“Are you all right, Miz Arabella?” another man asked, coming quickly to the scene. This man was wearing a star on his shirt.
“Oh, that awful man!” Arabella said.
“I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!”
The angry shout came from the man Cade had just knocked down.
“Cade, look out, he has a gun!” Arabella screamed in warning.
Whirling back toward the man on the ground, Cade saw that the man had drawn his pistol, and was pointing it at him. Thinking instinctively, Cade kicked the man in the head as hard as he could. The kick was brutally effective as blood and brain matter erupted from the side of the man’s head.
Quickly, Cade dropped to one knee to examine him, but no examination was necessary.
“You killed him, Mister,” the man with the badge said, stating the obvious.
Cade looked up to plead his case, but what the lawman said next indicated that no such plea was necessary.
“You really had no choice, it was clearly self-defense. Don’t worry, nothin’ will come from it, I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks,” Cade said.
17
THE MAN WITH THE BADGE extended his hand. “I’m Deputy Miller. This lady is Miz Arabella Dupree. I reckon we owe you our lives.”
“Not necessarily. It looked to me like I was the one he was about to shoot.”
“He wouldn’t have stopped there,” the deputy said.
During the exchange of words with the deputy, Cade never took his eyes away from the woman who had just been introduced to him as Arabella Dupree.
“Deputy Miller is right,” Arabella said. “Mr. Jensen may well have killed us. But even so, I owe you my thanks for coming to my rescue as you did.”
“Yeah, I saw Jensen grabbin’ at you from down at the corner,” Deputy Miller said. “But before I could get to you, this man stepped in. What did Jensen want with you, Miz Arabella? Why was he grabbing at you like that?”
“He . . . had done some work for me at the Red House, and he thought I owed him money. Believe me, I owed him nothing.”
The deputy looked again toward Cade. “What is your name, anyway?”
For a brief second, Cade thought of giving a false name just as he had when he was taken onto the Fremad. But the deputy’s response indicated that there would be no trouble as a result of what had just happened.
“The name is McCall. Cade McCall.”
“Cade, that’s right. Miz Arabella did call you Cade, didn’t she?”
“Yes, she did,” Cade said pointedly, continuing to stare at Arabella. He had to give her credit, she made no effort to look away.
“Listen, Mr. McCall. Would you be so kind as to walk Miz Arabella back to her place? I don’t think she needs to stay here while Jensen’s lyin’ there like that.” He nodded toward the body. “I’ll get the undertaker to come take care of him.”
“I don’t need anyone to walk me back,” Arabella said.
“Oh, it’s all right, I’ll be glad to do it,” Cade said pointedly.
By now other people were beginning to gather at the grizzly scene so when Cade indicated they should leave, Arabella didn’t protest.
They were half a block away before Cade spoke.
“What happened to your phony French accent?”
“The accent Francais was real, Monsieur,” she said with a strong accent. “It is my Texas accent that is phony,” she added, affecting a flat, Texas twang.
“And the name, Chantal? Was it real as well?”
“Arabella Dupree is my real name.”
“You called me Cade. How did you know my name?”
“You told me your name.”
“Yes, but of all the men you must have . . . uh . . . known, how is it that you remembered me?”
“It was easy. You are red headed, you have an interesting scar on your forehead, and you were the last man I arranged for Lundy to shanghai.”
“You forgot something.”
“Yes. You were the only man I ever stole fourteen hundred and twenty- seven dollars from,” Arabella added.
By now they had reached the Red House. “I came here right after you left, and used the money to buy the Red House. This is my place now,” she said, taking it in with a wave of her hand.
“Our place,” Cade corrected
There was an elegant restaurant as part of the Red House. There were also private dining rooms and it was to one of those rooms that Arabella had taken Cade.
“I want to thank you again for coming to my rescue,” Arabella said after they were seated.
“What did he really want with you? I’m sure it wasn’t to be paid for some work he had done.”
