Read Law Of the Desert Born (Ss) (1984) for Free Online Page B

was pretty. The gray eyes were wide and clear, her figure rounded yet slim. What is this?" he repeated. What was he gunnin' for me for ?
    -It wasn't you. He thought you were Jim Walker, of the XY. If you aren't actually him, you look enough like him to be a brother, a twin brother .
    -Where is he? What goes on here? Who was that hombre who tried to gun me down?"
    She paused, and seemed to be thinking, and he had the idea she was still uncertain whether to believe him or not. The man you killed was Bill Trout. He was th e badman of Paradise country and segundo on Wing Cary's Flying C spread. Jim Walker called him a thief and a murderer in talking to Cary, and Trout threatened to shoot him on sight. Walker hasn't been seen since, and that was four days ago, so everybody believed Walker had skipped the country. Nobody blamed him much."
    -What's it all about? Gatlin inquired.
    -North of here, up beyond Black Rock, is Alder Creek country, with some rich bottom hay land lying in several corners of the mountains. This is dry country, but that Alder Creek area has springs and some small streams flowing down out of the hills. The streams flow into the desert and die there, so the water is good only for the man who controls the range .
    -And that was Walker?"
    -No, up until three weeks ago, it was old Dave Butler. Then Dave was thrown from his horse and killed, and when they read his will, he had left the property to be sold at auction and the money to be paid to his nephew and niece back in New York. However, the joker was, he stipulated that Jim Walker was to get the ranch if he would bid ten thousand cash and forty thousand on his note, payable in six years .
    -In other words, he wanted Walker to have the property?" Jim asked. He got first chance at it?" That's right. And I was to get second chance. If Jim didn't want to make the bid, I could have it for the same price. If neither of us wanted it, the ranch was to go on public auction, and that means that Cary and Horwick would get it. They have the money, and nobody around here could outbid them."
    The street outside was growing quieter as the excitement of the chase died down. I think, Lisa continued, that Uncle Dave wanted Jim to have the property because Jim did so much to develop it. Jim was foreman of the XY acting for Dave. Then, Uncle Dave knew my father and liked me, and he knew I loved th e ranch, so he wanted me to have second chance, but I don't have the money, and they all know it. Jim had some of it, and he could get the rest. I think that was the real trouble behind his trouble with Trout. I believe Wing deliberately set Trout to kill him, and Jim's statements about Bill were a result of the pushing around Bill Trout had given him."
    The pattern was not unfamiliar, and Gatlin could easily appreciate the situation. Water was gold in this country of sparse grass. To a cattleman, such a ranch as Lisa described could be second to none, with plenty of water and grass and good hay meadows. Suddenly, she caught his arm. Men were talking outside the door.
    "Looks like he got plumb away, Wing. Old Ben swears there was nobody in the room with him but that Lisa Cochrane, an' she never threw that gun, but how, Jim Walker ever beat Trout is more'n I can see. 'Why, Bill was the fastest man around here unless it's you or me.''
    "That wasn't Walker, Pete. It couldn't have been!"
    "Ben swears it was, an' Woody Hammer busted right through the door in front of him. Said it was Jim, all right."
    Wing Cary's voice was irritable. "I tell you, it couldn't have been!" he flared. "Jim Walker never saw the day he dared face Trout with a gun," he added. "I've seen Walker draw an' he never was fast."
    "Maybe he wasn't," Pete Chasin agreed dryly, "but Trout's dead, ain't he?"
    "Three days left," Cary said. "Lisa Cochrane hasn't the money, and it doesn't look like Walker will even be bidding. Let it ride, Pete. I don't think we need to worry about anything. Even if that was Walker, an' I'd take an