Sunset Pass (1990) Read Online Free PDF Page B

come in," was not lost on Rock.
    "Howdy to you!" he returned. "Is this Gage Preston's ranch?"
    "Yes."
    "Then I'm on the right track. I want to see him."
    "Who're you, stranger?"
    "I'm Trueman Rock, late of Texas."
    "Rock--are you the Rock who used to ride here before we came?"
    "Reckon I am."
    Ash Preston measured Rock, a long penetrating look that was neither insolent nor curious. "You can tell me what you want with Preston. I'm his son, Ash."
    "Glad to meet you," said Rock pleasantly. "Do you run Preston's business?"
    "I'm foreman here."
    "Reckon my call's nothin' important," returned Rock easily. "But when I do call on a cattle man I want to see him."
    "Are you shore it's my father you want to see most?" asked Ash.
    "Well, I'm callin' one Miss Thiry, too, for that matter," rejoined Rock. "But I'd like to see your father first."
    "Miss Thiry ain't seein' every rider who comes along," said Preston. "An' dad ain't home."
    "You mean you say he isn't home to me?" queried Rock deliberately.
    "Wal, I didn't expect you to take it that way, but since you do we'll let it go at that."
    "Excuse me, Preston, if I can't let it go at that," he returned coolly. "Would you mind tellin' me if any of the other ten Prestons are home?"
    There the gauntlet went in the face of Ash Preston. Still he did not show surprise. Whatever he might be when drunk, when sober as now, he was slow, cold, complex, cunning. He was flint, singularly charged with fire.
    "Wal, Rock, all the Prestons home, if you're so set on knowin'," returned Ash. "But there's one of the thirteen who's advisin' you to dust down the road."
    "Reckon that must be you, Mister Ash?"
    "An' that's shore me."
    "Well, I'm sorry. But I'm not takin' your hunch, Ash Preston. I'll stay long enough, anyhow, to see if the rest of your family is as rude to a stranger as you are."
    In one sliding step Rock reached the ground. And at that instant heavy boots crunched the gravel.
    "Hey, Ash, who're you palaverin' with?" called a deep, hearty voice.
    Ash wheeled on his heel, and without answer strode back into the cabin, to slam the door. Then Rock turned to see a man of massive build, in the plain garb of an everyday cattleman. Rock perceived at once that he was father to Thiry and Range Preston, but there seemed no resemblance to Ash. He might have been 50 years old. Handsome in a bold way, he had a smooth hard face, bulging chin, well-formed large lips, and great deep grey eyes.
    "Stranger, I reckon Ash wasn't welcomin' you with open arms," he said.
    "Not exactly. You're Gage Preston?"
    "Shore am, young man. Did you want to see me?"
    "Yes. He said you weren't home."
    "Doggone Ash, anyhow," replied the rancher, with impatient good humour. "Whenever a cowpuncher rides in hyar, Ash tells him we've got smallpox or such like. He's not sociable. But you mustn't judge us other Prestons by him."
    "I was tryin' to argue with him on that very chance," said Rock, smilingly.
    "Hyar, Tom," Preston called, turning toward a lanky youth in the background, "take these hosses. Throw saddle an' pack on the porch of the empty cabin. Wal, stranger, you're down, so come in."
    Rock had not noticed that the next cabin, some distance away under the pines, was a double one of the picturesque kind, long, with wide eaves, a porch all around, and ample space between the two log structures. Evidently the second cabin was a kitchen.
    "Reckon it'll he pleasanter sittin' outside," said Preston, and invited Rock to a rustic seat. "What'd you say your name was?"
    "I didn't say--yet," laughed Rock. He liked Preston.
    "Thiry didn't tell me either," went on the rancher. "But I know you're the young fellar who was polite to her an' made Ash huffy."
    "Yes, I am. It wasn't much, certainly nothin' to offend Miss Thiry's brother."
    "Aw, Ash was drunk. An' he shore ain't no credit to us then. Young man, say you didn't lose any time trailin' Thiry up," went on Preston quizzically, with a twinkle in his big grey eyes.
    "Mr. Preston,