The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume 2 (53 page)

Yates was not old enough to have been one of the Chilton gang, but the Strawhouse Trail pointed right at the Bar W … or the RM. Scowling, Bowdrie considered that as he headed off, down the trail.

Somebody had attempted to dry-gulch him, and that somebody rode a horse with worn shoes, as had the killer of the man in Venado Canyon. That somebody had come from this direction.

Tracks in the dust stopped him. Again the worn shoes … and the tracks were fresh!

He skirted wide around a clump of mesquite, then spotted the rider ahead of him, just disappearing down a slight declivity. Swinging wide again, he took the roan at a run toward the wash. Sliding into it, he put the horse up the far side along a trail cattle had taken. Dust hung in the air, and it followed the rider he was seeking. He swung around and drew up at the trailside. There were no tracks … and then he heard the hoofbeats of a cantering horse.

The rider rounded a low knoll, and Bowdrie stepped his horse forward, gun in hand. “All right. Get your hands up!”

He stared into the astonished eyes of Rose Murray.

His astonishment matched hers, but he was quick to note the rifle in her scabbard. After all, what did he know about her? She had been curious about the dead man, and a woman can squeeze off a shot as well as a man. He lowered his gun.

“Can I lower my hands?” Bowdrie nodded. “Who did you expect to see?”

“Not you …” He hesitated only briefly. “Riding home?”

As they rode he explained about the mysterious rifle shots and his visit to the Bar W.

“Rad Yates seems very nice,” Rose said. “He's called at the ranch.”

They rode into the yard and swung down. Bowdrie caught a vague movement up the mountainside. There was a man there, his clothing blending perfectly with the background. Only his movement had betrayed him. Rose had just stepped inside, so he followed, getting a corner of the barn between the hill and the door as he reached it.

A Mexican woman brought coffee, and after a few minutes Bowdrie asked, casually, “Had that horse long? The one you were riding?”

“He was born from one of my mares. Nobody has ever ridden him but me.”

There had been her chance and she had passed it up. She seemed to have no suspicion of his reason for asking the question. In fact, she was not suspicious as a guilty person should be.

A drum of hooves and a hail. The Mexican woman answered the door and a moment later a big young man walked in. He had brown hair and a bold, handsome face. He walked with a casual swagger and his guns were tied down.

This would be Rad Yates. He was not the man on the hill; his clothing was bright and colorful. He grinned when he saw Bowdrie. “Heard you were out at the place,” he said. He turned and spoke to Rose, and Chick moved where he could see Yates's horse. It was a flashy paint.

Rose came over to him, followed by Yates. “We're going towards Rad's place to start a tally on the cattle in those canyons,” she said. “I'm sorry I can't stay to entertain you. Would you like to come along with us?”

Chick Bowdrie looked thoughtfully from one to the other. His dark eyes showed one of their rare flashes of amusement. The pieces were beginning to fall into place now. “Maybe,” he said. Then he shifted to the attack. “Sure he's got himself in place yet, Yates?”

Rad Yates tightened and his head lowered a little. His smile remained, but became set and hard. “What're you talkin' about?”

“That gent up on the mountain with the rifle.”

Yates was caught flat-footed. “What gent? I don't know what you're talking about.”

Bowdrie's hands were on his hips, only inches from his guns. “Your first name is Radcliff, isn't it? Maybe the son of Bill Radcliff? Or his nephew?”

“And if it is?”

“Well, it's an interesting point, Yates. But even more interesting if you and the gent up the hill get what you're lookin' for. Then what happens? You shoot it out?”

Rose was looking from one to the other, frankly puzzled. “What are you two talking about?”

Bowdrie smiled. “Why, Rose, we're talkin' about the loot from this ranch stolen and buried by the Chilton gang. Andy Short was one of them and Bill Radcliff another. Unless I miss my guess, that's Andy up there on the mountain right now, waitin' for me with a rifle.”

Yates had recovered himself. “Rose, I reckon these Rangers are suspicious of ever'body. We'd better forget the ride. All right if I come over tomorrow?”

