Read Online the High Graders (1965) by Louis L'amour - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Louis L'amour
Ads: Link
Hoyt went on.
"All the high-grade ore comes out of one are a between the two mines. At the first sign of trouble, th e drifts leading to the stopes where that high-grad e ore has been found will be blown up and sealed off.
You couldn't prove a thing, and you'd just make a fool of yourself."
Wilson Hoyt stood up. "Now you quit tha t two-bit job and get out of town. If you're stil l in town forty-eight hours from now, or if you so muc h as raise your voice, I'll come for you."
Shevlin felt angry with frustration an d helplessness. This was the one man he needed, but i f Hoyt persisted in his stand nothing could preven t killing. How could he reach him?
"You've heard my ultimatum," Hoyt said.
"Get up in the saddle and start looking fo r distance."
"If you remembered me, Hoyt, you wouldn't b e talking that way."
Hoyt brushed the remark off with a gesture.
"Oh, I know all about you! You fought in th e Nueces cattle war, you were a Texas Range r for two years and made quite a name for yourself. You ha d a name around Cimarron and Durango. I kno w all that, and I'm not impressed."
Mike Shevlin tucked his thumbs behind his bel t and said quietly, "I was remembering one night i n Tascosa."
Wilson Hoyt's hands became very still. Th e leonine head was bowed slightly, the muscles i n the powerful neck were rigid.
"It was bright moonlight," Mike said, "and yo u were under the cottonwoods waiting for a man, so whe n a rider came in from the Canadian Rive r bottoms you were sure it was your man."
Hoyt's face was bleak.
"You stepped into the open, called out a name, an d reached for your gun. Do you remember that?"
"I remember it."
"You were slow, Wilson. We'll say it wa s an off night. Anyway, this rider had the dro p before your gun cleared leather, and when he spoke yo u knew you had braced the wrong man. Right so far?"
"Yes."
"There you stood looking into the muzzle of a gu n in the hands of an unknown man, a man with every chanc e and every right to shoot you where you stood. Then the ma n walked his horse away and left you standing there, an d you never knew who it was who beat you to the draw."
"You could have heard the story."
"I never told it."
"Well, you beat me once. That doesn' t say you can do it again."
For years that faceless man had haunte d Wilson Hoyt--that man whose features had bee n hidden by the shadows of his hat as well as by th e trees. Now he knew.
"What's your stake in this? I'll not deny I o we you something. You could have shot me, yet you hel d your fire."
"Eli Patterson was my friend ... that starte d it. Since then, something else has happened.
I've been hired to stop the high-grading an d recover the gold."
Hoyt swore. "Hired? Why'd they pic k an outside man?"
Shevlin smiled. "You were keeping the peace , remember? You were letting things be, as long a s everything was quiet."
Hoyt thrust the cigar back between his teeth.
"I don't know about this. I got to think about it.
You keep your shirt on, d'you hear?"
"Think fast then," Shevlin said. "I'm no t smart, Hoyt. I only know one way--I w alk right in swinging. By noon tomorrow I'm cuttin g my wolf loose, and if you're not with me you' d better hunt a hole."
In the neat red brick house with the whit e shutters that was the home of Dr. Ruper t Clagg, late of Boston, they were havin g supper. The house itself, the neat green lawn, and th e white picket fence were all indications of Dr.
Clagg's quality of mind. He was himself neat , orderly, efficient.
Graduating at the top of his class fro m medical school, he could have stepped into a fin e practice in any city in the East, but the Wa r Between the States changed all that. After only a year in practice in Philadelphia, in th e office of the city's most reputable physician , he had gone into the Army. The rough and read y life, the men he met, conspired to remove an y latent desire to return to Philadelphia.
Instead, he elected to go west.
Dottie Clagg was one of three
"All the high-grade ore comes out of one are a between the two mines. At the first sign of trouble, th e drifts leading to the stopes where that high-grad e ore has been found will be blown up and sealed off.
You couldn't prove a thing, and you'd just make a fool of yourself."
Wilson Hoyt stood up. "Now you quit tha t two-bit job and get out of town. If you're stil l in town forty-eight hours from now, or if you so muc h as raise your voice, I'll come for you."
Shevlin felt angry with frustration an d helplessness. This was the one man he needed, but i f Hoyt persisted in his stand nothing could preven t killing. How could he reach him?
"You've heard my ultimatum," Hoyt said.
"Get up in the saddle and start looking fo r distance."
"If you remembered me, Hoyt, you wouldn't b e talking that way."
Hoyt brushed the remark off with a gesture.
"Oh, I know all about you! You fought in th e Nueces cattle war, you were a Texas Range r for two years and made quite a name for yourself. You ha d a name around Cimarron and Durango. I kno w all that, and I'm not impressed."
Mike Shevlin tucked his thumbs behind his bel t and said quietly, "I was remembering one night i n Tascosa."
Wilson Hoyt's hands became very still. Th e leonine head was bowed slightly, the muscles i n the powerful neck were rigid.
"It was bright moonlight," Mike said, "and yo u were under the cottonwoods waiting for a man, so whe n a rider came in from the Canadian Rive r bottoms you were sure it was your man."
Hoyt's face was bleak.
"You stepped into the open, called out a name, an d reached for your gun. Do you remember that?"
"I remember it."
"You were slow, Wilson. We'll say it wa s an off night. Anyway, this rider had the dro p before your gun cleared leather, and when he spoke yo u knew you had braced the wrong man. Right so far?"
"Yes."
"There you stood looking into the muzzle of a gu n in the hands of an unknown man, a man with every chanc e and every right to shoot you where you stood. Then the ma n walked his horse away and left you standing there, an d you never knew who it was who beat you to the draw."
"You could have heard the story."
"I never told it."
"Well, you beat me once. That doesn' t say you can do it again."
For years that faceless man had haunte d Wilson Hoyt--that man whose features had bee n hidden by the shadows of his hat as well as by th e trees. Now he knew.
"What's your stake in this? I'll not deny I o we you something. You could have shot me, yet you hel d your fire."
"Eli Patterson was my friend ... that starte d it. Since then, something else has happened.
I've been hired to stop the high-grading an d recover the gold."
Hoyt swore. "Hired? Why'd they pic k an outside man?"
Shevlin smiled. "You were keeping the peace , remember? You were letting things be, as long a s everything was quiet."
Hoyt thrust the cigar back between his teeth.
"I don't know about this. I got to think about it.
You keep your shirt on, d'you hear?"
"Think fast then," Shevlin said. "I'm no t smart, Hoyt. I only know one way--I w alk right in swinging. By noon tomorrow I'm cuttin g my wolf loose, and if you're not with me you' d better hunt a hole."
In the neat red brick house with the whit e shutters that was the home of Dr. Ruper t Clagg, late of Boston, they were havin g supper. The house itself, the neat green lawn, and th e white picket fence were all indications of Dr.
Clagg's quality of mind. He was himself neat , orderly, efficient.
Graduating at the top of his class fro m medical school, he could have stepped into a fin e practice in any city in the East, but the Wa r Between the States changed all that. After only a year in practice in Philadelphia, in th e office of the city's most reputable physician , he had gone into the Army. The rough and read y life, the men he met, conspired to remove an y latent desire to return to Philadelphia.
Instead, he elected to go west.
Dottie Clagg was one of three
Similar Books
