The Friend

By J.G.Tee

Joe Logan as a young man had a very colourful life. After the murder of his parents, he had a rough life, heading for a life of crime. His life changed when he received some unwanted help from two older men, Andy Mackenzie and Glen Murdock, who became his mentors and friends. After riding together as partners for a few years, doing all sorts of jobs together, they became inseparable until his older buddies decided to marry and settle down.

One day Joe received a message that Andy wanted to see him. Joe dropped everything, rode to meet his friend, and on his arrival, found his friend was dead but had left word for him to contact a certain law firm, which had a message for him. His friend had left with the lawyers a large envelope with lots of information, plus a letter asking him to trace and help his familyhis wife, son, and daughtercalling on the bond they had between them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546280613

J.G.Tee

My name is J. G. Thompson (Joseph Greener Thompson) but writes under the name of J. G. Tee. I am seventy six years old I have been writing about my favourite passion (The west) for many years, during my twenty five years at sea, twenty two in the Royal Navy I read every western available at the time also could get my hands on and have read every western wrote by Louis Lamour and J.T. Edson. My interest in writing started just after leaving the sea twenty-nine years ago now and have since spent twenty years as an AA Patrolman so during this time also I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and experience, it has taken me two years to write this novel with lots of research, when reading it, (I enjoy it.) because of the enjoyment reading my novels. It is certain a lot more people will like them as well. Also I’m proud to admit to have been decorated by the Queen who presented me with the British Empire Medal the (BEM).

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© 2017 J.G.Tee. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 08/10/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8062-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8061-3 (e)

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Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Checking The Legacy

Chapter 2 A Change Of Identity

Chapter 3 A Trip To Town

Chapter 4 Makita

Chapter 5 The Mackenzie Family

Chapter 6 Hi! Joe

Chapter 7 There’s Two Factions

Chapter 8 Chamber Of Horrors

Chapter 9 On The Way

Chapter 10 Will You Marry Me

Chapter 11 The Hidden Oasis

Chapter 12 Lets Get Ready For Dinner.

PREFACE

THE FRIEND

Joe Logan as a young man had a very colourful life, after the murder of his parents had a rough life heading for a life of crime, his life changed when he received some unwanted help from two older men, Andy Mackenzie and Glen Murdock who became his Mentors and friends, after riding together as partners for a few years doing all sorts of jobs together they became inseparable until his older buddies decided to marry and settle down.

One day Joe received a message that Andy wanted to see him, Joe dropped everything rode to meet his friend on his arrival found his friend was dead but had left word for him to contact a certain law firm which had a message for him, his friend had left with the lawyers a large envelope with lots of information plus a letter asking him to trace and help his family, his wife, son and daughter, with the bond they had between them there was only one path Joe would take that is to carry out his friends request.

THE AUTHER

My name is J. G. Thompson (Joseph Greener Thompson) but writes under the name of J. G. Tee. I am seventy six years old I have been writing about my favourite passion (The west) for many years, during my twenty five years at sea, twenty two in the Royal Navy I read every western available at the time also could get my hands on and have read every western wrote by Louis Lamour and J.T. Edson. My interest in writing started just after leaving the sea twenty-nine years ago now and have since spent twenty years as an AA Patrolman so during this time also I’ve gained a lot of knowledge and experience, it has taken me two years to write this novel with lots of research, when reading it, (I enjoy it.) because of the enjoyment reading my novels. It is certain a lot more people will like them as well. Also I’m proud to admit to have been decorated by the Queen who presented me with the British Empire Medal the (BEM)

NOTE OF INTEREST.

When writing Its best to write as realistic as possible so the violence and the sex parts in the book are as realistic as can be made. do not class the sex parts as pornographic I have written about two people who fall in love so also make love. Because of this I call my books (pocket erotic westerns).

This is my first novel but I have already wrote about halve of another book to follow this one.

Yours faithfully.

J.G.Tee

Chapter 1

CHECKING THE LEGACY

The horse and rider stood on the brow of the hill silhouetted against the clear pale blue sky, both covered in sweat and dust after just coming out of the desert, air blew from the man’s lips looking down into the beautiful fertile valley ahead of him, the grass stretched for miles a stream ran through the valley pouring into the occasional pool of lovely clear water the young man had found a large Oasis in a desert.

