[Texas Rangers 05] - Texas Vendetta by Elmer Kelton Page A

them.”
    “Do they ever keep you awake at night?”
    “Dead is dead. They don’t come back.”
    Andy did not like the look of five horsemen riding to meet them from the direction of Hopper’s Crossing. He tensed, and again he wished Rusty Shannon were there. “What do you think, Farley?”
    “I think damn it. I hoped this wouldn’t happen.” Farley reached across to recheck Landon’s handcuffs and the rawhide strip that bound them to the saddlehorn. “Take a good look at them, Jayce. Are they friends of yours, or enemies?”
    For the first time since the trip began, a smile creased Landon’s face. “Some of my kin and a couple of my neighbors. They won’t like it, seein’ me shackled like a runaway slave.”
    “They’ll like it even less if they try and turn you loose because I’ll shoot you dead. Badger Boy, you better draw your weapon.”
    Andy already had. He was not surprised about being met on the road. Tom Blessing had warned that the word had gone out ahead and that it was wise to be prepared for anything.
    Thirty feet from the approaching horsemen, Farley stopped. He placed the muzzle of his pistol behind Landon’s ear. “You men had better put aside any foolish notions. The only way you’ll get this prisoner away from us is if he’s dead. And some of you will ride to perdition with him.”
    Andy’s mouth went dry as he tried to read the men’s intentions.
    One rider pushed his horse a little past the others. His facial features resembled Jayce’s so much that Andy guessed they might be brothers. Dick Landon must have come from a large family. “Now, Ranger, we just come to make sure he gets to town alive. The Hoppers would like to see that he don’t.”
    Farley said, “And they’ll have their way if you make a move to help him. I want all of you to turn around and ride out ahead of us. Way ahead of us.”
    The men argued among themselves. Farley brought the conversation to a close by cocking back the hammer. Jayce gasped. Andy held his breath.
    Jayce said, “You-all better do what he says, Walter. This Ranger is one mean son of a bitch.”
    The man called Walter jerked his head as a signal for the rest to comply. He said, “Don’t you let your finger get nervous, Ranger. If somethin’ happens to Jayce, you’ll be dead two seconds after he is.”
    Andy sensed that whatever intentions the five might have had, had been thwarted by Farley’s unyielding stand. They were not likely to try anything unless circumstances changed drastically in their favor.
    Farley said, “Take a lesson from this, Badger Boy. Never give an inch or they’ll run over you.”
    “You’d really have shot him, wouldn’t you?”
    “If it was the last thing I ever did.”
    Sweat rolled down Jayce’s face. He trembled in fear’s aftermath. “God, Ranger, but you’re cold-blooded.”
    “I am, and don’t you forget it.”
    “You don’t know what kind of a man I shot.”
    “Makes no difference. Me and Badger Boy are paid to deliver you to the local sheriff. The rest is up to the jury that tries you.”
    “The judge is old Judd Hopper. He’s a direct grandson of the devil himself. Him and the rest of them Hoppers’ll do all they can to see me hung.”
    “You’ve got a brother who’s a Ranger. Have you got one who’s a lawyer?”
    Landon looked behind him as if expecting pursuit. “This fight goes way back. Why can’t the law stand aside and let the families work it out for theirselves?”
    “I know how crazy-mean these feuds can get. You kill an enemy, then one of his family has got to kill one of you. It goes on and on till just about everybody is dead. Better for the law to hang you instead of one of your enemies shootin’ you. Maybe that’d put an end to it.”
    “It won’t end till that Hopper bunch is all dead and gone.”
    Andy shook his head. “I’ll bet you don’t even remember what started it.”
    “It commenced over an election for the county seat, but that don’t matter anymore.