off whatever Florence intended to do with her until the Kid arrived. That he would come, Calamity did not doubt. Given luck, he ought to be on his way by that time. Every minute, second even, that she gained increased her chances of survival.
Going by the scowl Vandor directed at Calamity, he did not care for her references to the inadequacies of the male help. Turning from the girl, he diverted Florence’s attention by pointing to the log at the far end of the carriage.
“Looks like everything’s working properly, Miss Eastfield.”
“The mill’s been ready to go for a week or more,” Florence answered. “So’s all the other gear. But none of it’s any use unless we can float the logs in.”
“So that’s why you want my ranch!” Calamity ejaculated.
“What do you mean?” asked the blonde.
“You want it in case you can’t make this game up here work!”
It seemed that Calamity’s mocking words struck at a sore spot. Spinning around, Florence glared furiously at the girl.
“How do you mean, can’t make it work?” the blonde spat out. “Maybe I don’t run around dressed like a man, but I know more about the timber business, every part of it, than any damned logger you’ll ever meet.”
“If you’re so all-fired smart,” Calamity scoffed, “why’d you need the ranch?”
“I don’t want, or need your ranch.”
“That’s not what you was saying in town.”
“The
“Then what the hell do you want?” Calamity asked.
“Timber.”
“I’ve been riding for three or more hours through it,” the girl pointed out. “Haven’t seen the deeds to my place yet, but I don’t reckon it takes in much of the wood country. And there’s not many trees on the ranch.”
“I agree,” Florence replied.
“Maybe we ought to get going, Miss Eastfield,” Vandor put in. “It’s a fair ride into Burwell.”
“Go check that the men are watching the trail, Poole,” Florence ordered. “I won’t be long, Mr. Vandor.”
Calamity watched Poole turn and slouch away. That left Florence and Vandor in her immediate vicinity, the sawmill hand being at the far end of the building. So the girl determined to make a try at escaping, but knew that she must plan things very carefully if she hoped to succeed.
“I still reckon you want that ranch ’cause you know you can’t make a go of this timber game,” Calamity stated.
“Like hell I do!” Florence answered angrily. “It’s just that the Loup and a few other streams run through your range.”
“So?”
“So I need that water. I have to throw a dam across the bottom end of the gorge there to make the water back up and raise the level of the creeks and streams that run into it, so that we can float the timber here. And I can’t do that unless I own the Rafter C.”
“Why not?” Calamity inquired. “With all them guns you’ve got hired, you ought to be able to handle a four- man ranch crew.”
Watching Florence’s face, Calamity could see worry lines on it. If the blonde was not grieving, she felt deeply concerned by Olaf’s death. Whatever caused the emotion went deeper than the demise of the bald giant. Florence’s cheeks reddened at the girl’s increasingly mocking tone. Sucking in a deep breath, the blonde allowed it to come out again in an annoyed hiss.
“It was the law, not the ranch crew that stopped me damming the river.”
“Day Leckenby?”
“No. This’s ranching country and one of the State Legislature’s laws is that you cannot deprive a ranch of its water supply.”
“Which you’d’ve done if you threw that dam across the Loup.”
“Exactly,” Florence agreed. “It wouldn’t affect the ranchers further down the Loup; they have side streams that would give them enough for their needs.”
“So that’s what’s behind it,” Calamity growled. “You’re willing to run the Trinians off their land just so that you can cut the timber up here.”
“It didn’t start out that way,” Florence answered bitterly. “When I took the contract, nobody mentioned ab ——”
“About the water rights of the ranchers,” Calamity finished for her. “In other words, Flo, you got too ——”
Stepping forward, Florence swung her right hand in a slap that rocked the girl’s head and almost tumbled her from the bench. Vandor glided forward, catching hold of Calamity’s shoulder and forcing her to remain seated as she tried to rise and retaliate. Hotheaded as Calamity might be, she knew the value of caution. Trying to repay the blow right then would get her nowhere. So she held her temper under control and waited for Florence to continue.
“Nobody took me!” the blonde gritted, her whole attitude showing that she secretly agreed with Calamity. “I offered to buy the Trinians out honestly enough. But they wouldn’t sell.”
“Couldn’t sell,” Calamity corrected.
“Wouldn’t, couldn’t, it all meant the same to me; that I wasn’t able to fulfill my contract. Then I learned they were trying to locate you to buy the ranch.”
“And you fixed it through The Outfit so your hired guns got to me afore I saw Lawyer Talbot and learned about the ranch. Why not have me killed in Topeka?”
“The Outfit didn’t want trouble there, or the chance of you being connected to one of their men,” Florence admitted and Vandor let out a worried growl.
“Then you was real lucky that I had to be sent on to Counselor Talbot in Mulrooney,” Calamity remarked, guessing that Vandor did not approve of his employer discussing The Outfit’s affairs.
“Like hell it was luck!” Florence protested. “I wrote to Pinkerton’s in Endicott’s name and told them to have their man take you to Lawyer Grosvenor instead of to Talbot. That was planning, not luck.”
“Either way,” Calamity grinned, “it sure went sour on you.”
“How’d you get hold of Ruiz’s
“Me ’n’ the Kid killed ’em,” Calamity answered without thinking.
“You and
His attitude gave Calamity a warning and she decided against making known the true identity of her companion. If Vandor learned that the black-dressed Texan was the Ysabel Kid, he would figure that the story of the desertion was a lie.
“What’s the idea of fetching me up here, Flo?” Calamity asked, ignoring the man. “Did you figure I’d be scared enough to sell out to you if you got hold of me?”
“Would you be?”
“Would you believe me was I to say ‘yes’?”
“No,” Florence replied. “You might agree to sell, but I doubt if you’d keep to doing it. So there’s only one thing left.”
“What’d that be?” asked Calamity.
“You’re going to meet with an accident,” Florence explained. “A very bad accident. It’ll be fatal.”
“Who’d you say helped you to down Hogue and Ruiz?” Vandor growled, moving closer to the girl.
Ducking her head, Calamity butted Vandor in the body with sufficient force to stagger him backward. Then the girl straightened up, meaning to use her feet or any other method to remove Florence from her path. Even as she came erect, Calamity felt a hand catch hold of her shoulder. Pulled around, she saw that Florence had not been taken as unawares as had the gunslinger. Having turned Calamity, the blonde threw a punch with her other fist. Putting her whole weight behind it, Florence drove up her hand. The knuckles impacted under Calamity’s jaw. Lifted on to her toes, Calamity pitched on to her back unconscious.
“Get up!” Florence snapped at Vandor as Logger ran toward her. “She was right about one thing. We both had lousy luck in picking our male help.”
Lurching erect, Vandor rubbed his chest and moved toward where Calamity sprawled motionless on the
