The Range Finder by Max Brand

Author:Max Brand
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781907624889
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing

XII

THREE AGAINST ONE

There are some who say that to conceive is really the same as to plan, and to plan is, vitally, the same as to act. But the advocates of such an idea should have stepped into the heart of Oliver Christy for a moment as he strode across the fields with two of his new companions.

As for the remaining of the trio, he had been left with the horses, because it was always well, in such affairs, to have the means of retreat well secured. Surely three of them, striking by surprise, should be enough to master a single man. For this reason, as the fourth and youngest member of the party remained behind, the three of them went across the fields. The horses were concealed in the shadows of a dry slough. That left them means of retreat near at hand, and at the same time invisible.

The big body of Oliver Christy fairly trembled with delight as the time for action approached. All the other matters of his life seemed nothing whatever. Yet it seemed to him rather strange that he who had sent that field up in smoke—partly by accident—should now be lying in wait in the blackened stubble of his own making and striving to destroy the owner of the field in a new way.

He said: “I’ll tell you this. The man that we’re waiting for is not such a giant. Not any larger than I am, as a matter of fact. But he’s a regular Hercules. Naturally strong, and he’s made himself stronger all his days by hard work. Besides that, he’s a very good shot.”

“What might you mean by that?” asked one of the three. “Will you tell me what you might mean? Some gents can shoot pretty straight at a target . . . rifle or revolver. Some are only good with a rifle. Some can hit a target, but not game. And I’ve known lots of bang-up hunters that was no good at all when it came to a flurry with other men. What sort of a shot is this here friend of yours that we’re laying for?”

“I only know this,” Christy advised, “that, when he was low in funds, he used to get his fodder by shooting off the heads of squirrels.”

“Hello! That’s pretty rare! But I’ve managed it myself, now and then, with a good rifle that I had. Not often, but I got them now and then, the tricky little devils.”

“With a rifle, yes,” Christy agreed. “But this fellow was using a revolver.”

“What?”

“An old-fashioned revolver that most men couldn’t work at all.”

This statement was followed by silence for a moment, after which the leader said: “You know that this here yarn is the facts?”

“I know it,” said Christy. “I never saw him do it. But I’ve heard him say what he did, and he isn’t the kind of a fellow who would lie.”

“Look here,” said the leader of the crew, “you have been mentioning a gent that has

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