“Of course, Rad.” Her voice chilled. “But I expect that Mr. Bowdrie will be leaving now.”

She turned on him when they were alone. “You've no right to accuse on so little evidence. Rad is one of my best friends.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Bowdrie said. “But I would bear in mind that a man's been murdered for coming to help you. You should be careful.”

         

Rad Yates was frankly stumped. When they learned a Ranger had come upon the body of the dead man, they were worried. For the first time an unforeseen element had intruded upon what seemed a perfect plan.

Almost a year before, Andy Short, only recently released from prison, had come upon Yates in an El Paso saloon. A casual word had told Yates who Short was, and he was disappointed to discover that Short did not know the whereabouts of the loot. Only Dan Chilton actually knew … and nobody knew where Dan Chilton was.

Yet Andy Short had an idea. Using Yates's place as a base, he had searched the hills to no avail. He could not locate the hidden loot. But on a casual visit to the RM, Rad Yates had seen the letter from the mysterious man in California and had gone at once to Short.

Short, a slender man, gray of face and cold of eye, had been immediately excited. “Chilton!” He slammed his fist on the table. “He's comin' to give that loot back! He was always a namby-pamby!”

Chilton had had a map. Short took it from the body after the shooting, mounted his horse, and rode off. From the side of a distant hill he glanced back and suddenly he was frightened.

Dan Chilton's body was gone!

Swinging back, he had seen the bloodstains and the tracks of a staggering man. Somehow, Chilton was still alive, and he had gotten into the saddle again.

Short had gone after him, but Chilton had disappeared. When he saw him again it was in the streets of Valverde and Chick Bowdrie was explaining to Houdon.

Had Chilton lived to talk?

Carefully, they remained away from the location of the loot, waiting to let the Ranger move first. He would show his hand if he knew anything. If he came after the loot, they could kill him. They watched and waited, and then, on Bowdrie's return from Mexico, they had tried and failed.

Now he was here. And he had known, somehow, about Andy Short being on the mountain.

The plan had been simple enough. Yates would get him out on the mountainside, Short would do the shooting, then Rad would make a show of chasing the killer. He'd impress Rose and then he and Andy Short would go dig up the loot. But the Ranger was onto them, somehow, and he had posed a disturbing question. What would happen when they got the money? Was he ready to kill to get it all? Was he ready to kill simply to keep his part of it?

         

When Chick Bowdrie had scouted the area to be sure he was not to be the target of a hidden marksman, he rode away and took back trails for town. His warnings to Rose Murray had gone unheeded. That she liked Rad Yates was obvious, that she did not appreciate Bowdrie's seemingly unfounded suggestions was equally obvious.

The existence of at least two sets of shoes worn in an identical manner damaged what little case he had and left him without evidence. For a supposedly abandoned route, the section of the Strawhouse Trail through the sandstone bottoms got more use than he would have expected. The horse Rose Murray had ridden was not the horse he had seen in town. Neither was the horse ridden by Yates.

Valverde was somber with darkness when he dismounted at the stable. The hostler took his horse. “I'll give him a bait of oats,” he offered. Pausing, he added, “Stranger in town. Tall young feller. Askin' about the dead man.”

Over a late supper, Chick pondered his problems. He had stumbled upon the body of a murdered man, yet he was no further along than in the beginning. Andy Short could be the killer. If he was actually around. On the other hand, so could Rad Yates. And Rose? That was still an open question. There might be more to this than appeared on the surface.

A quicker solution might be reached if he found the loot. The outlaws had been hotly pursued. Implying little time to conceal the treasure. No time to dig a deep hole. If it had not been recovered by the surviving members of the gang—and he was positive it had not—then that implied a place not too easy of access or too easy to guess.

The outlaws' line of flight had been from the hacienda through the Chisos Mountains, but by the time they reached Rough Run the loot had already been cached. That left many miles of country to be searched. Yet, there could not be too many possible hideaways on that route.

The door opened and he looked up. A tall young man had entered the room. He was blond and deeply tanned. “You're Mr. Bowdrie?”

“And you'll be Dan Chilton's son.”

