Blood on the Verde River (35 page)

“Cole, get the ranch mail for my wife while you're in there.”

“Sure thing, no problem. I'll bring it back when they get him fixed up.”

“Thanks. Be careful.”

With Cole and Rose on the road to town, Chet watched the teams being driven around. They were a little high headed, but they had not been driven in quite a while so that didn't seem to be a problem. Jesus was checking them for age and soundness. They found two more teams—not as big—but that would do fine on hay rakes.

The old boy—Happens—who'd come with Rose was spitting tobacco and thanking Chet in a long drawl. “I couldn't talk no sense in Rose about that durn tooth. I sure do appreciate you taking charge, Mr. Byrnes.”

“What about the rest of these horses?”

“They're all young ranch horses. Aw, they might buck—a little. My paw said a horse won't buck wasn't worth—well you know that word rhymes with buck. Anyway, there's three nice mares in this lot. I understood they were Kentucky stock.”

“They open?” Chet had been watching them. They might make good brood mares for his golden stud Barbarossa.

“Sure are and they've been pure hell to drive. And they come in heat all at different times.”

Chet laughed. He could imagine some proud cut geldings and some mares could be a mess to drive. Everyone,
everyone
rode geldings on drives.

“Look at the mares, too,” he told Jesus in passing.

He heard him.

“You sure got a pretty spread up here,” Happens mentioned.

“This was my wife's family ranch. My working outfit is down on the Verde north of here.”

“You ain't no Arizona regular.”

“No. We came from the hill country in Texas.”

Happens frowned. “You like it here that well?”

“I like it better than the damn Texas feud I was in back there.”

Happens straightened his suspenders and buttoned his coat against the cold. He spit aside before he spoke. “I damn sure would, too.”

The men had the horses all haltered and tied so they took a break, waiting for Rose's return. There were five teams possible. Ten cowponies had been ridden and the three mares checked out.

“Why, hell”—Happens spit tobacco aside—“you buy all them then we ain't going to Utah. That makes me happy.”

“I'm going to try. Good horses are hard to find, especially out here.”

“Your man says you got a Barbarossa stud. I ain't never hear of one of them outside of that big hacienda.”

“A boy had a mare and he put out a challenge. If his mare could outrun the patron's best horse could he get a stud fee? Lose the race, he'd loose the mare. He beat their best horse and the patron bred the mare. The colt was too valuable for him to own, I bought him as a yearling, and brought him to Arizona with my family. We came by wagon from west Texas.”

“You must have a tough family.” Happens shook his head. “Damn nice to meet 'cha.”

“We are indeed tough. And I'm glad you all came by. Come to the house. Cole will be back soon. Where is your other man?”

“He went to the cook shack. I probably should go there, too. Being on the road it's hard to stay clean.”

“Marge won't mind. She's married to a cowboy.”

Happens cleaned his mouth of tobacco with a finger. Then he rinsed his mouth at the pump and spat it aside. He wiped his whiskered mouth on his old rag of a handkerchief. “I'll try to show my manners.”

Chet laughed and clapped him on his jacket. “Don't worry. Women here are used to cowboys.”

Chet hung his coat and hat in the back hall and Happens's too. They went inside and he introduced Monica and his wife to him.

“We have coffee ready,” Marge said. “Do you drink coffee?”

“Oh sure, ma'am. I'd love some.”

“Cream and sugar?”

“No, just coffee. You sure have a beautiful home here.”

“Chet, Cole is back, but doesn't have Mr. Rose with him, Monica said, looking out the kitchen window.

“What happened to him, do you reckon?”

“He's coming to the house. He's got mail, too.”

“Where's Mr. Rose?” Chet asked, taking the stack of letters from his man.

“The dentist made him stay overnight. He was bleeding a lot and wants to treat him. Said the ride might shake him up. I can go get him in the morning. He'll live, Doc said.” He dropped his voice. “There's a letter in there from your nephew.”

Chet's heart stopped. “Thanks. Plan on going back in the morning and get him. Rose and I have lots of trading to do.”

“He really thanked you.”

“Good.”

Happens rose. “Ask him to wait. I need to see where to bunk down while he's going. Thanks ma'am. That's the best coffee I ever had in my whole life. Sure appreciate your hospitality.”

“Come again.” She crossed the room, pale faced and holding a small envelope in her hands. “Look at the address. Look—Socorro County Prison, Socorro, New Mexico.”

“Let me open it.” Chet used his jackknife to slit open the envelope and pulled out two thin sheets of paper. He unfolded them. It was JD's script.

