Catlow (1963) by Louis L'amour Page B

the danger," somebody had commented, "when they raid they go in small bands so they have no need to hold to the trails where the water holes are. Why, out there in the desert there are seeps and hidden tanks in the rocks with water a-plenty--a-plenty for six or seven men, maybe even a dozen if the water isn't used too often."
    Several clays had passed since Catlow escaped jail, and Cowan had done nothing. It seemed that he had no plans to do anything. And then, suddenly, he was gone.
    Cordelia Burton saw Ben on his last day in town. He was standing on the street nearby when she emerged from her father's shop. She hesitated, and regarded him thoughtfully.
    He was a remarkably handsome man, when one took time to look at him, and she liked the easy, casual way he handled his tall, lean body. His face was lean, browned by sun and honed by wind, and there was something about his eyes, something that haunted her, but she could not decide what it was. She should have asked Bijah about him, she thought.
    He straightened up when he saw her, and removed his hat. His dark brown hair was curly; now it showed distinct reddish tones that she had not seen before.
    He fell into step beside her. "I haven't much excuse to walk you home," he said ... "not in broad daylight."
    "Do you need an excuse?"
    He smiled slightly, and laugh wrinkles at the corners of his eyes broke the gravity of his expression. "No, ma'am, I guess I don't." He glanced at her again. "Have you heard from Bijah?"
    "No."
    "He's going to be a hard man to take." He paused a moment. "You ever lived on a ranch, ma'am?"
    "No ... not exactly. It seems a lonely life."
    "Depends ... there's plenty to do. I take kindly to open lands. I like to look far off. Seems like a man's free, whether he is or not."
    "You do not think a man can be free?"
    "No, ma'am, not exactly. Maybe ... some ways. There's always his duty, duty to folks about him, to his country, to the law ... such-like."
    She looked at him thoughtfully, then stood still so she could see his face well. "Ben, you believe in your duty, don't you?"
    He shrugged slightly, and squinted his eyes against the sun. It might be that he was embarrassed to speak of such a thing. "Without duty, life don't make any kind of sense, ma'am. If folks are going to live together they have to abide by some kind of rules, and the law is those rules. The law doesn't work against a man, it works for him. Without it, every house would have to be a fortress, and no man or woman would be safe. First time two men got together I expect they started to make laws for living together.
    "There's always mavericks who can't or won't ride a straight trail, and the law needs somebody to ride herd on them."
    "And you are one of the herders?"
    "Sort of." He smiled. "I need some herding myself, time to time."
    He looked down at her. "Living on a ranch mightn't be as bad as you think," he said.
    At sunup the next morning he was ten miles south of town and riding for the border.
    He had a man to take ... two of them, as a matter of fact.

    Chapter Eleven.
    Bijah Catlow had entered Mexico and disappeared.
    So far as Ben Cowan could discover there had been only four men in the group. One of these, judging by descriptions, was Old Man Merridew, and a second would surely be Rio Bray. As the fourth man was a Mexican, it was probably the soldier who had met Bijah in Tucson.
    Whatever Catlow planned could scarcely be done by so small a group, so Ben Cowan loitered about Nogales on both sides of the border, and bought quite a few drinks, and asked quite a few questions. Had there been any other strange gringos in town that night? Gringos who were no longer around?
    There had been--two, at least. They had ridden off on the trail toward Magdalena ... a very foolish thing to do, for the Apaches made travel along that trail much too dangerous, except for large, well-armed groups.
    To the click of castanets, the rattle of glasses, and the somber singing of a Mexican girl, Ben