Kilgore nodded. “You’re right. We don’t need him. But, what if the son of a bitch starts talkin’? What if he decides he can bargain his way out of jail if he tells what we got planned?”
“He won’t talk.”
“How do you know he won’t talk?”
“I promise you, he won’t talk,” Mudd said again.
12
Indianola was the county seat of Calhoun County, with a population of nearly five thousand people. It was a bustling community which competed with Galveston as a port city, and when Cade rode into town, the street was full of wagons, buckboards, and carriages. He dismounted in front of the sheriff’s office.
“Yes, sir, what can I do for you?” the sheriff asked.
“Sheriff, my name is Cade McCall, from over in Jackson County. I’m putting together a cattle drive through to Kansas, and because of circumstances, the cook I had planned on using is no longer available. I got a lead on someone here who might be a possibility. His name is Willie Tyrone. Do you know anything about him?”
The sheriff chuckled. “I know two things about him. He’s a very good cook, and right now he’s half way to England.”
“What?”
“He signed on to sail with the Texas Star.”
“What about Moses Joiner?”
“You willin’ to pay his bail?”
“He’s in jail?”
“He tends to spend a lot of time in my jail,” the sheriff said.
Cade shook his head. “No thanks, that’s the problem with the one I have now.”
“You might try Ron Trapp. Right now he’s ridin’ shotgun for the Coastal Stage, but he’s done some cookin’ in the past. I think he made a drive a couple of years ago for Richard King.”
“Is he out on a trip right now, or is he in town?”
“He’s in town; doesn’t leave until tomorrow. I saw him down at the depot about an hour ago.”
Trapp was drinking coffee with some of the team handlers when Cade went into the stage depot.
“Mr. Trapp, my name is Cade McCall, I’m a cattle drive contractor, and I’m looking for a cook.”
“You’re wantin’ to hire me, are you?”
“Well, I certainly want to talk to you about it,” Cade said.
“When are you leavin’?”
Cade smiled. “Well, that all depends on when I get a cook. But as soon as possible.”
“If you’d put it off for a month, I’ll cook for you.”
“Put it off for a month?”
“Yeah.” Trapp smiled. “I got me a mail-order bride comin’ in, in a couple of weeks, ‘n I wouldn’t want to get married then run off ‘n leave her, first thing. Besides which if you leave too soon, why, I might not be here when she gets here, ‘n what if she ups ‘n marries somebody else? I figure if you would wait a month though, it would all work out.”
Cade shook his head. “Sorry, Mr. Trapp, you’ve made trail drives; you know how it is. The quicker we get there, the better the price. I’m afraid I can’t wait a month.”
“Then I can’t cook for you,” Trapp said. “Truth is, I’m not all that sure I want to, anyway. Ridin’ shotgun on a stage coach don’t pay as much, but it ain’t as tirin’ ‘n you ain’t never gone more ‘n a few days at a time; nothin’ like a three or four month trail drive.” Trapp turned away and lifted the coffee cup to his mouth, by way of dismissal.
From Indianola, Cade rode to Wharton, where he heard there were two possibilities. One of the prospects was working as a clerk in a clothing store, and he didn’t want to leave the comfort and safety of such a job. When the other prospect was pointed out to Cade he saw a man who was so filthy that Cade felt dirty, just by looking at him. He rode away without even approaching him.
As Cade was riding back to Texana, frustrated because he’d been unable to find a cook, he saw a man sitting on a horse in the road ahead of him. Even from here he could see that it was a very big man and he realized, rather quickly, that this was Bull Kolinsky, the man he had bested a few days earlier.
Cade knew he had won that fight because he had the element of surprise. He doubted, seriously, if he would be able to surprise this man again. Reaching down to his side, he loosened the pistol in its holster. He didn’t want to kill Bull, but if the big man wanted revenge for what had happened to him in their last meeting, shooting him might be Cade’s only safe option. The truth was, in a direct head to head confrontation, he wouldn’t stand a chance against the giant.
“McCall?” Bull called, the low rumble of his voice rolling across the distance between them.
Cade stopped before he got any closer.
“What do you want, Bull?”
“The fight me ‘n you had?”
“Yes?”
“Kilgore paid me to fight you, on account of he wanted you hurt so’s you couldn’t make the drive.”
“What difference would it make to him whether or not I make the drive?”
“I don’t know, he didn’t say. All he said was that he didn’t want you to make the drive.”
“Bull, why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know. I guess because you beat me fair and square. And besides which, the son of a bitch cheated me. Anyhow, I just thought I’d tell you.”
Without another word, Bull turned and rode off.
“What do you suppose he meant by that?” Jeter asked, after Cade shared his conversation with Bull.
“I don’t know. All he said was Kilgore didn’t want me to make the drive.”
“Yeah, well, as far as I’m concerned, I’d be keeping my eyes on Kilgore anyway. I never did like the son of a bitch.”
“Let’s not say anything about this in front of the women,” Cade said. “Arabella’s already nervous about us being gone. I don’t see any need in giving them something else to worry about.”
