Essential Western Novels - Volume 4. Max Brand

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ her nails biting into her palms. She kept repeating to herself, "He lives! He lives!"

      Mason stood now with a gun in each hand. His attitude was defiant as he looked about him for other possible enemies. And then two men rode into the yard. They came at a gallop, for they heard the shots. At a glance they took in the scene by the corral. One of the men was elderly. It was the younger who drew his gun. Buck Mason leaped back into the stables just as the man fired, the bullet burying itself in the door frame in front of which Mason had been standing but an instant before.

      "Put up your gun, sheriff," said the older man. "I'll get him without no gunplay." He rode slowly toward the stables. "It's all up, Buck," he called. "Limber up your artillery and come on out. I'll see you get a square deal."

      Instantly Mason stepped from the doorway. "Why the gunplay?" he demanded.

      "You're under arrest, Buck," said the older man. "Let me have your guns."

      "What you arrestin' me for, boss?" asked Buck.

      "For killin' old man Gunderstrom," replied the sheriff of Comanche County; "but I won't never believe you done it, Buck. How-some-ever I got a warrant for your arrest and the law's the law."

      Mason unbuckled his cartridge belt and handed it up to the sheriff, the two guns hanging in their holsters.

      "Tie up your horses and come up to the house," said Buck. "I got a long story to tell and there's others besides you I want to have hear it. Incidental-like, boss, I got the gang that killed Gunderstrom."

      "Who done it?" asked the sheriff of Comanche County.

      Mason pointed at Blaine, lying in the dust of the ranch yard.

      "You'll have hard work provin' that, young feller," said the other man.

      "Who the hell are you anyway?" demanded Buck.

      "This is the sheriff of Porico County, Buck," explained the older man.

      "O.K.," said Mason.

      As the three men walked toward the house, a body of horsemen approached the ranch from the south, riding down the Mill Creek trail. Those in the lead saw a man on foot running toward the brush along the river. In a cow country a man on foot is always an object of suspicion. When he is caught running for cover, he is already convicted, even though no one may be aware that a crime has been committed.

      The result was that instantly the men rode forward to intercept the lone pedestrian. As they approached him he stopped, for he could not possibly have reached the brush ahead of them. He turned and faced them.

      "Who are you and what's your hurry?" demanded one of the men.

      "I come out to meet you fellers," said Eddie, his brain spurred to unwonted activity by stress of circumstances. "Buck Mason, the guy that killed old man Gunderstrom over in New Mexico, is down at the stables and two of the fellers are tryin' to get him. There's been some shootin', but I couldn't see what happened."

      "A couple of you fellows bring this guy in," said the deputy sheriff of Porico County, "and the rest of you come along with me."

      And so it was that the deputy sheriff and his posse galloped into the ranch yard just as Buck and the two sheriffs ascended the steps to the veranda.

      "Hello, sheriff," called the deputy to his chief. "You got your man?"

      "You bet," exclaimed the sheriff of Porico County. "You know me. I always get my man. This is the feller that killed old man Gunderstrom over in Comanche County and run off with Mr. White's gal here. I reckon he's the head of this here gang that's been raisin' hell in New Mexico and Arizona for the past year."

      ––––––––

      XXIII

      THE BRASS HEART

      OLGA GUNDERSTROM had fully regained consciousness before Buck and the sheriffs ascended the veranda steps. The reaction to the nervous ordeal through which she had passed had left her silent and exhausted, and she sat now staring with wide eyes at the man who had been her childhood playmate and who she now believed to be the slayer of her father. She saw the slender, blond-haired girl in blue overalls come forward and take Buck Mason's hand. "I'm so glad they did not kill you," she heard her say.

      "After you came to the corral and told me, there couldn't anybody have killed me," he said in a whisper that not even Olga Gunderstrom could hear.

      "Who's this girl?" demanded the sheriff of Porico County.

      "She is my daughter," replied John White.

      "The girl that was kidnapped?" demanded the sheriff.

      "Yes."

      "And hobnobbin' with the man that kidnapped her?" demanded the sheriff.

      "Don't be foolish," said Kay. "This man did not kidnap me. Two men named Mart and Eddie took me away from Cory Blaine, but I have learned since that the whole thing was arranged by Blaine. This man risked his life many times to ride after me and save me from them. Even Eddie will testify to that. Where is he, father?"

      Olga Gunderstrom shrank fearfully into her chair; but almost immediately she regained something of her self assurance, since she was confident that Eddie had made good his escape.

      "Why there comes Eddie now," exclaimed John White. "How did he get out of the office?"

      "That must have been Eddie we picked up on our way in," said the deputy sheriff of Porico County. "He sure was hot footin' it for parts unknown. Bring him up here, boys," he called to the men escorting Eddie. "We want to talk to that young feller."

      When Eddie came onto the porch, Buck Mason turned toward him. "Remember what I told you, Eddie," he said.

      "Shut up," snapped the sheriff of Porico County. "Don't you try to influence no witness around here."

      "I was just remindin' Eddie to tell the truth," said Mason. "Sometimes it aint so easy for him to remember that."

      "Eddie," asked Kay, "who persuaded you to help to kidnap me?"

      Eddie looked about as though searching for someone. His eyes finally came to rest on Mason's face. "He didn't get the drop on you; so he must be dead," he said.

      "Yes, he is dead," replied Mason.

      "Go on, answer the young lady's question," urged the sheriff of Porico County. "Who persuaded you to kidnap her?"

      "Cory Blaine," replied Eddie.

      "Didn't this feller, Buck Mason, have a hand in it?" demanded the sheriff.

      "Naw," said Eddie. "He come after us. Hi Bryam tried to kill him and Hi is dead. Then Mart tried to beat him to the draw and Mart's dead. The only kidnappin' he done was when he kidnapped her away from us."

      "Well, maybe he didn't kidnap the gal," said the sheriff of Porico County. "Leastways, we don't seem СКАЧАТЬ