Slocum and the Hangman's Lady by Jake Logan

Author:Jake Logan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

13

Slocum saw the name over the gate when he passed Hardesty’s ranch. There was a symbol of a Rocking H brand beneath an arch that had the name Hardesty in big wooden letters over it. From the road, he could not see the ranch house, but the lane leading to it was plainly visible.

There were a few grazing cattle, almost as motionless as statues. In the air, there was the pungent aroma of alfalfa and lespedeza and the faint scent of clover. The sky was a yellow blaze on the western horizon, but clouds were building to the south, fluffy white ones that floated high above the river and the plain. A pair of swifts darted by on silent wings, and mourning doves whistled through the air like winged darts. It was a lonely, desolate place, for all that, and Slocum wondered why anyone would come to such a place and settle, so far from the hubs of commerce to the west and east.

He rode on, toward the one hundred thousand acres, referring to the map Davis had given him. There were a lot of hoofprints on the road, showing him evidence of horses both coming and going.

When he reached the acreage where the gold was supposedly buried, he saw that horses had left the road and ridden over the land there. He did not follow any of these, but, here and there, he saw signs of digging, as if someone had tried to follow the clues on the treasure map and had come up dry.

He thought of the futility of searching such a vast area for little caches of gold. Unless a man had an accurate map, he was unlikely to find anything beneath the ground except more dirt. It was odd, he thought, that men would kill to buy a piece of ground so large without knowing in advance where the treasure lay. But Slocum had long ago given up on trying to understand the stupidity and greed of some men, men who would go to any lengths to achieve wealth or a woman—without regard to the consequences.

He wondered, as he rode back along the road, what part Fernandez and his wife Pandora played in the scheme to acquire the land he rode upon. What connection did they have with Hardesty? And how much did Lorelei Hardesty know about her father and the widow Cordelia? Was she in on the scheme? She had been mighty upset about something when last he had seen her. Now, he wished he knew what had been bothering her.

He had no allies in Del Rio except for Emory Davis, and Davis, like everyone else, had his own personal axe to grind. He had lost a case and seen his client hanged. Now, perhaps, he wanted revenge. But Slocum knew how empty revenge could be. If it was a dish best served cold, then it was as tasteless as flat beer.

Just west of town, on the ride back to Del Rio, Slocum became aware that someone was following him.

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.