The Desert Rider

by L. P. Holmes

  THE

  DESERT RIDER

  A WESTERN Duo

  L. P. HOLMES

  Copyright © 1953 by Warner Publications, Inc.

  © renewed 1981 by L. P. Holmes.

  © 2019 by Golden West Literary Agency for restored material

  E-book published in 2019 by Blackstone Publishing

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious.

  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental

  and not intended by the author.

  Trade e-book ISBN 978-1-9825-9494-7

  Library e-book ISBN 978-1-9825-9493-0

  Fiction / Westerns

  CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress

  Blackstone Publishing

  31 Mistletoe Rd.

  Ashland, OR 97520

  www.BlackstonePublishing.com

  Black Rock Desert

  I

  The horse herd broke and began its run right after topping the crest of the pass. It was what Lee Cone had been afraid would happen, and he had warned Braz Boland to that effect during the brief noon stop in the desert, suggesting that the herd be held over for the night on the south side of the pass and the crossing made the next morning.

  It was advice Boland had waved aside. He wasn’t, he declared, spending another thirsty night in the desert. Boland had added a further caustic remark to the effect that he had hired Lee on at Carbide Junction for just two things. One was to show him the shortest way across the desert; the other was to chouse horses. Then he had ordered Lee to get up at point and to hold the herd back if it began to get restless.

  Lee hadn’t argued the point. During the drive in across Black Rock Desert from Carbide Junction, he had achieved a deepening dislike of heavy-handed, sarcastic Braz Boland. But in another twenty-four hours the drive would be finished and he’d be paid off. That would be the time to tell Boland a thing or two and get it all off his chest.

  * * * * *

  It was full dark by the time the horse herd reached the crest of Smoky Pass. Up at point, Lee rode wearily, alert for the first sign of change in the weary shuffling of the massed hoofs behind him.

  There was no change until the first sweep of the night wind, snaking through the pass from Maacama Basin beyond, brought with it the moist breath of the river. That did it. There was a gusty snorting, then a quickening roll of hoofs, which almost instantly lifted to a battering roar.

  It would be hopeless for any single rider to try to hold back this frenzied torrent. But Lee Cone did try. He drove his mount at the charging leaders of the herd. He yelled at them, beat at them with the hard coils of his riata. It was like trying to hold back an avalanche with a twig. Lee’s horse was buffeted, spun around, and nearly knocked off its feet. So, bleakly understanding the danger of having his horse go down in front of all those wild hoofs, he gave the animal free rein and raced out ahead of it all.

  Lee’s first thought was that he would swing gradually to one side and thus angle into the clear, but he found this wouldn’t do, either. For, free of the confines of the pass, the herd spread out on either hand, and a collision from the side would roll him and his horse under even more surely than any other way. There was nothing to do but race straight ahead as far as the river flats, where the thirst-crazed herd would break and spread and leave a man clear of danger.

  The down sweep of the slope from this northern end of the pass to the river was a broad, gradually curving swale, with its sharpest turn situated just before it melted into the river flats. This swale held the racing herd as it would a torrent of water and, though the pace of the herd before the break had been slow and weary, now that it was running full out, the distance to the river flats shortened swiftly. And it was just as Lee Cone broke into the final turn of the swale that he saw the ruddy glow of a campfire, dead ahead.

  He saw other things. He saw the dark loom of a heavy wagon at one fringe of the firelight glow, then the lift of tent flap to the other side. He saw human figures dodging this way and that away from the fire and toward the safety of the wagon. He could hear a man’s voice calling desperately.

  “Kip … Kip!”

  Lee saw a dart of movement break from the tent—a slim, feminine figure, at the farthest reach of the firelight’s thin radiance. Then he was certain as he made out a fluttering about her, perhaps a dress or a nightgown, as she ran, and he got the impression of pale hair flowing over her shoulders.

  It needed only a glance to see that she’d never make the shelter of the wagon. She’d be caught in that short open interval. She’d be knocked down, trampled by the hoofs of the animals.

  Lee hauled at his reins, drove straight at her, and hauled at the reins again, setting his horse up in a sliding, spinning half halt just short of her. He leaned far out from his saddle, swinging his right arm in a curve, yelling at her as he did so: “Grab! Grab at me!”

  She had courage, this girl, and quickness of mind. She threw herself upward at Lee, into the circle of his reaching arm, her hands catching at his shoulders.

  Lee had only enough time to haul her in against his hip when, from behind, frantic, thundering horseflesh crashed into his mount.

  The impact drove them yards ahead, and for one bleak, heart-stopping moment, Lee was certain they were going down—his horse, himself, and this shaking, clinging girl. They did go half down, and this gave Lee the chance to lift the girl a little higher, to pull her closer and more securely to him. Then his floundering mount, fighting gallantly, found its feet again, surged and plunged madly, and broke suddenly into the small, clear eddy of safety in the lee of the wagon. For, just at that instant, the racing horse herd, as the big wagon loomed in its way, split like water around a rock, flowing around either side and belting its way on to the river.

