The Andre Norton Megapack - 15 Classic Novels and Short Stories

lieutenant and Captain Bayliss have pointed out—if my only proof is in Kentucky and out of reach.”
    “I suppose you have heard of telegraphs?” Rennie’s sarcasm was cold. “Communication with Kentucky is not so impossible as you appear to think. You give me a name and address—or names and addresses—and I’ll do the rest. All you have to do is substantiate background and your army service, proving no possible contact with Kitchell. Then the captain will be forced to admit a mistake.”
    Give Hunt Rennie the name of Cousin Meredith Barrett, of Aunt Marianna’s husband, Major Forbes—the addresses of Red Springs or Oak Hill? Drew could not while there was a chance that Anse might find the papers or make Johnny Shannon admit taking them. The Kentuckian could not tell Hunt Rennie who he was here and now.
    “I want to talk to Anse,” he said out of his own thoughts. “I’ve got to talk to Anse!”
    “He’s gone.” Rennie’s two words did not make sense at first. When they did, Drew jumped up and caught at the bars.
    “Gone? Where?”
    “Cleared out—got clean away.” Again Spath supplied the information. “Or so they tell us. He went back to the Stronghold after he broke through our lines. But when a patrol rode down to get him, he was gone.”
    “Why?” Drew asked. “Why pick him up?”
    “Why? Because he’s in this, too!” Spath retorted. “Probably rode straight to Kitchell’s hideout. Now, Mr. Rennie, time’s up. The captain authorized this visit because he thought you might just get something out of the prisoner. Well, you did: an admission he’s been passing under a false name. We know what he is—a renegade horse thief.”
    Drew was no longer completely aware of either man. But, as Rennie turned away, he broke through the mist of confusion which seemed to be enclosing him more tightly than the walls of the cell.
    “Shannon. Where’s Shannon?”
    Hunt Rennie’s head swung around. “What about Johnny?” he demanded.
    “He took my papers—out of my belt!” This was probably the worst thing he could do, to accuse Johnny Shannon without proof.
    “What papers, and why should he want them?” If Rennie had been remote before, now he was as chill as the Texas northers Anse had joked about.
    “The parole, the horse papers, some letters.…”
    “You saw him take them? You know why he should want them?”
    Drew shook his head once. He could not answer the second question now.
    “Then how do you know Johnny took them?”
    How did he know? Drew could give no sane reason for his conviction that it had been Johnny’s fingers which had looted the pocket of papers and stuffed leaves and grass in their place.
    “You’ll have to do better than that, kid!” Spath laughed. “You must have known Shannon was gone, too. By the time he’s back from Mexico he won’t need to prove that’s a lie.”
    Drew disregarded the lieutenant’s comments—Rennie was the one who mattered. And in that moment the Kentuckian knew that he had made a fatal mistake. Why hadn’t he agreed to telegraph Kentucky? Now there was no hope. As far as Don Cazar was concerned, one Drew Kirby could be written off the list. Drew had made an enemy of the very person he most wanted to convince. The Kentuckian swung around and walked to the one small, barred window through which he could see the sun. He walked blindly, trying not to hear those spurred boots moving out of the door…going away.…
    CHAPTER 14
    Three good strides one way, four another to measure the cell. Morning sun, gone by noon, daylight outside the window becoming dusk in turn. They fed him army rations, delivered under guard. And the guard never spoke. There was no use asking questions, and Drew had none left to ask, anyway. Except, by the morning of the second day after Rennie’s visit, his wonder grew. Why was Bayliss delaying a formal charge against him? This wait could mean that the captain was not finding it so easy to prove he really did have a “renegade horse thief” in custody. But Drew knew he must pin no hopes on a thread that fine.
    What had happened to Anse? And Shannon—gone to Mexico? He must have ridden back with the Coronel . Drew could expect nothing more from Rennie, or Topham. The Trinfans? Spath had marched them back, too, along with his prisoner, but the lieutenant had not had them under arrest. The mustangers were well known in this district and could prove their reason for being where they were found. And Kitchell