Dark Canyon (1963) Read Online Free Page B

Marie. He was within Riley's line of vision, and Riley felt himself stir irritably at the way the big man stared at the girl. She seemed utterly unaware of it, yet Riley was not at all sure of that.
    McCarty, who usually ate alone in his own bachelor's shack, decided on this night to invest the price of a meal in the possibilities of news. With a sixt h sense given to good newsmen and law officers, he sensed trouble, though without any idea of where it would develop, or how. An ordinarily quiet man who talked little, he was friendly and knew everyone.
    He paused as he reached Riley's table. "Had an idea that might help you. If Shattuck won't sell any of his Herefords, why don't you try the country north of here? I hear some of the folks coming through on the Overland Trail still have cattle to sell."
    "Sit down," Riley said.
    McCarty sat, leaning his forearms on the table. "Sometimes movers run short of cash and grub, and they'd sell out if you were there with an offer."
    "I may try that."
    The door opened again and a man entered and paused, blinking slowly from small blue eyes almost hidden between high cheekbones and bushy brows. The bone structure of the man's face was massive; his hair was blond, mixed with gray.
    He was not a tall man, but broad and thick, and he moved with deceptive slowness. On the vest underneath his coat Riley could see the gleam of a badge, and he held himself very still. This wa s Larsen.
    Larsen's eyes swept the room, nodding here and there. Finally his eyes came to rest on Riley, but only for the briefest instant. They passed over him to McCarty.
    "H'lo, Mac," he spoke in a low, deep voice. "You smelling trouble again?"
    McCarty shrugged. "You know I am," he said. "And you can laugh if you want. It will come."
    "I won't laugh. It's headed dis way."
    "Trouble?"
    "The Colbu rn gang."

    Chapter 4
    Sheriff Ed Larsen turned his slow blue eyes to Riley. "Do you know the Colburn gang?"
    "I'm from Texas."
    "He's a newcomer, Ed. He's ranching over west of here, and wants to buy some Herefords. I was telling him he might find some among movers along the Overland Trail."
    "I t'ink so. Mebbe. Dey are goot cows, dose Hereford." He accepted the coffee the waitress brought to the table and poured a heavy dollop of honey into it. "Rough country west. You t'ink dey do well dere?"
    "There's some meadows where I can cut hay for winter feeding, and there's plenty of forage on those high plateaus. And I'm in no hurry. I want to get some good breeding stock and build a good herd." "Sheep," Larsen said, "dere is money in sheep. More dan in cows, I t'ink."
    "I don't know anything about sheep."
    Larsen studied Riley thoughtfully. Then he said, "You must know dis country here. It is rough to the west. I t'ink not many know dat country."
    "Once when I was sixteen I rode through this country. We camped two days at the spring where I've located. I never forgot it."
    "Ah? What spring is Oat?"
    There was no way of avoiding it, so he said, "O n a bench of the Sweet Alice Hills-head of Fable Canyon."
    Larsen was surprised. The names obviously meant nothing to McCarty, but the old Swede shook his head and muttered, "Dat is wild. I t'ink nobody goes dere. And it is high . . . very high oop."
    "I like the view."
    Larsen nodded. "Yoh, I fink so. It is a goot view."
    Riley was uneasy. The old man was no fool, and if he knew the Sweet Alice Hills he had been over the country more than Riley would have thought, to look at the slow-moving man.
    Riley's eyes kept straying to Marie Shattuck, at the table nearby. She was a pretty girl, and there was something about her he liked that had nothing to do with beauty. Twice their eyes met, and Pico had noticed it.
    "What, Pico?" Marie teased. "No urging? No seal of approval?"
    The Mexican shrugged. "This one I do not know, chiquita, but I would believe he has done much riding. He is no fool, this one."
    Riley's mind returned to the Colburn gang. If they had been shot up and some of them wounded