Read Online Novel 1956 - Silver Canyon (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour - Free Book Online Page B

the room.
    â€œNext time you won’t catch me with my hands down, Park.”
    Before he could reply I drew back a corner of the bench and sat down, keeping my guns free for my hands. The pot was on the table and I filled a cup.
    â€œChapin, an item for the press. Something like this: Matt Brennan of the Two-Bar was in town Friday afternoon. Matt is recovering from bullet wounds incurred during a minor dispute with Rollie Pinder, but is returning to the Two-Bar to take up where he left off.”
    â€œThat will be news to Pinder.”
    â€œTell him to expect me. I’ll kill or see hung every man concerned in the killing of old man Ball.”
    â€œYou know them?”
    All eyes were on me now, and Mrs. O’Hara stood in the door of her kitchen.
    â€œI know them…all but one. When Ball was dying he named a man to me, only I’m not sure.”
    â€œWho?” Chapin was leaning forward.
    â€œMorgan Park,” I said.
    The big man came to his feet with a lunge. His brown face was ugly. “That’s a lie!”
    â€œIt’s a dead man you’re calling a liar, not me. Ball might have meant that one of your riders was present. One was…a man named Lyell.”
    â€œIt’s a lie.” Morgan Park was hoarse. He looked down at Chapin, who had not moved. “I had nothing to do with it.”
    This was the man who had struck me down without warning, who had held me helpless while he beat me brutally.
    â€œIf it’s true,” I told him, “I’ll kill you after I whip you.”
    â€œWhip
me?
”
    You could see the amazement in his eyes. He was a man shocked, not by my threat to kill, but by the idea that I, or any man, might whip him.
    â€œDon’t be impatient. Your time will come. Right now I need more time to get my strength back.”
    He sat down slowly and I picked up my cup. Chapin was watching us curiously, his eyes going from one to the other.
    â€œEver stop to think of something, Park?”
    He looked at me, waiting.
    â€œYou hit me with your Sunday punch. Right on the chin. You didn’t knock me out. You sat on me and held my arms down with your knees and beat me…but you didn’t knock me out.”
    He was staring at me, and if ever I saw hatred in a man’s eyes, it was in his at that moment. This was the first time the story of his beating of me had come out. Many believed it had happened in a fair fight…now they would know.
    Also he was realizing that what I said was true. He had taken a full swing at my unprotected chin, and I had gone down, but not out. And he did not like the thought.
    â€œNext time I’ll be ready.”
    He got up abruptly and walked to the door. “Get out of here! Get out—or I’ll kill you!”
    On that he opened the door and went out, yet if he was worried, I was too. The man was huge. I’d not realized his great size before. His wrists and hands were enormous. Nor was that all. The man had brains. This was something to which I’d not given much thought, but he was shrewd and cunning. He was no hot-head. His beating of me had been a carefully calculated thing.
    Mother O’Hara brought me food and Key Chapin sat quietly drinking his coffee. Others came in and sat down, stealing covert glances at me.
    Rud Maclaren came in, and Canaval was with him. They hesitated then took seats opposite me.
    The food tasted good, and I was hungry. Maclaren was irritated by my presence, but I kept quiet, not wanting to bait the man. He irritated me too, but there was Moira to think of.
    Already I was thinking ahead. That amphitheater where Moira had met me…it would handle quite a number of cattle. It was naturally fenced by the cliffs, and had plenty of water, grass, and shade. And, while it was off the beaten track, it would be good to leave some cattle there to fatten up. With a good, tough old range bull to keep off the varmints.
    Some of the men finished eating, and got