11
"Magnifico!"
Drew glanced over Shiloh's back to the speaker. _Coronel_ Oliveri pausedin the doorway of the stable to study the stallion with almost exuberantadmiration mirrored on his dark and mobile features.
"_Don_ Cazar"--the Mexican officer raised a gloved hand in a beckoninggesture--"_por favor_, Excellency ... this one, he is of the Blood?"
Hunt Rennie joined Oliveri. "You are right. He is indeed of the Blood," heassented.
"It is past all hope then to offer for him?" Oliveri was smiling, but hiseyes held a greedy glint Drew had seen before. Shiloh was apt to producethat reaction in any horseman.
"He is not mine to sell, _Coronel_. He belongs to _Senor_ Kirby who standsthere with him."
"So?" Oliveri's open astonishment irritated Drew. Maybe he did have onrough work clothes and look the part of a range drifter. But then when the_Coronel_ had arrived here last night, _he_ had not been too neat either.
"A fine horse, _senor_." Oliveri came on in, now including Drew in hisgaze.
"I think so, _Coronel_," Drew returned shortly. He gave a last brush toflank and smoothed the saddle blanket.
"From a distance you have brought him, _senor_?" Oliveri walked about thestud as Drew went to fetch his saddle.
"From Kentucky." Was he unduly suspicious or was there a challenge in theMexican officer's voice--a faint suggestion that the antecedents of bothhorse and owner were in question?
"Kentucky ..." Oliveri stumbled in his repetition of the word. "I haveheard of Kentucky horses."
"Most people have." Drew tightened the cinch. Then his pride in Shilohbanished some of his stiffness. "He is of the line of Eclipse." Maybe thatwould not mean much to a Mexican, though. The breeding of eastern Americanhorses probably did not register south of the border.
"_Senor_--such a one--he is not for sale?"
"No." Drew knew that sounded curt, but Oliveri ruffled him. He added, "Onedoes not sell a friend."
Oliveri gave what sounded to Drew like an exaggerated sigh. "_Senor_, youhave spoiled my day. How can one look at lesser animals when one has seensuch a treasure? _Don_ Cazar, the Range harbors so many treasures--Oro, andnow this one. How is he named, _senor_?"
"Shiloh."
"Shiloh ..." The _Coronel_ made a sibilant hiss of the word. "An Indioname?"
"No, a battle." Drew prepared to lead out. "In the war."
"So. And this one is a fighter, too. I think. _Senor_, should you everwish to sell, _por favor_, remember one Luis Oliveri! For such a horse asthis--_si_, a man might give a fortune! Ah, to ride into camp before thatpuffed-up gamecock of a Merinda on such a horse!" Oliveri closed his eyesas if better to imagine the triumph.
"Shiloh's not for sale, _Coronel_," Drew replied.
Oliveri shrugged. "Perhaps now, no. But time changes and chance changes,_senor_. So remember Luis Oliveri will give a fortune--and this is thetruth, _senor_!"
"Hunt!" Drew was forced to halt as Johnny Shannon stood straight ahead ofhim in the stable entrance. "Teodoro Trinfan's come in with some news yououghta hear."
"So? Well. I'm coming. _Coronel_, Johnny can show you the stock we haveready. I will be back as soon as I can."
"Still I say"--Oliveri shook his head as Rennie pushed past Drew and Shilohand went out--"that after seeing this one, all others will be as paleshadows of nothingness. But since I must have horses, _Senor_ Shannon, Iwill look at horses. _Buenos dias, senor._" He raised a hand to Drew andthe Kentuckian nodded.
But Shannon still stood in the doorway, and short of walking straight intohim there was no way for Drew to leave. Johnny was smiling a little--justas he had back in Tubacca in Topham's office before the race.
"Seems like you've got you a four-legged gold mine there, Kirby," he said."Better keep your eyes peeled--gold claims have been jumped before in thiscountry. Kitchell'd give a lot to git a hoss like that to run south."
"He'd have to," Drew said grimly. "In lead--if he wanted it that way."
"Kinda sure of that, ain't you?" The smile had not cracked, nor had itreached those shuttered blue eyes. Why did everyone say Johnny Shannon wasa boy? Inside he was older than most of the men Drew had known--as old andcold as the desert rocks in nighttime. Again the Kentuckian was teased bya scrap of memory. Once before he had seen old eyes in a boy's face, whenit had meant deadly danger for him.