The two men were treated to another exceptional dinner that evening, one that had both of them requesting seconds.
About half way through the meal, Arabella spoke up. “Magnolia and I were wondering if you found your new cook.”
Cade took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “No luck at all. Several people gave me good suggestions, but nobody agreed to sign on. I even went back and tried to talk Waters into coming with us, but he still says he thinks he’s not up to it. And Rand, even when I offered to match the salary he’s getting at the hotel, still turned me down. And to be honest, I guess I can’t blame him. He said if he leaves his job, he wouldn’t get it back again when he got back.”
“You know he’s right. I can’t see Oliver Deermont being generous enough to just hire him back on,” Jeter said. “So, where does that leave us? What do we do now?”
“I have no idea. We have to feed the men, but at the moment, I’m at my wit’s end,” Cade said. “I’ll give it one more day, and then I’ll have to draft Ian. He’d probably do a better job than any of the other drovers.”
Arabella and Maggie exchanged looks.
“Shall I?” Arabella asked.
Maggie nodded.
“Shall you what?” Cade asked. “What’s going on here?”
“Magnolia and I have an idea,” Arabella said.
“You aren’t going to ask us to call off the drive, are you? Because we can’t do that. After the losses from the hurricane, the cattlemen are depending on this drive to keep many of them from losing their ranches. And quite frankly, Jeter and I need the money as well.”
“No, that’s not what we have in mind.”
“Then, what is it?”
“You need a cook? Well open your eyes, Cade McCall. You don’t have to look any further.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mon Dieu, Cade, are you really that dense? Magnolia and I will be your cooks.”
“What?” Cade asked, barking the word in surprise.
“You said yourself that you’re in desperate need of a cook for the drive. Can you not see that the answer is right here in front of you? Take us with you.”
“No, we couldn’t do that,” Cade replied. “That’s out of the question.”
“Why not?” Arabella asked. “You’ve been sitting here for the last half hour, talking about getting a cook . . . this after eating a meal that Magnolia and I prepared for you. I no longer have a boarding house to operate, and that means that Magnolia and I are both out of work. We need a job, and you need a cook.” Arabella smiled, broadly. “Don’t you see how wonderfully that all works out? Magnolia and I will cook for you.”
“Women on a cattle drive? No,” Cade said. “You understand you’d be living in a wagon for two or three months, and you’d be cooking over an open fire for at least twelve or fifteen people every day. And there wouldn’t be any store to go to when you run out of something.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Cade, thousands of women went West on wagon trains, didn’t they?”
“Yes.”
“Then how is this any different?”
“There were other women on the wagon trains.”
“There’ll be other women on this drive,” Arabella insisted.
“What do you mean, there’ll be other women?”
“Magnolia will be the other woman for me, and I’ll be the other woman for her.”
Cade laughed. “Well, I can’t argue with that, now can I?”
Jeter shook his head as he spoke for the first time. “A woman cook on a cattle drive? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Would you like some more Crème Caramel, Zheter?” Maggie asked as she pushed forward the rich desert she had made for dinner.
“Oh, yes, I’d love some more. That’s about the best tasting thing I’ve ever put in my mou . . .” Jeter stopped in mid-sentence and smiled at Maggie. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I see what you’re doing.”
Cade stroked his chin and looked over at Jeter. “What do you say, Jeter?”
“They’re right when they say we’re going to need a cook, and I’ve never known a trail cook who could cook like this. If we’re votin’ on it . . . I would say yes.”
“All right,” Cade said. “I may wind up regretting this, and you two may wind up regretting it even more. But if you’re serious, if you really want to cook for the cattle drive, I say you’re hired. Oh, and by the way, if you two are going to be doing a man’s work, you’re going to have to dress for it, so you may as well go into town tomorrow and buy yourselves some men’s clothes to wear.”
“All right,” Arabella agreed, a big smile crossing her face.
“You mean you aren’t going to argue about that?”
“Tu es le patron,” Arabella said, sweetly.
“What?”
“You’re the boss,” she translated.
“Yes, I am, aren’t I?” Cade said with a wide smile. “And you remember that, too.”
“I’m sorry we’ll be delaying your start while we go into town to buy clothes,” Arabella said.
“That’s not the only thing that’s stopping us,” Cade said.
“Oh? What else do we need to get?”
Cade smiled. “Arabella, if you’re going to be making this drive with us, you’ll be doing it as my wife. We’re getting married before we leave.”
Texana:
The buildings blocked any of the light from the street lamps coming through, and there was no ambient light from the back of the buildings. As a result, the alley was very dark. There were several outhouses placed along the alley, and as Mudd walked down it, the door to one of the outhouses opened, and he saw a man, hooking his galluses over his shoulders, one shoulder at a time. Mudd waited, secure that in the darkness he couldn’t be seen, then he continued on down the alley until he reached the back of the jail.
“Weldon,” he called in a loud whisper. “Weldon!”
“What?” a disembodied voice came from inside the jail.
“Weldon, come to the back window.”
