DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of Louis L'Amour's characters,
If anyone actually reads this please Review and tell me what you truthfully thought, I won't be insulted with anything negative.
Kyle Shore sat back in the rocking chair and watched the sun slowly creep into the sky. He'd had a rough week.
It wasn't the first time he'd been through trouble, and he doubted it would be the last. As far as he knew, he was the only one awake, but that was probably a good thing; the others needed sleep.
Flagan would probably be laid up a few more days and Galloway longer, he'd taken three slugs. Moss and Cap Rountree had somehow come out of it all unhurt.
Kyle had been shot on the side of his belt. It had exploded one of his gun cartridges and given him a bad bruise on his hip, but besides that he was alright. Well, sort of.
He was mad. Ladder Walker had been a good friend of his for a very long time, why, ever since he and Larnie had joined up with the Half Box H he…Larnie.
Kyle was still upset about that, Larine Cagle had been a good kid who'd made one too many bad choices.
Harry Briggs had also been a good friend of Kyle's, and the way he had died made Kyle want to throw a punch, hunt down all the Fetchens until there were none. Kyle was normally a calm non-talkative man but right now he definitely was not calm.
He wanted to tell someone everything he was thinking, and it would probably take a long time, and he didn't want someone to just tell him to calm down.
So he stood up and told his horse.
His horse, Colt, was tied to the hitching post in front of the house, eating grass and paid no attention to Kyle as he spoke his mind.
By the time Kyle was done talking the sun was a lot higher in the sky than it used to be and Kyle hadn't even remembered it leaving the horizon line all the way.
When Moss Reardon came out onto the porch, Kyle Shore was sitting in the rocking chair again, and looked as calm as anyone could be. "Morning Shore," Reardon said, staring out at the sun.
"You think this is over?" Kyle asked, not sure what he wanted the answer to be.
"Nope. You can bet your bottom dollar that it aint, not by a long shot," Reardon paused, "But when the showdown comes, I think the Sackett boys will end it. For us? It's over."
"You staying?" Kyle asked, "I heard Costello's hiring hands."
"Thought about it. You?"
Kyle looked up at him and thought about it a long moment before he replied, "No, I'm not. I'm sick of everyone I know dying. I figure that if I ride out by myself no one else will die."
"Men are always dying," Reardon commented.
"They won't be dead to me if I never hear about their deaths."
For a few minutes no one spoke but the wind.
"Flagan's awake," Reardon said, "About time, it's been nigh onto three days."
"Yeah," Kyle replied glumly.
"Where you planning on going? If you don't have any plans in particular, you should stick around a couple of days."
"I've been doing that for three. I don't want it to seem like I'm dodging a fight, but like you said, I think the Sacketts will finish this one, and I'm not going to wait around a month or more for the Fetchens to do something. I'm sure they'll take their time."
"Well then, you ought to get yourself a Ranch, Shore."
"I only have forty dollars, Moss."
"You could always go after Reynolds' treasure."
They both laughed. It was a ridiculous thought, with the kinds of landmarks Reynolds had chosen, it was doubtful that anyone would find it, if it was there. If anyone ever did, it would probably be by shear accident.
Kyle grinned, "I don't want to waste my time."
"You got anywhere to go?"
"West," he replied shortly, "That's the only direction I ever had to go," Kyle stepped off the porch and swung into his saddle.
"What happens when you get to the ocean?"
Kyle smiled dryly, "Then I guess I start swimming."
He turned his horse then, and started heading away from the ranch. He only a got a couple of feet before he turned around in his saddle to look at Moss. "Warn the Sacketts for me, there's no way Fetchen will quit."
Moss nodded, lifted a hand in fair well, and went back into the house.
Kyle sat for along moment studying the layout of the ranch. Sharp sure had a nice place here; maybe someday Kyle would take Reardon's advice and get a ranch. But for now, Kyle belonged in the saddle riding down a dusty trail, his back to the east.