Arizona Territory (13 page)

“Aw, heavens, Mr. Chet, that don't be good news.”

“You hear them rifles?” He indicated the shots from down range where Yeager and Hampt were holding a gun class.

“I sure do.”

“If we get prepared to wage war back at the Indians, these will save us.”

“Land, lands. Yesterday I wondered how to feed dem. Today, how to save dem.”

“Lots of things are coming. Get ready.”

Chet talked to Hampt at noontime. No Ling Ling fed the outfit a mid-day meal for the first time in six weeks. They had been stretching their supply that much, Decker admitted.

“Those eight were the best shots in camp and knew rifles. I'll use two of them each day to help me teach the others. It'll speed up my training. They told me that the men are pleased we're doing this.”

“They'd seen Indians, hadn't they?”

Hampt nodded. “But I'd fight beside those we had here today anytime. We need more of them that are that efficient with a rifle.”

“You telling them if they can't hit an Indian to shoot his horse?”

“Yeah. That shocked the first guys, but they agreed that an Injun on foot was better than having one on a good horse able to charge at you.”

“We need them gun-ready in a week. When those horses I ordered get here, and when the chuckwagon's road ready, we need to head north. I want Yeager to show Cole and Jesus the next water and to begin scouting. That old man they told us about might be a big help, too. If he's around, Johnny Reed will have him there for supper tonight.”

 

 

Lou James was no young man. He chewed on a corncob pipe and had lots of white whiskers, his southern drawl was deep, and he flirted with Liz like a boy.

“By jeepers, ma'am, how did he ever get you all stirred up in this deal?”

“He owns a great stallion. You ever hear of the Barbarossa horses?”

“Yeah. They're all in Mexico. Big gold horses. Texans call them claybanks. But the word is Palomino, right?”

“Yes, that is so.” She used her thumb to indicate her husband. “One is across the border in Arizona. He owns him.”

“Whew. How in the world?”

“A long story for later,” Chet said, amused at her storytelling. “Go on, Liz.”

“He didn't tell you, but he is a U.S. Marshal. He runs the Force that puts down Mexican bandits in southern Arizona. So he headquarters on this ranch down there, and I was going back to Mexico, and my people learn that he is there. So I go there to buy a horse for my
hacienda
.”

Lou took his pipe and pointed at Chet. “I see. You came there to buy a horse colt from him.”

“Yes, just to buy a horse. I get out and this
grande hombre
is standing there, hatless, waiting for me.”

“My, my, you talk the best English of any woman from Mexico I ever met, but those English words weren't good enough for your description of him standing there, were they?” Lou went to laughing. The others did, too.

Liz about blushed. “Then you know the rest. I had been a widow for three years. I did not need another man in my life.”

“He never sold you a horse?”

“No. I had to marry him to get one.”

“Missy, I can see why he swept you away. You're a treasure that Mexico lost.”

“I still have a large
hacienda
down there, but this man has an empire in Arizona.”

Lou turned to Chet. “What do you need me for?”

“Water holes, and your knowledge about the trail to Ogallala.”

He nodded with a pained face at Chet. “You're late in the year for finding much water. Been dry this spring, but we usually get some showers in the next two months. You willing to cross over the Kansas line in a place or two, to water them?”

“I want these cattle in Ogallala in six to eight weeks, in much better condition than they are now. How tough are those Kansas border watchers?”

“If they don't get the word you're coming, there won't be many out there this time of year. Usually by now, the herds don't try to go up there. I've distracted the watchers before, but if they find me in Kansas you'll have to bail me out of jail.”

“No problem. What will you cost?”

“Two hundred bucks.”

Chet rose, leaned over, and shook his hand. “You start tomorrow. Welcome to the outfit.”

“Obliged. This meal ain't half-bad, either.”

Chet shook his head. “Your storytelling is worth half the price of hiring you.”

The others agreed. He was not a rainmaker, but he did know the way and where water should be, if they could find any left.

“How far are we from Nebraska?” Cole asked.

“Oh, like the crow flies, three hundred miles.”

“That's reachable.” Chet was pleased they'd found the right man.

Rifle drill began again the next day. Hampt and Yeager worked with a new bunch. No Ling Ling listed things he still needed for Liz, who wrote them down to order.

Rymore found them the two teams of mules, but they'd never been worked together before. To get them started, Cole and Jesus were going to drive them to town for some needed things and back to camp. Cole drove them, and Jesus rode along on horseback to help him hold them down.

