whether Curry liked it or not. Moreover, he would be throwing a challenge into
Curry s teeth because he would plan this job without him. If there was to be a
struggle for leadership let it begin here. He ll handle the job, Curry said.
He has been trained and he has the mind for it. You boys couldn t be in
better hands. Kerb Perrin left the stone house filled with a burning
resentment, but also with a feeling of grim triumph. After years of taking
orders he was going on his own. To hell with Ben Curryl He d show himl He
would show them All Yet a still small voice of fear was in him, too. What
would Ben Curry do? The thought made him shrink inside. He had seen the cold
fury of Curry when aroused, and he had seen him use a gun.
He was fast, but was he as fast and accurate as Ben Curry? In his innermost
being Perrin doubted it. He shook off the doubt. He could beat him.
He knew he could. Yet maybe it would not be necessary.
There were other ways.
One thing he knew. He would have to do something about Ben Curry, and he
would have to do it soon.
Mike Bastian stood before Ben Curry s table and the two men stared at each
other.
Ben Curry was huge, bearlike, and mighty.
His eyes were cool and appraising, yet there was kindliness in them, too.
This was the son he had always wanted, tall, lithe, powerful in the shoulders,
a child of the frontier grown to manhood, skilled in all the arts of the
wilds, trained in every dishonest practice, every skill with weapons, but
educated enough to conduct himself well in any company.
Take four men and look over the ground yourself, Mike, Ben Curry was
saying. I want you to plan this one. The gold train leaves the mines on the
twentieth. There will be five wagons, the gold distributed among them, roughly
five hundred thousand dollars of it.
We ve scouted the trail three times over the past couple of years, so all
you ll have to do is ride over it to be sure nothing has changed.
Don t be seen if you can help it. Don t ask questions or loiter around
anyplace where people are. If you speak to anybody ask how far it is to
Prescott.
Let em think you re just passiri through. When you ve pulled off this job
I m goin to step down and pass the reins to you. You ll be in command.
You ve known I intended to do this for some years now.
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I m gettin up there in years, and I want a few years of quiet life. This
outfit takes a strong hand to run it. Think you can handle it? I think so.
I think so, too. Watch Perrin. He s got a streak of snake in him. Rigger is
dangerous, but whatever he does will be out in the open. It s not that way
with Perrin. He s a conniver. He never got far with me because I was always a
jump ahead of him, and I still aml Curry fell silent, staring out the window
at the distant peaks of the San Francisco mountains.
Mike, he said, more quietly, sit down.
It s time you an me had a talk. Maybe I ve taken the wrong trail with you,
raisin you the way I have, to be an outlaw an all.
I m not sure what s right an what s wrong, an to tell the truth, I never
gave much thought to it.
When I came west it was dog eat dog and if you lived you had to have big
teeth. I got knocked down and kicked around some. Cattlemen pushed me off the
first homestead I staked, and killed my sister.
When I struck it rich in the mines some men moved in and took it away from
me. They done it legal, but it wasn t right or just, so I decided it was time
to bite back.
I got some boys together, and when those fellers shipped gold from my claim
we stole it back.
Then I rode east andwitha big outfit I moved in and ran off five hundred head
of stock from that outfit that pushed meo@ . my homestead.
They took in after me and I let the boys take the cattle over into Mexico
and I went back and ran off another five hundred head whilst they were chasing
the first batch. When I had those cattle started south with some of the boys I
went back and pulled down his corrals, and stamped my brand on the door of his
house. I mean, I burned it deep. I wanted him to know who hit him. They taken
in after me, the law did. They wanted me in prison, but I stayed clear of
them. Now I was an outlaw, whether I liked it or not, and stamping that brand
on his door had been a fool thing to do. That s the trouble with outlaws,
they want to brag about what they ve done.
Well, I d made my mistake but decided I would never do that again. So all
these years we ve kept quiet about what we were doin . My boys move in, get
what they came after, and drop from sight. Those James boys now, ever body [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]