the Empty Land (1969) Read Online Free Page A

beef."
    Kid Curtis was worried. Matt could see it in the way he kept licking his lips and looking from the girl to Weber.
    `They are my cattle, gentlemen, and I shall drive them back to my ranch." She was not only cool, she was hard. She did not seem the least bit frightened. But Matt was alert to her danger.
    "Well, if you ain't a gonna be reasonable " Skin put his rifle down. "Kid, if she makes one wrong move, you shoot her, d'you hear? Don't mess her up, just shoot him the shoulder or the knee like. We kind of want her the way she is."
    Matt Coburn stepped from behind the rock. His rifle was in the saddle scabbard, and he had not drawn a pistol. But he had to stop it before the girl tried to shoot, which he knew she would do.
    Skin started toward her, and at that instant she saw Matt Coburn. Her sudden start of surprise made Curtis turn his head. "Skin," he warned, "we got trouble."
    "Aw, most of em fight a little bit until they find out who's boss. I'll just "
    "Skin!" The sharpness of Curtis' tone stopped Weber. "We got compn'y."
    Skin Weber did not like interruptions. He had his own plans, and he was angry. Then his eyes followed the Kid's.
    He looked at Matt Coburn and did not like what he saw. "Where'd you come from?"
    "Skin ... be careful."
    The warning in Curtis' tone was obvious, and it rang an alarm in Weber's brain that burned through his anger. "Whoever you are, get out! Get out whilst you're able."
    Matt Coburn let a slow moment go by. "I was going to make you that offer, Skin, but after your attitude toward the young lady here, I don't much care whether you go or stay. The buzzards will have you boys sooner or later, and it might as well be here."
    Skin Weber was suddenly cautious. This man was cool and confident; he was unworried. In the world in which Skin Weber moved, that meant the stranger had an edge. Skin's eyes swept the rocks. Were other men hidden here?
    His eyes went back to Coburn. This man could have drawn his gun before he stepped into sight, but he had not. That meant he believed he could get into action fast enough, and that might mean that he was somebody. But Skin Weber himself was a handy man with a gun and he did not like backing down.
    "We're just havin' a little fun. You beat it"
    Coburn's attitude did not change. |Skin, you've got the lady's cattle. You stole them from her ranch."
    "You callin' me a cow thief?" Skin's tone held a threat "Sure I am, Skin. You've been called one before. You've also been called a horse thief, a dry-gulching murderer, and a robber of drunks and old ladies."
    Skin was appalled. The man was deliberately goading him into making a fight of it. And the more eager the man was for a fight, the less eager Skin became.
    "Skin" Bid Curtis spoke only loud enough for his ears "that's Matt Coburn."
    Laurie Shannon was looking at Skin Weber when the Bid spoke, and she saw the face of a man who had looked upon death. Slowly and carefully, Weber eased his hand away from his gun.
    It was Curtis who spoke. "Mister, if it's all the same to you, we'd like to ride out of here."
    "All right, boys, if you want to ride ... ride."
    Bid Curtis walked stiff-legged to his horse. He did not look to see if Weber followed. Only when he was in the saddle did he look back. Skin had not stirred, and the paleness of his face had given way to the red of anger. "Skin," Curtis said, "don't try it"
    A moment more Weber hesitated, then slowly he turned away. Curtis watched warily, his own hands clasped very plainly on the pomme l Skin mounted and the two gunmen rode out of the cut, with Matt Coburn following to see that they continued to travel.
    "Mr. Coburn, I would like to thank you."
    When the girl spoke, he turned and looked squarely at her for the first time, and he thought that she was beautiful. She had auburn hair and hazel eyes, and she was taller than most women.
    "You will need help to drive the cattle back," he said. "May I lend a hand?"
    They had started the cattle when two riders