Dead Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page A

I arrived at the wrong time …’
    ‘Aaah – hell! You’re here now and this kinda living will help you recover completely and with what both of us know about ranching – we’ll have the profits up in no time.’
    ‘Then there are some profits now?’
    ‘Sure. Pretty damn few, but I guess we don’t need to buy a bottle of red ink just yet.’ He sounded reluctant to admit things weren’t all that bad when you got right down to it. They were difficult but – manageable. For now, leastways.
    Karen lifted to her toes and kissed Cutler on the cheek.
    ‘It’ll be so good to have you with us, Deke!’
    He grinned.
    ‘You dunno how good it feels to be here.’
    ‘Well, let’s go have a drink to celebrate, huh?’ Spainsaid and the others followed him into the coolness of the ranch house.
    Deke wondered why he felt heavy with disappointment . He had expected to feel way happier than this on his arrival. Maybe it was Durango’s cool ‘welcome.’…
    Although he hated every minute of it, Deke Cutler spent the first few days mooching around the ranch house or walking quietly down by the river. He mounted his horse daily, rode it around the yard and out to the nearest pasture, doing things easy; that long ride up from San Antone had taken a lot out of him and he needed time to recover.
    There weren’t a lot of cattle but what there were showed the effects of poor graze in lack of weight, bony bodies and dull coats. The grass was brown and browsed way down to stubble. Durango had men up in the high meadows cutting hay and this was transported down to the main pastures and distributed from buckboards . A costly method.
    The river still flowed well enough but the water level was down and ribbons of cracked mud showed on each bank. Beyond to the north was the Indian Territory and he could see green trees and slopes of high, waving grass.
    He suggested to Spain that they send a team over to bring down some of that more succulent fodder.
    Durango looked at him, thumbing back his hat.
    ‘I send six men, I’ll be lucky to get three back – and they’re likely to be toting gunshot wounds.’
    Deke frowned, stiffening.
    ‘The outlaws are that close? Thought they holed up deeper in the hills, amongst all those hidden canyons and valleys?’
    ‘Most of ’em do, I guess, but there’re some keep an eye on the river spreads, see what they can lift, sell cheap to Kansas – Sunflower State my foot! Claim they don’t like longhorns because they carry tick fever but them Kansans’ll buy Texas beef if they can get it cheap from the rustlers.’
    ‘That why the spread’s not doing so good? Rustlers?’
    Durango nodded.
    ‘Back-shooting bastards. Can’t risk sending our men over there when they’re a cinch to get shot at – maybe killed, Deke.’
    ‘You got men riding patrol over here, don’t you?’
    Spain exhibited a trace of exasperation but made it disappear almost as soon as it showed.
    ‘When I can spare ’em. I keep telling you, we’re working tight here, Deke.’
    Cutler’s stare was level and questioning. ‘Still – surely we can protect our herds!’
    ‘Look, Deke. We both worked spreads before we met in the Rangers. I rode with the early trail herds as well and we agreed that I had the most experience with cows. So, I found this place – my ten years were up just over a year ago now. I got my pittance of a pension after dodging lead and arrows and Christ knows what else for the goddamn Rangers. You put in what money you had and we put down a deposit on this place, aiming to pay off the rest from the profits.’ He paused to stare back coldly at Deke. ‘And the profits just ain’t all that good. That’s the plain truth, Deke.’
    Cutler thought for a moment.
    ‘You’re not telling me that … we’re behind in the bank repayments?’
    Spain nodded.
    ‘A ways. Not too bad. But every spread along the river has fallen behind because of the drought. We ain’t alone.’
    ‘I don’t care how much