to Tame a Land (1955) (20 page)

There was a saloon, but I stayed away from it. I hun g around the stables, took care of my horse, cleaned m y guns, and listened to talk. Sometimes we pitched horseshoes.

All this time I saw nothing of Ash Milo. But I learne d that he didn't come around very much. He stayed up o n the hill in a house he had. "Reads a lot," Red said. "Always after papers and magazines. But he knows what'
s going on, for all of that."

It was Red told me that Milo scattered crumpled newspapers all over the floor before he got into bed. He wasn'
t taking any chances on somebody sneaking up on him i n the dark.

No way I could see for me to get close to Liza. No t even to let her know I was there. And that had to b e done.

Oddly enough, it was Chance Vader who brought i t about. Right off, he didn't like me much. He would b e looking at me with a cynical smile, and even Lesli e noticed it. Leslie didn't like me, either., He didn't trus t me. Maybe he didn't trust anybody. But he liked m e better than Chance.

One day he said to me, "You watch that slick-ear. He'l l start on the prod. He's mean. He likes to kill, and he'
s building a reputation."

"Thanks," I said.

One day I was hoeing corn and had just put down th e hoe when I heard a call. "Hey, Choc!"

It was Smoky Hill, and he was standing in front of wha t I called the guardhouse.

Brushing off my hands, I walked up there. My mout h was dry and my stomach felt funny, and here I was, righ t close to Liza. If it was sure enough her.

"Look," Smoky Hill said, "I got to leave here for a little while an' that damn Vader's around. You take m y place, will you?"

"If Vader comes up here, what do I do?"

He looked at me real cold. "Nobody talks to that gir l but Milo. You hear that? That means you. But I kno w you're all right. You don't drink, an' you're steady. Yo u mind your own affairs. I been watchin' you." He hitche d his gun belt. "If that Vader comes up here, you sto p him. If he gives you an argument, I'll be hearing abou t it, and I'll be along."

So he walked off down the hill and I sat down on th e step, my heart pounding.

Liza was in that house next door, and we were in ful l sight of the camp, and I had to get word to her I wa s here. But how? .

And then all of a sudden it was easy. Out of the corne r of my eye I saw her standing at the window, just behin d the curtain. So I took off my hat and put it down on th e stoop. I hoped she'd know me.

Stooping forward to pick up a stone, I glanced at th e window. She was standing there with the curtain draw n back, slim and straight and lovely, not fifteen feet away , and she knew me. I could see it by the white set of he r face. Then she gestured. She meant for me to go.

Picking up the stone and a few others, I started casuall y tossing them at a can, like a man killing time. When I s tooped for more stones I shook my head and showe d her two fingers, meaning that the two of us would go.

She gestured at me again.

And then I heard feet walking.

Chance Vader was standing there sneering at me. "So?

You got your eye on the girl, too? She seems ready enoug h to play."

This was real trouble, and I got up. Worse, there wa s an odd, puzzled look in Vader's eye.

"Mighty funny," he said, staring at me. "She neve r looks at me, but you she signals to. Now I wonder. . . ."

"You do your wondering down the hill," I said. "M
y orders are to keep men away."

He looked at me and I could see in his eyes that h e wanted to kill me, but that wasn't as much on his min d right now as something else.

"You got me puzzled," he said. "I seen you before."

He turned his head a mite, the way some folks do, studying me. "And it wasn't in the Nation. I never been i n the Nation."

"You go back down the hill," I said.

Surprisingly enough, he turned and started to walk off.

Then he turned around. "Got it!" he said. His voice wa s hoarse with surprise. "Denver! You're Ryan Tyler!"

Smoky Hill was coming. He was almost loping. He wa s still some distance off.

"Rye Tyler," Vader said, "from Alta!"

There was no choice now. Not if we were to get ou t of here alive. I had wanted never to kill another man , even one several times a killer, such as this one. Yet if th i man told his story, I was a dead man, and worse, Liz a would never have her chance. I knew now she was no t here willingly.

