Mustang Man (1966) by Louis - Sackett's 15 L'amour Page B
Authors: Louis - Sackett's 15 L'amour
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up his spirits a mite. He drank it, taking it in his right hand, while I put on some water to heat up to clean him up with.
"Looks to me as if everbody on the Staked Plains is related," I said, "and all of them after Nathan Hume's gold."
"I got a claim to it, better than any of the rest."
"Better than Penelope?"
"You don't say. She here?"
"Unless they've killed her, she is. She saved my bacon yesterday, and a fine girl she is."
After he'd drunk the coffee he laid back while I washed out a couple of bullet wounds, neither of them serious, beyond the blood he'd lost. At least, I'd seen men survive worse ones. I always made shift to pack a few wrappings of bandage, for a man on the dodge can't go running to no doctor. So I fixed up the wounds as best I could, and that hand along with it.
The fingernails had been missing for a while, but crawling through the brush he'd evidently torn open the wounds.
"You must have known something they wanted almighty bad."
"I should smile, I did. I knew where that gold was. And I know just where that box canyon is."
"I wonder they let you live."
"They fired my place and then rode off, leaving me hog-tied in the house. I was out cold and they never figured I'd get out alive. Well, I fooled 'em."
"Seems like everybody in the country started after that gold all to once."
Mustang Man (1966)
"What would you have me do?" the old man said. "I worked with old Nathan when I was a boy, and I had me a mighty good idea where that gold was, but as long as the widow was alive I didn't figure I had a right to it.
"Others hunted it, but most of them had no idea where to look. I knew how old Nathan thought, and I was sure I could lay hand on the gold. The old man was my cousin, blood-kin, and I was the only one of his flesh who had worked with him.
Many a time I went into the San Juans to meet up with the gold traders.
"Them Karneses, they didn't know where I was until you fetched up to their wagon. When they saw that brand on the dun, NH Connected, they knew it for old Nathan Hume's brand, and knew that I was somewhere about. That was one of the reasons they wanted to do away with you."
"Why didn't you try to get the gold before now?"
He glanced up at me. "You ain't seen that place yet, nor heard the stories.
Well, I heard 'em. Ain't no Indian alive who will spend a night in that canyon, and mighty few who will even go into it. Evil spirits, they say, and maybe there is."
"You ain't told me your name?"
"Harry Mims. Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't ha'nts kept me out of that box canyon. Mostly it was Comanches. Why, I've lost my outfit twice and nearly lost my hair a couple of times, too.
"One time I was lucky and got right up to the canyon before they come on me.
Well, they took my pack outfit and got so busy arguing over the loot that I sneaked off and hid until things quieted down. Took me two weeks to get back to Las Vegas, and when I got there I hadn't enough money for a meal. I got a job swamping in a saloon, then they moved me up to bartender. Took me six months to get myself an outfit again, what with gambling an' all."
"How'd you get clear up here now?"
"A-hossback--how'd you figure? They stole some horses off me, scattered the rest, but those horses come on home, and I caught up a few, saddled up, and rode. I taken me some time, but here I am."
He lay back, resting. He was in such bad shape I didn't feel much like asking him more questions. Somebody had been shooting at him more than a little, and he'd wasted away some, riding all that time. It gave a body the shudders to think what that old man had gone through in getting here.
"What do you figure to do now?"
"You ask a fool question like that? I'm going to get that gold, or stop them from getting it, and by the Lord Harry, I'll kill that Ralph Karnes."
"What about her?"
Harry Mims was still for a while, and then he looked up at me. "Sackett, I know she needs it, but I can't bring myself to kill no woman. Why, she was
"Looks to me as if everbody on the Staked Plains is related," I said, "and all of them after Nathan Hume's gold."
"I got a claim to it, better than any of the rest."
"Better than Penelope?"
"You don't say. She here?"
"Unless they've killed her, she is. She saved my bacon yesterday, and a fine girl she is."
After he'd drunk the coffee he laid back while I washed out a couple of bullet wounds, neither of them serious, beyond the blood he'd lost. At least, I'd seen men survive worse ones. I always made shift to pack a few wrappings of bandage, for a man on the dodge can't go running to no doctor. So I fixed up the wounds as best I could, and that hand along with it.
The fingernails had been missing for a while, but crawling through the brush he'd evidently torn open the wounds.
"You must have known something they wanted almighty bad."
"I should smile, I did. I knew where that gold was. And I know just where that box canyon is."
"I wonder they let you live."
"They fired my place and then rode off, leaving me hog-tied in the house. I was out cold and they never figured I'd get out alive. Well, I fooled 'em."
"Seems like everybody in the country started after that gold all to once."
Mustang Man (1966)
"What would you have me do?" the old man said. "I worked with old Nathan when I was a boy, and I had me a mighty good idea where that gold was, but as long as the widow was alive I didn't figure I had a right to it.
"Others hunted it, but most of them had no idea where to look. I knew how old Nathan thought, and I was sure I could lay hand on the gold. The old man was my cousin, blood-kin, and I was the only one of his flesh who had worked with him.
Many a time I went into the San Juans to meet up with the gold traders.
"Them Karneses, they didn't know where I was until you fetched up to their wagon. When they saw that brand on the dun, NH Connected, they knew it for old Nathan Hume's brand, and knew that I was somewhere about. That was one of the reasons they wanted to do away with you."
"Why didn't you try to get the gold before now?"
He glanced up at me. "You ain't seen that place yet, nor heard the stories.
Well, I heard 'em. Ain't no Indian alive who will spend a night in that canyon, and mighty few who will even go into it. Evil spirits, they say, and maybe there is."
"You ain't told me your name?"
"Harry Mims. Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't ha'nts kept me out of that box canyon. Mostly it was Comanches. Why, I've lost my outfit twice and nearly lost my hair a couple of times, too.
"One time I was lucky and got right up to the canyon before they come on me.
Well, they took my pack outfit and got so busy arguing over the loot that I sneaked off and hid until things quieted down. Took me two weeks to get back to Las Vegas, and when I got there I hadn't enough money for a meal. I got a job swamping in a saloon, then they moved me up to bartender. Took me six months to get myself an outfit again, what with gambling an' all."
"How'd you get clear up here now?"
"A-hossback--how'd you figure? They stole some horses off me, scattered the rest, but those horses come on home, and I caught up a few, saddled up, and rode. I taken me some time, but here I am."
He lay back, resting. He was in such bad shape I didn't feel much like asking him more questions. Somebody had been shooting at him more than a little, and he'd wasted away some, riding all that time. It gave a body the shudders to think what that old man had gone through in getting here.
"What do you figure to do now?"
"You ask a fool question like that? I'm going to get that gold, or stop them from getting it, and by the Lord Harry, I'll kill that Ralph Karnes."
"What about her?"
Harry Mims was still for a while, and then he looked up at me. "Sackett, I know she needs it, but I can't bring myself to kill no woman. Why, she was
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