Free Over on the Dry Side by Louis L’Amour Page B

the house. Halfway there, Freka suddenly turned and looked toward the barn, pausing, then saying something in a low voice to the barrel-chested man, who was nearest him.
    Owen Chantry got down four cups from the shelf and then the coffeepot. They seated themselves around the table and Chantry filled their cups.
    â€œNo sugar out here,” Chantry commented. “Honey all right?”
    â€œI favor it,” Strawn said.
    He was a good-looking man, his face somewhat long under a high forehead, with carefully parted and combed hair. He was a man of nearly thirty but he looked younger. He was good with a gun. He had been in a couple of cattle wars and several shootouts.
    Jake…that was the third man’s name. He’d used other handles from time to time, but that was his real name.
    â€œThis here’s a long way from somewhere for you, Chantry,” Strawn said. “I figured you for a town man.”
    â€œI like wild country. The wilder the better.”
    â€œWell, you got it,” Strawn said. “There just ain’t hardly nobody around here. You could ride a hundred miles in any direction and find nobody.…Nobody.”
    â€œExcept the Mowatt outfit,” Chantry commented.
    Strawn looked up, grinning. “You seen them?”
    â€œThey stopped by to visit. Didn’t stay long.”
    Strawn stared at him, then smiled. “Well, well. You mean you backed him off? You backed off Mac Mowatt?”
    Chantry refilled their cups. “You know how it is, Strawn. Mac didn’t figure the odds were right. Maybe he wanted company to be present. He might have been waiting for somebody.”
    Strawn chuckled. “You know, I like you, Chantry. I really do. Hope I never have to kill you.”
    â€œBe a shame, wouldn’t it, Strawn? Somebody sending you out on a job like that? And you so young, too.”
    Strawn’s eyes glinted, but he chuckled again. “Good coffee, Owen. I’m glad we stopped by.”
    â€œYou know, Jake, I was hoping to have this talk with you. You know me better than Mowatt does, and I don’t think you ever knew me to lie.”
    â€œYou?” Strawn stared. “I’d shoot the man who even suggested it.”
    â€œMowatt is after something, Jake. He’s after something that isn’t even there, that never was there. I don’t know all the facts, but I do know there’s no treasure. There’s nothing here that would be valuable to anybody but a scholar.”
    â€œWhat’s that mean?” Freka was suddenly alert.
    â€œIt means that when my brother rode up out of Mexico he brought something he valued greatly…and the treasure story got started.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œWhat he brought…and I’ll admit I’ve never seen it…was information. A book, a manuscript, some notes…perhaps a plaque of some kind. To someone trying to reconstruct history it would be valuable. But to the average person, worthless.”
    Freka smiled with exasperation. “You must think we’re all simpleminded to believe a story like that. Why would a growed-up man risk his life for something like that?”
    Jake Strawn looked thoughtful. “And if there’s nothing there, we wind up empty?”
    Chantry shrugged. “Did you ever hear of Mowatt giving away anything of his own? Look, Jake, you’ve ridden for some tough outfits, and so have I, and you know that nobody but some crazy kid, some wild youngster fights for anything but gain.…Not in our world. So if there’s no gain in treasure, where’s the payoff? You know I’m good with a gun. I know you are. I know damn well I don’t want to come up against you for fun, and I don’t think you want to lock horns with me for no payoff.”
    â€œAnd you say there’s no gold?”
    â€œI do. What I suggest is this, Jake. I suggest you and Freka talk to Mowatt. Make him lay it on the line. I know all he’s