Dark Canyon (1963) by Louis L'amour Page B

existence.
    The drivers who brought it down for him were themselves outlaws.
    "I bought it from Doc Beaman's nephew-that doctor here in town."
    McCarty looked up sharply. "Have you told anybody that? If you haven't, don't. Coker Beaman was found two weeks ago, shot dead beside the trail. He had been murdered and robbed."
    Gaylord Riley suddenly stared at the food before him, his appetite gone. Within hint arose a feeling of desperation. Was he to have no chance? Was this to be the end of all he hoped for?
    "I didn't kill him. I bought the herd from him, and I have a bill of sale for it. I paid him in gold coin."
    "Doc thought a lot of that boy. He's stirring up the law to find the killer."
    "I hope they do find him." Riley sat back in his chair, trying to think the problem through.
    He was a stranger here, a man without friends, a man with no history he dared to repeat. Nor could he call anyone as witnesses, for his friends were outlaws who dared not come in; and even if they did, their word would not be accepted.
    "You'd better eat," McCarty suggested. "I think you're going to need it."
    Riley knew it was unlikely that anyone would believe he had brought his herd of cattle through the rough, dry country where ordinarily two or three men on horseback were lucky to find enough water. And the men who knew anything about that country were few indeed, and unlikely to want to appear. Several were Mormons, hiding out for reasons best known to themselves, hard-working men who had found safety in the remote mountains of the Roost country.
    He felt suddenly sick. He stared bleakly across the room. He could give it all up and run. He coul d ride back to Dandy Crossing, swim the Colorado, and head for the Roost. There probably had not been one night when, half-consciously, the outfit had not waited, expecting him to come. It was hard for an outlaw to make it on the outside. Their futures as well as his own were at stake here, and he had cattle and a ranch, and a home being built.
    "If anybody comes hunting me," Riley said, "you tell them they won't have to look far. I'll be out there in the Sweet Alice Hills, or I'll be here. If they want to talk, I'll talk; but if they come hunting trouble, they'll get a belly full of it."
    McCarty's eyes warmed. "Good lad," he said quietly. "Stay with it, and I'll stay with you-as much as a man can."

    Chapter 10
    Martin Hardcastle rolled the cigar in his lips and considered the situation with pleasure. From their hide-out in the Blues his men had struck swiftly at the Shattuck herds. They had stolen only a fe w cattle at first, and they had left not too clear a trail--a trail that led into the broken canyon country be y ond which lay the Sweet Alice Hills.
    A few nights later, they had struck again, and to make it not too obvious, they had swept up a few Boxed 0 cattle at the same time.
    Hardcastle himself had helped to foment the talk about the white-face cattle; after all, where could Gaylord Riley get such cattle when Shattuck would not sell? And why would any honest man choose to live in such a remote place?
    Hardcastle knew from experience that most people love to talk, and like to repeat what they have heard. Trouble is born of rumor, and nine people out of ten will repeat a rumor-consciously or unconsciously adding their bit. Out of those rumors had come Peg Oliver's attitude, Larsen's questions, and McCarty's sympathy.
    Hardcastle was bidding for a cattle war out of which he would not only have his revenge against Dan Shattuck, but a profit in sweeping up the pieces. He would not be suspected, since he had nothing apparently -to gain.
    Riley was young and likely to be hot-headed. Dan Shattuck was stubborn and hot-headed himself. Hardcastle intended to see a gun battle between the two, and he did not care which man won. He knew nothing of Riley's skill with a gun.
    Gaylord Riley had planned to remain over night in town, but now he decided against it. With two pack horses loaded with supplies,