The Andre Norton Megapack - 15 Classic Novels and Short Stories

proof. But the tone of the last remark caught his full attention.
    “What d’ you mean? What’s happened now?”
    “I’ve had suspicions, pretty nasty ones, for some time. But I had your trouble—no proof. In the last three days I’ve picked up and sorted out a few very wild cards, and now they make a pat hand. Kitchell has had his contact here-abouts, all right, just as Bayliss has always insisted.”
    “You can’t mean Shannon!”
    “Johnny Shannon. And if he’s doing what I think he is.…” Topham paused. When he continued he had changed the subject. “Last night Nye rode up from the Range. Said that Kitchell made a raid, almost a clean sweep. Among other stock he gathered up was that prize stud of yours.”
    “Shiloh!”
    And Shannon had the horse papers! The Kentuckian was thinking fast now.
    “Yes, if Shannon is riding with Kitchell, now he can prove ownership of that stud and sell him anywhere without trouble.” Topham could have been reading Drew’s mind. “But that’s not as important as something else. Hunt went hell-bent-for-leather out of here. He’ll gather up that private army of his and try to trail the raiders. Maybe Kitchell will ride south, or maybe he’ll head directly back into Apache country.Either way that trail’s going to be as easy for anyone after him as walking barefoot through a good roaring fire! Hunt still has blind faith in Johnny.… I was hoping you could help break that.”
    “That why you got me out of the camp?” Drew asked.
    “Partly. Hunt told me what you said about Johnny taking your papers. I had you sized up as being too smart to make a claim like that unless you really believed it. And I thought maybe you could prove it, given a chance. If you can get to Hunt now…tell him the real truth before Johnny rigs something of a double-cross.…”
    “Would he believe me any more than he did when I accused Shannon?” Drew asked bleakly. “I’ll head south, all right. Nobody’s goin’ to lift Shiloh and get away with it as long as I’m able to fork a saddle and push. But if you’re countin’ on my bein’ able to influence my—my father”—he stumbled over the word awkwardly—“don’t!”
    “I’m counting on nothing,” Topham returned. “Just hoping now. For a long time we’ve heard about Johnny Shannon being a young hothead who found it hard to settle down after the war. I think there are two Johnnys and we are just beginning to know the real one. You could be his prime target now.”
    “Fair of you to point that out.” Drew thought that at last he had found a real motive for Topham’s services. “I’m likely to be bait, ain’t that the truth of it?”
    “If you are, the trap is going to be there. But now…get away from here. Teodoro will ride with you as guide.”
    “And the army after me. That’s it!” Drew had mounted. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? Me to pull the troops south? Huntin’ down an escaped horse thief they might slam into Kitchell.…”
    Whata trick! Topham had planned it without asking Drew’s support. But it called for enough audacity, luck, and nerve to be appealing. During the war the Kentuckian had seen such schemes win out time and time again.
    “Why ain’t Bayliss already ridin’?” he asked. “Hasn’t he heard about the raid?”
    “He’s been heard to say a man can raid his own stock as a cover-up.”
    “What’s wrong with him? Is he deaf, dumb, and blind!”
    “No, just prejudiced and ridden by envy until he’s not able to think straight any more. But he’ll track you and follow quick enough!”
    “He sure will. All right…we ride.”
    They did, Drew depending on the younger Trinfan’s guidance. And, while Teodoro set a meandering trail, it was not one which a determined pursuer would have too much trouble following, come sunup or whenever that sentry discovered he was guarding a straw prisoner.
    Once when they pulled up to breathe their horses, dismounting to loose cinches and cool the backs of the mounts, Drew indulged his curiosity further.
    “How come you knew just where to make that hole to let me out?”
    Teodoro laughed. “That was easy, señor . That was the Garza Rancho—only six months has the army been there. Many times we have camped within its walls when we brought in the best of the wild catch for sale. I know those buildings very well. When Señor Topham tells my father what must be done, we could plan well and quickly. I have heard what you said to Señor