  The fire and the tent offered no similar areas of safety. A herd animal, hesitating and slowing at the fire flames in front of it, was smashed into by one of its fellows and driven skidding through, scattering coals and embers in all directions, and these in turn were trampled to nothingness by the wild hoofs pouring past. The tent was no obstacle at all, beaten down, flattened, torn, and shredded in an instant.

  A horse struck the low, extended tongue of the wagon, turned completely over, came down in a thudding fall and lay as it fell, its head twisted under. Another animal, tripping over the same obstacle, went down, rolled, regained its feet, and blundered on, a front leg loose and swinging.

  And then, abruptly, the last stragglers of the herd were past and gone, and the night lay breathless and numbed.

  Figures crawled out from under the wagon.

  A woman’s voice lifted, thin and strained with fright. “Kip! Kip, child!”

  “I’m all right, Mother.”

  The voice, slightly husky, and with only the slightest of tremors in it, was so close to Lee Cone’s ear he could feel the faint breath. And now it was to him she spoke.

  “You’re holding me so tight, I … I can hardly breathe.”

  Lee let the pressure of his arm relax and she slid out of his grasp and away from him to the ground.

  He spoke gruffly. “Sorry. I just wanted to make sure I didn’t drop you once I had hold of you.”

  There was a childish whimpering coming from beneath the wagon, and then again the woman’s thin, strained voice.

  “Kip … you’re sure you’re all right?” she asked as she moved toward the wagon.

  “Yes, Mother
. I’m sure I’m quite all right. Everything is all right now.”

  Lee Cone stepped from his saddle, held to his saddle horn, for his knees felt too rubbery to keep him upright. It had been a close encounter, and the aftereffects were working through his body.

  Suddenly a man came out of the dark, angry and truculent.

  “What the devil’s the idea, running horses wild and crazy through the night like that through our camp? You might have killed me and my whole family!”

  Lee let out a long, slow breath. “Sorry about it, friend. It was one of those things. Me and a couple of others brought that horse herd in across the Black Rock Desert for Braz Boland. The herd was in desperate need for water, and when they got the scent of the river, they broke and ran straight for it. I was riding point, but there was nothing I could do to hold them back. Too bad your camp happened to be in the way.”

  “Why shouldn’t my camp be here?” came the harsh retort. “This is my land. I settled on it. I got a right to camp …”

  Then: “Dad … please!”

  It was the girl, in that same rich slightly husky voice. “He had no way of knowing we’d be camped here. Let’s all be thankful it came out as well as it did. Instead of blaming him, I think we should thank the man for doing what he did … especially for me.” Her hand dropped easily on Lee’s arm. “I do thank you, greatly,” she said, looking away from her father and up at Lee.

  “The luck broke good … for both of us,” Lee told her simply.

  Now came the pound of more hooves, racing down from the pass. And, in the midst of that pounding ahead, Braz Boland’s heavy shout was carried.

  “Cone! Where the hell are you? Cone!”

  Lee moved out and past the end of the wagon and sent his answer. “Over here!”

  They came racing up, Boland and Jack Dhu. They pulled in by the dark loom of the wagon and Boland’s voice ran profane and wild as his eyes bored into the darkness and settled on Lee.

  “What in hell are you doing here? Why ain’t you with the horses? What did you let them get away from you for? Damned if I ain’t got the notion—”

  “Cut it fine, Boland … cut it fine!” Lee’s voice hit back curtly. “And watch your language, there are women here. The herd stampeded right through this camp and we’re lucky that nobody was trampled.”

  “To hell with the camp!” fumed Boland. “My horse herd is all I’m interested in! And only a lunkheaded, sodbusting granger would be dumb enough to set up a camp right here—”

  Now it was the man of the camp who cut in.

  “And what kind of a fool would try and bring a herd of horses through that pass at night, after bringing them in across the desert? You might have known the animals would be crazy for water and that they’d break and run as soon as they smelled the river. You own the herd?”

  “I do, granger,” snapped Boland. “What about it?”

  “This about it,” was the sturdy reply. “You’ve caused me damage, and I expect you to make good. I’m John Vail. What’s your name?”

  In the short silence that fell, Lee Cone could sense sly retreat on the part of Boland. Mention of a possible damage claim stilled some of the bluster in him. Lee’s steadily accumulating dislike of the man now deepened into pure contempt.

  He stepped back into his saddle and lifted his voice clearly. “You must have missed it when I mentioned the name of the owner of the herd before, friend. It’s Boland … Braz Boland. Me. I’m Lee Cone.”

  Lee was sure this would set Boland off again, but he didn’t care. He was about done with Braz Boland, anyhow. Now he was surprised when Jack Dhu beat Boland to it with curt, chill words.

  “This is all your fault, Boland, and you know it. Cone told you the herd would break and run if you tried to push it through the pass tonight. You wouldn’t listen to him. So, if your pigheadedness is going to cost you money, that’s your hard luck. You owe this camp damages. Best pay them.”

  Lee Cone expected a real explosion from Boland over this. But it did not come, a fact which suggested that Boland didn’t have the nerve to face up to Jack Dhu. The best Boland could put up was an evasive grumble.

  “I got no money on me now. Won’t have until I collect for the horses.”

