[Texas Rangers 06] - Jericho's Road (25 page)

“
The old don was a big landowner on both sides of the Rio Grande before the Americans came. I guess he believed in spendin’ his money.”

“
I would too, if I had any.”

“
Your family still has a right smart of land. The carpetbaggers didn’t steal all of it.”

“
It belongs to my mother and my sister, not to me.” Farley’s eyes widened a little. “Now that I think on it, the carpetbaggers did to us Bracketts what the Americans did to the Chavez family. But there were people here before the Chavezes. The Spanish did to the Indians what the Americans did to the Spanish and the Mexicans later. And what your Comanches did to the Apaches and any other Indians that got in their way. The same things keep happenin’ over and over again. It’s just the people that change.”

Andy wanted to argue but recognized the truth in Farley’s comment. “The trouble you stirred up with the carpetbaggers and the state police was like what Lupe Chavez does to Jericho and the other gringos.”

“
But I never hurt no honest citizens. Chavez don’t make much distinction as long as they’re gringo.”

“
He still looks on it like a war. Wars always hurt innocent people.”

Farley frowned. “That ain’t no reason to sympathize with him.”

“
But I do, sort of. It’d be simpler if I didn’t. Then I wouldn’t be pulled one way and another over what’s right and what’s wrong.”

An old woman entered the house. She carried a small cotton bag. One of the younger women met her and escorted her down the hall. Andy reasoned that she was the
curandera
Tony had mentioned. He could hear a buzz of conversation from the direction of Tony’s room.

Lupe Chavez returned, a satisfied look on his face. “All is well now. When the old woman speaks, heaven listens.”

Andy said, “Wouldn’t it be better to have a real doctor look at him?”

“
Doña Maria is a doctor. She has not the papers from the university, but she knows things that are not written in the university’s books.”

Andy shrugged. He had little doubt that Tony would survive anyhow. He had been well on the way to healing before his fall reopened the wound. With a
curandera’s
attentions it might just take a little longer.

Chavez said, “You doubt, but there is much you gringos do not know.”

Andy said, “I spent several years with the Comanches. They had their own version of the
curanderos.
”

That piqued Chavez’s interest. “You are not Indian.”

“
They tried to make one out of me. Came awful close.”

Chavez demanded to know more. Andy told him how Comanche raiders had killed his mother and father and taken him to raise as one of their own. He had been well on his way to becoming a warrior when he fell back into the white man’s world.

Chavez became more animated. “There was a time we had to fight the Indians. In the days of my grandfather they drove many of our people off of their land. But not him. He built this house to be a fort. Never did they break in. Neither will the Jericho. Neither will the
rinches.
”

“
They tell me Jericho’s house is a lot like this one.”

“
Because my grandfathers built it to stand against the Indians. But it could not stand against the lawyers and the Yankee land grabbers. They fight with paper, not with guns. So many lawyers, so many papers.”

“
Me and Farley, we’re not lawyers. There ain’t nothin’ we can do to help you, and nothin’ we can do to hurt you, either. I don’t see any need in us stayin’ here.”

Chavez frowned. “I still do not know if you are spies for the
rinches.
”

“
We ain’t. Even if we were, there’s nothin’ we could tell that would be of any use to them. They already know where this place is, and they’ll pretty soon figure out that Tony is here. But they can’t do anything about it. It’s illegal for them to cross the border.”

“
It was illegal when the McNelly came with all his
rinches
across the river and invaded the Rancho Las Cuevas. He killed many men who were not bandits. He killed them only because they were Mexicans. Some were of my blood. My very own family.”

Andy had heard stories about McNelly’s bold raid in pursuit of bandits. It was claimed afterward that he hit the wrong ranch and killed several innocent men before he found his intended target. By then he was surrounded by Mexican soldiers and vaqueros. Only intervention by the U.S. Army extricated him and averted the annihilation of his command. Even so, he provoked an international incident that raised smoke all the way to Washington and Mexico City.

On the positive side, the border raids stopped for a while. Under the circumstances Andy did not think it prudent to mention that. All he said was, “I wasn’t here. Neither was Farley.”

“
But you are
americanos.
You share the blame.”

Andy was familiar with the concept of collective guilt, though he did not agree with it. To the Comanches, a wrong by one white was a wrong by all whites. Vengeance could be exacted upon any who came in handy.

Chavez said, “Poor Mexico. So far from God and so near to Texas.”

The two younger women came up the hall. Chavez spoke, and both answered him at the same time. He turned to Andy and Farley. “We will eat now. Not even a gringo
rinche
is to be hungry in this house.”

Andy took this as a hopeful sign that Chavez did not intend to shoot them, at least not for a while.

Chavez led them into a dining room, where the women began placing food on a large handmade table that had legs thick as fence posts. Its varnish had darkened with age and was worn through along the edges and much of the top. “You will sit.”

He bowed his head and spoke a prayer. Andy found that inconsistent with the shooting of the wounded Jericho man, but he had never understood the flexible interpretations given religion by people who considered themselves civilized. It seemed they could find biblical justification for almost anything they chose to do.

Finished eating, Chavez said, “It is true that you wanted only to take Antonio back to his mother?”

Andy nodded. “And his stepfather. Big Jim has been awful worried about him.”

“
That man’s name is not spoken in this house.”

“
Why? He’s your sister’s husband, and he raised Tony like he was his own.”

“
But he is not of our blood. The Jericho took our land with lawyers and a gun. The McCawley took it with a wedding. In the end it was all the same”.

