Read There's Always a Trail (1984) Online
Authors: Louis L'amour
There's Always a Trail (1984) (3 page)
Hack let go everything and hit the dirt just as a gu n roared behind him.
Rodd grunted, gasped and then yelled. "You fool! Yo u bloody fool! You've hit me! You've killed -!"
Shorty Hazel's voice shouted. "To Hell with it, Wing!
Grab the bag and let's go!"
Hack rolled over and came to his knee shooting. Some t hing hit him below the knee and he rolled over, comin g up against the body of a man, who might be alive or dead.
Something grated on gravel and the man lunged to hi s feet, sack in hand, and sprang for the nearest horse.
He steadied himself, leaning on one elbow, and fired.
The man dropped the sack and turned.
Fire stabbed the darkness, and the body of the ma n beside him jerked slightly . Sonora Hack was holding hi s left hand gun and he fired in return. The other ma n turned, fell against his horse, then swung into the saddle.
Hack lifted his gun, then saw the sack lying in the road.
"The Devil with it! Let him go!"
He tried to get to his feet, but one leg wouldn't functio n right. He crawled to the sack, felt the rustle of bills an d the chink of gold coins. He got a grip on the sack an d whistled.
The buckskin trotted to him and stood patiently whil e he caught hold of a stirrup and pulled himself up, the n climbed into the saddle. He started the horse to th e nearest house, gripping the sack in his right hand.
He shouted and the door opened, then other door s began to open, lamps were lighted, and people emerged.
One of them was Ann. He thrust the sack at her. Tryi n all the time. I was try --"
He felt himself falling, felt her hands catch him, the n somebody else's hands. "He's passed out," somebody wa s saying. "He's --"
Something smelled like rain, rain and roses and coffe e and other smells he could not place. Then he opened hi s eyes and he could hear the rain falling, and he stared out a curtained window at a pinon-clad hill beyond. Turning hi s head he saw his boots, wiped cleaner than they had bee n in months, and his gunbelt hanging near them, over th e back of a chair. His clothes were folded neatly on th e chair, and there was another chair, a rocking chair with a book lying face down on the seat.
The door opened and Ann Bailey came in. She wa s wearing an apron, and when her eyes met his, she smiled.
'You're actually awake!, You're not delirious!"
"What do you mean... delirious? Where am IP What'
s happened?"
"You're at home, on our ranch, and you were delirious.
You talked," she blushed faintly, "an awful lot. You kille d all those men."
"Not Rodd nor Hazel. Mathy killed Rodd by mistake.
Hazel got away."
"He didn't get far. He fell ok his horse about a mil e down the road, and died before anyone found him."
"You got your money'?"
"Of course." She looked down at him. "Half of thi s ranch is yours now."
"I won't take it. That isn't right."
"It is right. That was the deal, and we intend to stan d by it. Anyway, Dad needs help. He's needed somebod y who can handle cattle. He can't do it all himself. You ge t some rest now, and we can talk of that later."
"What's that I smell?"
"I'm making some doughnuts. ''
"All right. I'll stay. I always did like doughnuts!"
'
T
HE CARLISLE-KING FIGHT
When the wild towns of the Old West are listed it i s always Abilene, Dodge City, Deadwood and Tombston e that are mentioned, and rarely Los Angeles.
Yet California in its early years was second only to Texa s in the number of cattle roaming its thousands of hills, an d the vaqueros who handled those cattle numbered amon g them some of the finest riders and ropers the country wa s to see.
The most noted gun battle of Los Angeles's early year s took place on July 6, 1865, when Bob Carlisle shot it ou t with the King brothers at the old Bella Union Hotel.
On the afternoon of the previous day Carlisle had word s with Under-Sheriff A. J. King over the investigation of th e murder of John Rains, Carlisle's brother-in-law. The dis c ussion ended with Carlisle using a Bowie knife on King , and during the argument he was supposed to have sai d that he could kill all the Kings.
Carlisle was a big, strikingly handsome man who ha d proved both his nerve and his skill with weapons on mor e than one occasion. As the son-in-law of Col. Isaac William s and owner of the Chino Ranch of some 46,000 acres, h e was a prominent citizen.
On the day following the di ff iculty between Carlisle an d A. J. King, and just as the stage pulled up before the Bell a Union, Frank and Houston King, brothers of A. J., wer e passing by and glimpsed Bob Carlisle through the ope n B00K.
Carlisle apparently saw them at the same time, and on e of the Kings said, "There's Carlisle now. Let's go see if h e means it."
As the King brothers approached the door, firing began.
Carlisle's first bullet killed Frank King, but Houston Kin g emptied his gun into Carlisle, putting four bullets withi n four inches of Carlisle's navel. Carlisle went down, the n started to get up, and Houston rushed him, breaking hi s now empty pistol over Carlisle's head.
Pushing himself up against the wall, Carlisle gripped hi s six-shooter with both hands and shot Houston King throug h the body. Carried to a billiard table, Bob Carlisle died a short time later. Houston King survived the shooting an d was tried for killing Carlisle, but acquitted.
Harris Newmark, a prominent citizen, came on th e scene as the shooting ended, and has told the story in hi s memoirs, as has Frank King, former cowley and write r who was the son of Houston King. There are several othe r accounts.