William W. Johnstone by Law of the Mountain Man

Author:Law of the Mountain Man [Man, Law of the Mountain]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Westerns, General, Jensen; Smoke (Fictitious Character), Fiction, Mountain Life, Western Stories, Rangelands, Idaho
ISBN: 9780786025725
Publisher: Pinnacle
Published: 1989-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

15

The sheriff rode out to the ranch two days after Blackjack Morgan had tossed down the challenge. He had three tough-looking deputies with him.

He told Walt to get his crew together. His adult crew.

Only Smoke, Cheyenne, and the women were close to the house. They sat at the long table in the front yard and talked.

“Lines bein’ what they are,” the sheriff said, “I ain’t rightly sure this place is even in my jurisdiction. But I know damn well that Preston is. Excuse my language, ladies. And I ain’t a-gonna have no gunfights in my town.” He looked at Smoke. “I thank you for not ridin’ in.”

“I’m waiting for them to move it closer to the ranch.”

The sheriff nodded his head. He waved his hand at the three deputies. “This is it, folks. You’re lookin’ at the law enforcement in this county ... providing, that is, the Box T is even in my county. New lines was drawn up last year and it’s still all confused. But that ain’t the point. The point is that Jud Vale’s done hired himself about sixty men, all drawin’ fightin’ wages, and there ain’t a damn thing I can do about it. Oh, I could ride over to the Bar V and try to throw my badge around. But you all know how much good that would do. Jud’s a charmer. He’d just tell me he was gettin’ ready for roundup and hired all them men to punch cows."

He sighed. “Walt, there may still be warrants out on Jud back East. I know the story. And I’ve sent telegrams to them folks back yonder. The parents of the girl that Jud was supposed to have killed is dead. The lawmen who were in charge when it happened are gone. So that’s a dead end. No help there.”

“What you’re trying to say, Sheriff,” Smoke said, “is that we’re on our own here.”

“That’s blunt put, Jensen. But yeah, that’s just about it. You say that Jud attacked your ranch. Can you prove it in a court of law?”

“I doubt it,” Walt admitted.

“There still ain’t no laws about two growed-up men facin’ each other over gun barrels. There will be someday, but that time ain’t here yet. I talked to a man from the governor’s office. The governor ain’t got the manpower to step in and settle every dispute between ranchers. Territory is just too big. I’ve said what I come to say, Walt. I wanted to tell it to you face to face.”

“I appreciate that.”

“You’ve told us, Sheriff,” Smoke said. “Now let me tell you.”

The sheriff cut his eyes to the gunfighter.

“Just stay out of it,” Smoke said flatly. “I roughed up a few and killed one the last time out. The next time I go headhunting, I’m going to leave bodies all over the range.”

The sheriff flushed, but wisely kept his mouth shut.

“And that goes for me, too,” Cheyenne said. “In spades. I’m gettin’ tarred of all this dilly-dally in’ around. I’m an old man; I ain’t got many years left me.

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.