the Rider Of Ruby Hills (1986) by Louis L'amour

been sent to murder me."
    "How'd you happen to be in town?"
    "Berdue sent me in for a message."
    "I see." Ross told him then about the meeting below the mesa, everything but Sherry's part in it. "There's a tie-up there somewhere. I think Berdue sent you in on purpose, an' he had those Box N boys primed to kill you."
    "But why?"
    "Something you know, probably. The way I have it figured is that Syd Berdue is in some kind of a double-cross that he don't want Chalk to know about. Maybe he figured he'd tipped his hand somehow, and you knew too much. Voyle is in the deal with him, and I figured from the way he acted the other night in front of Pogue that he's double-crossing Walt. And I think Star Levitt is the man behind the whole thing!"
    "You mean a deal between Berdue and Levitt? But they are supposed to be on the outs."
    "Sure, and what better coverup? You keep an eye on the springs. They may meet again."
    "Say!" Burt glanced up. "Something I've been meaning to ask you. Several times I've heard a funny kind of rumbling, sounds like it comes out of the rock under me. You heard it?"
    "Uh-huh. Don't reckon it amounts to much, but some day we'll do some prowling. Kind of gives an hombre the shivers."
    Standing now at the Bit and Bridle bar, Ross Haney went over that conversation. Yes, he was ahead of his plans in having such an ally as Roily Burt.
    He leaned his forearms on the hardwood and turned his head to glance out into the street. The rose of the setting sun had tinted the dusty, unpainted boards of the old building opposite with a dull glow, and beyond it, in the space between the buildings, a deep shadow had already gathered. At the rail, Rio stamped his feet against a vagrant fly and blew contentedly.
    It was a quiet evening. Suddenly, he felt a vague nostalgia, a longing for a home he had never known, the deep, inner desire for peace, his children about him, the quiet evening rest on a wide porch after a hard day on the range, and the sound of a voice inside, a voice singing.
    Yet when he straightened and filled his glass again, the guns felt heavy against his legs.
    Someday, with luck, things would be different.
    Then the half doors pushed open, and Star Levitt stood there, tall and handsome against the fading light. He looked for an instant at Ross and then came on into the room.
    He wore the same splendid white hat, a white buckskin vest, and perfectly creased gray trousers tucked into polished boots.
    As always, the worn guns struck the only incongruous note. His voice was easy, confident.
    "Thanks. I've got one." In the mirror his eyes caught the difference between them, his battered shabbiness against the cool magnificence of Levitt.
    Levitt's smile was pleasant, his voice ordinary and casual. "Planning to leave soon?"
    "No." Haney's voice was flat. "I'm never going to leave."
    "That's what the country needs, they tell me. Permanent settlers, somebody to build on. It's a nice thought, if you can stick it."
    "That's right. How about you, Levitt? Do - you think you'll be able to stick it when Reynolds and Pogue get to checking brands?"
    He heard a glass rattle in Pat's suddenly nervous fingers. He knew he had taken the play away from Levitt with that remark, and he followed it up. "I've been over the range lately, and there's a lot of steers out there with VV's made over into Three Diamonds, an' Box N's to Triple Box A's, an' I understand that brand happens to be yours, too."
    Levitt had straightened and was looking at him, all the smile gone from his face. "You understand too much, Haney! You're geting into water that's too deep for you, or for any drifting cowhand!"
    "Am I? Let me judge. I've waded through some bad water a few times, an' where I couldn't wade, I could swim."
    Star Levitt's eyes had widened, and the bones seemed to stretch the skin of his face taut and hard. He was not a man used to being talked back to, and he wasn't used to being thwarted. He was shrewd, a planner, but in that instant, Ross learned