“He knew about my background. I’ve established a legitimate name for myself here, and he threatened to tell everyone of my unsavory past. I gave him some money thinking it would placate him, but it didn’t. He kept coming back for more.”
“Are you really a widow?”
Arabella smiled. “You really have investigated me, haven’t you? No, I’ve never been married, but I thought coming here as a widow would keep people from asking questions.”
“You mean like I’m doing now?”
“No. You have every right to ask questions, especially given our past relationship.”
That’s what you call our two times together? It was a relationship?”
“I know how angry you must be with me.”
“Angry? Now, why should I be angry? All you did was steal fifteen hundred dollars from me.”
“Fourteen hundred and twenty – seven dollars,” Arabella corrected.
“But the worst thing you did was arrange for me to be shanghaied. That took eighteen months of my life away from me and nearly got me killed by putting me in the middle of a war in South America. Believe me, I had already been in one war, I didn’t need to be in another one.”
“Sailors are shanghaied all the time. Some of them expect it as a way of getting their next berth. I thought you would be more angry about the money I took, than arranging for you to be shanghaied.”
“Why? I will never get those eighteen months back. I can always get the money back. In this case, it was just an investment.”
“Investment? Yes, you did say our place, didn’t you?” Arabella replied.
“I did.” Cade smiled. “And our place seems to be doing quite well.”
“Cade, you don’t intend to, uh, do anything that would embarrass me, do you? Right now I have a position in Galveston society, I belong to at least three women’s clubs, but if information about my past would get out somehow, my reputation, and our investment would come crashing down.” Arabella emphasized the word, ‘our’.
“Your secret is safe with me,” Cade said.
“How do you want to handle your investment?”
“I want you to put half of your profits into a box, each month. When that box has fourteen hundred and twenty – seven dollars in it, give it to me, and I’ll make no further claim.”
Arabella smiled, broadly, and reached across the table to put her hand on Cade’s arm. “You are being most gracious about this, Monsieur,” she said in the heaviest French accent. “After dinner, why don’t we take a bottle of Champagne to my apartment and celebrate?”
“Oh, no,” Cade said, shaking his head. “I remember what happened the last time I drank Champagne with you and, like New Orleans, Galveston is on the water.”
“I’ll let you open the bottle, and I’ll drink it first,” Arabella said, laughing.
Johnny Lattigo was at least twenty years older than either Cade or Jeter. His gray hair was kept relatively short, and his gray moustache covered his mouth. His eyes were a light blue, and, like Cade, he had a scar on his face, a dark red lightning flash down his left cheek.
“The more we bring in, the lower our cut,” Lattigo complained.
“If I’m a part of it, he’s a part of it,” Jeter said. “And if that don’t work for you, me ‘n him will go off ‘n start our own
cow hunt.”
“No, no, now, there ain’ no need for you to go off ‘n be doin’ ‘nything like that. I was just commentin’ is all, I wasn’t actual complainin’.”
“The first thing we’ve got to do is get ourselves outfitted,” Jeter said.
“What does that take?” Cade asked.
“At least three horses, a good saddle, ropes, and chaps,” Lattigo said.
“And a skillet, a dutch oven, a coffee pot, a cup ‘n a tin plate,” Jeter added.
“Me ‘n Jeter been savin’ our money to get ready for this,” Lattigo said to Cade. “You got enough to outfit yourself, or are we goin’ to have to make you a loan?”
“How much will it all cost?” Cade asked.
“It’ll come to about two hundred and fifty dollars,” Jeter said.
Cade nodded. “I’ve got enough.”
“Damn, sailorin’ must ‘a paid real good,” Jeter said.
“I managed to pick up a little extra money while I was in South America,” Cade said.
They spent the next two days putting together what they would need for their adventure. Once they were completely outfitted, they headed west toward Jackson County.
“Does somebody live here?” Cade asked, when the three men stopped in front of a small, log cabin on the bank of the Navidad River.
