Read Online Journey of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone - Free Book Online Page B

Do it!”
    Red-faced, the men stood before Pistol, Bobby, and God in their birthday suits.
    â€œTie ’em together, Bobby. But give them room to walk. They got a long way to hoof it.”
    The gunny on the ground jerked and died.
    The bare-butted men tied, their hands behind their backs, Pistol looped the rope around his saddle horn and gave the orders. “Move out. Head for your bunkhouse, boys. Git goin’.”
    â€œWhat about Pete?” one hollered.
    â€œHe’ll keep without gettin’ too gamy. Now move!”
    It was a good hour’s walk back to the Circle Double Cranch house, and the gunnies hoofed it all the way. They complained and moaned and hollered and finally begged for relief from their hurting, bleeding feet. They shut up when Pistol threatened to drag them.
    â€œPitiful,” Pistol told him. “Twice the Indians caught me and made me run for it, bare-butt nekkid. Miles and miles and miles. With them just a-whoopin’ and a-hollerin’ right behind me. You two are a disgrace.”
    Cord stood by the front gate and had to smile at the sight as the painful parade came to a halt. He had ordered his wife and daughter not to look outside. But of course they both did.
    The naked men collapsed to the ground.
    â€œMister McCorkle, my name is Le Roux. They call me Pistol. Now, sir, I was minding my own business, herdin’ cattle like I’m paid to do, when three of your hands come up and was gonna put a loop around me and drag me. One of them went for his gun. He was a tad slow. You’ll find him dead by that big stand of cottonwoods on the Smith. He ain’t real purty to look at. Course, he wasn’t all that beautiful when he was livin’. I brung these wayward children back home. You want to spank them, that’s your business. Good day, sir.”
    Pistol and Bobby swung their horses and headed back to Box T Range.
    Cord looked at the naked men and their bloody feet and briar-scratched ankles and legs. “Get their feet taken care of, pay them off, and get them out of here,” he instructed his foreman. He looked at the gunslicks on his payroll. “Pete was one of your own. Go get him and bury him. And stay the hell away from Box T riders.” He pointed to the naked and weary and footsore men on the ground. “One man did that. One ... old ... man. But that man, and those other old gunfighters over at the Box T came out here in the thirties and forties as mountain men. Tough? You bet your life they’re tough. When they do go down for the last time, they’ll go out of this world like cornered wolves, snarling and ripping at anything or anyone that confronts them. Leave them alone, boys. If you feel you can’t obey my orders, ride out of here.”
    The gunfighters stared at Cord. All stayed. As Cord turned his back to them and walked toward his house, he had a very bad feeling about the outcome of this matter, and he could not shake it.
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    â€œIt’s stupid!” Sandi McCorkle said to her friend. “They don’t even know why they hate each other.”
    Rita Hanks nodded her head in agreement. “I’m going to tell you something, Sandi. And it’s just between you and me. I don’t trust my father, or my brothers.”
    Sandi waited for her friend to continue.
    â€œI think Daddy’s gone crazy.” She grimaced. “I think my brothers have always been crazy. They’ve never been ... well, just right; as far as I’m concerned. They’re cruel and vicious.”
    â€œWhat do you think your dad is going to do?”
    â€œI don’t know. But he’s up to something. He sent a hand out last week to Helena. Then yesterday this ratty-faced-looking guy shows up at the ranch. Danny Rouge. Has a real fancy rifle. Carries it in a special-made case. I think he’s a back-shooter, Sandi.”
    The two young women, both in their late teens, had been forbidden by their