Read the Rustlers Of West Fork (1951) for Free Online Page A

he knew the hours spent around Horse Springs would not be wasted.
    Ignoring Rebb and the stranger in the tweed suit, he sat long over his coffee and did a lot of careful thinking. Then he went to the livery barn to see how his horse was being cared for. Here and there he made comments about the weather and did much listening. He knew how to fit facts together and how to make a complete picture of isolated bits of information.
    This he was doing now, and the final result was not reassuring.
    He had no hope that he would remain long unknown. In the first place, Bizco would be somewhere around, and might even now be reporting to Avery Sparr that Hopalong Cassidy had started West with fifteen thousand dollars for Dick Jordan.
    Certainly, if he had not already done so, he soon would, and if not, they were sure to meet sooner or later if Bizco had continued on West. The draw poker session was on when he returned to the saloon, but for once he had no desire to sit in.
    Johnny Rebb was loafing about, and Cassidy drifted toward him and dropped into a seat nearby.
    "Leeds go home?" "Yeah." Rebb looked up, grinning slightly. "He shore was proud o' you.
    Said you saved his bacon-an' no mistake."
    "Got him a good place?"
    "Fair to middlin'. He does all right."
    "What's McClellan like?"
    "Cowtown. Some minin'. Used to be soldiers around."
    "Money in town?"
    Rebb shrugged. "Sometimes. One big mine over thataway. Big for this country, anyway, and when the ranches pay off, she's loaded."
    "Bank held up over there, they tell me."
    Rebb's eyes lifted. They were suddenly veiled. "Who tells you?" "Hombre back down the line." Hopalong jerked his head over his shoulder in the direction of Texas. "Had a letter from there."
    "Yeah, there was a holdup."
    "Catch anybody?"
    Rebb chuckled. "Why, they couldn't catch cold, not that outfit! An', again, maybe they didn't want to."
    "Friendly sheriff?"
    Rebb was uneasy. He did not like leading questions, but he thought he saw a IQ-NDRED spirit in this stranger calling himself Tuck. "Not exactly, but he might be gun-shy."
    Hopalong chuckled. "Towns with loaded banks shouldn't have gun-shy sheriffs."
    "That bank," Hopalong suggested after a minute, "may have more trouble." Johnny Rebb glanced up.
    "What d'you mean?"
    Hopalong shrugged. "Can't tell. Some fellers might figure"... He hesitated, then let his eyes meet Rebb's-"that now'd be a good time to cash in a six-shooter over there. Right after the one holdup they'd not be lookin' for another."
    Rebb scowled. It was a good idea. Was this stranger feeling him out? Who was he? He glanced up and caught Mark Connor's eye, and suddenly he did not feel so good. "Got to light a shuck," he said.
    "See you." Hopalong let Rebb rise to his feet before he spoke again. "Come around someday an' we'll talk about this again. Might be right interestin'."
    Rebb hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't rightly figger you, amigo," he said quietly, "but in this country you better not get any ideas. Local folks take care of local business."
    Cassidy let his blue eyes show their steel.
    "Meanin' you?" There was a hint of challenge in the tone of his voice that stiffened and angered Rebb.
    "No," he said, "meanin' other folks, who don't take to buttin'
    Hopalong went to his room. Once inside he dropped on the bed and pulled off a boot.
    It dropped on the floor. After a few minutes he pulled off the other and let it fall. Then he took off his hat and leaned back on the bed. He did not go to sleep.
    Miles to the south, at the Circle J, Avery Sparr sat on a cowhide-covered divan and stared at the man who was talking. He was a slim, dark-faced young man with one lowered eyelid.
    "An' he's got that fifteen thousand on him!
    He's comin' right out here with it!"
    Sparr was a tall, spare man with shoulders narrower than his hips, but rounded and bowed with muscle.
    He stared at Bizco with shrewd eyes. "An' he got the boys? Both of "em?"
    Bizco was nervous. "Yeah." He touched his dry lips with