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pistol shot and then another and then a scream, and all of a sudden that herd
was gone.
All that was left was dust and the sound of thundering hoofs.
They were headed for the Mancos River and that was one of the reasons I'd
stopped where I had. If they had a run of several miles and then reached the
river they might stop to drink. This bunch was pretty fat anyway, and they
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weren't like a bunch of wild longhorns all hungry for water who might run for
hours.
Wheeling around I rode into camp. It was a shambles. First off I saw a man on
the ground or what had been a man. It was one of the Tyler boys. The only,
way I
could tell was by the silver conchas he wore on bis belt.
Even as I swung up, Parmalee came down out of a tree. The cook came out of
the
rocks, and the other two had taken shelter behind the wagon. My pistol shot
had
come just in time to give them a split second.
"Tyler," I said, "you and Cookie take care of him." I indicated the dead man.
"Farn, you'd best go help with your cattle."
"What about you?" he asked.
'Tm going to ride up the canyon. I want to read some sign."
"I'll go with you."
"No. I'll take Charlie Farnum. Unless I'm mistaken you'll find your herd at
the
river and my Indians will be there too."
Nick Shadow had gone down after the cattle, but I'd heard Farnum's horse slow
down and I figured he had the same idea I had. I rode out from the camp and
he
was a-settin' there waiting for me.
"Figured you might like to look around," he said, and we started walking our
horses slow, keeping to the open ground where we made less sound. Once we
drew
up to listen, and after a moment Charlie said, "Why you do that for those
Indians?"
"They're good folks," I said, "and this was their country. It's nobody's
fault
as to what's happened. Wherever there's open country there'll be people
coming
hungry for land, and it wouldn't have made much sense to let a lot of folks
in
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Europe starve to death when there was miles and miles of unused land
awaiting.
"The Indian would have had a better deal, and should have but for a lot of
greedy white men and because of a few scalp-hungry Indians. There was right
and
wrong on both sides. I'm doing no crying for the Indian. He made his fight
but
he never could get enough guns and ammunition and the white men kept moving
in,
but when old Powder Face came to me he came honest, and he told me who he was
and what he'd done, and I made him welcome. I figure those boys will make
good
hands and as far as I'm concerned they're here forever."
After that we shut up and rode on, and pretty soon we noticed our horses ears
go
up like they saw something or smelled something, and sure enough there was a
fire, and a half dozen men around it, and one young feller had that cat hide
in
his hands and he was laughing at the way the herd took off. The rest of them
must have been off following the herd. I figured Powder Face and Nick Shadow
would take care of them.
"Charlie," I said, "you shoot the first one that moves."
When I spoke I spoke loud and you never saw a bunch of men come to stillness
any
swifter. Then I stepped down there and I looked at the tall blond ranny with
the
hide in his hands and I said, "You killed a good man tonight, a better man
than
you'll ever be. So you drop that hide and go for your gun."
"Can I put the hide down first?"
"Any way you like," I said, "but have at it."
Me, I was mad clear through. They'd tried to wipe out our camp and kill us
all.
It was pure-darn luck that they hadn't done it.
"You're a Sackett," this tall ranny said. "Well, Sackett, I'm Abel Dunn, and
I'm
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going to save Rocker his job."
He let go the hide and his hand swept down and closed over that six-shooter
and
my gun stabbed flame at him twice, so close together they looked and sounded
like one. And he folded and went down.
"That's for Tyler," I said. "Now old Bull Dunn warned me out of the country.
You
take Abel back to him wrapped in that cougar hide, and you tell Bull Dunn he
can
leave the country or stay, it don't make me no mind, but if he stays he
better
start goin' to Sunday School and actin' like it."
"You talk big," one of them said. "Wait until Rocker hears about this."
"You tell him," I said. "You just ride fast and tell him."
"You're the one better leave. You got no more herd than nothing."
"You wasted your time," I said. "My herd's down at the Mancos right now, and
its
all in one piece and my boys are with it. You started your victory party a
mite
too soon."
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