Free the Rider Of Ruby Hills (1986) by Louis L'amour Page A

Fisher. Get going' now."
    He turned and strode back to the door. "What is it?" A drunken voice called. "If it's that Roily Burt, I'll fix him!"
    "It ain't. Just a Mexican kid with a horse. Some stray he picked up, an old crowbait. Forget it!" The door closed.
    Ross heaved a sigh. Without further talk, they moved on, hobbling across the open, then into the trees. There they rested. They heard a door slam open. Men came out into the street and started up the path away from them. They had been drinking and were angry. The town of Soledad would be an unpleasant place on this night.
    When Haney had the mare saddled, he helped Roily up. "Start down the trail," he said. "If you hear anybody comin', get out of sight. When I come, I'll be ridin' that palouse of mine. You've seen it?"
    "Sure. I'll know it. I keep goin' until you catch up, right?"
    "Right. Keep out of sight of anybody else, and I mean anybody. That goes for your RR hands as well. Hear me?"
    "Yeah, an' I guess you're right at that. They sure haven't been much help. But I'll not forget what you've done, a stranger, too."
    "You ride. Forget about me. I've got to get back into Soledad an' get my horse out without excitin' comment. Once I get you where I'm takin' you, nobody will find you."
    He watched the mare start up the road at a fast walk, and then he turned back toward the town.
    He heard shouts and yells, and then a drunken cowhand blasted three shots into the air.
    Ross Haney hitched his guns into place and started down the road for Soledad. He was walking fast.

    Chapter IX
    Baited Trap
    The disappearance of Roily Burt was a nine- day wonder in the town of Soledad and the Ruby Hills. Ross Haney, riding in and out of town, heard the question discussed and argued from every standpoint. Burt had not been seen in Rico or in Pie Town. Nor had any evidence of him been found on the trails.
    No horses were accounted missing, and the search of the Box N cowhands had been fruitless, if intensive. Neither Allan Kinney nor May asked any questions of Ross, although several times he recognized their curiosity.
    The shooting and the frenzied search that followed had left the town abnormally quiet. Yet the rumor was going around that with the end of the coming roundup, the whole trouble would break open once more and be settled, once and for all. For the time being, with the roundup in the offing, both ranches seemed disposed to ignore the feud and settle first things first.
    Second only to the disappearance of Roily Burt was Ross Haney himself as a topic of conversation. He spent money occasionally, and he came and went around Soledad, but no one seemed to have any idea what he was doing, or what his plans were. Curiosity was growing, and the three most curious men were Walt Pogue, Chalk Reynolds, and Star Levitt. There was another man even more curious, and that one was Emmett Chubb.
    It was after the disappearance of Burt that Chubb first heard of Haney's presence in the Ruby Hills. The RR hands ate at one long table presided over by Chalk himself, and Syd Berdue sat always at his right hand.
    "Heard Walt Pogue an' his man Voyle had some words with that Haney," Reynolds said to Berdue. "Looks like he's gettin' this country buffaloed."
    Berdue went white to the lips and had started to make an angry reply when he was cut off by a sudden movement down the table. Emmett Chubb had lunged to his feet. The stocky, hard- faced gunman leaned across the table. "Did you say Haney?" he rasped. "Would that be Ross Haney?"
    "That's right." Reynolds looked up sharply. "Know him?"
    Chubb sat back in his chair with a thud. "I should smile I know him! He's huntin' me!"
    "You?" Reynolds stared. "Why?"
    Chubb shrugged. "Me an' a friend of his had a run-in. You knew him. Vin Carter."
    "Ah? Carter was a friend of Haney's?" Reynolds chewed in silence. "How good is this Haney?"
    "He thinks he's plumb salty. I wouldn't be for knowin', however. Down thataway they sure set store by him."
    A slim,