"When a man has somethin' as belongs to him, he doesn't step aside easy ifanother makes a play to grab it," he said.
For the first time then he did see a flicker in Shannon's eyes. And hishand tightened so on the reins that some fraction of his reaction musthave reached Shiloh. The horse neighed, pawed with a forefoot.
"Just what I've always thought, too, Kirby." Shannon's voice was softer,more drawling than ever. And there was menace in it--but why? What didShannon have against him? This was more now than the fact that they hadboth bristled, incompatible, at their first meeting. It was more than justinstinctive dislike. No, Johnny Shannon was not a reckless boy; Drew Kirbyknew that, if no one else on the Range did.
"_Coronel_"--Shannon stepped aside from the door--"we may not be able to gityou somethin' as fine as this here prancer, but we ain't altogetherlackin' in mighty good hosses. Come 'long an' look 'em over...."
Drew rode off, out of the patio gate, giving Shiloh his daily workout,trying to guess what Johnny Shannon had against him. Had he been right inhis fear that Johnny had not been unconscious back in Tubacca, that he hadcaught Anse's greeting? Rennie was not too common a name, but he did notsee how Johnny could possibly have hit upon the truth.
What if he had, though? To Johnny, Drew could loom as a threat. He mightbe baffled as to why the Kentuckian had not made a move to claim kinshipwith Hunt. How much of Rennie's own past history was known to the peoplehere? His escape from prison during the Mexican War was common knowledge.But, come to think of it, no one had mentioned his youthful marriage orthe fact that he was a widower. Perhaps even Johnny had never heard thatstory, close to Hunt as he was. But Drew dared ask no questions.
He was still puzzling over the situation when he returned an hour later.Nye, Anse, and a couple of the other riders had some of the recentlybroken mounts out, showing them off to Oliveri. There was shouting, noise,and confusion around the corrals and Drew slipped past without pausing. Hehad finished with Shiloh and was on his way to the bunkhouse when HuntRennie hailed him.
"Drew!" An imperative wave of the hand brought him to join _Don_ Cazar andto discover Anse already there, rolling his bed. For a second or two Drewblinked--the occupation fitted in too well with their worries of the nightbefore. But Hunt Rennie was already explaining.
"Teodoro tells me that they've found traces of shod horses being drivenback in the canyons. This late the grass is beginning to brown, but thereare still some sections where stock can be wintered. I want to know moreabout this. Since both of you are newcomers--" Rennie paused and thenadded: "Your riding away from here might appear to others that you hadquit, were joining up with the mustangers on your own."
"To hunt horses?" Drew asked.
"Not wild ones."
"Sounds like trouble." Anse tied his bedroll.
"In this country we expect trouble, from any direction--including up anddown!" Rennie returned. "But I find it disturbing that broken stock isbeing herded back there. Such maneuvers can mean only one thing--stolenanimals are being gathered for a run to the border. And some of them couldbe army owned; a remount corral was raided just before I left town. Iwould not care, just now, to have any army mounts located on this Range--nomatter where they were hidden or by whom. If they are there, I want to bethe one to find them and return them to the proper owners. It would pleasecertain parties to find stolen stock hereabouts--particularly army.
"Now"--he gave an order he obviously expected to be obeyed--"if you do findanything, don't try to take over yourselves. That's final. This is nothingto rush into just to burn powder. And above all I want no mixing it upwith any army patrol riding south. Do you
both understand?"
Drew nodded.
"Yes, suh," Anse replied promptly. "We jus' git high behind an' take care.What the mustangers got to do with this?"
"Nothing. Except they can show you the tracks, and with them you can covera good part of the country in question. There's been no Apache sign downthere, and Running Fox will accompany you--only not so openly as to benoticed."
"You think someone may be watchin' the Stronghold?" Drew asked as hebuckled his saddlebags.
"I don't know anything for sure. But a couple of incidents lately havesuggested that someone knows a lot more about what's going on here than Ilike. It would be easy enough to lie out in the hills and keep fieldglasses on us down here. And when a man is familiar with the generalroutine of a place, he can guess a sight too much and too close just bywatching the comings and goings. So--you're going to ride out within thehour and be well along before you camp tonight. We can't waste time."