Arizona Territory (20 page)

“I'm a U.S. Marshal. What can I do for you?”

“There are three mean men here. I am sure they are wanted.”

“What are their names?”

“One is Paul, they call the other Ken, and a half breed called Blue.”

“What did they do here?”

“They raped my younger sister two days ago.”

“Oh.” Liz gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

“Where do they stay?”

“See that house on the hill with green shutters?”

He glanced that way. “Yes.”

“They stay there with her.”

“Her?”

“She is a black
puta.
Her name is Bessie, and she is mean, too.”

“Where is the law here?”

Looking upset, she shook her head. “Ain't no law here.”

“Anyone report the rape?”

“I did with you.”

“No, I mean to the sheriff.”

“He's not here. He's at the county seat.”

“You think they are there today?”

She nodded.

“What is your name?”

“Myna.”

“I think my men are coming. I want you and my wife to quietly lead her horse and the packhorses down this creek bottom a hundred yards. Take your time, like you have nothing else to do. I'll go with my men to see if they're at home. Now, real easy, like you are old friends, take the horses down there past the ruined adobe house.”

Cole reined up, realizing something was afoot. “You found them?”

“A lady just came and told me. She knew me from before. They raped her sister. She says they are in that house with the green shutters. I wanted those two out of the way. What did you learn?”

“Bessie lives in that house.”

“Cole, you ride around back. Unlimber your rifle. They may try to fight their way out.” He stepped into the saddle. “Jesus, you and I will take the front. Let's go.”

The house was up the hill a hundred yards. He let Cole get around back, then they spurred their horses up the hill. At the front gate, they slid to a stop and he fired his rifle in the air.

“U.S Marshals. Come out with your hands up, or be shot.”

There was a lot of cussing inside. Then two shots came from the back of the house. That was Cole's rifle.

“Anyone else wants to die?” he shouted from the rear.

“You alright?” Chet called.

“One's down. Another is packing my lead and went back inside.”

“You better get out here. My patience is short,” Chet ordered the house.

“Hold you gawdamn guns. I ain't got no gun.” A six-foot-tall black woman wearing only a girdle came outside, hands high. “They be coming. Hold you pants.”

The next one who came out was a man that answered Connors's description, and he came out with his hands high. The third man, obviously wounded, came dragging himself outside.

Cole came out behind them. “Logan Blue is dead out back. They had their horses saddled and were ready to ride out.”

“Bessie, go get dressed. Cole, be sure she don't try anything. People are coming.”

“Darlin', they've all done seen my black ass before.”

“Cole, get her dressed. Jesus, handcuff the unharmed one and sit his butt on the ground. Be sure they both are unarmed.”

Liz slid her horse to a stop. “You all alright?”

“We're fine. One dead breed. One wounded, and the other handcuffed. Cole is getting Bessie dressed.”

“Dressed?”

“She was only wearing her uniform.”

Her eyebrows crossed. “What was that?”

“A girdle.” Unable to hold it, he broke out laughing, and so did his men.

She punched his arm. “You are a devil, Chet Byrnes.”

Myna came up to see, along with many wives, children, and men.

“I need someone to haul these men to Gallup. That one needs a doctor.”

She shook her head. “No doctor here.”

“Cole, see how bad he's bleeding.”

“I have a team and wagon. I can haul them where you need to send them,” a man offered, obviously needing the work.

“Gallup is the closest town. How much?”

“Forty dollars.”

“Thirty,” Chet said.

“I will pay you five more dollars to feed them.”

“
Si, señor
, I can do that.”

“My men and I will guard them. They must be clever at getting away.”

Cole came back. “He may make it. He may not.”

“Whatever. Where is the bank money?” he asked the unscathed one.

“What money?”

He kicked him hard in the leg. “I don't have lots of time. These people would lynch you for raping their young women. You better tell me quick.”

“Barn in the loft.”

“I'll get it,” Cole said, and took off.

“Myna, you can have their horses and saddles. You led us here. They forfeited them, being outlaws. It's a small payment for them raping your sister.”

“Bessie, you have a horse?”

“Of course I have a horse. Why?”

“Get all your things you want to take and you leave this town. If I hear you came back here, I'll have you in prison for hiding these three.”

“You can't—”

“Get off your butt and get going—now.”

She jumped back and ran in the house, cussing a blue streak.

“Go get those horses that are theirs and bring them around for this lady who helped me.”

Some of the men from the crowd that had gathered went to do that.

Cole came back with two heavy saddlebags. “Quite a bit left, boss.”