“Yeah, we do, seein’ as we’re the first ones here,” Jeter answered with a smile. “But as you can see, there ain’t nothin’ in it, ‘n the door and winders is all open.”
“I wonder who built it.”
“There don’t nobody really know who it was that actual built it, but it’s got a corral we can use for the casteratin’ ‘n brandin’, ‘n a good pasture with enough grass ‘n water to keep the cows content ‘till we can start north with ‘em,” Lattigo said. “I was here three years ago with some others, ‘n we used it then. Now it belongs to whoever is here first.”
“And that’s us,” Jeter said.
“I figure, with the three of us, we should be able to round up about twenty-five to fifty a day. Say we can only get twenty-five a day, within a month we’ll have seven hunnert ‘n fifty cut ‘n our brand, then we’ll take ‘em up to Abilene ‘n sell ‘em there.”
The corral fencing had fallen down in a dozen or more places, and for the first few days the only thing they did was make the repairs. Then came the first day of the actual roundup.
Cade learned that the cattle tended to stay in the brush during the day time, wandering out only at night. Because of that, the best time for catching the cows was from two hours before sunrise, until the sun actually rose. They also had luck catching them on the nights when the moon was bright enough for them to see.
It didn’t take Cade long to learn how to rope a cow. Jeter showed him that all he had to do was ride up close enough to one with a loop that was wide enough, and it was a matter of just dropping it over their heads . . . making sure that he cleared the horns then wrapping the rope around the saddle horn a few times so the horse would be the one to take up the initial shock. Then, most of the time, they could lead the cow on in to the corral.
The three men came up with a brand, and because they wanted one that would be easy to apply they settled on IIIX. They were able to do that with a branding iron that consisted of only one vertical bar, crossing it to make the X.
“Were you in the war, Lattigo?” Cade asked one night as the three men were having their supper.
“Yeah,” Lattigo said. “But I didn’ wear the same color you two boys wore.”
“As far as I’m concerned, now, it doesn’t matter what uniform we wore. We all faced the same dangers, we all saw friends killed, Yank or Reb,” Cade said.
“You got that right.”
“And a lot of us have the scars to prove it,” Cade continued, putting his finger on his scar.
“Yeah, only, I didn’t get this scar in the war,” Lattigo said.
“Oh?”
“I run into a Mex who needed a horse ‘n he thought I might give him mine, ‘n we had a little scuffle over it.” Lattigo put his finger over his own scar, which was longer, and more disfiguring that Cade’s. “He left me permanently scarred, ‘n I left him permanently dead,” he added.
A couple of weeks after that discussion they were in the process of castrating and branding one day, when two men rode up.
“You know them fellers, Lattigo?” Jeter asked, just as a freshly branded cow got up and started quickly toward the other side of the corral.
Lattigo took his hat off, and brushed a fall of hair from his forehead. “Yeah,” he said. “I know ‘em.”
When Lattigo started toward the fence, Cade and Jeter followed.
“What brings you out here, Harris?” Lattigo asked.
“Now is that any way to treat an old friend?” Harris replied with a greasy smile.
“We rode for the Diamond T brand, but I never thought of us as particular friends. What brings you out here?”
“To be honest, me ‘n a few more boys was plannin’ on doin’ the same thing you’re doin’.”
“Go ahead, there’s a lot more cows out here than we’ll be able to collect.”
“Yeah, well, the thing is, we was plannin’ on usin’ this cabin ‘n corral.”
“You’re goin’ to have to find your own place. We was here first, ‘n we proved it up by repairin’ the fence.”
“Do you care if we take a look at some of your cows, just to see what kind of mavericks is out here?”
“Be my guest,” Lattigo replied. “But climb the fence, don’t open the gate. Some of ‘em is still pretty spooked, ‘n I don’t want to have to go roundin’ ‘em up again.”
Harris handed his reins to the rider who had come out with him, then climbed the fence and walked through the corral, checking the cattle.
