But women? They will hunt you forever.” Perrin shrugged. “Who will be left to talk?” Ducrow glanced at him, wetting his lips.
Fernandez said nothing. After a bit he muttered, “Killing a man is one thing.” “You want to be left out?” Perrin demanded. “You don’t have to go.” “I’ll go.” “What happens if Ben Curry finds out? He doesn’t miss much, you know.” “What happens?
If he opens his mouth I’ll kill him.” There was a pause, then he added, “I never wanted to kill anybody the way I’ve wanted to kill him. He thinks he’s the big manl I’ll show him who’s top dogl” “What about Bastian?” Perrin waved a dismissing hand. “He’s your prcml If you an’ Fernandez can’t figure a way to handle him, then you aren’t the men I think you are.” “He’s quick,” Ducrow remarked. “It won’t do to think he’s easy.” “You handle him.” “And you handle Ben Curry?” The voice was that of the man named Bayless. “He may not be young anymore, but he’s hell on wheels with a gun.” “Forget himl You three, along with Clatt, Panell, Monson, and Kiefer, will go with us. Nine out of ten will be with us in makin’ the break.
There’s been a lot of dissatisfaction lately. The boys don’t like bein’ tied down so much. Sure, they’ve got money, but what good does it do them?” “Molina wants to raid the Mormons,” Bayless commented. “They’ve a lot of fat stock and some damn good horses.” Mike Bastian waited no longer. The chance of discovery was too great. His first thought was to go at once to Ben Curry, but he might betray his interest in Drusilla and the time was not ripe for that.
What would Ben Curry say if he learned the foster son he had raised to be an outlaw was in love with his daughter? A foster son who had nothing, and no prospects?
Yet what could he do?
Ben Curry would know the girls and their mother were at Red Wall, and he would be going to see them. If he kept an eye on Ben he might find Ben’s shortcut to the V-Bar.
Recalling other times when Ben had left, Mike knew the route had to be much quicker than any he could guess at. It was probably further west and south, possibly some way across the Grand Canyon, although knowing the enormous depth of the canyon he could not picture a possible route.
He would have to wait. He wanted to see Drusilla again but now he must wait here, watch Perrin, and do what he could to protect Ben. How fast was Ben now? And how tough? Speed of draw was the least consideration. Nerve and a steady hand were infinitely more important. If there was as much unrest in the gang as Perrin implied, something might break loose at any moment. He had known the outlaws were restless.
Most of them had become outlaws to avoid discipline. Ben had commanded them longer than anyone would have believed, their loyalty due in part to the returns, in part to the carefully prepared escapes, as well as fear of his farreaching power. Now there was fear that he was losing his grip. Mike felt a sudden urge to saddle his horse and ride away forever, to escape all the cruelty, conniving, and hatred that lay dormant here. He could ride now by way of the Kaibab Trail through the forest. Living as he did, it might be a week before they even knew he was gone. Yet to run now, no matter how much he wished to be away, would be to give up all hope of seeing Dru again.
Moreover, whatever future he chose he could not abandon Ben in his hour of need.
Returning to his room he sat dawn on his bed to think. Roundy first and then Doe Sawyer, each seemed to be hoping he would give it up and get out before it was too late. Doc said it was his life, but was it? There was a light tap at the door. Gun in hand, he reached for the latch. Roundy stepped in, glancing at the gun.
“Gettin’ jumpy, Mike? I don’t blame you.” Mike explained what he had heard. Roundy heard him out and then asked, “Mike? Have you heard of Dave Lenaker?” “You mean that Colorado gunman?” “He’s headed this way. Ben Curry just got word that he’s coming out to take over the gang.” “I thought he was one of Ben’s best men?” “So did we all, and so he has been, but more than likely he’s afraid Perrin will climb into the saddle, and they have never liked each other.” “Does Ben know?” “You bet he doesl He’s mighty wrought up, too. He’d planned on bein’ away a few days on one of those trips to Red Wall. Now he can’t go.” Doc came in and the three talked, trying to foresee what might happen and what the best strategy would be. Perrin was hot for a break.
“Roundy,” Mike suggested, “either me, you, or Doe had better be here at all times, but you two had best sift around and get some of the men on whom we can depend, like Garlin and Coney. Don’t get any you have doubts about. Have them drift up this way and be ready for trouble.” . “Garlin’s with the horse herd,” Roundy said,” “no way to reach him today without riding down there. “All right, get him when you can.” When Roundy had gone, Mike went out to the porch overlooking the canyon. The night was dark, although the stars were bright and there were no clouds.
Somehow he must warn them at the V-Bar; but-whom could he trust? The secret of the ranch and its.-people was not his, but Ben’s. Nobody in the canyon. would carry any message in any way harmful to another member of the gang. He could get a dozen men by using Ben’s name, but that was just what he dared not do.
Ben knew how to get over there in a hurry, but how? And how could he find out in time?
The date for the raid on the treasure train was the twentieth, and there had been talk of a raid into eastern Colorado. Was that to be the twentieth also?
Dave Lenaker was on his way here. If Ben knew that, Perrin might know also. Such things were hard to keep secret, especially when there seemed no reason for keeping them secret.
For a long time he lay awake, trying to think his way to a solution. He must talk to Ben Curry.
He must warn him and tell him what he knew. His window was open and he could hear the far-o@.” howling of coyotes. He found himself wishing he was out there in his wilderness, away from all this, walking down one of those long, long valleys or climbing among the aspen, up to timberline, where the spruce ended and the tundra began. Up to the sliderock slopes where the springs were born. There was freedom there, and peace, and there was no worry about such men as Kerb Pen-in.
He sat up suddenly. He was not cut out for an outlaw, and he had known it all the time. He had played with the idea because it was what was expected of him, but now he knew it was not for him. Yet much as he wished to just tide away from it all, there was no way it could be done. No matter what he was to other men, Ben Curry had been a father to him, gruff but kindly, his affection only shown through a friendly squeeze on the shoulder or, when he was younger, a casual cuff and a ruffling of his hair.
Now Ben’s back was to the wall, his lovely daughters and wife in danger and nobody to help but him.
Of course there was Roundy and there was Doc and a few loyal men, but nobody who could stand up to Molina or Perrin or Lenaker, if it came to that. There was only him, and this was what he had been raised for.
He lay down again, staring wide-eyed into the darkness.
He would need all his training, all his skill.
Perrin was a wily, dangerous man, good with a gun, but cunning as well. And he would know Ben Curry because he would have studied him all those years.
Tomorrow, he told himself. I’ve got to move tomorrow, and I must talk to Ben. I must make him see what is happening and how he must tell me how to reach his family in a hurry.
His eyes opened again. This was the end. He could see it clearly now. Ben Curry had held them together but he could do so no longer, nor could anybody else, no matter how well trained.