Cast a Long Shadow

Flip Lipscomb

Description

Joel Shelby and his friend Tex travel to a friend's wedding, and on their journey back home, they learn that the man whom they had captured a year ago had escaped from the jailhouse in Tuscon with the help of a gang of outlaws, leaving a few people dead and wounded in the town as they left.Joel organizes a posse with Tex and a few other men, and they trail the outlaws into New Mexico territory. After a few escapades, the posse track down the outlaws near Santa Fe, but with the civil war raging nearby, capturing them isn't going to be easy.

Sujets

• Westerns
• Western (genre)
• Western

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
• Date de parution: 29 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781645366317
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Cast a Long Shadow
Flip Lipscomb
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-29-11
Cast a Long Shadow About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Author’s Notes
About the Author
Flip Lipscomb lives in Derby, England, with his wife, Joan. He enjoys painting, playing guitars, and swimming. He practices Kung-Fu and has been a black belt for over twenty years. A keen interest in the Old West and traveling the western states a few times motivated him to write western novels.
Dedication
Dedicated to the 393 Lipscombs who fought on both sides in the
American Civil War.
And to the memory of Sergeant Alfred B. Peticolas of the 4 th Texas Mounted.
For my beautiful wife, Joan.
“Loving her was easier than anything I’ll ever do again.”
_ Kris Kristofferson
Copyright Information ©
Flip Lipscomb (2019)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Lipscomb, Flip
Cast a Long Shadow: A Joel Shelby Western
ISBN 9781641829175 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781641829182 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781645366317 (ePub e-book)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019939460
The main category of the book — FICTION / Westerns
www.austinmacauley.com/us
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
40 Wall Street, 28th Floor
New York, NY 10005
USA
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Chapter 1
Joel Shelby was standing halfway up a Ponderosa Pine, breathing heavily, perched precariously on a slim branch, tightly gripping the narrow trunk with both hands like his life depended on it. Which it probably did. His thick serape and pants were covered in prickly pine needles, which had attached themselves to his clothing as he had quickly scrambled up the tree. His hat, which had fallen off as he had climbed the tree, was snagged on a lower branch just out of reach. He gripped the tree with both arms wrapped around the slender trunk, coughing and wheezing from the quick climb that he had made, but mostly from the cigarette that he had been smoking earlier, which he had nearly swallowed as he fell from his horse.
The cold northerly wind, still blowing a frosty bite in the high country, blew into his face; and every time he opened his mouth to catch his breath, he was left gasping with the chill in his throat. His serape and pants chaps were flapping about in the wind like a two-masted schooner under full sail. He’d known worst days but this one sure took some beating.
I must try and give up the smokes, he thought to himself, spitting tobacco from his mouth. Although I sure wouldn’t say no to one right now.
He had been on his way from the ranch near San Xavier, up to one of the line shacks in the foothills of the Sierrita Mountains, to tell his friend, Tex, the news of Pat and Charlotte’s impending wedding at Tom and Alice’s ranch on the Gila river, and that they had both been invited to attend.
Patrick O’Driscoll, the young Irish lad who Joel had met on the trail last year, was going to marry the girl that they had rescued, with the help of Tex and his friend Steve, from the Apache camp on the Salt River, and taken back to the Travis ranch.
Joel had been making his way up through the snow that was still on the ground in the high country in early February, minding his own business and daydreaming in the clear bright late afternoon. He had been thinking about Pat, the young Irish lad, and that it would be good to see him and young Charlotte again, and wondering if he had turned into proper cowboy yet.
He remembered how Pat had followed him from the wagon train, because he wanted to be a cowboy like himself, and how Pat had rescued him from capture in a small town.
Joel tended to let his mind wander as he rode along if he wasn’t in too much of a hurry, letting his horse, Clover, travel at its own pace and chewing things over in his mind. It was something which he had developed from spending a lot of time on his own; mostly in the saddle. It helped to pass the time but meant that he wasn’t always as alert as he should be when confronted by sudden danger, that was why he always liked to have a dog with him, but it had wandered off somewhere down the trail.