“You’re gettin’ me out?”
“Yeah. Come back here.”
Weldon’s face appeared in the window. Even in the darkness, he could be seen smiling.
“Mudd! How are you goin’ to get me out of here?”
“This way,” Mudd said, reaching one hand through the window to grab Weldon’s hair and pull him closer to the bars.
“What are you . . .?” That was as far as he got because the knife in Mudd’s other hand slit his throat.
The next morning Deputy O’Connor stepped back into the cell area, carrying a plate. “All right, Weldon, I got your breakfast here, ‘n from what I’ve heard about your cookin’, this is likely to be better ‘n anythin’ you could do.”
O’Connor laughed at his own joke, and then he saw Weldon lying on the floor under the back window. At first he was puzzled seeing him there, instead of on the bed, and he was even more puzzled by his position. Nobody would lie with his arms and legs askew in such a fashion.
“Weldon, what are you doing there on the floor?”
Weldon didn’t answer.
“Son of a bitch!” O’Connor said. He stepped back out front to get the keys for the cell, but then had a second thought. What if Weldon was just lying like that to trick him? He decided he had better get Sheriff Boskey, just in case.
Sheriff Boskey was having his breakfast at the café next door when O’Connor told him what he had found. Boskey left his breakfast uneaten to hurry back to the jail with his deputy.
“I didn’t want to go in there by myself,” Deputy O’Connor said. “You know, just in case it was a trick, or somethin’.”
“You did the right thing by coming for me,” Sheriff Boskey said.
Boskey got the keys and unlocked the cell door. O’Connor waited just outside the cell while Boskey made a quick observation.
“It’s no trick,” Boskey said. “Someone cut his throat. He’s dead.”
“But how? I mean, he didn’t have no visitors for the whole night,” O’Connor said. “How did somebody get in here to cut his throat?”
Boskey looked up at the window and saw blood on the sill of the window, and on the bars.
“He had a visitor all right,” Boskey said. “Only thing is, his didn’t come inside.”
13
The LP Ranch:
When Agnes Puckett learned that Cade and Arabella planned to go to the justice of the peace in Texana to be married, she said, in no way, would they be married that way. She insisted on having the wedding at the LP Ranch, and she sent someone into town after the Reverend E.D. Owen. As she waited on the preacher, she began making arrangements to hold the wedding in the parlor.
“What are you going to wear?” Agnes asked Arabella.
“I . . . haven’t actually given that any thought,” Arabella said. “We were just going to get married in town, so I thought I would get married in what I’m wearing.”
“Good heavens, girl, you’re wearing trousers! Is that what you’re planning to wear for your wedding?”
“Yes, ma’am, Cade said trousers would be more appropriate for the drive.”
“For the drive, perhaps. But we aren’t talking about the drive; we’re talking about the wedding.” A broad smile spread across her face. “And I have just the thing for you. I still have the wedding gown I was married in.”
By the time Reverend Owen arrived, the parlor had been transformed, if not into a church, at least into a wedding chapel. Here and there were bouquets of Texas wildflowers. The cowboys who would be making the drive were, to the man, present. All the cowboys showed up wearing their cleanest trousers, as well as their white shirts that were usually reserved for their night out on the town. Only the two Mexican “vaqueros”, Esteban Garcia and Alberto Tangora were dressed differently, each of them wearing black trousers, a black shirt, and a colorful sash tied around the waist.
Most were standing around self-consciously, drinking black coffee. Reverend Owen, after being introduced to the two he would be marrying, accepted a cup of coffee and sat drinking as Agnes got the cowboys situated where they could all see.
“Preacher, are you ready to marry these two?” Colonel Puckett asked.
“As soon as I finish my coffee,” the preacher replied with a beatific smile.
There was no music, and no procession of the bride. Arabella was wearing Mrs. Puckett’s ivory-colored dress with a high neck and rows of lace and Cade was dressed in his best white shirt, the only difference from any of the other men was the attachment of a collar. They stood in the wide doorway that led from the parlor into the dining room. Maggie, as bridesmaid, and Jeter as best man, stood with them.
Reverend Owen stepped in front of them, and then began the ceremony.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and these witnesses to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”
The preacher’s remarks continued until he gave the statement of intention, and now at Reverend Owen’s instruction, Cade turned to Arabella, taking her hands in his.
“I, Cade McCall, take you, Arabella Dupree, to be my wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, excluding all others, as long as we both shall live.”
Cade gave Arabella’s hands a little squeeze, and she replied.
“I, Arabella Dupree, take you, Cade McCall, to be my husband, to love, honor and obey, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, excluding all others, as long as we both shall live.”
“The ring,” Reverend Owen said, looking directly at Jeter. When Jeter didn’t respond, Reverend Owen spoke again. “Mr. Willis?”
“What?”
“The ring?”
“Oh, uh, yeah, the ring.” Jeter reached into his pocket, pulled out the ring and gave it to Cade, who slipped it onto Arabella’s finger.
The Western Adventures of Cade McCall Box Set Page 31