The store people assured him they could get there, but it took two hours longer than planned. When they did return, the black men came and secured the mules to a hitch rack and the two head-shaking cowboys joined them for lunch. “They're fresh, I take it?” Chet asked them.

Cole scowled at him. “They don't know getup from sic'em.”

“First they balked,” Jesus said. “The one team would go and the other one backed. Then the harness chains jiggling spooked them. A damn ground owl really spooked them and they ran off. We've been to New Mexico and back already.”

“When Decker gets here, we'll get him to send us a mule skinner. Black folks know mules. You two are cowboys.”

They agreed. All were sitting at one table, when Hampt and Decker came to join them. Chet mentioned they needed a mule skinner to drive them.

“Mott Halter,” Decker said. He stood up and told a man in the food line to send Mott Halter up there.

In a short while, a big man, who looked like he'd had a fight with a wildcat, came. His clothes were in rags and he took off an old hat he must have found beside the road.

“What'cha need, Mister Decker?”

“See them mules?”

“Yes, sah.”

“After you eats you meal, I want you to unhook dem and drive dem around.”

“Oh.” The big man smiled wide as Texas. “I sure nuff kin do dat.”

“Mott, since you are going to have to drive the wagon back and forth to town,” Liz said, “I have a new pair of overalls and shirt to fit you, so you can represent us better. Eddie, at Rymore's, will replace your hat, too.”

“Ma'am, that be so nice of you. I pays you in Nebraska.”

“No, you just drive them mules. These two cowboys will pay for that, so they don't have to drive them.”

Everyone laughed.

Cole looked up at the hipshot mules and agreed. “Cheap price to sell that job.”

Jesus agreed.

After lunch, they unhitched the two teams for Mott, who wore his new clothes. He took the first team in harness and with trace chains hooked up to drive them around.

To the waiting mules, he said real quiet, “Jack.”

The mules were stomping around and he had them controlled, but they never heard him say, “Jack,” again. Head shaking, they weren't listening when Mott said it the third time.

He drew back the long check line and snapped that right mule in the ribs and hair flew at the point he struck. The mule acted goosed. He held him down. “Jack.”

The right-hand mule knew that word and he had felt the strike on his side. His head was up and his ears were up. Number two still had not heard him, but Mott overhanded, did the same thing to the second mule, cutting hair with a, “Whoa, Jack.”

When he clucked to them, they scrambled hooves some, but soon both drove real smooth. In a short time, he had them backing and turning and backing more. The gathered men applauded.

“He's a real mule skinner,” Liz said.

“I bet you could have them cultivating in no time,” Chet said to Mott. “I want you to be the mule man. Pick a helper. Drive them to town tonight, and bring a bedroll. We'll feed you there. You'll bring back more supplies tomorrow.”

Mott shook his head and smiled. “Miss Liz. I sure like dese clothes.”

She dismissed his gratitude. “No problem. You are sure the mule man.”

“That don't make you mad, does it, Jesus?” Cole asked.

“I told you. I only worked burros and not many of them.”

“How was rifle training, Hampt?” Chet asked the big man.

“We taught the best ones yesterday. From here on, we've got our work cut out. Yeager is good talking to them, but they don't know a gun butt from a barrel. My trainers I chose are good, too. But these people we had today, I want back tomorrow.”

“If we get a real attack, we need them all to be proficient.”

“I know. Maybe we can do that. Oh, hell, Chet, the U.S. Army trains those dumb Germans to be cavalry troopers and they couldn't even understand English. I hope I have the time.”

“Tomorrow, I want Lou and Yeager, along with you two, to ride north, say, sixty miles north, and figure out our first days on the road. Keep in mind there are Indians out here. I want you four back the next night in one piece.”

Lou agreed that was how to start. Clouds clabbered up the western sky and thunder rolled from the distance. But they made it back to Tularosa, and he fed Mott and his man on the back steps of the saloon, plus had them served two beers apiece. They slept rolled up in blankets in the livery. Liz found Mott's new assistant, Horatio Knott, a new pair of overalls, and a shirt, and straw hats for both of them. They were thrilled.

“Acres sent word he was gathering horses and would have them here in a few days.” Chet thought that would work. Ranchers on the frontier had miles to go to markets. Range horses were plentiful and the ranchers were cash short.

Cole nodded. “Your gunmen doing better today, Hampt?”

