Destiny Of The Mountain Man Read Online Free Page A

you use your pecker for, you bound to be able to pee hard. Wait till he has him a woman. She’ll take some of that steam out of him ’n he wont be able to pee so hard.”
    â€œHow do you know I ain’t never had me no woman?” Tanner asked as he buttoned his pants.
    â€œâ€™Cause iff’n you’d’a had yourself a woman, you wouldn’t be able to shut up about it. That’s all we’d be hearin’,” Gillis said.
    From the darkness, a calf started bawling.
    â€œDamn, some little feller’s wandered off from his mama,” Noble said. “Guess I better go get’ im back.”
    â€œIt’s time to go in now, ain’t it?” Tanner asked. “I know they got breakfast ready and I’m hungry.”
    â€œYou was born hungry,” Noble said. “We’ll go in soon as I get back.” He clucked at his horse and rode toward the sound of the bawling calf, disappearing into the darkness.
    â€œI ain’t, you know,” Tanner said.
    â€œYou ain’t what?” Gillis asked.
    â€œHad me no woman.”
    Gillis chuckled. “Hell, there’s got to be a first time for everything. Just wait until—”
    Gillis’s comment was interrupted by a loud, bloodcurdling scream.
    â€œWhat? What the hell was that?” Tanner asked.
    â€œI don’t know. It sounded like Noble. Noble? Noble, you all right?” Gillis shouted.
    â€œGillis, I’m scared,” Tanner said.
    Gillis pulled his pistol and when he did, Tanner pulled his as well.
    â€œNoble? Noble, are you out there?”
    â€œWait a minute,” Tanner said suddenly. “Are you two trying to run a shuck on me?” He chuckled. “That’s what you’re doin’, isn’t it? Trying to scare me?”
    â€œTanner, I swear to God, I don’t know what this is about,” Gillis said.
    They heard the sound of a horse coming at a trot. Then the horse appeared from the darkness.
    â€œThat’s Noble’s horse, but where is he?” Gillis asked. Clucking at his own horse, he rode toward it, then suddenly stopped. “Oh, my God!” he shouted, turning away. “Oh, my God!”
    â€œWhat is it?” Tanner asked. Then he saw what Gillis had seen. There, mounted on the saddle horn, was the disembodied head of Ned Noble.
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    â€œHarbin, I think you, Jenkins, and Kelly should ride out to relieve Noble and the others,” Ramon said back at the cow camp. “They should’ve been in by now.”
    â€œYour wish is my command,” Harbin replied. Nodding at the other two men Ramon had selected, he said. “Come, my noble fellows, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”
    â€œHarbin, where do you come up with all that shit?”
    â€œThat’s from Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth, ” Harbin said as the three started toward the remuda. They had just cut out their mounts when a very large group of men burst out of the trees, firing.
    Harbin went down with the opening fusillade.
    â€œWhat the hell!” Barrett shouted.
    The men swept through, firing as they galloped through the camp. One of them had a rope, and as he passed the chuck wagon, he threw a rope around a high stake, then pulled the wagon over. The cowboys were totally surprised by the attack, and many of them weren’t even wearing guns. The few who were armed began firing back.
    The attackers made two more passes through the camp, then rode out into the herd, shooting at the cattle as they rode by. The cattle began dropping.
    â€œMy God, they’re killing the cattle!” Carter shouted.
    â€œWho the hell are these people?” Barrett asked. “Where did they come from?”
    â€œI don’t know, but there sure as hell are a lot of them. Ramon, we need to get mounted! We need to get after them!” Carter said. “Ramon?”
    Looking over at Ramon, Carter saw the top hand leaning back against