Hawk 07 by William S. Brady

Author:William S. Brady [Brady, William S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Angus Wells, best westerns, cowboys, john harvey, louis l'amour, peter brandvold, piccadilly cowboys, piccadilly publishing westerns, westerns ebooks, zane grey
Publisher: Piccadilly
Published: 2024-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

‘You know what kind of horse Guerrama’s riding?’ Hawk asked Luis.

‘Sí.’ The old man nodded. ‘A buckskin stallion with the Bavispe brand on it.’

‘Fine.’ Hawk tugged the reins clear of the hitching rail. ‘Let’s look in the stable.’

‘They all said he was gone,’ murmured the vaquero, not yet willing to accept that his friend had turned against them. ‘Is that not enough?’

Hawk shook his head: ‘I got to stay alive this long by not trusting many people. Least of all barkeeps.’

The stable was a tall adobe barn with a wooden roof and enormous wooden doors. There was a single, man-sized entrance cut into the frontage and an old mestizo dozing before it with both feet propped close against a glowing brazier.

Hawk woke him and asked to look inside the place. He explained that he was checking it out for a pack-train coming through in the next few days, and a ten-peso coin clinched the inspection.

The stalls were empty of anything answering to the description of a buckskin stallion, but when Luis talked about the horse, the old man recognized it instantly.

‘Sí,’ he said. ‘A superb animal. It is not often I see horses like that up here. The other was sad, beside that beast.’

‘What did it look like?’ asked Hawk.

‘A piebald,’ said the old man. ‘Mostly mustang, I think. It would have staying power, but little speed. Not like that buckskin.’

Hawk handed over more money and got a description of the two riders.

‘It was odd,’ said the old man. ‘The one riding the best horse looked poor. The other was all guns and fancy conchos, but he was on the lesser horse. Still, the other man looked like he knew his animal well. I like to see that.’

‘God!’ Luis slapped his quirt against his thigh as they walked back to the plaza. ‘It has to be Antonio. It cannot be anyone else. But why?’

‘We’ll find that out in time,’ said Hawk. ‘Where’s this lake?’

‘Condio?’ Luis shrugged. ‘A day into the hills for a man on a horse. For us, maybe three. It is not very big, but it is a good place to find water. I’d have stopped there to fill our barrels.’

‘And Guerrama would have known that,’ said Hawk. ‘Wouldn’t he?’

‘Anyone who knows the country would know that.’ Luis sounded almost angry that Hawk had succeeded in proving his friend a traitor. ‘It is common knowledge.’

‘All right.’ Hawk mounted his horse and turned it north towards where the wagon waited. ‘So let’s set your boys’ minds at rest an’ tell them we go into Toquames in the morning. That should please them enough to take the bad news.’

‘What is that?’ asked Luis. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Well,’ said Hawk. ‘Most coins got two different sides, don’t they?’

‘Sí.’ Luis nodded as they skirted the plaza. ‘Unless they are used by crooked gamblers.’

‘So there’s a good an’ a bad side to life,’ said Hawk. ‘The same way.’

He heeled his pony onwards down the slope as he spoke, leaving the Mexican to catch up.

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.