“By God,” said Carp, “I ain’t walkin’ away from this. Not after all we been through. What’s this scaffold doin’ here, and why’s all this dirt piled up, if somebody ain’t been workin’ this claim?”
“I’ll go with the majority,” Bowdre said. “Do we risk workin’ it, or do we walk away from it?”
“We work it!” they all shouted.
There was much talking to be done, and after supper, it was Hoss Logan who began the conversation. He spoke mostly to Kelly and Kelsey.
“Maybe it was wrong of me, using the gold to bring you girls west, but I couldn’t do it any other way. At first I aimed to just lure Davis here, but I couldn’t tell him directly about the mine, because he knew I hated him for what he had done to Jed, and he might have seen through my plan. So he had to learn about the gold through you girls. But I want you both to know I wasn’t just using you. I hoped I could drag out the search for the gold until the two of you was eighteen. Your Ma was… well, you know what she was, and I wanted you away from her, regardless of what happened between me and Gary Davis. I worried some about you goin’ into the Superstitions, but I counted on Arlo and Dallas lookin’ after you.”
“Most of the time,” said Kelsey, “Arlo and Dallas were in more trouble than we were. They could have been killed trying to get to the bottom of that drop-off to reach the river. Arlo was hurt.”
“Crack head,” Paiute said. “Him don’t fall.”
“So it was you that hauled me in, you old coyote,” said Arlo.
“I’d planned for Paiute or me to keep all of you in sight, and out of any real danger,” Logan said, “but there were some things we had no control over that took us by surprise. Like the time, when Arlo and Kelsey were shot. I spent most of that night in the passage behind the spring, and I could hear Kelsey talking out of her head. I was there when her fever broke, and I knew she would recover. After Kelly’s fall, I didn’t know how badly she was hurt, so Paiute spent the night outside the cabin until he knew she had no broken bones.”
“I’m glad to hear all that, Hoss,” Dallas said, “but I’m real sorry we went through so much for a mine that none of us can claim. I feel like we went from poor to rich and then back to poor, all in the same day.”
Hoss Logan laughed. “I wouldn’t say that. From what I’ve seen, you got your brand on Kelly and both her ears notched. I’d say Arlo’s done about the same with Kelsey.”
“You sly old coyote,” said Arlo, “don’t try to tell us you didn’t plan it that way, along with everything else. You plumb took advantage of two poor, ignorant Arizona cowboys, layin’ more temptation on us than we could stand. Now our fiddle-footin’ days are done, and we ain’t got a damn thing ahead of us but thirty and grub, ridin’ fence on somebody’s ranch.”
“He’s right,” Kelly said. “They’re stuck with us, and now that we’re not spending all our time searching for the mine, I expect Kelsey and me will soon be in all kinds of trouble.”
“Kelly,” said Dallas, his face rosy as an Arizona sunset, “I… you … we…”
“We slept beside them ever since Paiute rescued us from Gary Davis,” Kelsey said.
“But that’s all we done,” said Arlo.
“Oh, not quite all,” Kelsey said. “There was…”
“Whoa,” said Hoss Logan. “Kelly, you and Kelsey are too old to spank, and this pair of cowboys happen to be my friends. They’re the best pards an old man ever had, and I don’t reckon they’ve done any more than they’ve been encouraged to do. Now, if the four of you want to stand before a preacher and let him read to you from the book, then you got my blessing. I already done picked out the weddin’ present.”
“God,” said Dallas, “I hope it ain’t another gold mine. I’d as soon hire on somewhere, ridin’ fence at thirty and found.”
“Oh, I think you can do better than that,” Hoss said, a twinkle in his eyes. “I’d kind of hoped you and Arlo might throw in with me—go pardners—in a horse and cattle ranch. We can settle on maybe a hundred thousand acres of Arizona land. That’s more the life I’d planned for Kelly and Kelsey. But we won’t stop at that. Someday, Phoenix will be a city. Maybe we’ll start a freight line from here to Los Angeles. We might call it Logan Freight Lines, in memory of old Jed.”
Arlo, Dallas, Kelly, and Kelsey just looked at him as though he had taken leave of his senses. At any moment they expected him to laugh, letting them know it was all a joke. But Henry Logan didn’t laugh. Instead he turned to Paiute.