“How many more you plannin’ on gatherin’?” Harris asked.
“We’ve got nearly five hundred now,” Lattigo said. “We’re thinking about another two hundred fifty.”
“What you plannin’ on doin’ with ‘em?”
“We’re goin’ to drive ‘em up to Abilene.”
“Linus Puckett will take ‘em all off your hands right now, for ten dollars a head.”
“Why should we sell to the LP for ten dollars, when we can sell ‘em in Abilene for thirty dollars?”
“You have to get ‘em there first. Puckett is taking a big herd up to Kansas, he’ll put your cows in with his, ‘n you won’t have to worry about takin’ ‘em up.”
“No thanks.”
Lattigo was unusually quiet over supper that night.
“What is it, Lattigo?” Jeter asked. “You ain’t spoke more ‘n half a dozen words since them boys left this afternoon.”
“Harris is up to no good,” Lattigo said.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what he has in mind, but I know the son of a bitch, ‘n he ain’t worth the gunpowder it would take to blow his nose. He mentioned that we rode for the Diamond T? He cut some cows out for ‘is own. I should ‘a told Mr. Taylor then, but I didn’t, ‘n when Taylor found out I know’d about it ‘n didn’t tell ‘im, he fired me. ‘N truth to tell, he had ever’ right to fire me. No, sir, Harris has got somethin’ planned, ‘n I don’t have ‘ny idea what it is.”
“Five hundred and seventy-five wearing our brand,” Cade said proudly the next day, after having counted all the cattle in the pasture.
“I’ll go into Texana this afternoon and see if I can get a couple boys to make the drive with us.”
“You ain’t goin’ to get no cowmen in Texana,” Jeter said. “Hell, there ain’t nobody there but sailors.”
“There are a lot of sailors who haven’t always been seamen,” Cade said. “And a lot of those are not all that anxious to ship out again.”
“Yeah,” Jeter said with a grin. “I reckon you would know about somethin’ like that, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m sure we can find a couple of men we can use,” Lattigo s
aid. “And as soon as we get seven hundred fifty head put together, we’ll start north.”
“Lattigo?” Jeter said. There was a curious tone to his voice. “Looks like we got company.”
Looking in the direction Jeter pointed, Cade saw at least six men riding toward them. He recognized one of them as Harris, the man who had visited them yesterday. Two of the approaching men were wearing stars on their vest.
“Who are all those men?” Jeter asked. “What are they doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. That’s Sheriff Boskey.” Lattigo walked out to them. “Harris, what is this? Why have you brought the sheriff out here?”
“I’ve come to collect my cows,” Harris said.
“What do you mean, you’ve come to collect your cows? What are you talking about?”
“Tell ‘im, Sheriff.” Harris could barely control the grin on his face.
“Lattigo, are all these cows wearing the same brand? The IIIX?” the sheriff asked.
“Yes. They were mavericks, Sheriff. We rounded them up and branded them ourselves.”
“With the IIIX brand?”
“Yes, I told you. That’s our brand.”
“No it ain’t,” Harris said. “It’s my brand.”
“What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean, that’s your brand?”
“Mr. Harris is right, Lattigo. He has filed on the IIIX brand. There is no record that you boys have. That means every cow wearing that brand belongs to Eb Harris.”
“You’ll play hell gettin’ these cows,” Lattigo shouted. Hurrying back to the corral, he reached for his pistol which was in the holster hanging over the fence.
“Lattigo, no!” the sheriff shouted. “Don’t you pull that gun!”
“You son of a bitch! You ain’t gettin’ our cows!”
By now the sheriff and two other men had already drawn their weapons and all three fired. Lattigo went down under a hail of bullets.
Jeter ran to his fallen friend.
“Get away from him!” the sheriff shouted. “Willis, get away from there. The two of you, stand aside!”
The Western Adventures of Cade McCall Box Set Page 14