Rawhide Justice E-Book

Ralph Hayes

• Herausgeber: Robert Hale
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

When O'Brien, a handsome young drifter comes across Uriah Cahill downed beside his camp-fire and about to be torn apart by a pack of wolves, he steps in and dispatches the marauders with deadly shots. Cahill explains that he is on his way to join a buffalo-hunting outfit run by Elias Walcott and persuades him to come along. The unexpected death of one young hunter raises questions about the company's foreman, McComb, who is unwilling to let anyone stop him winning Walcott's daughter. But when it becomes clear to O'Brien that the desirable Molly Walcott has fallen passionately in love with him he and Cahill decide it is time to move on. Fate however, has other ideas. O'Brien and Cahill hear of a large grazing herd of buffalo near Wichita, but their erstwhile boss Elias gets the same news. The lure is irresistible to both parties and they set off towards what looks to be a bloody confrontation ….

Leseprobe

Rawhide Justice

When O’Brien, a handsome young drifter comes across Uriah Cahill downed beside his camp-fire and about to be torn apart by a pack of wolves, he steps in and dispatches the marauders with deadly shots. Cahill explains that he is on his way to join a buffalo-hunting outfit run by Elias Walcott and persuades him to come along.

The unexpected death of one young hunter raises questions about the company’s foreman, McComb, who is unwilling to let anyone stop him winning Walcott’s daughter. But when it becomes clear to O’Brien that the desirable Molly Walcott has fallen passionately in love with him, he and Cahill decide it is time to move on.

Fate however, has other ideas. O’Brien and Cahill hear of a large grazing herd of buffalo near Wichita, but their erstwhile boss Elias gets the same news. The lure is irresistible to both parties and they set off towards what looks to be a bloody confrontation.…

By the same author

The Tombstone Vendetta

Fort Revenge

The Last Buffalo

Texas Vengeance

Coyote Moon

Rawhide Justice

Ralph Hayes

© Ralph Hayes 2016

First published in Great Britain 2016

ISBN 978-0-7198-2138-7

The Crowood Press

The Stable Block

Crowood Lane

Ramsbury

Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2016

Robert Hale is an imprint of The Crowood Press

The right of Ralph Hayes to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

CHAPTER ONE

At the age of ten Cyrus McComb had set the family dog on a cousin and then calmly watched from a porch chair as the animal mauled the other boy. His other, more regular entertainment was pulling the wings off blue-bottle flies, and poking his father’s pigs with a sharp stick from the safety of a barbed-wire fence. More recently, in adulthood, and prior to his joining Ogallala Hide Company as a buffalo hunter, he had become a wanted man in three states and the Indian Territory for robbery, rape and murder. His present employer, Elias Walcott, had no knowledge of this law-flouting background, and had made McComb a foreman over his riflemen.

On a clear crisp April morning, after McComb had been with the hide company for just over a year, the company was out on another hunt. A long line of mounted men sat their nervous mounts at the crest of a hillock that looked down on a long slope to a large herd of ‘shaggies’ a hundred yards distant. The hunters were downwind of the herd, and the buffalo were not yet aware of their presence. McComb was situated near the centre of the line of horses, and an acquaintance of his named Luis Navarro was on his right. Out in the front line Walcott walked his mount slowly, looking his men over. They bristled with Remington lever action, Henry and Hotchkiss rifles. Behind them, stood several long hide wagons, harnessed to dray horses.

Walcott reined in down the line near McComb and Navarro. ‘I’ve said this many times before. Hunting is the most honourable of professions, and the first one that God ever gave to man. Be proud that you are a part of it.’ He moved on his saddle and it squeaked under his weight. Down the line the mount of a man named Spencer whinnied and jerked around for a moment.