He went to the table and sat down to read it aloud to the women.

Chet turned over the envelope. It was stamped Belen, New Mexico Territory

The three women were white-faced.

Susie was the first to speak. “What can we do?”

“The lawyer in Prescott?” Chet asked.

“His name is Sam Egan,” Marge said.

“Yes, I recall him now. One of you copy this letter and we'll take it to Egan. He can contact the New Mexico attorney general tomorrow and I'll need a good lawyer to meet me in Socorro in four or five days. We will have Christmas here tomorrow afternoon and night.”

“Good. You are not going to wait?” Marge said, sounding relieved.

“I'll wait till Christmas Day to catch the stage. I don't want him in there any longer, but the family needs me here. The young ones expect it. We will have Christmas Eve here.”

“Oh Chet, how could they do that to him?” Susie was on the verge of crying.

“They haven't seen my wrath and fury yet. Everyone is entitled to a jury of their peers. I hear that every time there is a crime. This is not Mexico. I bet those sale bills he had for those horses are now conveniently gone.”

“How can we find them?” she asked.

“Beats the hell out of me.”

“What should we tell his mother?” Marge asked. “She will not be here tomorrow.”

“Send her a letter and do the same for Reg and Lucy. I need to go tell my two men what we need to do on Christmas Day.”

“Yes, you need to do that. You will sure need them along as mad as you are.”

“I will calm down when I have things working.”

Marge went over and hugged him. Susie joined them.

Chet stepped back. “Tom can come up and buy those horses from Rose when the poor man gets well. I'm going to see this Sam Egan this evening.”

“Take it easy today,” Marge said. “Susie and I can go see him the day after Christmas. We will have him get a good lawyer to meet you in Socorro. We can run things pretty good here.”

Chet agreed. He put on his coat and hat to go to the bunkhouse and talk to his two men. Once outside, he noticed a snowflake or two in the air. The sky looked like a fluffed goose's belly. All he needed was a big snow. It would be a long trip there and back. Lots of things to tie in. Lawyers, the New Mexico law enforcement, and the territory's attorney general . . . at a place he'd never been.

His fingers closed on the U.S. deputy marshal badge in his coat pocket. That might come in handy, too. The sun was already setting. One of the shortest days in the year, he hunched under his heavy jacket against the cold.

Boy, he could get in some real fixes and if he didn't, his family members did.

Dear fans and readers,

I sure appreciate all the folks that have been following the Byrnes Family Saga. It's been fun to write and to research things going on in the South-west in that era.

The Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott houses the old
Daily Miner
newspapers. The people were very generous to Pat and I several years ago when we were doing research. Whenever you are in Preskitt (Prescott) Arizona stop by and look through their exhibits. Have a meal at the Palace Saloon and study that great bar. Cowboys saved that bar about the turn of the century when a fire raged through Whiskey Row and they literally, by hand, hauled it out to the street.

Several famous people have been there or lived there. Tom Horn rodeoed there. So did Tom Mix, who became a great western movie star.
Junior Bonner,
the movie starring Steve McQueen, was filmed there. The Earp brothers were raising hogs in Prescott before they went to Tombstone. There is a great statue of another Arizona hero, “Bucky O'Neal,” who was a past sheriff and mayor and who died in action as a Rough Rider in Cuba with Teddy Roosevelt.

With one of the oldest professional rodeos in the U.S., it is a busy time in Prescott around the Fourth of July. In August, there is a cowboy gathering and poet deal—check it out. We had a great time at those sessions. Another attraction is an early in the century movie theatre that has been restored to hold concerts.

Today, Prescott it is a modern city with a nice mix of weather and not too rough winters. Folks from Phoenix flood that country in the summer to escape the heat. There are still dude ranches in the region.

I am beating the computer to death pounding on the keys to get the Byrnes stories out. Thanks for buying them. I have a website,
www.dustyrichards.com
. I answer e-mail which takes more time than I have, but no problem. Send questions or comments to [email protected]. Sorry, I don't do Twitter and Facebook.

Thanks for all your support. We have one thing in common—we like to read westerns. God bless you and yours.

Dusty Richards

 

P.S. Don't miss Book Five in the Byrnes Family Saga. We're working on it right now.

PINNACLE BOOKS are published by

 

Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018

 

Copyright © 2013 Dusty Richards

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

 

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

 

PINNACLE BOOKS and the Pinnacle logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

ISBN: 978-0-7860-3193-1

 

 

First electronic edition: August 2013

 

ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-3194-1
ISBN-10: 0-7860-3194-8