“The Stafford bank will be pleased. Jesus, check their other things for money. Then fix her up.” He shook his head warily. “Who buries the poor?”

“I can bury him.” A tall man in overalls stepped forward.

“What do you charge?”

“Five
pesos
?”

He nodded his head. “Bury him deep. These people do not want to smell him.”

Everyone agreed that was so.

While they waited for the wagon man's return, Liz started to make them some food. One of the women bandaged the wounded man to stop the bleeding. Bessie left with two sheets over her lap that were bulging with things she took from the house, and rode off under a large black hat that flopped to her horse's gait.

Some women pitched in to help Liz and made flour
tortillas
on the stovetop. Soon, lawmen and the rest were eating. Chet wondered where all the food came from. Obviously, they'd brought some, too. No way his wife could have made it all.

“You are like Jesus today, a couple of fish and a loaf of bread, and fed lots of folks,” he said to Liz in passing.

She stopped and whispered, “I paid them for it. They had it ready and thanked me. But I didn't offer to wash their feet.”

“That was my job.”

“You did a good job at it, too.”

They left the next day for Gallup. The way was slow and when they arrived, he put the prisoners in jail and they sent for a doctor to look at the wounded man. He deposited the money, eight thousand dollars, in a bank for Wells Fargo to return to the Thatcher Bank.

“Thank God, lots of it was paper money,” Cole said.

Chet nodded.

He telegraphed the bank with his report, and told them the rewards went to his two men Cole Emerson and Jesus Morales, in care of Chet Byrnes, Prescott, Arizona. Then he filed a report with the U.S. Marshal's office in Tucson. They sent telegrams to the families that could get them, then took a bath in a bathhouse. Liz bought them all new clothes, since she didn't figure theirs would stand a washing. Chet looked up the waitress who'd put them on the robbers' trail. She met him out the back door of the café and he discreetly paid her twenty dollars for her useful information.

She kissed him on the cheek. “Just don't tell my husband I was there,” she whispered.

He agreed and went to join his bunch to go out and eat at a fancy restaurant.

“What did she say?” Liz asked, taking his arm when he was back out in the street.

“Same thing she did the last time. Don't tell my husband I was there.”

They laughed all the way to supper.

That night, the wind came out of the north, and they rode back to the Windmill ranch in four long, cold days in the saddle. The ranch hands took their horses and the pack animals and sent them to the house.

The four of them collapsed in Susie's living room.

“Well, how did it go?” Susie asked.

Cole shook his head. “We rode over there, caught them, and got most of the bank's money back. I still find it hard to believe.”

“Would you like a hot bath, sister?” She pulled Liz up from the floor.

“Not quite as bad as I did in Gallup. But, yes, I'd take one.”

“Any of the rest of you want a bath?”

They shook their heads.

“Bring us blankets; we want to sleep on the floor,” Cole said.

Chet agreed, slumped in the chair. Jesus just nodded his head, seated on his butt and his back against the sofa.

“You win, Liz,” Susie shouted triumphantly.

About an hour or so later, the women fed the groggy men. A little rest and they took baths, changed clothes, and answered questions.

“You can stay here another day and rest.”

“If you think we'll argue with you, sister, you're crazy,” Chet said.

“Good. I'll have company. Now tell us all the story of the bank robbers.”

“It all started with a waitress who went to a party and didn't want her husband to know it.”

His crew laughed, and so did the collection of ranch hands in the warm living room.

With his arm around his wife's shoulder on the couch, he nodded his head. “I can hardly believe with that bit of information we found them in a few days and it was over.”

Well, there was a little more to it than that, and his weary bones told him so. But they were back on his land and everyone was alright. He couldn't believe his wife sat there with him—that was neat, too. What was ahead? No one knew that. He hoped it kept going this smooth. And maybe someday he'd catch up on his sleep. Maybe?

Before they were through visiting, Chet recalled how he had promised to take Liz elk hunting. When the conversation got around to her going elk hunting, Victor spoke up. They were back from their drive and getting ready for the next.

“Hey, I want to be your cook for that hunting trip.”

“Sure. We can go next week, can't we?” Chet asked his crew.

“I never shot one. I'll go,” Cole said.

Jesus agreed and Liz, seated on the couch, said, “I will be ready by then.”

“Sarge, you can spare him for a week?”

“Sure. We've been doing good getting the cattle over there. We have plenty of time. Though we'll leave early the next trip, to insure delivery, since that will be the December one and it might snow early.”

“Thanks,” Victor said. “Oh, when you get home, tell Rhea I said hi.”

“No more message than that?” Liz teased him.