Nudging the large horse, who moved forward eagerly its nostrils up as it could smell the luscious grass and lovely clean water, moving forward directing the horse to a small area near the flowing water where the grass carpet is interrupted by an area of growing brush, they approached the part that looked to be the best place to make his camp, the man could not help sighing as it looked like a small valley, inside a larger valley, it looked fantastic, picking a secluded spot the man proceeded to set up camp. (Yes, it is an oasis the young man acknowledged,)

The first task to be tackled, to the big horse’s delight was to relieve him of his burden, saddle, bridle, bedroll, cooking appliances along with what food also carried with him. The horse now relieved of his load headed straight for the water, after having a much-needed drink the big horse rolled in the water delighted to be able to wash the sand and dust from his massive body.

A lot of thought goes into building a camp, even though the man seemed to do it automatically because of the many times the task had been carried out before on his many travels.

Picking a small clear area a few yards upstream the man proceeded to set up his camp, In the middle of this secluded place where the small bushes made a windbreak, digging a small patch of grass away until down to bare earth, this is the place where it was intended to build his fire, looking around the young man found quite a few dried twigs and grass to enable him to make an almost smokeless fire.

Going into the brush cut, stripped a couple of branches from a small tree to make a stirrup to hang a pan on. After filling the pan with water placing it over the fire to boil, to make coffee.

The man spread out his bedroll removed a set of clean clothes, automatically checking his weapons, which were always kept at hand, proceeding to the waiting pool of cool water where his intention was to bathe and swim, after the swim the man washed the clothes that had just been removed then hung them on the bushes to dry.

Putting on clean jeans, socks and boots, (first shaking the boots to make sure no uninvited guests had crawled into them,) it was normal for him to casually sling the gunbelt around his waist, taking some of the water from the pan and proceeded to shave before putting on his shirt.

Looking like a pleasant young man with a slight smile on his face most of the time, never the less his cool blue eyes never stopped moving, noticing everything that moved around him, with eyes that saw everything that came into his range of sight, like noticing the small deer about half a mile away, the rabbits that scurried around not far away, also squirrels in the trees, the fish in the stream plus birds in the air. Putting coffee into the pot the young man poured boiling water into the pot resting the pot nearby on hot rocks to keep the coffee pot hot, taking a handful of beans from his remaining supplies the young man threw them into the Billie (pan) with the remaining hot water hung the Billie back over the fire.

Lying on his bedroll the young man relaxed slightly, as the feeding horse would alert him of any changes that may occur in the area around his camp, eating the now ready beans and jerky meat swilled down with coffee, the whole world looked calm around him.

Joe Logan happened to be in his twenty fifth year, but in his life up to now has gained a lot of knowledge and experience, his parents had been murdered when Joe was quite young, since that time a lot had been learned about many things, as a boy fetched and carried doing many menial tasks like running errands, and was slowly becoming an angry young man and would surely have got himself killed if a man called Andy Mackenzie had not helped him.

Since that time Joe learned many things about life from Andy and his sidekick Glen Murdock, they became Lawmen, cattlemen, and security guards, apart from the sometimes many part time jobs they had to do in between to make a living, Joe changed into a good reliable man who would do anything for a friend.

Later when his friends went there different ways, Joe’s reputation grew as a Lawman, the reasons for this were the fact that his ability and practise made him quite proficient with a gun, also had always been able to assess people accurately plus a good sense of humour, but was good at being able to assess any situation, learning from an Indian who scouted for one of the many cattle drives where, as a young man learning to scout came quite easy to him so Joe learned a lot about scouting.

The positive way of tracking people came in very handy when looking for criminals; also as Joe happened to be an inquisitive person who wanted to know about anything that went on around him.

It being early evening, the sun still shone making it a warm evening, resting on his bedroll deep in thought, not needing to worry, as knew that his large black horse OMAR, would warn him of any unusual movement or sounds that may occur. His thoughts turned to the events that had happened in the past week, his reason for spending the last five days crossing a very hostile desert, plus the change to these peaceful and tranquil surroundings, deciding to stay here a while because of the task that had to be carried out, and deciding tomorrow would be a day of rest before starting the task they had undertaken.

Joe left his camp area carrying his rifle, but did not have to go far catching the movement from the corner of his eye the rifle came up to his shoulder and fired, his shot, even from that distance had been perfect, approximately two hundred yards away a rabbit lay dead shot through the head, It had been quite a while since Joe had eaten fresh meat, preparing and cooking the rabbit, eating it washing it down with a good mug of coffee, Joe made a good cup of coffee and was proud of it.