He had just reined in his horse so that he could light a cigarette, shielding his match from the sharp wind, when he had suddenly been startled by a big grizzly bear which he had disturbed. It had been digging up some roots to help fill its empty belly from its recent awakening from its long winter sleep. Joel had just put away his makings and made his way slowly through the trees when a sudden movement, about one hundred yards ahead, made him stop. A flock of birds suddenly took flight, frightened from their perches in the trees by a dark shadow moving below them, and with a loud roar, and a speed that belied its massive bulk, the large hairy beast was closing the gap between them fast. Joel had pulled out his pistol when he first saw the beast approaching and cocked it ready to fire. He had wanted to try and scare it away without having to kill it, but Clover, frightened by the noise of the wild beast, suddenly reared up on its back legs, making his feet slip out of the stirrups. He was deposited on the hard, snowy ground, making him lose his grip and drop his pistol which he had drawn at the first sign of trouble.
Landing heavily on his back, the wind knocked out of him, and not too far from the grizzly which was bearing down on him, Joel quickly struggled to his feet, knowing that his life would depend on his quick thinking. As the gap closed between them, Joel looked over to his pistol which was lying in the snow too far away for him to have any chance of reaching it, and Clover had galloped quickly away from the bear, carrying his rifle and bowie knife in the saddle holsters and his only means of a quick get-away gone.
Joel had quickly gotten to his feet. Well, as quick as a man with bruised ribs, a sore butt, and severely winded could get up. He let out a loud yell, making the grizzly bear suddenly stop in surprise at the noise, and ran for the nearest tree, holding his side with one hand, and managed to scramble a fair way up before the bear arrived at the bottom.
It was surprising how fast a man could move, even with sore ribs, when his life depended on it, Joel thought to himself, as he looked down at the bear, which was looking up at him, and roaring loudly. The bear, standing on its back legs, reached up and tried to bring Joel down, raking the tree with its sharp claws, just a couple of feet below Joel’s long legs and dangling boots, as he struggled to get a decent foothold. Hastily scrambling against the trunk with his cowboy boots, he managed to keep just out of reach of the bear which was snapping some of the small lower branches off in its fury.
Joel wedged his shoulders between a narrow fork in the trunk, breathing heavily, his sore ribs aching, and looked down at the bear which was looking up at him with its mouth wide open and saliva dripping from its tongue and teeth, eager for him to be its next meal.
Joel’s young dog, Ben, who had been off down the trail trying to dig up a gopher that he had chased out of its hole, suddenly came running up, attracted by the commotion, barking furiously when it saw the grizzly bear at the base of the tree that Joel had taken refuge up.
Joel had only had the dog for a few months, and it was not yet fully matured, but it was fast and vicious and always up for a fight. It had come from the same mother as his old dog, Snake, who had been killed by the Apaches the previous year on the Salt River Canyon. It was probably fathered by the same wild Coyote as Snake had been, as the ranch bitch tended to wander off into the hills every so often and come back in pup.
Back at the ranch old Stumpy, the cook, had been told by the ranch foreman, Briggs, to put the latest litter of pups in a sack and toss them in the river, but he had saved one for Joel to replace Snake after he had lost him, thinking it would take his mind off his loss.
Ben was a good hunting dog, brave and fearless, but not yet up to old Snake’s standard of fighting. It had a lot less savvy than his old dog, and Joel needed a lot more time with it to train it properly to prevent it dashing headlong into trouble that it couldn’t always get out of on its own.
Joel hadn’t wanted to bring Ben along on the trip up to the line shack, as it hadn’t been out this far before with him, as it lacked discipline, but old Stumpy had encouraged him to take the dog with him, saying that the journey would do it some good and be company for him, so he had reluctantly agreed and let it follow him from the ranch.
“Keep back, Ben, you damn fool,” yelled Joel, seeing what the dog’s intentions were, as it headed in the direction of the grizzly bear. “Don’t mess with that big bastard, it’s too