Free Novel 1968 - Down The Long Hills (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour Page A

“You’re likely to lose ’em all. I figure we better let those kids have some grub an’ sort of study on this a mite.”
    “I don’t like any horse actin’ up with me. What he needs is a taste of the club.”
    “Cal’s just a-talkin’, boy. Now, why don’t you two git down? We got us some grub here, an’ in the mornin’ we can sort of figure out what to do. Mebbe we can find your pa for you.”
    Hardy didn’t like the looks or the sound of these men, and he wanted nothing so much as to ride away, but the two men were standing too close. One of them was all poised for just such a move, so though he didn’t want to, Hardy slid to the ground. He would wait until the men were asleep, then they would slip away.
    The man called Cal started to reach again for the bridle, but Red pulled back, eyes rolling. “Let me stake him out,” Hardy said. “He knows me.”
    “You jest do that, youngster.” Jud looked past him, shaking his head at Cal. “Your little sister, she can jest stay here with us. No use her wanderin’ around in the dark, out yonder.”
    When he had picketed the stallion, Hardy went up to Red and rubbed him gently on the shoulder. “Looks to me as if I got us into trouble, Red. You be careful now. Maybe we can get away from them.”
    He walked tiredly back to the fire. Betty Sue was seated on a rock near the fire, her eyes big and staring.
    Jud looked over at her. “Now how old would that one be, boy?”
    “She’s three,” he said, “just past three.”
    “Don’t seem reasonable,” Cal offered, “you two out here alone like that. You say your pa is huntin’ you? How d’you know that?”
    “I just know it. That’s the way pa is.”
    Cal chuckled. “Chances are he figures the Injuns killed you. He ain’t huntin’ you, boy.”
    “That’s not true!” Hardy was near to tears. “He is so hunting us!”
    Hardy ate some food while the two men talked, muttering together in low tones. Finally Jud brought them a blanket. “You two roll up in that. We’ll have us a talk in the mornin’.”
    Cal glanced over at them. “An’ don’t do any wanderin’ about camp. I got a mighty touchy way with a gun. I might mistake you for an Injun.”
    When they were covered up near the fire, Betty Sue whispered, “I don’t like those men!”
    “Ssh!” After a moment Hardy said, “I don’t like them, either!” Then he added, his lips close to her ear, “Maybe we can slip off.”
    With the best intentions of staying awake, he fell sound asleep. He had been tired for such a long time, and now for the first time in days he was under a blanket. In the night he woke up, hearing a low murmur of voices.
    One of the men was speaking. “Look at it, Jud. Nobody even knows they’re alive. And I’d give an arm for that horse.”
    “What about that Injun?”
    “Boy’s talk. Iffen there was an Injun, you can bet that b’ar got him.”
    “Wonder who the boy’s pa was?”
    “What’s it matter? Nobody’ll ever hear of it.”
    “Might recognize the horse.”
    “We found him astray…or swapped him from some Injun. Ain’t one chance in a million we’d ever see anybody who’d know the horse. You go to sleep now.”
    Hardy lay wide awake, staring up at the stars. He was terribly afraid. Once he half sat up, but he saw Cal watching him, and lay down again.
    It would be very hard to get away from these two.

Chapter 7
    D AYLIGHT CAME WITH a chill wind off the mountains, rustling the leaves of the brush, and moaning a little among the pines. The camp lay in an open meadow on the banks of a small stream. There were clumps of willow, a few cottonwoods, and on the slopes of the mountains the golden aspen in thick stands.
    Hardy was up, rustling wood for the fire. He was wary now, watching for the slim chance of getting to Big Red, and getting Betty Sue into the saddle. He was frightened, but he told himself he must be brave. He must do what pa would want him to do; but he had no weapon with which to fight