“They're learning, and ain't shot no one yet.”

“Good thing,” Jesus said. “It might have been you.”

“I can't get over yesterday,” Cole said. “I seen men like Mott in Texas do that. White man and colored alike, that could do that. Only a Mexican with a bullwhip could have done what he did with that long rein. That was impressive to me. I've seen men cuss and whip on mules, but he was a hand right off.” Cole shook his head in disbelief, but Chet had seen other men do it as smooth.

“Jack,” Jesus whispered. “They damn sure listened after that.”

“I'd bet a dollar that man he has to help him is as good,” Chet said.

They all agreed.

Later, Liz asked him if he thought she'd done right, clothing them.

“Better than their butts shining.”

“Oh, I am being serious.”

“It'll be alright. That can't cost over a dollar a man.”

“Less than that.”

“Dress them up. We're going to Ogallala.”

“When are the water searchers going north?” she asked.

“Tomorrow. We're about caught up.”

“Going north tomorrow, I sure am going to miss these good meals you been chocking down me,” Lou said when they started to leave. “I see how you built an empire in Arizona.”

“How is that?”

“You didn't tell Decker to get someone to drive them mules, you said get a mule skinner. He got one who knew what to do. These guys Hampt uses to train them know guns. It ain't, ‘Hey, Joe, do this. Get me the man.'”

“You be the water man, Lou,” Chet said.

“In the middle of a damn drought, too.”

“If there's a way, I'm counting on you to find some.”

“Does this sweet lady of yours have an older sister?”

“No, she's an only child.”

“Hell, I wanted her older sister.”

“What about Monica?” he asked Liz.

She shook her head. “No, she is too fussy for him.”

“There I go again. Off with no woman.”

“Johnny will have breakfast for us here at five thirty.”

“Night.”

The four of them—Lou, Yeager, Jesus, and Cole—rode north the next morning. Chet hoped they brought him back a good plan. Only time would tell.

Hampt was teaching the shooters to assemble. One man was to hold their horses. In practice, he fired a shot in the air and the men who were scattered rode to assemble in groups, laid belly down, and fired their rifles at targets. Chet decided he had taught them a lot. They looked impressive to him.

When the four water scouts came back, they'd found water, but the first was the worst—thirty miles north. Yeager said he'd found it before, but wondered how they'd get there.

“We drive that first day to water. Take us all day and into the night. It will be tiring, but the next one is how far?” Chet asked.

“Twelve miles.”

“Short day.”

That evening at supper, Liz asked him when they'd leave.

“When Acres gets here with the horses and we get them straight. Decker has his bronc riders selected.”

Lou shook his head. “Bronc riders now, huh?”

“We'll see.”

“No, that old man knows how deep those boys go. That's why an illiterate man like him can run drives. Most men take cattle north with a handful of good cowboys. He's got forty hands, enough so they can do the job.”

“I think you're right,” Chet said. “Five thirty tomorrow morning.”

They groaned.

“Better enjoy this bed,” he told Liz later.

“Yes, we will share the old ground in a few nights. Saddle horses are all you lack?”

“Yes. He sent word today. Acres is coming. Hope he found enough.”

“I love that old man, Lou. He's so sharp. He said, ‘
grande hombre
. I know what you found. '” She shook her head. “I don't have to be careful anymore talking to you, but I fear I will sound like those black cowboys next. You's got any?”

They both laughed.

Three days later, Acres and five teenage ranch boys arrived with a hundred and thirty horses. Everyone in Tularosa turned out to admire them driven through the main street. Corralled in the gathering pens for cattle, Chet had hay to feed them for the night. He took Acres and his hands to supper, and his wife, Leona, too, who drove the buckboard loaded with bedrolls and supplies for the crew.

“How is it going?” Acres asked him.

“Exhausting. We go north in a few days. I believe we'll be ready.”

“It took me more time than I thought it would. Several outfits had turned their horses out and they had to gather them. But I knew you needed this many, or more, so I got every one I could get.”

“You did great. I'll wire the San Antonio Bank and have them pay you what I owe for them.”

“Have them send it here to my account in the North Texas Bank.”

“We can arrange that.”

“Are things going as you planned?” Acres asked.

“Too slow, but we are about to start.”

“What was the holdup in the first place?”

“Dry year. First water north of the Canadian of any amount is thirty miles.”

“Yeah, it is getting late,” Acres agreed.

