Free the Empty Land (1969) by Louis L'amour

wanted, and in a direction he had not considered.
    "To stop Coburn. To put a bullet into him."
    "Man, what a scalp that would be! " Kendrick agreed. "To be known as the man who downed Matt Coburn!" "Now, just a minute!" Dorset protested. "I ain't the least bit scared of Matt Coburn, but "Strawberry Station, that would be the place," Meadows interrupted. "Dorset could make his own plans. He'll know best how it should be done, but it ought to be at Strawberry, right at the opening of Sacramento Pass through the Snakes. If Dorset puts Coburn out of action at Strawberry, we could take the stage in the pass. A thing like that, gettin' rid of Coburn, that would call for a big slice of the pie maybe twenty-five thousand of it."
    The others looked at Harry Meadows, but he avoided their eyes. "Up on the box, with that shotgun, Coburn could be mighty hard to handle, but down on the ground at Strawberry, unexpected-like "Now, wait just a minute!" Dorset protested again.
    The dark, savage-looking man spoke up. "For that much," he said, T11 tackle him myself."
    Meadows shook his head. "He knows Dorset here. He could get close to him, take him unexpected-like ... not that he'd need to, Yunderstand."
    `Twenty-five thousand dollars!" Kendrick said, drawing a long breath. "That's a sight of money."
    Freeman Dorset was perplexed. How had he gotten into this situation anyway? He had come here in anger and some spite, only half in the notion of doing any-thing about it, and now instead of perhaps having a hand in a stage holdup, here he was being saddled with a shooting, and of Matt Coburn, of all people.
    "You can see he's not the kind to scare easy," Meadows persisted. 'Coburn probably takes him for nothing but a loose-mouthed kid. Wait'll he sees him with a gun in his hand! "
    To back out would seem cowardly, but Dorset wanted desperately to back out. He was not conscious of any fear of Matt Coburn. it was simply that he had not bargained for any of this. What he had done had been done on the impulse of a moment, but getting in was easier than getting out.
    "I'll have to think about it," he said lamely. "I'd need to plan, see how it shapes up."
    "Nothing to plan," Meadows persisted, "nothing to shape up. Coburn will ride the stage into Strawberry. Hell find everything as it should be. He'll be tired, off-guard. How you do it is your own affair, but it'll be dark, and I'd say the best thing is to suddenly yell at him. `Who's a liar?' an' shoot as you yell. He'll be dead, and folks will say he called you a liar and you beat him to the draw."
    Free Dorset was a weak young man, and he was tempted. He had seen the awe that surrounded men like Matt Coburn; he had seen the way heads turned when they passed, and how strong men moved aside for them. He was torn between what he wanted and the sneaking realization that he was not man enough to bring it off. Yet that realization was only a dark shadow in the back of his mind, and he could already see himself walking hard-booted down the boardwalks of western towns, pointed out as "the man who killed Matt Coburn." He had dreamed of such a thing, and now the possibility was here.
    Along with it, twenty-five thousand dollars in gold. More than he was likely to see in a lifetime of hard work.
    "I don't need no tricks. I can beat him without them."
    "Sure you can. But why not a little insurance?*
    "If you'd leave right now," Kendrick suggested, "you could be there waitin' when the stage pulled in."
    "I wasn't figurin' on anything like this," Dorset protested. "I mean, bein' gone so long. Miss Shannon, she's sure to be wonderin' whatever happened."
    "Don't let that worry you none a-tall," Meadows replied easily. "You just ride over to the Rafter. Before evenin' one o' the boys will come driftin' by an' say how he seen some Rafter stock over next to Strawberry. She's o'ny got you an' that or man, an' he won't be beggin' for no ride. If she don't ask you to go, you just speak up and offer, but give her a chance