Tristan Ranch - Paperback

by A. C. Ament (Author)

The mountain of a mountain man stands up, squares his feet, rolls his shoulders.

"Big cat and a bear will be an interesting tussle. I imagine you are fast and that your claws are sharp. Okay. My hide is thicker than your claws and if I ever get you in my grasp, just once, you are a dead man."

There will be no calming the beast this go round. Tristan stands. Right about six feet tall, one hundred eighty pounds, no fat, work strong. The man, the bear, the beast is six foot six inches tall and must weigh three hundred pounds.

"Just let me pass big man. I want no part of your mountain." He cannot calm the beast. Maybe talk will occupy part of bear man's brain, confuse him a mite; make the beast consider more than the mayhem he wishes to visit on Tristan. "What do you say? Let me pass. Me and my horse. I have gold. I'll pay you. Just allow Spring and I to pass by. What do you say? We mean you no harm."

The mountain man moves to his right and forward. Tristan moves back and right and a little quicker, increasing the distance between them. Tristan is not sure what to do. His Henry and the Colt are with Spring. He has a knife. He can see the bear man's hands. Nothing in them but palm. Tristan decides not to pull the knife. Until he has no choice. He killed a man, a bad man. The way that feels makes thought of killing a better man unbearable. We are animals, from the smallest bug to the whale in the sea, man included. But we decided to act otherwise; to impose on ourselves what we call-when it works-civilization. Impulse is no longer justification enough for the taking of a life. The fact that justification is a thing, tells its own tale.

"Rrrwwwllll! Rrrwwwllll! Rrrwwwllll!"

The mountain man rushes at Tristan who leaps deftly out of the way. The bear man runs past, three or four steps before stopping and turning. He smiles. Tristan sees teeth framed by the smile, the first of the mouth he has seen except for the disturbing tongue. "Har, har, har!" Now there is mirth in the laughter.