Free Novel 1956 - Silver Canyon (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour Page A

men to know the quality of this one. He was a fighter…and no fool. As we rode, he told me he was a wrestler, Cornish style.
    It would be good to have a man at my side, and a man I could leave behind me on the ranch when we did get it back. How that would be managed I did not know, but somehow, it had to be done.
    Yet there was a weariness on me. There had been little sleep or rest in the days since first I’d come to Hattan’s Point, except during the sixteen days in the hills, and then I’d been recovering from a wound. And that wound had robbed me of strength I’d need in the days to come.
    We scouted the Two-Bar as others had scouted it against me, and there were four horses in the corral. No brands were visible at this distance, and it did not matter. There was a log barricade that looked formidable, and obviously the men had been instructed to lay low and sit tight. They had seen us, and were waiting with their rifles. We saw the reflected light from a moving gun barrel, but we were out of range.
    â€œIt’ll be a job.”
    Mulvaney put a hand on the sack in front of him. “What do you think I’ve got in the sack, laddie? I, who was a miner also?”
    â€œPowder?”
    â€œIn sticks, no less. New-fangled, but good.”
    He rode his mule behind some rocks and as we got down he took the sticks from the sack. “Unless it makes your head ache to handle powder, lend me a hand. We’ll cut these sticks in half.”
    We cut several, slid a cap into each stick, and tied it to a chunk of rock.
    Darkness was near. It was time to move. We had waited under cover, but the men behind the barricade knew we were here, and by now they were wondering what we were doing. Perhaps they had seen the tow sacks, and were puzzling over what they contained.
    Carefully, we gathered up our bombs and slid over the rim. We were still a good distance from the edge of the barricade. Suddenly, with a lunge, I was running. I had spotted cover just ahead, but a man sprang up from behind the barrier and he snapped a quick shot just as I slid into shelter behind the rock.
    Mulvaney was running too. Another shot sounded, bu then I rolled up to my knees and hurled the first bomb.
    I’d lit the fuse hurriedly and the flying dynamite charge left a trail of sparks. Somebody let go with a wild yell, and then the bomb hit and exploded almost in the same instant.
    Mulvaney’s first and my second followed, both of them in the air at once. Another explosion split the night apart and one man dove over the barricade and started running straight toward me. The others charged the corral. The man coming at me glimpsed me then and slid to a halt. He wheeled as if the devil was after him.
    Four riders dashed from the corral and were gone.
    Mulvaney got up from behind his rock and we walked to the corral. He was chuckling.
    â€œThey’d have stood until hell froze over for guns,” he said, “but that giant powder got ’em.”
    Leaving Mulvaney, I returned for my horse and his mule. So again I was on the ranch.…
    Standing there under the stars, I looked off toward town. They would go there first, or that was my guess. And that meant they would have a few drinks and it would be hours before another attack could be mounted. And Mulvaney had been right, of course. They would have fought it out with guns. The giant powder was frightening and different.
    Walking back to the ranch yard, leading the horses, I met Mulvaney gathering wood.
    â€œIt’s a fine ranch,” he said thoughtfully, “and you’re a lucky man.”
    â€œIf I can hold it.”
    â€œWe’ll hold it,” he said quietly.
    Chapter 10
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    W E HAD EATEN our noon meal on the following day when we saw a plume of dust. It seemed like one rider, at most not more than two.
    Mulvaney got up unhurriedly and moved across to the log barricade and waited beside his rifle. He was not a man who grew greatly excited,