A Ranger Rides to Rimrock by John G Read online

  hand, Daunt waited. Kramer, teeth bared,

  Once more he waved his arm in that

  lanced three swift shots into the seething sweeping circle. Then he turned, and his eyes mass. The Brazos Kid leaped forward, while

  found the Kid. Eyes ringy, he swaggered

  above the inferno of sound, Kramer’s voice

  toward him. Daunt, too, looked at the Kid—

  boomed out:

  looked curiously, with calculation in his eyes.

  “This way! Smoky! Gunner! Pinto! The girl stepped forward. Daunt paled as he Beside us!”

  saw her.

  A powerful black hand clutched the

  Kramer stopped in front of the Kid.

  Kid’s throat. He smashed—once, twice— with

  His eyes were filled with suspicion. “Who are his gun barrel. The hand relaxed. A shining

  you?” he snapped.

  black face grinned horribly as its owner

  The Kid’s eyes said nothing. But he

  slumped toward the floor. Then on—shooting,

  shook his head, as though in sorrow. “Dam’,”

  slashing, striking fiercely. Behind him, the

  he sighed. “This is sure an inquisitive bunch.”

  Kid heard the spiteful crack of a .38—heard

  Kramer started a curse. The girl

  the cold, hard voice of the girl who had driven touched Kramer on the arm. He didn’t turn—

  him to Rimrock. She was shooting coldly with

  but he listened.

  a man’s venom. Gun hot, she came on in the

  wake of the Brazos Kid.

  “PADDY’S dead,” she said calmly. A

  Fired by the love of battle, the Kid

  “Parada killed him. Tried to stick us up. This fought toward Daunt and Kramer, beside gent gummed his play. I hired him to take whom were lined up three slit-eyed gunmen.

  Paddy’s place.” She took her hand from

  “Yippee . . . Chihuahua!” Age old, the

  Kramer’s arm. “That’s all,” she said.

  battle cry of the Rangers, shrilled from the lips Kramer nodded, ever so slightly. “All

  of the Kid.

  right,” he said. “But watch him.”

  Then he reached those at the bar.

  The Kid’s mouth turned down at the

  Lined himself beside Daunt, Kramer and the

  corners, and a light flamed in his eyes. But the three gun hands. And the girl ranged herself

  girl was already striding toward the door.

  there too. More loyal gunmen gained the bar.

  “Come on,” she said to the Kid. “I’ll

  The charging crowd hesitated, stopped, show you where to bunk.”

  cowered back. Guns clattered to the floor.

  The Kid followed her. He didn’t look

  Arms raised submissively.

  at Daunt. But he felt Daunt’s eyes burning into Quiet came broken only by the his back. And he wondered just why Captain muttered cursing of Kramer. Ponderously, he

  Daunt had tied up with Kramer. He wondered

  stepped forward. A sneer on his face, he why Daunt had paled when he saw the girl.

  looked at the whipped legion of the damned.

  Had Daunt heard, above the turmoil of the

  Scorn was in his voice.

  saloon fight, that shrill battle cry of the

  “Fools!

  Pendajos! ” He leered at them

  Rangers? And, if he had heard, what would he

  and swept his huge arm in a swift circle— a

  do?

  circle that took in the whole of the room. “Th’

  Back in the cantina, Daunt stepped

  boss,” he spat, contempt in his voice. “Th’

  before Kramer. Eyes burning, he leaned

  boss, who ‘is th’ boss!” His body swayed

  forward.

  forward. Massive head thrust toward them, he

  “Th’ girl, Kramer,” he asked hollowly,

  surveyed the pack and sneered again. “who is she?”

  “Daunt!” he spat. “That’s who. I said so! Now Kramer chuckled evilly, then

  clean up th’ place and get th’ hell outa here!”

  shrugged. His face paled, and flushed. “Not

  A Ranger Rides to Rimrock

  11

  who you think she is,” he said.

  Bland, placid, resignation in his yellow

  Daunt tensed. For an instant it seemed

  face, Ah Lee, the old cook at the Ranger

  as though he would spring upon the heavy

  station at Los Ventres, plodded down the

  man. Then he slumped and turned abruptly to

  street. Dust in little clouds trailed up from the bar. “You’re a dirty beast, Kramer,” he

  behind his flat-soled sandals.

  said. “I don’t know whether to believe you or Nonchalantly, striving to keep from his

  not.”

  face the surging emotions in his breast, the

  Then, to the Mexican behind the bar:

  Brazos Kid left the doorway of the cantina.

  “Whiskey!”

