft times thirty or forty of them in a covey. Around a small fire, we talked it over. We had invaded Apache country and taken prisoners from them, so they would be on our trail, they would never let up. The horses needed rest. The deserted ranch had water and plenty of good grass, and there was a good field of fire. We decided to stay put, and that was all right with me. I'd seen no such beautiful place in all my life, and I said as much to Dorset.

"It is beautiful," she agreed, "and peaceful. I wonder they ever left ... the people who lived here."

"Apaches. They devastated this whole stretch of country. Folks tried again and again to build homes here, but they couldn't make it.

"When we leave here," I went on, "we're going to have to run. It is going to be pure hell betwixt here and the border towns."

"Why did she do it, Tell?" Dorset asked suddenly. "Why did she want you killed?"

"I don't know that she did."

"There was no Orry Sackett, Tell. Can't you see that? She lied to you. All the children are accounted for. There were the Creed youngsters and my sister. Harry had been taken long before, and there simply were no others."

This idea about Orry worried me. It was something that needed contemplating, but there was another worry in what Dorset said, for if there was no child, why send me skyhootin' into such dangerous country? Unless she did want me dead? And if she wanted me dead, would she stop with this? Suppose she tried again to kill me when I showed up alive ... if I did?

I never was much good at thinking complicated things out. Mostly I studied on situations and then went ahead and did what I would have done, anyway. When it comes to work and travel or a fighting situation, I can come up with answers, but I never was any good at figuring out why folks turned to evil.

"Dorset," I said, "I can't think of a reason why anybody should want me killed like that. Why, she might be the death of these men with me, too."

"Maybe she wants to get back at your brother. Maybe she hates the name of Sackett."

It made no kind of sense, but I had one thought a body couldn't get around. And that was that she had sent me off to Mexico after a child who I now felt sure never existed.

You might figure I could have looked around more, but not if you knew Apaches. If any Apaches had a white prisoner it would be known to all of them. They had few secrets among themselves. So I was left with the almost certain knowledge that I'd been sent down here on a wild-goose chase that would be almost sure to get me killed.

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