Free Conagher (1969) by Louis L'amour Page A

and Conaghe r swung down. This was apparently a plac e where frequent stops had been made.
    There were many tracks, but none of the m were fresh except those made by Johnny' s pinto gelding.
    The stock seems to be in good shape , Conagher said . Some of it is drifting , though .
    Yeah ? Johnny glanced at him . Yo u see anybody ?
    Only a puncher named Coker. Ride s for the Ladder Five .
    You talk much ?
    Conagher took his cup from hi s saddlebag and filled it from the coffeepot.
    Not much .
    Johnny was looking at him, bu t Conagher paid no attention. He sipped th e coffee gratefully . Good coffee , he said.
    We leave the pot hanging to that cedar.
    Whoever gets here first, makes it .
    I'll try to see you get here before I do.
    You make better coffee .
    Ma taught me. Sometimes I made i t for her before she got home . Johnn y looked around at him . Ma worked out.
    My pa was killed in a train crash when I was six .
    She had nerve , Conagher said . I t takes nerve to bring up a boy when a woman's alone . He looked over a t Johnny . She'd be proud of you, I think.
    You shape up like quite a man .
    McGivern flushed, and to change th e subject he said , I always wished I coul d have known what pa was like. What kin d of a man he was .
    Most railroaders I've known wer e mighty good men , Conagher said . I'v e helped lay track, myself. And I've ridde n the cars a good bit, with shipments o f stock, and the like. They're good men .
    I never had a chance to know him .
    A boy should know his pahe need s somebody to look up to. A boy or a girl , they learn how to be a man or a woman b y watching their folks .
    There was a man worked at a stor e near us. Sometimes when we hadn't an y money he let us have groceries anyway . . . u ntil we could pay. I don't know if ma eve r did manage to pay him all of it .
    Some day you ought to go back and as k him. Pay him what you owe .
    Johnny stared into his cup . I'v e thought about it. You think I should ?
    Uh-huh .
    They sat silent, drinking coffee an d listening to the pleasant sound of th e horses cropping grass. After a while , Conagher got to his feet and cinche d up.
    Conn ? Johnny said questioningly.
    Yeah ?
    Why didn't you draw on that man? O n Kiowa ?
    You mean was I afraid? No, I wasn' t . . . not that I recollect. I expect all men ar e scared sometimes, but I didn't think of it.
    Kiowa wasn't really mean, he just ha d a blown-up idea of who he was . . . w hy should I kill him because he wa s making a fool of himself? Why should I risk getting killed myself, for the sam e reason?
    He had to be taught , Conn went on , and there's no other way, sometimes. I f he lives, he'll be grateful. If he doesn't, i t won't make any difference. First thing yo u want to remember, boy, is that a reputation doesn't make a man tough. Yo u got to know, not did he kill somebody, bu t who were they? How tough were they?
    Also, could he have done otherwise? A m an who kills when he can do otherwise i s crazy . . . plumb crazy .
    He might have killed you .
    Might have . Conagher stepped int o the saddle and looked down at Johnn y McGivern . Some men take a sight o f killing, boy. Just be sure that when killin g time comes around that you're standing o n the right side .
    Johnny stared after him. Now what di d he mean by that? Did he mean anything b y it?
    In spite of himself, Johnny felt drawn t o the strange, lonely rider who was jus t disappearing down a draw. He had neve r seen a man more alone, nor a man mor e secure in himself. That was it, Johnn y surmised: Conn Conagher knew what h e believed . . . and Johnny wished he di d himself.
    Kris now . . . Kris had swagger an d style, but something about Kris mad e Johnny uneasy.
    But only since he had met Con n Conagher.
    That was the day Conn found the first o f the notes. He saw it from far off, and dre w up in the shadow of a juniper to study i t out.
    Down there on the flat there was a spec k of white, just a speck, but it had n o business to be