  He stalked across the street. Passing Ah Lee in Kramer sneered behind Daunt’s back.

  the center of the narrow, dusty roadway, he

  “Whiskey,” he mocked. “Well, I guess you’re

  looked the Chinaman squarely in the eye. No

  entitled to some.”

  sign of recognition came into the slant eyes of the Oriental. But then, no wonder at that. The V

  Kid, still unshaven, ragged, unkempt, was a

  very different Kid than the one Ah Lee knew

  MANY and conflicting are the tales of the end at the Ranger camp.

  of Rimrock. Some piously relate that Kramer

  The Kid stopped, turned at the other

  and his wicked crew were lured to oblivion by side of the street. Leaving his burro outside, El Diablo himself. Others say that the spirit of Ah Lee shuffled into the cantina. The Kid the Holy Virgin, outraged, her infinite strode impatiently into his own shack. He patience exhausted at last, drove Kramer and

  paced back and forth, frowning.

  his killer crew before her, straight into the Disquieting

  thoughts raced through his

  guns of destruction.

  mind. What if he was wrong? Perhaps Ah Lee

  But the Brazos Kid, at this time would

  had not been sent by Tracy, after all. What if have said that it was Lieutenant Harry Ah Lee had been sent to the Ranger camp—by Tracy—Tracy of the Rangers—who loyally

  Kramer? Kramer seemed always to know the

  believed, and backed his faith that once a

  Rangers’ movements. He had evaded every

  Texas Ranger, always a Texas Ranger.

  net they’d ever spread for him. Suppose Ah

  The Kid knew it when he saw the old

  Lee...

  Chinaman plodding patiently behind a

  The Kid whirled, started for the door

  decrepit burro, shambling wearily down the

  of his shack. He’d see! There was ice in his

  street of Rimrock. And his heart sang within

  eyes, and his lips were straight as he entered him, burst into a song of gladness. The the cantina.

  Rangers!

  The Kid was glad because, in these

  KRAMER was there. Daunt was there. And—

  few days he had spent at Rimrock, he had

  Ah, Lee! The Kid strode past the three.

  come to know this tall, bronzed hombre who

  Kramer’s eyes shone as he listened to the

  used to be a captain of the Rangers. In these Chinaman. Daunt listened with expectancy,

  few days he had looked beneath the set, stern calculation in his face.

  features, and the jet-black, film-masked eyes

  “Velly much mo
ney,” sing-songed the

  of Perry Daunt. And there he had seen Chinaman. “I sabe lot....”

  something more than mere reckless courage.

  The Kid lost the finish as he strode

  He had seen honesty, purpose, and manhood.

  past. But he’d heard enough. So Ah Lee

  Ranger manhood—the kind of manhood that

  sabied where there was “velly much money,”

  stays with a man until he dies.

  did he? There was a new, crackly note in the

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  12

  Kid’s voice as he asked for his drink. And as they hardened again. “Yeah?” she drawled

  he looked at the Mexican behind the bar, there ironically. “Just what job are you taking,

  was a strange mixture of fire and ice in his

  mister?” But her voice had lost the chill edge eyes.

  that it used to have.

  “Whiskey,”

  he

  snapped.

  “A regular job,” said the Kid.

  Daunt and Kramer turned to look at

  The faintest hint of wistfulness in her

  him as he said it. The Kid jerked back his head eyes, the girl watched the Kid enter the shack to down his drink.

  after she had moved aside.

  Kramer grunted. “What’s th’ matter

  The Brazos Kid placed his hands on

  with you?”

  his hips and looked about the room. He strode The Brazos Kid turned and met to the table and, from a stock of odds and Kramer’s stare, saw Daunt’s squinted eyes.

  ends, took a pair of spurs. They were made of

  “Nothin’.” The Kid’s voice was surly. “I’m jes silver.

  tired—tired of ridin’ padded cushions. I want The girl stood in the doorway and

  a bronc an’ somethin’ t’ do.”

  watched. The Kid looked up at her from his

  Kramer grinned. Daunt looked at the

  bent-over position, fastening his spurs on his fat man and jerked his head toward the Kid.

  boots.

  “Good youngster,” he said. “Mebby he’d be

  “Now,” he said, “I need a saddle.”

  handy.”

  The girl placed both hands out, one on

  Kramer nodded. “All right,” he agreed.

  each side of the door. “Listen,” she said, “for

  “He rides.”

  that rig you lost, I’m going to give you the

  Daunt’s lips turned down a bit. “All

  best saddle you ever threw a leg over.”

  right, fella,” he said to the Kid. “Don’t ride As she leaned forward, there was a

  any more cushions. Get yourself a bronc. It

  new something in her blue eyes. They had lost won’t be long before you’ll get plenty of their former hardness. “Will that square us?”

  action. Plenty.”

  she asked.

  The Kid nodded curtly.

  She looked a lot different without that

  There was a snappy click to the Kid’s

  assumed hardness about her lips. The Kid

  boot heels as he strode out. What had Daunt

  noticed it. He didn’t answer her. He just

  meant by “Plenty?” Did Daunt know that the

  nodded.

  Kid was a Ranger? Was he trying to tell the

  “I’m glad,” the girl said with studied

  Kid something? Or was it irony behind the

  emphasis, “that you’ve got a regular job.

  accentuation of that last word? Was Daunt just There’s not many of ’em here.”

  baiting the Brazos Kid?

