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Book Details

Borden Chantry

71.4% complete
1977
Unknown
Never (or unknown...)
West (U.S.) - Social life and customs - Fiction
Western stories
20 chapters
Book Cover
Has a genre Has an extract In my library In a series 
13981
Copyright © 1977 by Louis L'Amour
To
TOM
and
Jose -
Dawn came like a ghost to the silent street, a gray, dusty street lined with boardwalks, hitching rails and several short lengths of water trough.
May contain spoilers
He was five miles up the trail toward home when he realized that he was broke, his horse was tired, and he hadn't even eaten.
No comments on file
Extract (may contain spoilers)
He lay sprawled at the door of the stable, his face in the fresh straw, one hand outflung and holding a bridle, the other by his side, empty.

The hands were seamed and gnarled with work, such work as even the months of hard drinking had failed to eradicate.  From earliest childhood Johnny McCoy had only known work, and had never shirked his share, only to have the drink catch up to him at last.

Billy stood beside the body when they came running, his face white, his eyes wide and staring.

"Bill," Chantry put a hand on the thin shoulder, "I'm sorry, boy."

Even as he spoke he was noting the bullet hole in the side of the skull, his eyes sweeping the area for the place of the marksman.

There was no use running and chasing, for the man would be long gone, and to rush in now with a lot of would-be pursuers would only trample any evidence that might have been left.

There were a dozen men there, and as many women.  Borden turned slowly to face them.  "Now listen, he said loudly, "and hear me plain.  You're each to go directly to your homes, and stop for nothing on the way.  Go directly there and stay in until morning, or settle with me."

"What about my business?" Reardon demanded.

"One night won't hurt you," Chantry said coolly, "and I don't want everything tramped up and spoiled.  With luck I'll have found what I want by daylight."

"And what'll that be?" Blazer demanded irritably.

"That's my business," Chantry replied brusquely.  "Just get on home now."

"And what if we don't?" Puggsey Kern demanded.

Borden Chantry smiled.  "Why, I'll throw you in jail for disturbing the peace, for loitering, and as many other charges as I can find to answer the bill.  But any loyal citizen who wants this mystery cleared up will do all he can to help."

"That goes with me," Lang Adams said.  "Anything you need, Bord, you just call out."

Big Injun was there with the wagon, and they loaded Johnny McCoy into the back.  Borden dropped  his hand to Billy's shoulder.  "Son, you'd better go along to my house.  Bess and Tom will be mighty glad to have you with us."

Reluctantly, the boy went, stunned and silent.  As yet, there had been no tears.  That would come, Borden knew, when Billy was alone and away from watching eyes.

Slowly, the crowd scattered to their homes, and there they would stay... unless the killer was among them.  For what better thing for him to do than run up and join the crowd?  One by one he sorted them out in his mind, then shook his head.  No... not in that bunch.

Hardly likely.  Yet he remained uneasy.  He simply did not know, and all his clues seemed to lead to nothing.

Johnny had himself been a suspect, although not a serious one in Chantry's thinking.  Yet... he had to be considered.  He had stabled the dead man's horse.  He had known the man had money.

 

Added: 28-Feb-2024
Last Updated: 07-Mar-2024

Publications

 01-Feb-1981
Bantam Books
Mass Market Paperback
In my libraryOrder from amazon.comHas a cover imageBook Edition Cover
Date Issued:
Cir 01-Feb-1981
Format:
Mass Market Paperback
Cover Price:
$2.50
Pages*:
170
Catalog ID:
22814-5
Cover Link(s):
Internal ID:
43520
Publisher:
ISBN:
0-553-22814-5
ISBN-13:
978-0-553-22814-4
Printing:
11
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Credits:
John Hamilton - Photographer
LAWMAN


The marshal's name was Borden Chantry.  Young, lean, rugged, he'd buried a few men in this two-bit cowtown - every single one killed in a fair fight.  Then, one dark, grim day a mysterious gunman shot a man in cold blood.  Five grisly murders later, Chantry was faced with the roughest assignment of his life - find that savage, trigger-happy troubleshooter before he blasts apart every man in town... one by bloody one.

LOUIS L'AMOUR

Our foremost storyteller of the authentic West, L'Amour has thrilled a nation by bringing to vivid life the brave men and women who settled the American frontier.  There are now over 120 million of his books in print around the world.
Cover:
Book CoverBook Back CoverBook Spine
Notes and Comments:
A Bantam Book / October 1977
2nd printing ... November 1977
3rd printing ... March 1978
4th printing ... May 1978
5th printing ... January 1979
6th printing ... November 1979
7th printing ... April 1980
8th printing ... February 1981
Eleventh printing based on the number line
Back cover ISBN is 0-553-22814-5 while the copyright page shows 0-553-14883-4.
Image File
01-Feb-1981
Bantam Books
Mass Market Paperback

Related

Author(s)

 Louis L'Amour
Birth: 22 Mar 1908 Jamestown, North Dakota, USA
Death: 10 Jun 1988 Los Angeles, California, USA

Awards

No awards found
*
  • I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
  • Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
  • When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
  • When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
  • Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.






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