The Andre Norton Megapack - 15 Classic Novels and Short Stories

the spy hole, a pause which lengthened alarmingly. Then his body jerked in answer to a sound a half second before he realized what manner of sound. The sentry had sneezed. He sniffled, too, loudly; then he went on to complete his beat. The blanket and the straw—they had worked!
    Drew pulled at the lariat, was answered by a return jerk. He jumped and began to climb. Then, with a wrench he was through the hole, other hands helping to pull.
    “Come—pronto!” The hands were pushing, urging. He wriggled forward. Teodoro Trinfan! But why?
    There was no time to ask; Drew could only obey directions. They made a worm’s progress along the full length of the old ranch building, and dropped the lariat for a ladderto the ground. They crossed the small part of the camp near the ravine with the same caution they had used on the roof.
    “ Señor …” Teodoro’s lips were at Drew’s ear as the boy pressed against him in a thin cover of shadow. “Left—a big stone—put your hands on it—swing about and down.”
    Drew had to take that on blind trust. He had no idea what kind of a drop waited below, and only by firm will power did he follow orders. But his boot soles met a solid surface. Then he was caught about the waist and Hilario’s voice whispered to him.
    “ Señor , you stand—so.” Hands fumbled about him, looping him with a supporting lariat. “Now—we go! Your hand, señor .” Drew’s left hand was caught in a tight grip which pulled him to the right, face to the wall. So secured, he inched along what he knew must be the face of the ravine, his toes on some small ledge midway between lip and foot.
    Somehow the three of them reached ground level, their diagonal course of descent putting some distance between them and the camp. In spite of the cold of the night, Drew was wet with sweat as they threaded through heady sage brush. Now came the scent of horses, the sound of a hoof stamped impatiently on gravel.
    “Trinfan?”
    Topham! Here?
    “ Sí. ”
    At Hilario’s hissed assent, a figure detached itself from the utter black of the bushes and moved forward into a sliver of moonlight.
    “You got him?”
    “I’m here, if that’s what you mean!” Drew answered for himself.
    “And you’ll be gone, soon,” the gambler replied. “But there’s one thing I have to know, Kirby. Were you telling the truth to Rennie—do you believe Johnny took your papers?”
    What had that to do with the matter at hand? Drew wondered. But from the urgency of the demand he knew it did mean a great deal to Topham.
    “Yes, I’m sure. But I can’t prove it—unless I find them with him. He may have destroyed them already.” Drew put into words the black foreboding which had ridden him for days.
    “Why? What do they mean to him?”
    Evasions and lies had gotten him into this mess; now he would see what stark truth would do.
    “Because there were two letters—proof I’m Drew Rennie.”
    “Rennie?” Topham repeated. In the light Drew could not see his expression, but his voice was that of a completely baffled man. “Rennie?”
    “I’m Hunt Rennie’s son.” There, he had said it—and nothing startling happened. Well, what had he expected—a clap of thunder, a bolt of lightning, the sudden appearance of a cavalry patrol across the nearest hilltop?
    “So that’s it!” Topham said slowly. “And Shannon suspected? But why the mystery? And—”
    Drew took the questions in turn. “Shannon was at the Jacks when I met Anse. I thought he was unconscious, but he probably wasn’t. Anse called me by my right name. As for why—my father doesn’t know I’m alive. He was told I died at birth, along with my mother. They told me he was killed in the Mexican War before I was born. It was all because of an old family feud—too long a story to tell now. I’ve only known for about a year I had a father here in Arizona…but to make a claim on him, after all these years.… Maybe you don’t understand why I didn’t want to.” He was telling it badly, but he’d been a fool about this from the start.
    “Understand…yes, I think I can. There’s a certain strain of bull-headed independence common to Rennies—I’ve met it head-on several times myself. And your choice was your own to make. But this…yes, it is just the move Shannon would make, given suspicion to push him into action. And now it may be pushing him even farther.”
    Drew was a little bewildered by Topham’s ready acceptance of his story without any