Way of the Gun (9781101597804) Read Free Page A

hills. But low clouds had begun rolling over the hills on the east side of the valley not long after the camp had settled in for the night, causing Carson to unroll his rain slicker. He had seen enough thunderstorms over the prairie to know that one was coming. They may have stuck me on nighthawk as a joke, he thought, but I ain’t the only one who won’t get any sleep tonight . As if confirming the thought, a long, silent fork of lightning streaked through the distant clouds, and the breeze kicked up a notch. It did not go unnoticed by the cattle, and some of those on the outer edges of the herd began to get uneasy. Carson circled around the flanks, talking to them in a soothing voice, a little singsong tone that he had comforted cattle with before.
    His and Marvin’s efforts seemed to settle the more restless steers for a while, but it was not to last. Suddenly the wind kicked up again, this time stronger than a breeze, and the dark clouds that had drifted directly above the valley were suddenly split by a sudden flash of lightning and a sharp crack of thunder. It was repeated almost immediately, and was cause enough to terrify the cattle. Those on the lower end of the herd bolted in panic toward the divide through which they had been driven to the river earlier. The rest of the herd bolted after them in crazed abandon.
    Carson sprang into action, knowing he had no time to wait for help from Marvin, who was on the opposite end of the herd. Behind him, the sleeping camp was awakened by that most dreaded alarm. “Stampede!” someone shouted, and the camp was in an immediate state of panic as every man rushed to get to his horse. Racing after the mob on his buckskin, Carson caught up with the leaders and, with the help of his six-gun, managed to turn them to the right. The rest of the frenzied herd followed as he continued to swing the leaders in a wide circle. Marvin soon caught up with him, and before long, some of the other men began to catch up, and seeing the direction Carson was turning them, they worked to keep the mass of bodies following the leaders. Gradually Carson turned the leaders in a smaller and smaller circle until they eventually wound up in a tight, slow-moving mass, milling restlessly but contained in the mouth of the valley. Soon the swiftly moving storm crossed over, and the men were able to quiet the cattle down again.
    â€œDamn good job!” Duke exclaimed as he rode up beside Carson. “I reckon I’ll pay you the thirty dollars.”
    Duke was not alone in paying Carson compliments on his quick action to keep the herd contained. Almost to a man, they thanked him for keeping the cattle from scattering all across the prairie, the one exception being Jack Varner. For some reason that Carson had not figured out, Varner seemed to resent the attention being paid the new hand. “Yeah, Pig,” Jack commented, “you done the right thing, same as anybody else with a grain of sense woulda. You were lucky you had Marvin to back you up.”
    Carson responded with a knowing smile, accustomed to seeing hazing in many forms on a cattle drive. It seemed likely that Varner was set on testing him, and the use of Pig as a nickname was meant to measure the young man’s grit. He didn’t like the nickname, but he decided not to respond to the big man’s taunts. This was only his first day with the crew, and maybe Varner would forget about it in a day or two. “I expect you’re right,” he said in answer to Varner’s comment.
    â€œHell,” Marvin saw fit to comment, “he didn’t get much help from me. By the time I got there, he already had the herd turned.”
    â€œHuh,” Varner grunted scornfully, and walked away.

Chapter 2
    Ordinarily they would have started out at three or four o’clock in the morning, but Duke chose not to make a river crossing in the dark, thinking it difficult enough in the light of day with the small