After eating, the task was to immediately clean his rifle, in the west keeping your weapons clean is very important, you never knew when you may require them again, from his saddlebags Joe extracted two large hand brushes, walked over to the clearing by the camp site, uttering a shrill whistle, Omar’s head came up, the large black stallion snorted trotted across to where Joe stood and snuffled his shirt Omar knew why Joe had whistled for him.

‘’Hi Omar boy you are having a good time’’ said Joe

The stallion once again nuzzled Joe’s shirt uttered a gentle neigh. when the two brushes were produced, vigorously giving the horse a good brisk brush down as Omar loved being brushed it made him contented.

‘’Well boy we’ve found what looks like a beautiful place to stop awhile ‘’ Joe said then continued to say, ‘’we will stay a few days take a ride around the country, starting in the morning’’.

The horse seemed to understand Joe’s words and nodded his head and snorted, Joe continued to give his pal a good brisk brushing.

‘’See you in the morning boy ‘’ Joe said, completing his task, moved back to his bedroll where lying down for a while until the sun started to set, with his gun near at hand, Joe listened to the night sounds found nothing out of the usual so turning on his side fell asleep.

Dawn would soon be breaking, a faint glow appeared over the hills to the east heralding the coming day, Joe’s body did not move but his eyes opened, lying still for a while his ears taking in every sound around him, a smile came to his face as hearing only the normally expected noises, Joe climbed to his feet stretched and yawned.

‘’It looks like it’s going to be a lovely day," Joe said to himself.

Being a man who spends a lot of time by himself, often talked to themselves, as Joe built his fire, the big horse was already eating his breakfast consisting of the lush green grass not far away.

After rebuilding the fire, topped up a Billie with water putting it over the fire, a quick morning dip into the shimmering cool pool of water was on the cards, dressing, shaking his boots in case some creepy crawly had made a home in them overnight, the last action was to swing the gun belt around his waist once again an action that had become automatic, in the west gun belts and guns must be put on in the correct way for use and comfort.

Joe’s belt hung across the lower part of his body in a sloping direction from waist on his left to the holster laying down the right upper part of the leg, a thong tied down the bottom of the holster helped to prevent snagging of the gun, his gun nestled in the holster the butt facing the rear a loop hung over the hammer of the gun, the loop is there for two reasons, the first to prevent the gun from falling from the holster as the rider bounced along on the back of a horse, the second reason to stop the hammer being cocked by accident and possibly shooting the wearer in the leg.

Joe wears the gun in the way that is the best way for him to assure the fastest draw possible, so his right arm hangs down by his side meaning it only required him to lift and fire because his hand hangs naturally by his gun, making it easy to grip, draw and fire.

There have been many ways to try to make the drawing of the gun faster, the four main preferences of drawing a gun is the straight draw, the cross draw, the cavalry twist and the swivel draw.

Joe decided to consider all the methods then concluded that the straight draw looked to be the best, so adopted this method for himself.

If a man used the Crossdraw method in a gunfight, there would be very slight difference because both men would have their hands hovering near the butts of their guns, but if something unexpected should occur where the wearer would need the gun fast, the arm would have to travel across the body to draw the gun, this draw often depends on how fast the mind of the man wearing the gun works. If two men thought at the same speed the man with the straight draw would be a fraction faster.

The Cavalry twist means exactly what it says, men who spent time in the army either Yankee or Confederate, the holster position sat high on the persons waist with the butt of the gun facing forward, you had to grip the butt of the gun and twist the gun into a firing position, some old soldiers lowered the holster to the top of their leg so there hand was near the gun, but where the straight draw meant you just had to lift and shoot, with the cavalry twist you still had to grip and twist before the gun could be aligned to fire at the intended targets.

The swivel holster type of draw had a couple of faults as far as Joe could see, one you could not tie the holster down if you did you could not swivel the holster on the belt, two if you were to quick and impetuous you could accidentally shoot yourself in the foot, next it is possible that the gun might snag if you pulled the gun, but last of all the swivel has a limited shooting angle.

The most important item a westerner buys is the type of gun that suits him to carry, Joe used to use a colt .44, but Joe changed to a .45, police special the main reason being the .45. has a shorter barrel which clears the holster a lot easier?