Chance Vader's eyes were shining. There was a crue l triumph in the man. I saw his eyes suddenly sharpen, an d his hand moved. Whether he intended to shoot, I'll neve r know. My hand dropped to my gun and he was a spli t second slower.

My gun cleared leather and exploded. The bullet hi t him right over the belt buckle just as his gun muzzl e started to tip upward. Stepping one step to the side t o cause him to shift aim, I fired again, spotting this on e carefully over his shirt pock& It should have killed him , but it didn't.

His lips were parted in a wide grin and he had eve n white teeth, might nice teeth. A bullet whipped past m y skull and then my left-hand gun bucked. It was the firs t time I'd ever used two guns, and I was surprised whe n the bullet broke his elbow. But Smoky Hill was runnin g up the slope, and there was no time to be lost. I steppe d in closer, both guns hammering.

For the first time I desperately wanted to kill a man.

I had to kill him. Liza's future was at stake, and my life.

When I stopped shooting I was standing over him.

Smoky Hill caught my arm as I was reloading. "Tak e it easy, Choc! He's finished!"

"Rye!" Vader got it out, his eyes glittering in triump h at me, straining with effort. How he managed it I'll neve r know. How a man shot up like that could even draw a breath I don't know. But he said it again. "Rye!"

"Hell!" Somebody spoke wonderingly. "Dyin', an' h e wants a drink!"

Standing back, thumbing shells into my guns, I kne w it wasn't a drink he wanted, and I was hoping he couldn'
t say the other name. If he said it I would die here, onl y with my guns loaded I wouldn't go out by myself. I'
d take a few along for company.

Chance Vader had been fast, all right. He had bee n fast and dangerous and he had sand. Lying there on hi s back with his lifeblood staining the gravel under him, h e still wanted me dead.

But then it was too late. His eyes glazed over and I s tepped back, slipping one gun into my waistband.

They stood around, a dozen of them, staring at me. I h ad no idea what to expect, but I had my gun in m y hand. It might make the difference.

"You saved me a job," Smoky Hill said. "You sure did."

Somebody said, looking at the nine bullets I'd put int o Vader, "Figured Vader was fast, but-"

"He was fast," Smoky Hill said grimly. "I know h e was fast. Only Choc here was faster." He pointed at th e body. "And shot straighter. Look. One over the bel t buckle, one through the face, and not one of the other s missed the heart by over three inches!"

They all looked at me again, sizing me up, getting i t straight in their minds. I had outshot Chance Vader.

"He was fast, all right. I had to kill him."

Red Irons shrugged. "Don't let it bother you, Choc.

There's a dozen men in this camp wanted to kill him .. .
a nd not over two or three who stood a chance with him."

So we walked away down the hill. Suddenly, from bein g just a drifting outlaw, I had become known as a dangerous gunman, a man to reckon with.

Inside, the reaction was hitting me. I was sick, wante d to get off alone, but I had to stand the drinks. There ha d been no way out for me. I'd had to kill him, but thi s was the first time I ever needed to kill a man. The firs t time I ever wanted to kill a man. It scared me.

What would Liza think of me now?

When I put down my glass and turned toward th e door, Smoky Hill was there. He looked sort of strange, an d right then I knew I was in for it.

'Choc," he said, "Ash Milo wants to see you up o n the hill."

Chapter
18

WHEN I WALKED OUT on that porch I knew I was i n trouble. If Mustang Roberts had guessed right and As h Milo knew me, I was going to have to kill another man.

And I would have the problem of getting out with Liz a if she would still go with me after what she had seen.

Standing there on the porch in front of the saloon, I r olled a smoke. Inside I felt empty. I could feel the slow , heavy beating of my heart, and I had a hard time moistening my cigarette, my mouth was that dry.

That walk up the hill, only a hundred and fifty yard s or so, was the longest walk I'll ever take.