“
You’re wrong. Him and your sister love each other.”

“
That I do not believe. What he loves is the land. Our land.”

Andy quit arguing. To anger Chavez might put Farley and himself in deeper jeopardy. He pushed his chair back from the table and said, “What now?”

“
I am still thinking. You will stay while I decide.” He walked to the door and shouted to a vaquero who stood outside, watching the trail. “You will follow Porfirio. He will see that you go nowhere.”

Porfirio was tall and lanky with dark eyes cold as January. He carried two pistols and a rifle, which he politely but firmly pointed toward a small stone outbuilding that had a front door but no windows. He motioned for them to enter, then closed the door behind them. Andy heard the clatter of a bar dropped into place.

He said, “Pretty dark in here.”

Farley replied, “Kind of like our future.”

“
Don’t give up. I believe Tony’ll keep talkin’ in our favor.”

“
He’s not much more than a kid. You think Chavez will pay any attention to him?”

“
Seems to me like these Mexicans put a lot of store in blood relations.”

“
Especially when you hurt one of them.”

Andy’s eyes accustomed themselves to the dark interior. He found a goatskin and spread it on the dirt floor, then stretched out on it. “After ridin’ all night and finally gettin’ my stomach full, I’m tired out.”

“
You may be fixin’ to get a lot longer sleep than you figured on.” Farley found a piece of canvas and made a bed of sorts. “Every time I try to do a good deed for somebody, I find myself in trouble all the way up to my chin.”

Cracks in the stone wall and around the door admitted just enough light that Andy could guess at the sun’s position. Just at dusk he heard a commotion outside: dogs barking, a babble of voices, several shouts of warning. He sat up, wondering if Rancho Chavez was being invaded by Rangers or perhaps Jericho’s outfit. He heard no shots, however.

Andy went to the door and tried to peer out through the narrow space at its edge. “Can’t see a thing.”

Farley said, “If it’s good news we’ll hear about it eventually. If it’s bad we’ll hear sooner.”

After a while Andy heard the bar being removed. Porfirio swung the door open and beckoned, giving a curt command. Andy and Farley both blinked, for even at dusk the light seemed bright after their confinement in near darkness. Porfirio pointed toward the house. “
A la casa.
”

A buggy stood in front. Several vaqueros were gathered around it or were watching the front door. They appeared to be having a heated discussion.

One of Chavez’s young women opened the door and motioned for Andy and Farley to enter.

Teresa McCawley shouted, “Farley! Are you all right?”

Teresa and her mother stood in the parlor. Teresa rushed to Farley and threw her arms around him. Farley looked surprised and confused, keeping his arms at his sides for a moment, then raising them to embrace the girl. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with me,” he said. “What’s all the fuss about?”

For the first time Andy saw Big Jim McCawley over in a corner. He and Lupe Chavez were engaged in a silent staring match. It was not friendly.

McCawley asked, “You boys all right?”

Andy said, “We’re fine. Been enjoyin’ Mr. Chavez’s hospitality. Kind of surprised to see you here.”

“
I’m surprised myself, but we had to come and see what happened to Tony. We had no idea we’d find you-all here too.”

“
Mr. Chavez insisted on us stayin’.”

McCawley explained that one of the ranch hands had overtaken them on the San Antonio road with news of Tony’s break. “Tony says he wouldn’t have made it to the river if you-all hadn’t come along at just the right time. I’m obliged to you. We all are.”

Andy looked at Chavez, searching for any sign that he shared that gratitude. He said, “Me and Farley will escort you-all home when you’re ready to go. You might run into some of the Jericho bunch.” He looked to Chavez, half expecting to be contradicted.

In a cold manner Chavez told McCawley, “I offer you escort to the river. You will want to cross before dark. The women are welcome to stay as long as they wish.”

Big Jim said stubbornly, “We’ll all go together when my wife and daughter say so.”

The two men stared hard at each other again until finally Chavez shrugged. “Naturally they will wish to stay with Antonio awhile. I do not like you, gringo, but you are safe under my roof.”

“
I’ve got a bedroll. I’ll sleep outside and not contaminate your house.”

Sternly Chavez said, “You stole our land by marrying my sister. So you will do the proper thing. You will sleep in a bed with the woman you married. She is your property now, just like our land.”

Big Jim declared, “She’s not property. Can’t you get it through your wooden head that I married
her
, not your land?”

Juana McCawley’s face flushed in anger. She lashed into her brother in rapid-fire Spanish that crackled like burning cedar. Andy did not understand the words, but their meaning was clear.

Chavez tried to stand up to her but finally slumped in surrender. He said, “I can defeat an army of
rinches
or the men of the Jericho. But I cannot stand against a determined woman.”

Teresa held to Farley’s arm. She launched a tirade of her own. Chavez shook his head sadly. “You also?”

“
Yes, me too. Farley is my friend. You will not hold him any longer.”

Chavez shrugged again. “You may all stay or you may all go. I wash my hands.”

Andy spent two uneasy days until the two women were certain Tony would recover. They gave up hope that he would consent to leave his uncle and return home with them. Big Jim assured them, “He’s probably safer here anyway, south of the river. Jericho might try for him again if Tony was at our place.”

Juana and Teresa said their good-byes to Tony. Big Jim stood behind them, sadness in his eyes. Tony had spoken to him but little, and only in a formal, standoffish manner. He pointedly avoided addressing him either by name or by any version of the word
father.