The Man From Bar-20 by Clarence E. Mulford (best books to read for young adults .txt) đ
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âYoâre a purty spry scalper yoreself,â admitted Johnny. âRegular old he-whizzer; but you got no morals, anâ a very bad, disgustinâ habit. Iâm surprised you didnât take scalps, too !â
âYou let the Colonel alone,â warned Luke. âNow, that rustler is some he-whizzer hisself, anâ he wonât need nobody to tell him what he saw. Heâs done told his tribe about that; anâ beinâ a stranger here Iâm only guessinâ. Say whatâs on yore mind.â
âThâ young buck will now talk at thâ council fire,â grinned Johnny. âYoâre right, for once. It wasnât thâ cook. I never saw a cook yet that could move around so nobody could hear him. It wasnât Gates, because heâs wounded several; anâ I donât think it was that other feller, because somehow I ainât feverishly ad-mirinâ his brains. That leaves Quigley; anâ he ainât no fool all thâ time. I can see him beatinâ hell anâ high-water to his three stone shacks, where his friends are, anâ where his guns, grub, clothes, anâ other things are. I can see four men lookinâ out of four loopholes. They are if they ainât jumped thâ country; anâ if they has, weâll let âem go.
âTakinâ a new, fresh holt, Iâd say that they donât know that weâd let âem go; anâ they donât know how many we are, or where all of us are located. They donât aim to lead us a chase; that is, mebby they donât. Them shacks are shore strong; anâ they donât know how far they might get if they run for it. âTainât like open countryâthey got just four places to ride out of that sink anâ they all can be easy guarded.â
âThey wonât come out thâ way they went in,â said Luke. âThat would be risky anâ foolish; so theyâs only three places left.â
âA wise man never does what he ought to do,â said Johnny. âNow, Iâll bet they are either in them stone houses, or some place else,â he grinned. âThâ only way, after all, to see a good manâs hand, is to call it. Me anâ you, beinâ amazinâ curious, will do just that. If theyâre in them houses theyâll be expectinâ us; theyâll turn thâ â Welcomeâ sign to thâ wall anâ smoke up them loopholes. Donât interrupt me yet! Iâm long-winded anâ hard to stop. Thâ question is: Are you primed to wrastle this thing out, just me anâ you, or shall I watch âem while you go back to thâ CL for help? Thatââ
âI will interrupt!â snorted Luke heatedly. âIf it wasnât that yoâre only a fool infant, dâd if I wouldnât fan yore saddle end! I ainât never yelled for help when it wasnât needed; anâ lots of times when it was needed I forgot to yell. Too busy, mebby. Youâve been running things with a high hand out here, anâ yore head reminds me of thâ head of a cow bit by a snake. Itâs swelled scandalous. Iâm goinâ to show you how to get four men out of them loopholes. Beinâ young anâ green, youâd likely want to crawl in anâ pull âem out. But me, beinâ wise, will use brains, anâ more brains. I can make a cat skin itself.â
âYou want to be plumb shore that it ainât one of them striped kitties â they look a lot alike in a poor light; anâ that entrance canyon is shore poor light. I reckon we wonât eat, yet. We better rustle for their ranch.â
âBut Logan wants to know them facts that he sent us after,â growled Luke regretfully.
âWe ainât got âem; anâ we canât get âem. Them fellers wonât do no rustlinâ now, so how can we trail âem? Theyâre too cussed busy lookinâ out for their skins about now. Anâ only two of âem ainât wounded; Purdy anâ thâ cook.â
âHow many cows they got?â
âNear two hundred.â
âHoly Jumpinâ Jerusalem!â snorted Luke. âWeâre lucky that we still got thâ ranchhouse anâ thâ river!â
âWeâre wastinâ time,â growled Johnny, impatiently. âThereâs no telling what theyâre doinâ. Come on. Beinâ desperate, mebby theyâre roundinâ up to make a drive. Come on!â
It was past mid-afternoon when the two punchers looked down into the QE valley and found relief at the sight of the cows lazily feeding. They were scattered all over the range and both men knew that no attempt had been made to round them up.
Going down the blind-canyon trail, they crossed the range, climbed the opposite cliff and finally stopped in front of the stone houses. A gun barrel projected from a loophole in the south wall of the house nearest the canyon, and four saddled horses were in the smaller corral.
âThere they are,â said Johnny. A bullet stirred his hair and he drew back from the rim. âWe got to get âem. Start skinninâ that cat, Old Timer.â
âItâll shore take a lot of skinninâ,â growled Luke.
âNot if we uses âbrains anâ more brains,ââ jeered Johnny. âThâ young buck will now be heard shootinâ off his mouth at thâ council fire; anâ you listen close, One Ijut!â
âHave yore say,â said Luke, covering a loophole which showed signs of activity.
