Texas Drive Read Online Free PDF

almost nose to nose.
    “You see Johnny?” he asked.
    Ted nodded.
    Rafe saw the blood and started to ask a question, then changed his mind. “I got work, Teddy. See you in the morning.”
    “Where’s Johnny now?”
    “Riding point.”
    “Thanks.”
    “I’d give him some time, I was you. He was madder’n hell.”
    Ted ignored the advice. He pushed his pony around the edge of the herd and prodded it into a gallop. He passed two hands on the way, but they didn’t acknowledge him. When he reached the head of the herd, he spotted Johnny almost immediately.
    He closed on his brother, nudging his horse alongside, squeezing in between Johnny and Ralph Dalton. Dalton spat once, then shook his head as he moved away.
    “Johnny …”
    His brother didn’t answer.
    “Dammit, Johnny, talk to me.”
    “Must be hearing things,” Johnny mumbled. “Swear I heard something.” He turned and looked through Ted as if he were a pane of glass. “Nope. Don’t see nothing.”
    Ted grabbed Johnny’s arm and jerked it. The sleeve of Johnny’s shirt started to groan, but it held and Johnny clapped a hand over Ted’s wrist. This time he spoke directly to him.
    “You let go or I’ll break your goddamned arm, you hear?”
    Ted swung, but missed. Johnny leapt from the saddle, swatting the pony on the rump to chase it away. “Come on, you damned yellow-belly. Come on!”
    Ted kicked his pony and threw himself on Johnny as the horse moved past. They both went sprawling in the dust, and Johnny, who was the larger of the two, grabbed Ted around the head and got to his knees.
    “Let go,” Ted shouted, his voice almost strangled in his throat by the pressure of his brother’s arm. He broke free and landed a vicious jab to Johnny’s ribs. Doubled over by the punch, Johnny charged straight on, his head smashing into Ted’s bleeding rib cage.
    Johnny straightened him up and swung twice, connecting both times. Ted fell to the ground and Johnny stood over him, a fist cocked, and panting. “Too late for heroics, Teddy. You had your chance. Trouble is, you just don’t know what side you’re on. Now get up and get out of my sight.”
    Ted tried to rise, but his side hurt too much. A searing pain flared along his ribs, and it stabbed at him with every breath. Johnny turned and walked away. When he reached his horse, he mounted without looking back.
    “Wait,” Ted called, “come back.”
    But Johnny ignored him. Rafe reined in as Ted was getting to his knees. “You want me to go after him?”
    Ted shook his head. “What’s the use?”
    “None that I can see. Not right now …”
    “Thanks anyway.”
    “He’ll cool down some, pretty soon.”
    “Yeah.”
    But Ted knew he wouldn’t. Not for a long time, if ever.

5
    TED COTTON SAT on the ridge, watching the herd move out. The valley below him was filled with the sound of bellowing cattle. Their hooves kicked up great clouds of dust. The clouds swirled in a hot wind, obscuring parts of the herd and wrapping the drovers in a thick blanket of light brown. Here and there, one of the hands would pop into view for a few seconds, his face covered with a kerchief to keep out the choking dust. Hats, shirts, and pants had turned a uniform beige.
    Ted wanted to see Johnny one more time. But the dust and the wind conspired to deprive him. Tempted to charge down into the valley, he struggled and overcame it, but not without cost. He hated to see Johnny go like this. But his brother was pigheaded. And something ate at him from the inside. Johnny wouldn’t talk about it, but hewasn’t much for talking anyway. Shrugging his shoulders, Ted resigned himself to the possibility he might never see Johnny again.
    The herd, like a heaving river of sinew, poured through the valley, funneled through its narrow mouth, and gradually disappeared. When it was out of sight, he could still hear it. The shouts of the drovers were no longer audible, but the thunder of twelve thousand hooves shook the air around