Free Novel 1966 - Kid Rodelo (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour

belly-deep, and every time he tries to get out he sinks deeper. And the same for men. Or suppose your canteen gets holed? You’re a long way from being out of the woods yet. You got any idea how many cons got this far? I can name you a dozen…but they lost out between here and the coast.”
    “I don’t believe it.”
    “He makes sense,” Badger said. “We’d better look to our hole card.”
    Gopher brought more sticks and added to the fire. Nora looked at him and asked, “Why do they call you Gopher?”
    He grinned at her. “I was forever tryin’ to dig cut. Made so many tunnels they called me Gopher. It was partly because of him”—he indicated Tom Badger. “He was the Badger, and bigger than me, so they called me the Gopher.”
    They ate and drank, and finally one by one they lay down exhausted on the sand.
    “You cover up,” Rodelo warned Nora. “The wind will start coming down this arroyo, and it will be cold.”
    “Cold?” She was incredulous.
    “You’ll be chilled to the bone, take it from me. You cover up.”
    He looked in the direction of the coast. From a high point a man might see it all, laid out there before him, but it would be deceiving. Desert country has a way of concealing its obstacles: canyons that don’t seem to be there until one stands on the very edge of them, and lava flows that would ruin a new pair of boots in a few miles.
    Somehow he knew. Tomorrow would be the day…tomorrow.

Chapter 7
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    D AN RODELO SLIPPED the thong off his six-shooter and worked his fingers. He wanted no trouble. He had come here for a purpose, and if he could accomplish that purpose without a gunfight he would be satisfied. How he would fare in a gun battle with Joe Harbin he had no idea, but he knew that Harbin had not killed men by accident. He was a good shot and a tough man.
    Tom Badger was shrewd and careful, willing to let the others fight. And neither of them planned to let Gopher come in for anything.
    Rodelo had gone to prison for a crime he had not committed. That rankled, but what hurt most was that others believed him guilty. Above all else, he meant to prove himself innocent, and then he would drift out of the country. He no longer wanted any part of those who had distrusted him, who had lost faith in him so quickly.
    Nora was at the fire, and the coffee water was boiling. Badger hunkered down, back a bit from the flames, and faced partly away from them. “So far so good, Danny,” he said. “You brought us to water.”
    “Better tank up,” Rodelo answered. “Drink all you can. We’ve got the worst of all waiting for us out there.”
    Harbin snorted. “I can do the rest of it standin’ on my head.”
    Rodelo shrugged. “You pick your own way of doing it, Harbin, but I’ll see no man die out there if I can help it. There’s a belt of shifting dunes between here and the coast, miles of them, and not a drop of water to be had.”
    Harbin looked at him. “You sure like to make a big man of yourself, don’t you?”
    Rodelo made no reply. Harbin’s frustration and irritation, coupled with the harsh travel, had brought him to a murderous mood, and Rodelo realized it.
    “Coffee’s ready,” Nora said. “Come and get it while it’s hot.”
    “I’ll have some,” Rodelo said. “A cup of coffee would taste right good.”
    Nora filled a cup and handed it to him, but Harbin reached over so suddenly he almost spilled the coffee in grabbing for the cup. “I’ll take that!” he said sharply.
    “Sure,” Rodelo replied mildly, “you have it, Harbin.”
    Harbin stared at him angrily. “What’s the matter? You yella? You afraid to fight?”
    Rodelo shrugged. He was half smiling. “What’s there to fight about? We’ll all get coffee. You can have the first cup.”
    “Maybe I’ll have the second too!” Harbin was prodding him; but the time was not right, and Rodelo could wait.
    “All right, you have the second too.”
    “And maybe I’ll take it all!”
    “What about us,