“Maybe a good thing he stopped. They're in tough shape. The rest here may have helped them. We needed those horses you brought. I've culled over a dozen out of what they had. This will really help us.”

“I bet it does. I want to see them. The boys and I would like to see your outfit.”

“Sure, and I'll tell Liz to ride out with Leona in the buckboard tomorrow. We can bring the horses out in the morning.”

“You tired yet?” Acres asked.

“Ain't had time to be that.”

Acres motioned to the two wives at the next table. “Looks like they got plenty to talk about. Your wife looks the same as she did at our house.”

“My wife is a tough lady.”

“I know. She is sure pretty.”

“Big help, too. She knows every penny we've spent, both ours and the bank's.”

“She's rich, isn't she? Leona told me she left a big
hacienda
in the hands of her ex-brother-in-law?”

“Yes, isn't that amazing? I was busy figuring how we might visit, and she came lock, stock, and barrel to meet me on the border.”

“Is Arizona nice?”

“I like the north. Pine country. Southern Arizona is cactus country. I have a large ranch down on the border that my nephew runs. Water is the largest issue.”

“Never snows down there?”

“Maybe once in several years, a little falls.”

“I guess someday I'll get out there and see you.”

“You're welcome anytime. If I'm home, or not.”

“That might be hard, to catch you there. You have a son, too?”

“Adam is eight months old. His mother was my first wife. She had jumping horses, and they were her life. She'd been married before and was twice widowed. She had never carried a baby full term. She quit jumping to carry our son. After he was born, she went back to jumping. While I was away, she had a serious wreck on a jump. She was a wonderful woman. I had no ambition to find another woman, when along came Liz.”

“You were lucky, my friend. My boys' mother died of a fever. I was alone for a long time and then Leona lost her husband. They had an epidemic that killed her children before they came up to Tularosa. He was killed in a wagon wreck. I talked her into marrying me.”

“Hey, you were lucky, too. She's a great lady.”

“Oh, yes. But I can't believe how yours rides with you all over hell.”

“She told me I couldn't go without her. She's a tomboy, is all I can say. But she never complains about anything.”

They both laughed.

The horses were well received at the cow camp. A rope corral was set up with lots of the cowboys on hand. Decker's chief wrangler was Apache Joe. Chet had no idea where his name came from. The short man could make a lariat fly over two horses and settle on number three's neck. He picked a sorrel horse from the new lot. His first rider was another wrangler, Dickey Joe, with his saddle in his right hand and more hands ready to bridle him.

The horse bridled and blindfolded, his saddle in place and cinched twice, Dickey flew onto the saddle, jerked off the blinds, and rode the gelding in a circle, reined him around and nodded. “Damn good horse.”

He stepped off and the third man in the wranglers was Jerry Bird. His bay horse bucked pretty hard, but he straightened him out. The bay proved to be a reining fool. He could spin on his hind legs, and lots of eyes bugged out watching Jerry rein the horse around on his heels.

Apache Joe beamed. “That is a real good one, huh?”

“A dandy,” Chet agreed.

They spent all day testing them, and Chet was a little amazed at the chief wrangler's referral to some horse earlier that a new one resembled. Chet was satisfied that by dark, he'd know them all.

“He can't read or write,” Chet said. “But he knows every horse they rode.”

“I saw that, too. They should make enough mounts. Acres did a good job finding that many,” Cole said. “He tell you what they cost?”

“Thirty bucks a head. He didn't get rich.”

“These men are impressed. They never had this many good horses. They may even believe they're real cowboys.”

“I hope so. This drive will not be like going on a picnic.”

“How much longer?” Cole asked.

“Two days and we go north. I told Decker that an hour ago and he agreed.”

“Yes, let's get it behind us.”

“This is hot country,” Cole said, drying his neck.

“Yeah, it would be nice to be back at Preskitt, drinking lemonade with ice on that porch.”

“I'd like to be at Camp Verde and dance on Saturday night with my wife.”

“We'll get back there,” Chet promised him.

“I know. Having these horses does make it look like we may become a real outfit moving steers, too.”

“I think Liz has them dressed for the trip, anyway.”

“Boy, she did good at that.” They both laughed at Chet's wife's efforts to dress each man in a new shirt and overalls.

