"TAGGART" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Amour Louis)

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TAGGART 35
nothing made sense, and he wished her to have what she wanted, and he wanted also
the pleasure of giving. All of that depended on the gold that lay before him.
Studying the tower of rock, he knew he had already accepted its challenge. He was
going after the gold.
But even as he made his decision, he knew that there were two things he must guard
against. The first was tolerance of danger that might bring carelessness, and the
second was going back for that little bit more that would kill him.
He would have to make his decision now, and stay with that decision. He must decide
on how much he wanted and take no more, but he must always be prepared to quit with
less if the situation demanded.
He wanted a hundred thousand dollars.
It seemed a lot. When he had started this trip he would have been content with ten
thousand, and until a few minutes ago he would have settled for that much. Now he
was already in danger because his demands had risen in accordance with the amount
of gold in sight.
There must be nearly a thousand dollars lying in rocky debris upon the slope right
under the tower, a thousand dollars just for the picking up.
He would take that first. He would gather it, sack it up, take it down to the canyon,
and get out the gold. Then if anything happened to him, his wife and sister would
still have enough money to take them to wherever they wished to live.
Even then, having made his decision, he did not go forward, but sat there and refilled
his pipe. The chances were that if the tower collapsed he would be caught beneath
it, unless he could get a running start. No man could run in the soft gravel of the
upper slope, so he would take slabs of rock and build a walk. Then, if he had a chance
to run he would not be bogged down in sand.
He must be deliberate in all his actions, and he must never forget for an instant
the towering mass that loomed above him; for a split second of hesitation would mean
death and burial under tons of rock.
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11 36 Louis L'AMoUR
Rising, he knocked out his pipe and gathered together a sack of the loose ore, all
of it larded with gold. When the sack was filled with as much as he could carry,
he put it on his shoulder and started down the mountain by an easier route his eyes
picked out on the slope.
The padres had used an arrastra to break up the rock and get out the gold, but he
dared take no such risk. The rumble of an arrastra could be heard for some distance,
and he had no desire to attract attention. The blows of a hammer were more easily
muffled, although the process was slower.
Returning to the canyon of the chapel, Adam considered his plans. The mining town
of Globe was but a short distance to the south but he had never visited the town
and did not plan to. His visit would arouse discussion and might lead someone to
follow him back out of curiosity. They had brought with them a good supply of beans,
rice, flour, and dried fruit, besides other staples, and this, augmented by what
game he could trap and the edible plants Consuelo knew so well, would have to suffice.
The opening of the small canyon, partly concealed by desert growth, presented an
uninteresting aspect that promised nothing to a rider passing by. Any desert traveler
had passed hundreds of such arroyos or canyons with scarcely a passing glance. It
was in a small cove at the upper end of the canyon that they pastured their horses