I felt the sun on my back. I could smell the grass, an d off over a distant ridge there was a fluff of white clou d that left a shadow on the salmon cliffs. It might be th e last time I'd see that sky or the cliffs.

Gray was down there in the stable. I suddenly wishe d he was saddled. I was going to need a home if I came ou t of this alive.

In my thoughts were the things I had heard. Milo wa s said to be utterly ruthless, without compassion. He ha d killed suddenly and without warning. He could be dangerous as a striking rattler, with no need to rattle befor e he struck.

Liza opened the door. But it was a taller, more lovel y Liza.

She would be eighteen now, but there was a quie t maturity in her face that made her look older. There wa s a great sadness, too.

For a long moment our eyes held, and she searche d mine as if she expected to find something there, feared t o find it.

"Rye," she said, "I wanted to spare you this. I wante d to." And then she stepped aside and I stepped into th e door and I was looking at Ash Milo.

Only I knew him . . . I knew him well. He was th e man I had admired most in the world. He was the ma n I had looked up to and respected. The man who had bee n my friend when I had no other. He was Logan Pollard.

He was slimmer, older. His hair was mixed with gray , his face was drawn tighter and harder, and his lips ha d thinned down. Above all, there was in him a tension I di d not recall. Always, he had seemed so thoroughly calm, s o relaxed, so much in command of himself and all aroun d him.

As though it were yesterday, I remembered the day h e interceded for me and stopped McGarry from giving me a whipping. I remembered the day he saved me from th e horse thieves when I had walked into a gun battle wit h them. I remembered the advice he had given me.

He walked toward me, smiling that tight smile, and h e held out his hand.

"Rye!" he said. "Rye, it's really you! After all thi s time!"

There was no hesitation in me. I grabbed his hand an d held it hard, and he looked into my eyes and smiled.

"You've made a name for yourself, Rye. And you'v e stayed on the right side of the law. I'm glad."

"So that's why you kept your outfit away from m y town," I said. "You were protecting me."

He smiled, still that tight, quick smile. Only this tim e there was a hint of cynicism in it, and a little mockery.

"No, Rye. I've always known you. I knew if we eve r crossed you, we were in real trouble.

"You see, Rye," his voice was almost gentle, "a bo y who will fight back when his father is killed is a natura l boy. He does what anyone would do, given a chance.

"But you were different. You followed those Indians , and you killed at least one. Moreover, I saw you fac e McGarry. You weren't afraid. There was iron in you. . . ."

He turned and walked across the room. Liza was lookin g at me strangely, watching me for something. Me, I wa s confused, but now I was settling down. I was beginnin g to think.

"What became of Mary?" I asked.

His back was toward me and for a long time he di d not reply, nor did he move. Then he said quietly, "Sh e died in childbirth, Rye. If she'd lived I would probabl y have stayed right there.

"Remember old Sheriff Balcher? He tried to get m e to stay, but I wouldn't listen. I couldn't stay there wit h those memories, so I left."

Logan Pollard came back to the center of the room.

"Sit down, Rye. Please sit down."

It wasn't in me to quibble or to beat around the brush.

"Logan," I said, "you know why I'm here?"

The smile left his eyes. He looked at me, taut an d watchful. I knew then that all they said of the gunma n known as Ash Milo was true. He was a dangerous ma n . . . and a not entirely sane man.

I'd looked many times into the eyes of dangerous men , and I knew how they looked. But in his eyes there wa s something else . . . something extra.

"Of course. You've come for Liza. On that score I mus t disappoint you."

So here it was. Here was the line we drew, the lin e along which neither of us would yield. Yet I had to try.

"It isn't like you, Logan. You're holding her against he r will. That's not your sort of man."

He shrugged, a little irritable frown gathering aroun d his eyes. "Don't be a fool, Rye! She may not wish t o stay now, but she'll change. I'm not forcing her int o anything, just giving her time to change."