“That will be enough.” The whole crew laughed at his expense.

The two of them stayed over a day or so at the Verde Ranch. He showed his wife the Hereford herd at Perkins again, and she was impressed all over again about them. As they came up on the first ones, she exclaimed, “Oh, Chet, they are gorgeous. Is that the right word?”

“Yes, they are that. I worried they were used to better grass in Kansas and might not acclimate this easy. I'm certain the cattle born and raised here will do even better.”

“They will calf in the spring?”

“Yes, I'll bring you back. The calves are pretty cute.”

“I want to see them.”

“You will. I don't deny you much.”

“No, you don't. Thanks. We better go see about supper.”

He agreed and they short-loped back to the big house. Tom and Millie were coming for supper. Maria had big plans to feed them. Cole and Jesus had rode on to see about their women.

That night, she still was talking about the white-faced cattle. Seated on the bed, he pulled off her boots and she laughed. “I never expected to be in such a whirlwind life marrying you. I have more fun and excitement than I ever imagined. Elk hunting next. Whew.”

“You need to rest a few days. Are we wearing you down?”

“No. I am fine. Just thinking how lucky I am to do all these things. I am afraid someday I will have to sit home and be a housewife. I may cry.”

“Not until then, Liz. Not until then.”

A tear ran down her cheek. “I am sorry, Chet. I wasn't going to cry. I am so happy to be part of your world, I guess I got choked up on it.”

He took a clean handkerchief and wiped her tears. “Cry all you want, girl. We do have some life, and I really enjoy it.”

“Maybe we should pray?”

“Sure. You want to?”

She scrambled down on her knees beside the bed. “You do it.”

“Our dear heavenly Father, we want to thank you for all our blessings you have bestowed upon us . . .”

They prepared to go elk hunting on the rim. The frost had turned the cottonwoods to gold in the valley. Jesus, Cole, and Liz, along with Victor from the Windmill Ranch, who volunteered to be their cook when he heard they were going hunting, were all set. The young Hispanic had become Sarge's right-hand man after working as a cook for that outfit for two years. He'd spent the two years learning the cattle business, and then been upgraded to second-in-command.

Chet noticed how Victor had a lot of interest in his boy's nanny, Rhea, while they were packing the chuckwagon to go hunting. The days were warm, and she, with the boy in her arms, had shown an unusual interest in their preparations.

Up early the morning they planned to leave, he asked Monica about the sparking going on.

“My, yes. I do not know who is the shyest, him or her. Why, Jesus is a Casanova with Anita, compared to Victor and Rhea.”

“Oh, we all need someone. They'll figure it out.”

“Did you expect your wife to go off chasing those lost cows in Texas with you when you married her?”

“No.”

“Well, me, either. She came back from there acting like she wanted to be a painter, telling me all the colors of those bluffs and the waving grass. Who cares? They were so far out no one else will ever see them.”

“Liz has a lot of imagination, but she suits me.”

“She idolizes you, like Marge did. But I never believed she'd ride off to sleep on the ground with you all summer in a dust bowl.”

“She never complained one time.”

“No, she never complains about anything that happens here. She clothed all those bare-butted cowboys on that drive, too?”

“She did, and for under a dollar apiece, she told me. I guess one day we'll have more weddings, huh?”

Monica shook her head. “I hope so.”

“Are they that serious?”

“Listen, big man, you rub two sticks together long enough, you'll get sparks.”

He was eating his breakfast ahead of the others, and amused at her take on the goings-on.

“Don't worry, your son is not being neglected. She watches Adam like a hawk, and he gets her full attention.”

“I had no doubt about her or her care of him.”

“Are they shutting down the Force?” Monica asked.

“From my last wires with the new man, I think they are having problems getting funds for it in Washington. You can't operate a successful law enforcement operation any cheaper than we have.”

“I know that. Elizabeth told me she expected to find a big marble office building and found wooden benches and tables under a tarp roof.”

“We didn't need any fancy buildings. I knew she was shocked at our meager operation when she asked me, ‘this is your headquarters?'”

Monica laughed. “You had cowboys for marshals. They can always get by.”

“You are so right. And now, I think the rest are coming down,” he said, hearing footsteps on the stairs.

Anita came in the kitchen first and apologized for not getting up earlier to help Monica. “What can I do?”

“Make more biscuits.”

“I can do that. How are you, Chet?”

“Fine. Ready to go hunting.”

“I know. It was fun to have everyone here last night. Victor sure can sing and play the guitar.”

“He did that on the honeymoon with my first wife.”