  Involuntarily, inwardly cursing himself

  for it, the Brazos Kid blushed. As she watched ACROSS’ the street again, the Kid found the

  him, the girl smiled. “I believe I’ve got you girl sitting on his doorstep.

  spotted,” she said softly. She waved an arm

  “Howdy,” she said. There was a new

  toward the horse corrals. “The rig you can

  hint of friendliness in her voice.

  have,” she said quickly, “is hanging on this

  “Howdy.” The Kid grinned back. But

  end in the shed. And the pinto bronc. Both

  his voice was hard and smacked of mockery.

  yours. And I hope you like your new job.”

  “Git yoreself a new pardner for th’ joy rides,”

  It seemed to the Brazos Kid that the

  he said. “I’m takin’ a new job.”

  girl hurried as she turned and strode away. He The girl’s eyes widened. There seemed

  watched her cross the street and enter the

  to be a bit of disappointment in them. Then

  cantina. Then he strode up the slope toward

  A Ranger Rides to Rimrock

  13

  the bronc pens.

  For a fierce instant she stared at him.

  VI

  Kramer didn’t speak. The girl looked as if she meant what she said.

  THE girl, Kitty Kramer, strode purposefully

  She strode out through the door.

  into the cantina. She had a little piece of Kramer padded quickly to a door at the rear.

  pigging string in her hand. As she walked, she

  “Wall-eye!” he called. “Come here.”

  struck it angrily against her overall-clad leg.

  Quickly, as the flat-faced hombre

  “Men!’ she muttered scoffingly to appeared, Kramer piloted him to the front herself as she strode. “Men!”

  door of the saloon. He pointed a shaking hand Kramer, Daunt and the aged Ah Lee

  toward the girl.

  were still there. The girl stepped smartly past

  “Her,” he said to Wall-eye. “Don’t let

  them and stopped at the end of the bar. Daunt her leave.” He looked up, long and meaningly

  and the Chinaman had their backs to her. They into the other’s eyes. “If she gets wild,” he didn’t see her. But Kramer glanced at her

  breathed, “too wild, fix her clock, Wall-eye.

  frowningly.

  But fix it quiet. She knows an awful lot, Wall-She listened while the three talked. eye. And she hates me plenty.”

  Finished, Daunt strode toward the door. “After chow,” he said.

  UP at the bronc pens, the Brazos Kid raised

  Kramer nodded. The Chinaman, Ah

  his head and listened to the roar of an

  Lee, sing-songed as he followed Daunt. automobile motor. He grinned to himself. This

  “Plenty glad,” he said, “you likee this. Velly was one trip on which the Kid wouldn’t ride

  much money flo me.” He wagged his yellow

  the padded cushions. His smile was

  head as he shuffled out.

  whimsical.

  Kramer’s eyes glittered as he watched

  The motor accelerated, died, sped up

  Ah Lee leave. “Yeah?” he muttered. “Plenty

  again. The Kid pictured the gear shifting

  much money flo you—like hell!”

  operation. Then he stiffened, tense. A hoarse He turned and padded to the girl’s

  cry rose above the motor’s roar. A shrill

  side. Hard-eyed again, she watched him come.

  voice—a girl’s. The Kid ran around the saddle

  “Well,” he snapped at her, “what you

  shed. He heard a shot—heavy, reverberating.

  hangin’ around here for?”

  Then came another, a sharper, more

  She gave a quirk to her lips and didn’t

  staccato sound. And the roar of the motor

  answer the question. “Getting ready to double-anew. Rounding the corner of the shed, the

  cross somebody else?”

  Brazos Kid saw the car speeding out of

  Kra
mer’s eyes glittered. He smiled Rimrock. And a short, squat-bodied figure lay coldly, straight lipped. Closer he stepped to in its wake, dead in the rocky street.

  her. Coolly, measuring his blow, he struck her Kramer waved the gathering crowd

  sharply across the face. The girl’s head rocked aside. “Forget it,” he snapped. “It’s my

  back under the blow. But otherwise she didn’t business. Bury him.”

  move.

  He took a piece of paper in his hand

  “Fine,” she applauded coldly. She and called out some names in a loud voice.

  thrust her jaw forward. There was a Then his eyes found the Kid. “And you too,”

  tigerishness in her smile. “Kramer,” she said he said. “All be there. Right after chow. Rifles icily, “that’s the last time you’ll ever lay a and plenty ammunition. We’re takin’ a ride.”

  hand on me. I’m leaving—leaving right now.

  Try to stop me, and I’ll kill you.”

  EXPECTANCY, a fierce, ominous

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  14

  expectancy, pervaded the outlaw camp. in beside the Kid.

  Somber-eyed, watchful, the Brazos Kid paced

  “About a mile more,” he said to the

  in and out of the cantina of Jose Aguilar.

  Kid. “Rifles out.” Then, in a lower voice: “Ah Watching for Daunt, for Ah Lee. Hoping for a

  Lee and Tracy. We planned it. We know about

  clue as to whether these two were or were not you.”

  Kramer’s allies.

  Then he rode to the head of the

  But he didn’t see them, didn’t find a

  cavalcade. Fierce exultation flamed in the