After a breakfast of stripped rabbit meat and coffee Joe poured the remains of the water over the fire, making sure it had been completely extinguished so there was no chance of accidental ignition. after packing all the equipment his lips pursed omitting a high-pitched whistle which brought Omar to him.

After packing everything onto the waiting horse.

Taking a final look around once more, to check everything had been done, like fire extinguished and all rubbish had been buried, leaving the camp area as tidy as possible.

Placing his foot into the stirrup Joe swung into the saddle then leaning forward patted the big horses neck, nudging the horse they started heading in a northerly direction, moving through the brush and tall grass following the contours of the flowing stream, the young man could see the fishes in the clear water as they swam around the rocks on the sandy bottom which became rockier as both man and horse moved north.

Joe heard the roaring sound a long time before coming across the reason for it, about a mile further on came to a rocky face about twenty to twenty-five feet high, water cascaded over it to give a noisy but beautiful waterfall. The waterfall gave off so much noise you could not hear any sound within twenty feet of the fall, but looking at the fall Joe saw the possibility of a passage behind the falls.

The cave proved to be very large, after a quick investigation, Joe found different passages one where you could feel the flow of air, following this passage which came out above the waterfall into another smaller basin, from this position you could see for miles over the valley the pair had just came from, also in this basin, Joe found one of the things they were looking for; a small cabin in a grassy area about fifty yards from the flowing stream. Which has been mentioned in Andy’s letter.

The small cabin had been constructed quite simply from logs, when inside the cabin the room was estimated to be about six-foot square, at the front wall, entrance could be made through a door with hinges made out of animal hide, in the door a slot type window had been cut, the spaces between the logs were blocked with a mixture of mud and peat, inside the cabin on the left could be seen a bunk, a slot had been left in the logs to give a slit type gap, the same type of slot could be seen in the other two walls, also by the right wall a table and an old box for a chair stood.

Each of these gaps in the walls were very important for two reasons, one to give ventilation and allow air to circulate around the cabin and two they were used for defence if necessary and therefore gave protection from any raiders.

The cabin had not been constructed for the purpose to live in, as most of the time the builder would live in the open; who may however use the cabin if it rained but most of the time the person would sleep on a bedroll under the stars. In the cabin Joe found, an oil lamp hanging on the wall, a couple of canteens kept full of water, (the water would be changed for fresh water each day,) a couple of dime novels lay on the make shift table, a pair of Billie cans hung by the door, there is only one more thing to mention about the cabin carved into a log by the door was the name, A. Mackenzie.

All the actions of building the cabin to the carving of the name had been done for one purpose only, to let anyone that found this place know a claim had been registered for this land, (in the west possession was nine tenths of the law,) time had passed quite fast as the light indicated evening had arrived, Joe set about making his camp for the night.

‘’Well that’s a good days work, ‘’ he said to himself relieving the horse of its burden ‘’There is still a lot to do ‘’ he continued.

The big horse nodded its head also proceeded to crop at the valleys lush grass, after doing the normal routine of setting camp, taking a bath, also taking a bite to eat, Joe checked his surroundings which proved to be OK. after making sure the horse stood near to be able see and hear him, sitting on a large flat rock Joe took a bulky parcel from his saddlebags and started to read the letter, afterwards looked over the other items Andy had left for him.

Pausing for a moment his thoughts went back to three weeks previous, he had just received a letter from some lawyers called Wilson and Wilson of Abilene asking Joe to call in to see them as soon as possible it concerned a very good friend called Andrew Mackenzie, Joe’s present job would end in two days’ time, but his friend needed him and it sounded urgent. Calling his foreman (Al) Joe told him to take over branding his cattle, informing Al that a friend needed help and that it is possible, because of where the meeting is to take place it might be a while before Joe can return, (Al you are the boss until I am able to get back,) Joe had to meet Andy his friend at the lawyer’s office in Abilene anyway which is a few days away.

Four days later Joe walked into the office of the lawyers WILSON and WILSON, and presented himself to the secretary sitting behind a large desk as you enter the premises.

Hi Miss, my name is Joe Logan’’ he said Mr. B. Wilson wishes to see me could you please let him know I have arrived".

‘’Please take a seat sir I will inform him of your arrival ‘’ the young lady replied then left the room.

The door opened once again, the young lady walked in followed by a middle-aged man wearing a smart suit a white shirt and a tie, walked straight to