clue that told him anything. And, as the sun
Kid’s breast. Lieutenant Tracy had been right.
sank behind the Negras range, somber Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. And Daunt shadows played upon the set faces of fifteen
had hidden up front again, back beside
mounted men. Behind them rode the Brazos
Kramer. In the front rank where the Kid knew
Kid, down the narrow canyon, at the end of
a snapped command of “Halt! Hands up!”
which he knew lay the Big River. The river
would cause gun hands to flash into flaming,
which, legally, Texas Rangers might not cross.
violent action. And that action would bring the The river that made a haven of Rimrock.
retaliation of bursting, crackling rifle fire from At the head of the cavalcade rode Ranger guns—guns which would endanger the Daunt. Straight-backed, jet-eyed, three-lives of Daunt and the Kid as well as those of fingered Daunt. Then Kramer—huge, hunched
the others:
spider-like in his swaying kak, long arms
Then it came!
flopping loosely.
“Halt!”
And as he watched these two and the
A curse from Kramer. Daunt whirled,
hard-eyed killers behind them, the Brazos Kid gun flashing, and called the battle cry of the cursed savagely to himself.
rimrock Rangers. An answer burst from the
Shod hoofs clicking sharply on rock-
lips of the Brazos Kid, from the bushes beside strewn sand. They came to the Rio Grande and
the trail, from a dozen loyal Ranger throats.
crossed. Shallow water cascaded, foam-
topped, about the limbs of daintily stepping
THEN confusion. Rifles and pistols flamed
broncs.
and roared. Screams and curses. And, mingled
They splashed out on the other side,
with that mad mixture of sound, came to the
entering the land of the Ranger patrols. The
ears of the Kid the sharp crack of a small-
Brazos Kid longed for his badge. He wanted
calibered .38. And high-pitched, courageous
to face this gang, badge on his shirt, guns out.
and oft-repeated, there came to the Kid’s ears Slowly Daunt reined in his bronc, the throaty cry of a girl in battle.
dropped back beside Kramer. In a low voice
And so it was that Kramer and his
he spoke to the fat man. Kramer nodded, but
killer crew met and fought with the forces of turned in his saddle and, while he rode, Texas law. Fought with the ferocious courage watched Daunt, reined in motionless beside
of cornered beasts. And the poker face of the the trail, giving low-voiced instructions to the Brazos Kid wreathed into a mirthless smile as riders as they filed past him. Satisfied, Kramer his guns flamed death. He was fighting on the looked front again.
side of the Texas law—for the honor of
“About a mile more,” Daunt was Captain Daunt. Blood stained the yellow saying. “Rifles out.”
sands. Bullets pocked the rocks. Acrid smoke
There was the swish of steel against
filled the air. Men who had lived giving no
leather as they filed past the straight-backed quarter, died asking none—died with hate in
Daunt. Then they had passed, and Daunt fell
their eyes, a snarl of fury on their lips, and
A Ranger Rides to Rimrock
15
smoking guns in their hands.
There was a smile of satisfaction on his lips.
Then, out of the bloody action, the
Comfortingly he placed a hand on Kitty’s
swirling smoke and dust, emerged the Brazos
shaking shoulder. Then his lithe figure
Kid and Captain Perry Daunt. Triumphant,
straightened. Level-eyed, soldierlike, he
heads up, they marched to the waiting Ranger
looked at the assembled Rangers. At Captain
line. And out of puzzled eyes, the Kid saw
Daunt. His hand flashed to salute.
Captain Daunt fold tenderly into his arms the
“Captain Daunt,” he said, “—Texas
girl who had been at Rimrock.
Ranger.”
Hardly understanding, he heard her
Blood on his arm, dripping from the
tearfully tell of her knowledge. She told them wound in his shoulder, the Brazos Kid
of her mother’s discovery, years before, that straightened, joined in the salute. Then he
she was a bigamist. She had married Daunt
slumped, groaned, slid to the ground.
thinking that her first husband, Kramer, was
Kitty ran swiftly toward him, bent over
dead. She told them of Kramer’s devilish him. There was nothing hard about her face threat to tell the tale to the world, to disgrace now. It was shining with sympathy and
Daunt, and of a woman’s weakness to save the
tenderness.
name of the one she loved. It had been a futile The Kid looked up at her and grinned
sacrifice.
weakly. “You can shoot,” he said, “and fight, Swiftly, beseechingly, the girl turned
and ride.” His eyes were a study. “I wonder,”
to Tracy. “Mother released Kramer that night
he went on softly, “how you’d like t’ learn t’
when you and Captain Daunt captured him.
cook—for a Ranger?”
She was still legally Kramer’s wife and, to
Kitty studied him, her eyes as
save Captain Daunt from disgrace, she went
expressionless as his. “You,” she said softly, with Kramer that night. She took me with her.
repeating his own words when she had hired
Captain Daunt is my own daddy.
him, “You are the boss? You hire and fire, I
“Captain Daunt—Daddy—didn’t do it.
suppose? A cook, for a Ranger?”
Mother did. Kramer made her do it. She
The Kid nodded. Kitty seated herself
thought she was doing right. She was good—
beside him, mimicked his own previous
much too good for the beast she thought was
words. “All right,” she said. “I’ll ride in your dead. Daddy discovered what she had done,
rodeo.”
and to save her he took the blame on his own
Then, snuggled to his breast, blood
shoulders.”
from his forgotten wound stained to brown the In sudden mental exhaustion, Kitty blue of her shirt. A dozen Ranger hands lifted swayed against her father’s breast. Gently he to smart salute—a salute to a Texas Ranger
stroked her head with a tender hand.
who had risked all to clear the name of
Lieutenant Tracy stepped forward. another.