“I reckon it’s time we told ’em, Paiute.”
Logan said nothing more, waiting until Paiute returned to the cabin with a heavy iron bar. He used it to pry loose most of the boards in front of the fireplace. There, in the foundation, were many, many leather bags. Hoss tossed one of them to Arlo and another to Dallas. The bags were so heavy they had to be held with both hands.
“Open them,” said Hoss.
The awestruck cowboys opened the bags and found the same gold-rich ore as the sample Paiute had first brought them—the very ore that had begun their search for the mine.
“I wasn’t bluffing,” Hoss said. “One day a volcanic tremor will hit that mountain, and all that passage beneath the river will be flooded and filled with tons of rock and dirt. It’s a death trap now, but it ain’t always been, and it didn’t get like that on its own. I helped it some. This stash of ore you’re lookin’ at is worth near a million dollars. Now don’t you reckon that’ll buy us one hell of a spread, a right smart bunch of horses, mules, and cows, and just about anything else we got a hankerin’ for?”
“God Almighty,” Dallas said, “I reckon it will. I don’t know what to say or do.”
“Well, I know what to do and what to say,” said Arlo. “What I aim to do, first thing in the morning, is find a preacher. What I aim to say is whatever he tells me to. Kelsey and me will have us a hotel room in town, tomorrow night.”
“Kelly and me will be there too,” Dallas shouted.
“Come on,” said Arlo, “but you have to get your own room.”
Hoss Logan and Paiute didn’t understand why Kelly and Kelsey broke into fits of laughter, but it was contagious, and they joined in.
After breakfast it was time for some serious talk. There was the matter of all that gold, and Hoss Logan had a plan that appealed to Arlo and Dallas.
“I don’t know of a town anywhere closer than Los Angeles with a bank strong enough to deposit the kind of wealth we’re talkin’ about,” said Hoss, “so I think we’d better start Logan Freight Lines right now. I reckon this will conflict with your marryin’ plans, but for the time being, I want all of you to stay out of Phoenix. Arlo, you and Dallas ride to the outlying towns, looking for a pair of suitable wagons and some teams of mules. Kelly, you and Kelsey can go along, if you want. Me and Paiute will set here on this gold till you get back. When you do, we’ll load up and start out for Los Angeles. When we get our stake safely in the bank, we can buy some real freight wagons and first-class mule teams for the return trip. We’ll need plenty of supplies, and we can load up in Los Angeles. After we get back, we can start lookin’ for a suitable range for our spread. But I don’t want word get-tin’ out that I’m still alive until we’ve got this gold stashed safe in a bank in Los Angeles. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” said Dallas. “If you’re serious about Logan Freight Lines, why can’t we build us a freight terminal in Tortilla Flat, instead of Phoenix?”
“No reason we can’t,” Hoss replied. “You got some good reason for thinking of that, I reckon.”
“I have,” said Dallas. “Arlo and me owns that piece of ground where the saloon was, and I’m kind of partial to Tortilla Flat, because it’s got a grand view of the Superstitions.”
“I’m partial to it for the same reason,” Kelly said, “and I reckon that could be said for us all.”
“Well,” said Arlo, “now that we’ve agreed on that, I reckon we’d better consider the possibility there won’t be a mule for sale anywhere aro
und here, and maybe no wagons. We may have to ride as far as Tucson, and with the silver mines there, we may still have a problem.”
“I’ll leave that to you and Dallas, then,” Hoss replied. “I’ve got near a thousand set aside for just such a time as this, so you can pay more than the goin’ price, if you have to.”
“We’ll have to buy at least two horses somewhere close by.” said Arlo, “because we have only two horses and two mules. We can’t ride as far as Tucson, leaving you and Paiute without mounts.”
“Buy them, then,” Hoss said. “Kelly and Kelsey can ride them and leave the mules for Paiute and me.”
“Hoss on mountain,” said Paiute, extending six fingers.
“But that would be stealing,” Kelsey said.
“I reckon not,” said Hoss. “He’s thinkin’ about what I told them hombres about the river comin’ in, if they try to work that mine. If it does, they won’t be needin’ horses. I think, while all of you are away buying mules and wagons, Paiute and me will look in on that bunch.”
“You don’t know that they’re working the mine,” Kelly said. “Maybe they took your advice.”