The blond young man was surprised. “Why, yes. As a matter of fact, that's my name, too. I didn't expect you to know me.”

Chick Bowdrie was thinking swiftly. Chilton was an attractive young man, and more attractive, if he was any judge, than Rad Yates. He grinned suddenly. “Look,” he said, “your father was trying to do a good deed out here, that's what got him killed …” Bowdrie carefully explained to the young man what he knew and what he suspected. He ended by asking for young Dan Chilton's help. “Rad Yates is involved somehow, and he's currying favor with Rose Murray. You go down there, and no matter what happens, stick close to her. I don't know what his scheme is, but you'll be in his way.”

Chilton nodded. “And what excuse will I give? The son of the man who robbed her family?”

“Just that. You want to atone for what your father did. He was returning to help her; you want to carry on. She'll listen.”

He hesitated, trying his coffee. “Can you use a gun?”

“I have one. A thirty-two Smith & Wesson.”

That explained the ammunition. Bowdrie nodded. “It's small, but it will have to do. Don't use it unless you have to.” He explained about Yates, who and what he was. Chilton nodded, offering no comment.

In their conversation Chilton had been able to tell him very little, but Bowdrie sat alone over his coffee in the now silent town and pieced that little together with what he knew.

The searchers, old Dan had told his son, had all looked in the Chisos Mountains, and that was the wrong place. This narrowed the distance by more than half. The old trail led from Oak Spring at the foot of the mountains to the Rock Hut at the base of Burro Mesa. I'll lay two to one it wasn't cached far from that Rock Hut, he told himself.

One thing he decided. If, as he believed, the presence of Chilton at the RM would keep Rad Yates around Rose's ranch, it would leave him free to hunt down Andy Short. For he no longer had any idea of waiting to be shot at. Now he was going to hunt the hunter.

Finishing his coffee, he got up and walked to the door. Pedro and his spouse had long since retired, so he merely blew out the light and turned the knob. For several minutes he waited, listening to the night sounds in the empty street of Valverde.

A sign creaked rustily in the vague wind. A paper brushed along the street. All was still.

Suddenly a horseman appeared at the end of the street and started forward, coming along toward the saloon. Bowdrie stepped through the door and eased it shut behind him. Then he shifted away from the door and stood flat against the building.

The rider reached the marshal's office near the saloon and drew up. His saddle creaked as he swung down. Chick strained his eyes in the dim light and could see only that this was a big man, vaguely familiar.

Taking a careful look around, the man eased his gun in his holster and moved forward, and suddenly Chick knew him. It was the big cowhand from the Bar W!

Frowning, Chick waited. This … it simply did not fit. Unless the man had discovered something.

Opposite the door of the marshal's office, the big man paused. The man was in the darker shadow now, away from the gray of the street, and Chick only knew he was there, he could see nothing.

A flicker of movement drew Bowdrie's eyes and suddenly he realized there was another person—man or woman—in the space between the saloon and the office. Chick Bowdrie, suddenly comprehending, stepped out of the shadow and started forward.

Even as he moved he saw the big man, warned by some vague sound, grab frantically for his gun. Another gun boomed heavily between the buildings and the big man staggered, then fell back off the boardwalk. He tried to get up, and a shot nailed him to the spot. Chick tried a fast shot at the darkness whence the gun flashes had come, and a return shot whipped past his face.

Running, he dashed forward, hearing a door slam open and a shouted question. He reached the alleyway and plunged recklessly into it. At the far end of the dark alley a horse and rider lunged suddenly, running away behind the buildings. When Chick reached the spot, the rider was gone … out of sight. Only a drum of running hooves fading in the night.

Breathing hard, he walked back. It was utterly impossible, yet the gunman had somehow outdistanced him. He turned again, looking down the long alley.

Rad Yates?

It simply could not have been Andy Short. No man of the age he had to be could sprint sixty feet while Chick Bowdrie was covering less than thirty. And yet the man was gone.

Several men were gathered around the body and one had lighted a match to examine him. Pedro came from the back door of the restaurant, stuffing his shirt into too tight jeans. Closer by, Houdon came from his office, buckling his belt.