Read Oliver Strange - Sudden Westerns 05 - Law O' The Lariat(1935) for Free Online Page B

iron.”
                 “What
for sort of a bunch is they?” asked the new man.
                 “That’s
what I want yu to find out,” said the foreman. “See, here’s the how of it.”
                 He
proceeded to recount his experiences since he had arrived in Hope, his
companion listening with a widening smile.
                 “ Huh ! Ain’t missed any opportunities, have yu?” he
commented. “A coupla weeks an’ yu’ll be as popular as a fella with small-pox.”
He dropped his bantering tone. “Did yu ever wonder why I was so set on comin’
here with yu?”
                 “I
put it down to yore natural desire to dodge regular work,” the other grinned,
and then, when the answering smile and usual retort did not come, he added
soberly, “Tell me, Larry.”
                 With
a face of stone, from which all the youthfulness had gone, the other told the
story of the hanging of the nester, Forby. Save for a
huskiness , there was no emotion in his voice, but the deadliness of
purpose in the concluding words could not be mistaken. “I was that boy; it was
my dad they did to death, an’ I’ve come back to make them pay.”
                 Tight-lipped
and with an outthrust jaw the foreman stood up and dropped a hand on his
friend’s shoulder.
                 “Yu
know these fellas, Larry?” he inquired.
                 “I
remember every one o’ their damn faces, but I ain’t got all their names,” the
boy replied. “Darby is in yore outfit now, but he done what he could an’ that
squares him. There was a Greaser, Ignacio, an’ two o’ the others were called
Penton an’ Fallan.”
                 “Yu
don’t have to worry ‘bout him: he pulled a gun on me in Desert Edge,” Severn
said grimly. “Ignacio was here but drifted when I come; we’ll find him again,
an’ the rest o’ the murderin’ houn’s. Bartholomew’s got a bigger bill to pay
than I reckoned, but we’ll collect it—together—in full.”
                 “I’m
thankin’ yu,” was all Larry could find to say, and, after an awkward pause,
“What kinda hold has Bartholomew got on Masters?”
                 “He
didn’t tell me, but I’m guessin’ it’s a strangle-hold,” Severn said. “Masters
don’t strike me as bein’ anyways soft.”
                 “What’s
the girl like?” was the next question.
                 “Well,
she’s amazin’ like—a girl,” smiled Severn.
                 “Huh!”
grunted Larry. “Don’t tell me yu’ve fell in love with her.”
                 “Bein’
a truthful an’ a married man, I won’t,” his foreman said. “An’ yu bein’ a sorta
friend I’ll let yu into a secret—she ain’t fell in love with me neither; in
fact, she regards my presence on the earth as an unwarrantable intrusion.”
                 Larry
spat disgustedly. “Seems to me the on’y friend yu’ve made is thisyer pup.”
                 “A
pup is a good pal,” Severn rejoined. “An’ now I’ve got two of ‘em—”
                 “Here,
cowboy, who’re yu callin’ a —” began the other, but his host ushered him to the
door.
                 “Don’t
yu worry, old-timer, Quirt ain’t carin’,” he said. “Beat it to the bunkhouse,
an’ remember that the foreman ain’t goin’ to be too pleased with yu, an’ yu
don’t like him none too much, ‘less yu know yore man
awful well, savvy?”
                 “Playin’
I don’t like yu’ll be the easiest job I ever tackled,” Larry said, but there
was a warmth in his tone which told a different story. “Say, Don, but it’s good
to be on the warpath again with yu.”
                 “Who
do yu think yo’re talkin’ to, yu idjut?” Severn asked quickly. “I’m Jim Severn,
yore foreman, an’ don’t