Things were going fine. They greased the loaded chuckwagon axles and hand-sewed and waxed the seams of the new cover stretched over the bows. The last night before they set out, to celebrate, No Ling Ling baked some big fruit turnover cakes, peach and apple ones, in his largest Dutch ovens. The cooks planned to ride some gentle horses and let the mule skinners drive the chuckwagon. That suited Chet, since he doubted the Orientals could handle those mules anyway. Ever since they ditched the first chuckwagon in the Indian Territory somewhere, they were used to riding horseback. He didn't know the entire story, but he imagined they wrecked it. Mott and Horatio knew that driving mules beat riding drag on the herd, and Decker threatened them with that job if they lost the rig.

Before they left, he settled his accounts, grateful for his wife's neat paperwork. He notified the bank in San Antonio to pay the suppliers, including Acres's horse account. He mailed them a copy of her accounting as well.

“If we make fifteen miles a day, we will be there in three weeks,” she said.

“If we make that mileage, but I want some weight gain.”

“We are closer to leaving then?”

He hugged her. “Hell, yes, girl. We are finally that close.”

“Speaking of hell, it wouldn't hurt for you to say a prayer for us tonight.” She hugged him around the waist.

“You're right. He will have a big hand in getting us there.”

“Do it tonight.”

Yeager came in. “I saw some of dem Injuns 'bout an hour ago. They be setting on horses and taking our roundup in.”

Chet nodded that he heard him. “They're good at that. Now what they will do next, is the big question. Thanks. Tell Hampt, too.”

“What was he saying?” Liz asked.

“Indians were watching us.”

She frowned. “Oh, you said they were out there.”

“You stay close. Comanche are the meanest, toughest, Indians that I know.”

“You've fought them before?”

“As a boy, yes. Several times. But the worst I can recall, we were going to San Antonio and they jumped us. We got holed up in some rocks. Dale Allen shot two of them with a shotgun. Both times that shotgun put him on his butt. He was maybe twelve. Some folks heard our shooting and came to run them off, or they might have got the whole family. Dad bought Dale Allen a pistol after that.”

“How many were there?” she asked.

“I was only about fourteen then. I thought there were a hundred of them, but I imagine now there were maybe eighteen. Some of those fighters were my age. But their shrill screaming chilled my blood.”

“You were fighting Indians at fourteen?”

“Yes, and I can recall it like it was yesterday.”

“I hope they forget us here.”

“It would be nice. They won't. No matter what happens, don't let them separate you from the men and the herd.”

“I hear you.”

“We will be on the edge of the knife blade all the way to Nebraska.”

She nodded. “I am ready to go there.”

“You're amazing. We'll soon be on our way.”

“Don't forget to give them one of your prayers tonight.”

“I can do that.”

After supper, he rose and in his best voice said, “Tomorrow we leave here. I am going to ask the good Lord to bless and protect us on this dangerous journey. You may kneel, stand, or sit. The good Lord knows that we're out here.

“Our most heavenly Father, before we begin our trip north, we want to thank you for getting us this far, and for our many blessings. All of these hardworking men and I will travel north tomorrow and the days after. Lord, be in our hearts and give us the strength and encouragement to work hard and get these cattle to Ogallala so we can return safely to our homes and families in Texas. In his name, amen.”

“Amen,” echoed across the field of cowboys. Many of them waved and thanked him for the prayer.

His wife squeezed his arm as they headed for their wall tent. “Thanks. That even helped me.”

“Thank you for reminding me.”

“I had to. Your sister wasn't here.”

“She's always been a big help to me. Susie supported me when I brought that Texas bunch to Arizona.”

“But she never found your Hilda, did she?”

“I think she looked hard for her.” They both laughed.

She removed his boots, and he shook his head in the shadowy light of the tent. “Here you were living a sheltered life on a nice
hacienda
, and you chose to run off with a guy crazy enough to try to make money out of a busted cattle drive.”

“Oh, it might have been a sheltered life. But I didn't laugh this much. I didn't feel as warm and wanted as I do in your arms. I knew I missed something—but I ignored the fact that it was having a real man.

“You blame me for the smell of hay bothering you. That night, when we made love in the hay, a brickbat fell on top of my head. This is exactly what I had not had. The experience was so revealing to me, I even wondered if the novelty would go away—at your house, it was even better. I wasn't jittery that night in the hay. I was playing around with a man I did not know much about, and me trusting him with all my love.”

“In the short times we have been together, you never say no, you never have a bad day, you never fail to smile when we make love. That I realize and appreciate.”