“I doubt it,” said Hoss. “They had the fever, and I’d bet all the gold we’re settin’ on that they’re in there right now, diggin.’ away at the same earth that’s holdin’ back the river.”
Cass Bowdre and his excited companions worked like demons for three days and nights, feasting their greedy eyes on the growing pile of rich gold ore they dug from the passage over their heads.
“I’m gettin’ a mite uneasy,” said Bowdre. “Remember how the whole damn mountain shook yesterday? I keep thinking of what old Logan said, about all this comin’ down on us. I’d feel better if we quit this place with what we got.”
“Not me,” Carp said greedily. “Maybe after another week.”
They were two days into their second week when again a tremor shook the mountain. They paused, waiting for it to cease, and for a moment, it did. But when another tremor came, it was more intense.
“I’m gettin’ out of here while I can,” Bowdre shouted.
But time and their luck had run out. With a crash, the last restraining earth gave way, and the terrified men were buried beneath tons of stone, just as Hoss Logan had predicted. The river—which Dallas had named the Death’s Head—rushed in and cut for itself a newer, deeper bed. The terrible act of nature took but a few seconds to bury Cass Bowdre and his companions forever deep within the Superstition Mountains, beneath the Skeleton Lode’s gold, which would remain forever beyond the reach of men.
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THE KILLING SEASON
THE DAWN OF FURY
BULLET CREEK
DEADWOOD GULCH
A WOLF IN THE FOLD
TRAIL TO COTTONWOOD FALLS
BLUFF CITY
THE BLOODY TRAIL
SHADOW OF THE GUN
DEATH OF A BAD MAN
RIDE THE HARD TRAIL
BLOOD ON THE GALLOWS
BULLET FOR A BAD MAN
THE CONVICT TRAIL
RAWHIDE FLAT
OUTLAW’S RECKONING
THE BORDER EMPIRE
THE MAN FROM NOWHERE
SIXGUNS AND DOUBLE EAGLES
BOUNTY HUNTER
FATAL JUSTICE
STRYKER’S REVENGE
DEATH OF A HANGMAN
NORTH TO THE SALT FORK
DEATH RIDES A CHESTNUT MARE
RUSTED TIN
THE BURNING RANGE
WHISKEY RIVER
THE LAST MANHUNT
THE AMARILLO TRAIL
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AMBUSH AT SHADOW VALLEY
RIDE TO HELL’S GATE
GUNMEN OF THE DESERT SANDS
SHOWDOWN AT HOLE-IN-THE-WALL
RIDERS FROM LONG PINES
CROSSING FIRE RIVER
ESCAPE FROM FIRE RIVER
GUN COUNTRY
FIGHTING MEN
HANGING IN WILD WIND
BLACK VALLEY RIDERS
JUSTICE
CITY OF BAD MEN
GUN LAW
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No other series packs this much heat!
THE TRAILSMAN
#325: SEMINOLE SHOWDOWN
#326: SILVER MOUNTAIN SLAUGHTER
#327: IDAHO GOLD FEVER
#328: TEXAS TRIGGERS
#329: BAYOU TRACKDOWN
#330: TUCSON TYRANT
#331: NORTHWOODS NIGHTMARE
#332: BEARTOOTH INCIDENT
#333: BLACK HILLS BADMAN
#334: COLORADO CLASH
#335: RIVERBOAT RAMPAGE
#336: UTAH OUTLAWS
#337: SILVER SHOWDOWN
#338: TEXAS TRACKDOWN
#339: RED RIVER RECKONING
#340: HANNIBAL RISING
#341: SIERRA SIX-GUNS
#342: ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVENGE
#343: TEXAS HELLIONS
#344: SIX-GUN GALLOWS
#345: SOUTH PASS SNAKE PIT
#346: ARKANSAS AMBUSH
#347: DAKOTA DEATH TRAP
#348: BACKWOODS BRAWL
#349: NEW MEXICO GUN-DOWN
#350: HIGH COUNTRY HORROR
#351: TERROR TOWN
#352: TEXAS TANGLE
#353: BITTERROOT BULLETS
#354: NEVADA NIGHT RIDERS
#355: TEXAS GUNRUNNERS
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Table of Contents
Author’s Foreword
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Skeleton Lode Page 34