  Lee turned to the wagon man, John Vail.

  “How much would you figure, friend?”

  “The tent cost me thirty dollars and was practically new. Then there was some of the womenfolk’s gear in it, which likely ain’t much use now. I’ll call it square for fifty dollars.”`

  “When I’m paid off for my horses, I’ll be back this way,” growled Boland, casting an angry glance at Dhu. “Now there’s a chore ahead,” he announced, “rounding up the herd again. Come on, Dhu, and you … Cone.”

  Boland reined away, with Jack Dhu following him.

  Lee Cone lingered for a moment. His glance searched the dark about him, a dark not quite so deep now, for the massing stars were beginning to flood the world with a faint, silver radiance. He could see these people fairly well. There was the older woman with the two still badly frightened youngsters clinging to her skirts. The man, Vail. And, of course, the girl he had saved, the girl with the rich, husky voice, and her pale hair reflecting the star sheen.

  John Vail spoke skeptically. “When he’s paid off for his horses! That could be a long time from now, far as my claim for damages is concerned. I doubt I’ll ever see that fellow again, or his money, either.”

  Lee Cone built a cigarette, scratched a match across his saddle skirt, cupped it in his hands while he turned it to a full glow, then tipped his head to meet it. The brief bomb of light picked out his features in lean bronze. His words were quiet.

  “I’ll make a point of it to remind him, Mister Vail. Now I’ll say good night to you folks.”

  He rode away and the night claimed him.

  The girl by the wagon stood watching until horse and rider melted into the dark. Then she listened until the sound of hoofs vanished, too.

  John Vail spoke more to himself than anyone in his family. “I still doubt I’ll ever see any of that damage money. I don’t trust saddle hands … not any of them.”

  “John,” said his wife, “I don’t think that’s fair. We’re deeply in debt to that young man. Kip, how he got you clear I’ll never know.”

  The girl smiled softly to herself. “But he did, Mother … he did.”

  II

  The town of Antelope, as Lee Cone remembered it, had been a small, sleepy place made up of one short street with a run of weathered buildings along either side. Just an average, small cow town, living a lazy, even cadence. It had been two years since he had been there. But how different it was now, he couldn’t quite believe.

  It was a good four times as big, and from all appearances still growing feverishly. The main street stretched far out and a cross street had been added. New buildings loomed everywhere, garish with raw lumber, and there was more construction under way every way you looked. The clatter of hammers and the whine of saws provided a thin echo to the solid rumble of activity of streets jammed with wagons and people.

  It was midafternoon. It had taken that long to round up Braz Boland’s horse herd and bring it down the river flats and put it into a newly built corral at the edge of town.

  After Boland was satisfied, he had gone to see the man who he said had contracted to buy the horses. He assured the men he’d be back as soon as he closed the deal to pay off those who had helped him bring in the herd.

  Now, squatting on their heels against the front of Asa Bingham’s old general store, Lee Cone and Jack Dhu waited for Boland to return. Each was sunk deep in his own thoughts.

  Lee Cone was recalling the time he had left Maacama Basin and the events that had led to that leaving. That also had been two years ago.

  But he hadn’t forgotten Lucy Garland. The second she entered his thoughts, he ha
d to remind himself that he had to quit thinking of her as Lucy Garland. He had to remember she had been married and that she was now Mrs. Tasker Scott. But he couldn’t help forget what a lot of fine, great dreams had been shot all to hell there!

  * * * * *

  That dark fateful evening he’d ridden over to Pete Garland’s Lazy Dollar headquarters, and found the three of them standing on the ranch house porch. Pete Garland, Lucy Garland, and Tasker Scott. Lucy and Tasker had both been all dressed up. And Pete Garland had given Lee the word bluntly.

  “’Fraid you’re a little late for the festivities, Lee. Lucy and Tasker got married this afternoon, ’round one thirty it must’ve been. Now they got to get ready to head out on their honeymoon.”

  He finished off by smiling and patting Tasker on the shoulder.

  It was as brutal as a blow in the face, unexpected and almost malicious. For Pete, full of big ideas of power and money, had never looked with too much approval on any romantic relationship between Lee and Lucy, for Lee was just a junior partner of Buck Theodore’s, and Buck’s Flat T Ranch wasn’t a big enough prospect for him when it came to his daughter, especially compared to Tasker Scott’s prospects.

  While Pete Garland spoke, Tasker Scott had listened, grinning, showing a cold, mocking triumph in his pale eyes. If Lucy had shown any sign of remorse or regret, it might have helped. But she just smiled at her dad and Tasker and seemed almost serene in her dark, sultry beauty—serene and uncaring.

  The whole affair had left Lee so sick inside that he could think of nothing but a wild desire to get away, as far away as he could.

  To that end, he’d almost rode his horse into the ground getting back to the home ranch. There he packed his war bag and then caught up another horse. The last thing he had done was to give Buck Theodore the word.

  Good old Buck made no attempt to hold him back. He said he understood, and even wished him luck.

  And that night Lee Cone rode out through Smoky Pass, telling himself that he’d left Maacama Basin behind him forever.