Where the Long Grass Blows (1976) Read Online Free
Author: Louis L'amour
picking up a little here, little there. I actually punched cows for a couple of outfits just because they had hands working for them who worked this country in the past "Then I ran into Vin Carter, who was born here, and he told me more than all the others. Then, while I was working in a different part of the country, Emmett Chubb rode in and killed the kid ... picked a fight and shot him down. I think Walt Pogue paid him to do it "Sure, I want some range of my own, but that's not all anymore. Vin Carter and me, we rode rough country together. He swam some rivers, fought sandstorms and stampedes, and he was a good man, too good to be murdered by the likes of Chubb.
"Before this is over, there's going to be a lot of changes, and before those changes end, I'll be sitting on a nice ranch. Then I'll get married and settle down."
Scott shook his head in amazement. "Kid, you sure do beat all! If I was twenty years younger I'd throw in with you. It's a big order, but I got an idea you're going to give it a try. You can have the hundred dollars."
"And maybe some ammunition, time to time?"
"Sure. But you'll need more than that. You've got to have a plan."
Canavan nodded agreement. "I have one, Scott, and I've already started my action. I've filed on Thousand Springs."
Scott came off his chair, his face a mask of incredulity.
"You did what?"
"I filed a claim and I've staked her out and started to prove up." Bill Canavan chuckled at Scott's amazement. "Seemed like a good idea to sort of set "em back on their heels to start. No use wastin" around."
"You've committed suicide," Scott said. "The Thousand Springs is right in the middle of Reynolds's best range. That water-hole is worth a fortune all by itself! That's what this fight is all about!"
"I know it," Canavan said. "I knew it before I took a step. I made my map, studied the country, and studied all I knew about the Valley country.
When I heard about Thousand Springs the first thing I did was check into the title. I found it was government land, so I filed a claim. Then I bought Bullhorn."
This time, astonishment was beyond the storekeeper.
"How could you buy it? Ain't that government land?"
"No, it isn't, and even Vin Carter believed it was.
I checked it out and found the ownership was with a Mexican who'd had it from a Mexican land grant. Finally located him down in the Big Bend country and bought the three hundred acres, the Bullhorn headquarters, the water-hole and the cliffs behind it And the place includes a fair chunk of the land where Pogue cuts his meadow hay."
"Well, I'll be forever damned!" Scott tapped out his pipe bowl on the hearth. "But what about Hitson Spring?"
"That's another reason why I wanted to see you,"
Canavan said quietly. "You own it."
"I do, do I? And how'd you come to think that?"
"Met an old sidewinder named Emmons. That was down Laredo way. He was pretty drunk one night down in a greasers' joint. I got him talking about this country and he had a lot to say, an' most of it made sense. Then he told me how foolish you had been to file a claim on that land when you could have bought it from the Indians for little or nothing."
Scott chuckled. "Just what I did, but nobody around here knows that."
"Then sell it to me. I'll give you my note for five thousand right now."
"Your note, is it? Son, you'd better get yourself killed. It will be cheaper to bury you than to pay up."
He tapped his pipe bowl out on the hearth again.
"Tell you what I'll do. I'll take your note for five hundred and the fun of watching what happens."
Bill Canavan pulled over a tablet that lay on the table and on the first page he wrote out a note and handed it to Scott. The old outlaw chuckled as he read it I hereby agree to pay on or before the 15th of March, 1877 to Westbrook Scott, the sum of five hundred dollars and the fun of watching what happens for the 160 acres known as Hitson Spring.
"All right, son! Sign her up! I'll get the deed, and the best of luck to
"Before this is over, there's going to be a lot of changes, and before those changes end, I'll be sitting on a nice ranch. Then I'll get married and settle down."
Scott shook his head in amazement. "Kid, you sure do beat all! If I was twenty years younger I'd throw in with you. It's a big order, but I got an idea you're going to give it a try. You can have the hundred dollars."
"And maybe some ammunition, time to time?"
"Sure. But you'll need more than that. You've got to have a plan."
Canavan nodded agreement. "I have one, Scott, and I've already started my action. I've filed on Thousand Springs."
Scott came off his chair, his face a mask of incredulity.
"You did what?"
"I filed a claim and I've staked her out and started to prove up." Bill Canavan chuckled at Scott's amazement. "Seemed like a good idea to sort of set "em back on their heels to start. No use wastin" around."
"You've committed suicide," Scott said. "The Thousand Springs is right in the middle of Reynolds's best range. That water-hole is worth a fortune all by itself! That's what this fight is all about!"
"I know it," Canavan said. "I knew it before I took a step. I made my map, studied the country, and studied all I knew about the Valley country.
When I heard about Thousand Springs the first thing I did was check into the title. I found it was government land, so I filed a claim. Then I bought Bullhorn."
This time, astonishment was beyond the storekeeper.
"How could you buy it? Ain't that government land?"
"No, it isn't, and even Vin Carter believed it was.
I checked it out and found the ownership was with a Mexican who'd had it from a Mexican land grant. Finally located him down in the Big Bend country and bought the three hundred acres, the Bullhorn headquarters, the water-hole and the cliffs behind it And the place includes a fair chunk of the land where Pogue cuts his meadow hay."
"Well, I'll be forever damned!" Scott tapped out his pipe bowl on the hearth. "But what about Hitson Spring?"
"That's another reason why I wanted to see you,"
Canavan said quietly. "You own it."
"I do, do I? And how'd you come to think that?"
"Met an old sidewinder named Emmons. That was down Laredo way. He was pretty drunk one night down in a greasers' joint. I got him talking about this country and he had a lot to say, an' most of it made sense. Then he told me how foolish you had been to file a claim on that land when you could have bought it from the Indians for little or nothing."
Scott chuckled. "Just what I did, but nobody around here knows that."
"Then sell it to me. I'll give you my note for five thousand right now."
"Your note, is it? Son, you'd better get yourself killed. It will be cheaper to bury you than to pay up."
He tapped his pipe bowl out on the hearth again.
"Tell you what I'll do. I'll take your note for five hundred and the fun of watching what happens."
Bill Canavan pulled over a tablet that lay on the table and on the first page he wrote out a note and handed it to Scott. The old outlaw chuckled as he read it I hereby agree to pay on or before the 15th of March, 1877 to Westbrook Scott, the sum of five hundred dollars and the fun of watching what happens for the 160 acres known as Hitson Spring.
"All right, son! Sign her up! I'll get the deed, and the best of luck to
Readers choose
Craig Hickman
Philip C. Elrod
Qaisra Shahraz
Ann Radcliffe
Brynn Paulin
Breena Wilde
Alyson Richman
Bryce Evans
Anna Kavan
Ashantay Peters