âWeâve got to move fast, before they learn that thereâs only two of us,â said Johnny. âWhen them houses was built they was laid out with thâ idea of men beinâ in all of âem; anâ theyâd be cussed hard to lick, then. But I reckon theyâre all in that one house. There ainât men enough to hold âem all; anâ so they favored thâ one near thâ canyon. We got to keep that door shut so they canât get out anâ away. Iâll do that after dark; anâ Iâll stampede them cayuses. That leaves âem no chance to make a dash anâ ride for it. Now you see that little trickle of water flowinâ under thâ houses? Thatâs their water supply; I know something about that crick; but thatâs another job for thâ dark. Take a look over there, where it turns. See that dirt bank, on thâ bend ? Thatâs where they turned it out of its course anâ sent it flowinâ in thâ ditch leadinâ to thâ houses. Do you reckon you could cut that bank with Colonel Bowie anâ throw a little dam across thâ ditch ? âTainât wide; only a couple of feet. Iââ
Luke fired, and grunted regretfully. âMissed him, dân it!â he swore, reloading. âGettinâ so you can find work for my knife, huh?â he chuckled. âNot beinâ blind, I see thâ bank anâ thâ bend. Anâ if I canât turn that water back thâ way it used to go, Iâll fold up anâ die. This is like old times. You must V had a real elegant, bang-up time out here, crawlinâ around anâ raisinâ hâl with âem. What a grand place for thâ Colonel! I shore missed a lot; but Iâm here now, anâ with both feet! Sing yore song; Iâm listeninâ.â
âItâs sung,â grinned Johnny; âanâ now we got to dance.â
âI ainât as spry as I used to be,â grunted Luke; âso Iâll have to make them fellers do thâ dancinâ.â
GATES, the wounded, tossed restlessly in his bunk, and finally rolled over and faced the dark room.
âNever was so wide awake in my life,â he grumbled. âBeen settinâ around too much lately. If I wanted to stay awake Iâd be as sleepy as thâ devil.â
âBetter try it again,â counseled Quigley, shifting from his loophole. âYou donât want to be sleepy tomorrow when yoâre on guard.â
âTom,â said Gates, ignoring the advice. âIâve been doinâ some thinkinâ. A feller does a lot of thinkinâ when he canât sleep. We made a couple of mistakes, holinâ up like this. In thâ first place, if we had to hole up, we should âaâ occupied both end houses, âstead of only one. This way, they can walk right up to within twenty feet of us, use thâ cook shack, thâ grub in thâ store-house, anâ them store-house loopholes, which is worse. If we had both end houses, two men in each, they couldnât get anywhere close to us except along thâ crick anâ up on thâ cliff.â
âYes; I reckon so,â said Quigley. ââTainât too late yet, mebby. I didnât like thâ idea of splittinâ up our forces. As far as grub is concerned, weâre near as well off that way as we are in our water supply. We got grub in here for two months, anâ plenty of cartridges if we donât get reckless with âem. Of course, I wish that other case was in here, too; itâd give us another thousand rounds for thâ rifles; but I ainât worryinâ none about that. Anâ Iâm purty near shore, now, that thereâs only two of âem fightinâ us: Nelson anâ that Tedrue, judginâ from thâ knife-work.â
âThatâs thâ way I figger it,â agreed Gates. âAnâ thatâs why we shouldnât âaâ holed up like this. Me anâ thâ cook could âaâ held this house, while you anâ Purdy was on thâ outside stalkinâ âem. Any man that can stalk like you can is plumb wastinâ his time cooped up in here; anâ you could âaâ made things sizzlinâ hot for them two fellers, good as they are. This way, theyâve got us located, anâ they only have to look for trouble in front of âem. They know where to expect it all thâ time. It was a big mistake.â
âMebby,â grunted Quigley. âWeâll try it in here tonight anâ tomorrow, anâ then if we donât have no luck, Iâll fade away tomorrow night anâ give âem a taste of Injun fightinâ. There ainât no moon this week, so we can pick our time to suit ourselves.â
Purdy leaned his rifle against the wall and groped for the water bucket. âIâll make a try for that extra case of cartridges right now, if you say thâ word,â he offered. âHuh! We shore drink a lot of water,â he grunted âI filled this pail before sundown, anâ itâs near empty now. Too much bacon, I reckon.â
Quigley laughed softly. âWater is one thing we donât have to worry about at all. That ditch was a great idea.â
Could he have followed the ditch in the dark he would have been surprised to have seen the dam across it, and the cut through the artificial bank, where Luke Tedrue and a commandeered shovel had released the little stream and let it flow to Rustler Creek along its old, original bed down a shallow gully. That was Johnnyâs idea; but after the old scout had carried it out, he had an idea of his own which pleased him greatly, and he acted upon it without loss of time.
The cook stirred and sat up, feeling for his pipe, which was always his first act upon awakening. He grunted sleepily and sat on the edge of his bunk. âThis is a whole lot like beinâ in jail,â he yawned. âAnâ what do you think? I dreamed that somebody had just tapped a keg of beer, anâ when I sidled over to see that none of it was wasted, why I woke up! Thatâs allus my luck. How soonâll it be daylight? That dream made me thirsty. Whereâs that cussed water bucket?â
âRight where it was thâ last time you found it,â grinned Purdy. âIt ainât moved none at all.â âYoâre right, it ainât,â grumbled the cook, scraping a tin cup across the bottom of the pail. âIt never does unless I do
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