Free Collection 1986 - The Trail To Crazy Man (v5.0) by Louis L’Amour

of Caradec’s other men hadn’t come up with a rifle, and Shute’s boys went away.”
    Ann was shocked. She had heard of such things happening and was well aware of how much trouble they caused. That Rafe Caradec would be a man like that was hard to believe. Yet, what did she know of the man?
    He disturbed her more than she allowed herself to believe. Despite the fact that he seemed to be trying to work some scheme to get all or part of her ranch, and despite all she had heard of him at one time or another from Bruce, she couldn’t make herself believe that all she heard was true.
    That he appealed to her she refused to admit. Yet when with him, she felt drawn to him. She liked his rugged masculinity, his looks, and his voice, and was impressed with his sincerity. Yet the killing of Boyne and Bonaro was the talk of the town.
    The Bonaro phase of the incident she could understand from the previous episode in the store. But no one had any idea of why Boyne should be looking for Caradec. The solution now offered by Barkow was the only one. A fight over a squaw! Without understanding why, Ann felt vaguely resentful.
    For days a dozen of Shute’s riders hung around town. There was talk of lynching Caradec, but nothing came of it. Ann heard the talk and asked Baker about it.
    The old storekeeper looked up, nodding.
    “There’s talk, but it’ll come to nothin’. None of these boys aim to ride out there to Crazy Man and tackle that crowd. You know what Gill and Marsh are like. They’ll fight, and they can. Well, Caradec showed what he could do with a gun when he killed those two in the street. I don’t know whether you saw that other feller with Caradec or not, the one from Texas. Well, if he ain’t tougher than either Marsh or Gill, I’ll pay off! Notice how he wore his guns? Nope, nobody’ll go looking for them. If they got their hands on Caradec, that would be somethin’ else.”
    Baker rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “Unless they are powerful lucky, they won’t last long, anyway. That’s Injun country, and Red Cloud or Man Afraid of His Horse won’t take kindly to white men livin’ there. They liked your pa, and he was friendly to ’em.”
    As a result of his conversations with Barkow, Sheriff Pod Gomer had sent messages south by stage to Cheyenne and the telegraph. Rafe Caradec had come from San Francisco, and Bruce Barkow wanted to know who and what he was. More than that, he wanted to find out how he had been allowed to escape the
Mary S
. With that in mind he wrote to Bully Borger.
    Barkow had known nothing about Caradec when the deal was made, but Borger had agreed to take Charles Rodney to sea and let him die there, silencing the truth forever. Allowing Rafe Caradec to come ashore with his story was not keeping the terms of the bargain. If Caradec had actually been aboard the ship and left it, there might be something in that to make him liable to the law.
    Barkow intended to leave no stone unturned. And in the meanwhile, he spread his stories around about Caradec’s reason for killing Boyne.
    CHAPTER IX
    Oil!
    Caradec went on with his haying. The nights were already growing more chill. At odd times when not haying or handling cattle, he and the boys built another room to the cabin and banked the house against the wind. Fortunately, its position was sheltered. Wind would not bother them greatly where they were, but there would be snow and lots of it.
    Rafe rode out each day and several times brought back deer or elk. The meat was jerked and stored away. Gill got the old wagon Rodney had brought from Missouri and made some repairs. It would be the easiest way to get supplies out from Painted Rock. He worked over it and soon had it in excellent shape.
    On the last morning of the month, Rafe walked out to where Gill was hitching a team to the wagon.
    “Looks good,” he agreed. “You’ve done a job on it, Johnny.”
    Gill looked pleased. He nodded at the hubs of the wheels. “Notice ’em? No