Kilkenny 03 - Kilkenny (v5.0) Read Online Free PDF Page A

increasing restlessness. He used his adze to shape a plow for the share he had picked up in Horsehead, and when it was completed he broke ground for a small corn and vegetable garden.
    In the evenings he rode and studied the country, becoming more and more familiar with all the canyons and mesas. There was no such cattle country anywhere around Horsehead.
    On the fourth day he saddled the buckskin at day-break and took the trail down Mule Canyon. By the direct route he was nearing Horsehead by noon and he circled to enter town from the west.
    A spring wagon was tied in front of the Emporium with a four-horse team hitched to it. The brands were 4T, the Tetlow brand. Down the street he saw three horses wearing the same brand. Beside them was a sorrel horse with three white stockings, branded KR.
    He turned quickly to get off the street and went into the dining room of the Westwater Hotel. As he entered, a man with a square-cut face, iron gray hair and cool blue eyes looked up from his meal. His eyes quickened with interest and Kilkenny turned sharply away and seated himself at a table across the room.
    The effort was useless, for the man with the gray hair crossed the room and sat down opposite him. Kilkenny liked the cool, self-possessed manner of the man, and the neatness of his clothing.
    “My name is Dolan.”
    “I’m Trent.”
    “I’ve good cause to remember you,
Major
—Trent.”
    Kilkenny’s expression did not change. He had ended the War Between the States as Major Kilkenny.
    “I heard you were with Sheridan.”
    “You’d not remember me, but I’ve cause to remember you. There was a bit of a skirmish in a little Mississippi village and you came in with ten soldiers to drive out some guerrillas who were looting. You were outnumbered five to one and had to pull out.”
    “It was a rough go.”
    “There was a Union soldier lying wounded in a barn. He had been trying to fight them off for more than an hour before you rode into town. You heard about him after you had pulled out.”
    “I remember. Some village girl told me.”
    “Through heavy fire you rode back, fought off an attack with six guns, and when they broke in, killed three men with a Bowie knife before they broke and ran.”
    “Makes me sound a desperate character. Actually, it was mostly luck. They came into the darkness from the glare of the sun.”
    He studied Dolan. “You seem well informed.”
    “I was the soldier you carried out of there. But for you I’d be dead.”
    “You owe me nothing. It was the chance of war.”
    “Naturally, you’d feel that way.” Dolan bit the end from a cigar. “This is a new country. We have two large cattle outfits, the KR and the 4T, and they will soon be fighting. The situation could become prosperous for us all.”
    “The 4T will spend money,” Kilkenny said quietly. “That should increase prosperity. It won’t make matters easier for the local rustlers. The 4T can take care of itself.”
    “Possibly.”
    “Dee Havalik is foreman for Tetlow.”
    Dolan stiffened and glanced sharply at Kilkenny. “Havalik?
Here?
”
    “Better look at your hole card, Dolan. And”—some change in his voice made Kilkenny meet his eyes—“don’t bother the KR.”
    Dolan studied Kilkenny with careful eyes. “That means you want it left alone? I suppose you wouldn’t answer a question about it?”
    “None.”
    “And Tetlow?”
    “If he interferes with the KR, I’ll see him.”
    Dolan waved his cigar irritably. “You don’t leave me much.”
    Kilkenny smiled. “You look prosperous. If you’re pushed you could always turn honest.”
    Dolan chuckled. “It’s a desperate resort, but it may come to that.” He got up. “Nevertheless, I’m your friend.”
    The 4T, or as it was called by its own people, the Forty, had established headquarters east of town. Tetlow sat by the wagon with his three sons, Phineas, Andy and Ben. Jared had been talking of his dead son. “I’ll find that man!” he promised.