Read Online Dark Canyon (1963) by Louis L'amour - Free Book Online

through the rain, heard him pause, and then the splash of heavier steps, and a low voice.
    Rising silently, with a glance at the sleeping form of Darby Lewis, Cruz stepped to the window, closed only by shutters. Through a crack he could see the dim outlines of a man on horseback and of Riley; then the two walked away toward the lean-to that had been doing duty as kitchen and dining hall.
    Riley stirred up the coals and added fuel, moving the coffeepot to the hottest of the coals. Cruz watched for a few moments, but he was unable to se e the stranger's face. It was chilly, and anyway this was Riley's own business. After a little while he returned to his bed and went to sleep.
    The man under the lean-to with Riley was Kehoe. "You've got things going here, kid," he said. "I think you'll have yourself a place."
    "Part of it is yours."
    "Maybe. We'll see."
    He accepted the coffee gratefully, and Riley studied his face. The Irishman looked drawn and tired.
    "We've had a run of bad luck," Kehoe said "Weaver caught one, but he's all right now."
    "I found your camp over back of Horse Mountain."
    Kehoe chuckled. "I told Parrish you'd find it. He didn't think so."
    He sipped his coffee, warming his fingers around the cup. Suddenly he looked up. "You had any trouble?"
    "No."
    "You will have. The word's around that somebody up this way is in the market for gunmen. You remember Desloge?"
    "I've seen him. He's here."
    "He's doin' the hiring, and he's teamed up with a Wyoming pistol-fighter named Enloe, Gus Enloe. They're mean-poison mean."
    Kehoe huddled nearer the fire. His coat was thin and wet. "You want my slicker?" Riley asked.
    "No . . . lost mine a while back." Kehoe refilled the cup. "Tell me about this set-up."
    Riley, sitting on 'a log, told him quietly and as concisely as possible about Shattuck, about the cattle he had bought, and Shattuck's resentment of him. He also mentioned the impending ride to Spanish Fork. The sky was growing gray before Kehoe stood up.
    "Got to be goin', Lord." The nickname brought back old times. Kehoe put down his cup. "You're doing all right. Now stay with it."
    "I need hands for the drive from the Fork." Kehoe glanced at him. "Hell, I wouldn't know how to handle cow critters any more, Lord. Neither would the rest of us." He glanced at Riley sharply. "You need us?"
    "I sure do."
    "We'll see." Kehoe considered the problem. "From the Fork? They won't let you drive down the main trail."
    Riley shrugged. "I know that. Otherwise I couldn't afford those cattle. I'm going to bring them over the Swell."
    Kehoe was startled. "The hell you are!" Then he added, "Ain't water enough for a hundred head through there-not generally."
    They were silent then for several minutes, huddling over the small blaze. The rain continued to fall, and Riley stole a glance at Kehoe's haggard cheeks. "You've had a rough time," he said abruptly.
    Kehoe nodded. "We have. You were right to get out of it, Riley. The old days are gone."
    He stood up and threw the remainder of his coffee on the ground. "I'll. pass the word up on the Swell. If you can find water, you'll get through."
    "This rain will help-and we've had a wet spring." Kehoe handed him a slip of paper on which were scrawled three addresses. "If you need us, write to all three. One of them will get us."
    "Kehoe?"
    "Yeah?"
    "Stay out of Rimrock. That sheriff is too smart. He's a slow-moving Swede, and no youngster, but he was born canny."
    Riley walked back to the house and stood there for a few minutes, mentally following Kehoe alon g the trail into the canyon. Kehoe had called him "Lord," a nickname he had given him back along the trail, short for Gaylord, but an old joke, resulting from the time in San Francisco when Riley had tried on a top hat. After that for quite some time they had called him "Lord Riley."
    He fell into his bed and was instantly asleep, and when Cruz rolled out of bed half an hour later, Riley did not hear him.
    The Mexican went outside in the growing