Novel 1966 - Kid Rodelo (v5.0) Read Online Free PDF

herself.
    Dan took his time about picking up the cup, allowing Clint and Nora to take theirs first. Noticing this, Nora said, “Don’t you trust me?”
    He grinned at her. “Not when there’s fifty thousand dollars in the pot.”
    She sipped some of the coffee, and he smiled and did the same. “You make a mighty good cup of coffee,” he commented, “and there’s nothing better.”
    He listened to the night, alert for strange sounds. They would come, he was sure of that. Though how could he be sure? They had been locked up in Yuma prison when he left, but men had escaped from Yuma before, and if anyone could do it, Tom Badger could and would.
    His waiting, his listening seemed to taunt the two with him. It was deliberate, for he was hoping to get a move from them at once. He had to locate that gold.
    “You’re expecting someone?” Nora asked.
    He nodded. “That I am. I’m expecting the men who buried that gold.”
    Clint turned his head around sharply, half rising.
    “But they’re in Yuma prison!” Nora objected.
    “I’m gambling they’ll be here before daybreak,” Rodelo said calmly. “There was a bit of a ruckus at the prison before I got out of town. I’m betting it was them.”
    Clint sat up. “They’ll kill us all!” he exclaimed. “Every one of us!”
    “Maybe…maybe not.”
    Chapter 4
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    T OM BADGER DREW up and swung his horse off the trail. “Get out of sight, Joe. Somebody’s comin’.”
    Harbin swung over, drawing his gun. “It can’t be anybody I want to see, and there’s nobody we want to see us.”
    The horse was coming at a good gait, then it slowed, and drew up opposite them. The rider was standing in his stirrups, apparently listening.
    “Must’ve turned off,” the rider said, “I don’t hear ’em.” He spoke aloud to himself, as many lonely men do.
    “Hell!” Harbin was exasperated. “It’s Gopher!”
    They rode out to meet him, Tom Badger with considerably more irritation than Harbin. Their own trail was, he was sure, lost back there by the river, and the Yaquis would be trailing south, hunting them. Gopher would know nothing about not leaving a trail and might have been followed right to this point. If so, all their efforts had gone for nothing.
    “You fellers gave me a chance,” Gopher said. “When you made a break everybody got all excited an’ everybody was tryin’ to catch you. Three of us made a break. I figure the other two got shot.”
    “Let’s get on with it,” Badger said impatiently. “Rodelo will have been there and gone before we get to Gold City.”
    The night held no sound but the creak of their saddles. Tom Badger led off, walking his horse slowly until it was safely in the dust of the trail, then he put the animal to a canter and the others followed.
    Gopher was a problem, but that could be taken care of, if it did not take care of itself. Gopher had been lucky to escape, for he was particularly inept; but he could not be lucky all the time, and the days ahead would leave no margin for luck.
    When they came to Gold City, they walked their horses down the street. A light glowed from the store, but they did not stop. Down the street they saw that there was a light in the adobe as well.
    “He’s got here first,” Badger said.
    “He’s in the adobe,” said Harbin. “That don’t say he’s found my stuff. Nobody will find it but me.”
    “Probably grabbed it and pulled out,” Gopher said.
    “And leave the shack all lit up?”
    Joe Harbin walked his horse up beside the nearest building to the adobe, then swung down, and drew his gun.
    Inside the adobe, Dan Rodelo waited, his face calm. Nora had drawn back into a corner out of range of gunfire. Clint watched from the edge of the bunk. “There’s more than one man out there,” he said. “You goin’ to tackle them alone?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “You’re a fool.” Clint looked at him. “What do I get out of this?”
    “You bought in. You killed your partner. You can sit right