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

there.
    Conagher had been less than fourtee n when he learned to distrust something ou t of place, and what he saw was not sunligh t on a stone, it was not the bottom side of a leaf; it looked like a bit of paper.
    It was not much over a hundred yard s off, so he put his glass on it.
    A piece of paper lying amongst som e tumbleweed. His glasses swept the groun d ... no tracks that he could see at thi s distance.
    Warily, he rode along, scouting the are a until he was sure there was no one around.
    Then he rode up to the tumbleweed.
    The paper was folded over several time s and it was tied to the tumbleweed.
    Curious, he untied it and opened th e paper.
    Sometimes when I am alone I feel I wil l die if I do not talk to someone, and I am alone so much.
    I love to hear the wind in the grass, or i n the cedars.
    He read it through, then read it again.
    He started to throw it aside, but then h e tucked it into his vest pocket.
    He liked the wind in the grass, himself.
    And the cedars, too, and the smell of them.
    He wondered if the writer of that note ha d ever really looked at a cedar. Gnarled , twisted by wind, rooted often enough i n rock, still it lived and grew. It took a sigh t of living and hardship to grow like that , but when they did grow they grew strong , and they lasted. Why, he'd seen cedar s that had split rocks apart, cedars that mus t have been old before Columbus landed.
    Leggett was sitting in front of the bun k house when Conagher rode in. The ol d man looked up . We've et , he said , bu t coffee's on. The Old Man figured yo u might come in late .
    Thanks .
    Conagher stripped the rigging from hi s horse and threw it over a saddle tree unde r the shed. He was dog-tired and bone weary.
    McGivern come in ?
    'Nope . . . Kris took off some place. t oo .
    Conagher dumped water into th e washbasin beside the door and, rolling u p his sleeves, he took off his hat an d neckerchief and washed his face, neck, an d arms. Then he dried them on the rolle r towel, hitched his gunbelt into place, an d started for the house.
    Then he stopped . Leggett, you migh t as well have some coffee with me. You'l l grow right into that bench if you set ther e much longer .
    Leggett got up and walked along wit h him to the patch of light that fell from th e kitchen door.
    The Old Man's turned in, but he sai d you'd better pick yourself a couple of goo d winter horses and iron them out a little, t o suit you .
    All right .
    Tay's got good stock. There's a bi g dapple-gray would make quite a horse i f you're man enough to take the kinks out o f him, and there's a buckskin about th e same size. Both of them big enough an d strong enough for the snow .
    Does she get deep around here ?
    In the draws and canyons she piles up.
    You'll need Montana-style horses .
    They sat in silence for a time, and the n Conagher refilled his cup . You been o n this range quite a while. How's the Ol d Man when it comes to trouble ?
    Leggett gave Conagher a bleak look.
    He'll stand by you, if that's what yo u mean, but nobody else will. I'm the onl y one of the old hands left, and I'm only her e because I ain't a youngster no more and I got nowhere to go .
    Leggett got to his feet . I don't kno w you, cowboy, an' you don't know me. I f you got any ideas about buckin' troubl e you got to go it alone .
    You won't help me ?
    How much help would I be? I'm up i n my sixties, boy, older than you thought , an' I want to live out my days, not die o n some sandy slope with lead in my guts .
    And the Old Man ?
    Leggett looked at him . Ain't that wha t they want most? If they can get him out o n the range they'll kill him, and then the y can take the cattle as they want, an d nobody to stop them .
    Conn Conagher was a stubborn man.
    He had never given much thought to trut h and justice or the rights of man, but he di d not like what seemed to be happenin g here, and anything that happened to a n outfit he rode for, happened to him.
    Will you stand by the Old Man ? h e asked .