“He said he saw the Grand Canyon on that trip with you. Said it was a big, big, slash in the ground.”

“He's a good man. You think him and Rhea will get together?”

“I think they will, but she won't give up the boy for him. She is very connected to him. I don't think even his real mother would be that bonded.”

“Thanks, Anita. I understand a lot about Rhea, but you've given me something to think about.”

“Please don't tell anyone I said that.”

“The secret stays with me.”

Valerie, who stayed overnight before they left for the hunting trip, came ahead of Cole and greeted everyone. Jesus was behind them. Rhea and his son came next.

“Where is Victor?” Chet asked when Liz showed up.

“I imagine rechecking the chuckwagon. He probably was up before you,” Jesus said.

“Go get him to come eat,” Chet said.

“I will.” Jesus went to find him.

“He may be ready to go,” Liz said. They all laughed.

Chet held Adam and teased him until he laughed. It was never hard to get him to laugh and he seldom cried. But that came from all the attention Rhea showed him.

“Will he soon walk, Rhea?” Liz asked.

“Oh, he takes some steps now, but they aren't steady enough. He will be walking by Christmas, I hope.”

“That will be nice.”

Jesus returned with Victor in tow, and he had been rechecking things. Chet understood his concern that the trip go well. That was how he did things, rechecked them. They said he was even fussier than Sarge about every detail in everything he did. That's what got him the promotion at Windmill.

“Get any sleep?” Chet asked.

“Yes, enough. I wanted to be certain it was all there. And it is.”

Victor said something to Rhea in passing her. She smiled and told him thanks. He took a seat beside her and began to fill his plate. “My last morning not to cook. Thanks, Monica.”

“You are welcome. Anita has more biscuits in the oven. I will watch them, so she can eat. Anyone need anything else?”

They shook their heads and she refilled coffee cups. “I have my order in for two fat bull elk.”

“I bet we get them,” Cole said.

 

 

Victor drove the team as they set out for the Verde bottoms. Everyone else was on horseback and went ahead in the cooler predawn. Chet noted for the first time that Jesus kissed Anita good-bye. He'd seen Victor with his forehead pressed to Rhea's before they left. Cute lovers.

All of them were anxious to be on top of the rim by evening. They only took a short break at the lower ranch. Tom wished them well and they were on the road again.

It was past sundown when they made a dry camp on the rim in the big pines. Victor had brought plenty of lanterns. They watered the horses from the two water barrels, planning to refill them the next morning at the sawmill. Supper was soon cooking.

Liz's tent was struck, and the horses ate grain out of feedbags hung on their heads. They soon had coffee, and the beef Victor got from Tom sizzled along with fried potatoes and biscuits in the big Dutch oven. Somewhere in the night, a wolf howled and another answered.

Liz scooted closer to him on the bench. “That was not a coyote.”

“No, he was a big old timber wolf. They can be calf-eating rascals if they ever get a taste of one. They mostly eat deer, but one bite of beef and they turn bad.”

“Did you have them in Texas?” she asked.

“No, we had those smaller red wolves. I think, like the buffalo, they once had them in Texas, but they got shot out early on.”

“Oh, we have the red ones in Mexico, too.”

“Yes, we heard them when we were down there,” Cole said.

“We better help him get cleaned up here,” Chet said. “Morning will come early for us to move and set our camp farther up the road.”

Everyone lent a hand and things were put away.

“At our next camp, we better swing those provisions in the sky. There ain't no shortage of bears up here.”

Victor agreed. “I hope they don't come in our camp.”

Later, in their bedroll with his wife, she said, “I never knew Victor before. He is a real smart person.”

“Yes, I'm going to talk to Tom about making him the farm manager on the Verde place. I have a young man in the Force who'll need work if they shut it down. Shawn McElroy is a smart, hardworking cowboy who could take Vic's place at the Windmill herding cattle each month to the Navajos.”

“I met him down there. He is the quick thinking kind.”

“Yes. Roamer can move on to Wells Fargo. I'm certain Dodge wants him to work for them.”

She snuggled against him. “What if Victor and Rhea want to get married?”

“They can live in the big house and Adam will be close enough to share with us.”

“Think he'd like farming?”

“It would be a challenge. Hampt was a cowboy, but he applied himself and is the best alfalfa raiser I have. Vic could do the same, I bet. Tom is fine, but he has lots to cover. I think Vic could make a better farm operation manager, and we need that.”

“We better get some sleep; morning will be early.”

“Love you.” He really did; she fit right into his life and he really felt dedicated to her. Drifting off to sleep he thought about big elks—with tall racks.