by C. J. Petit
“That was Hank from the Slash M. Seems that Joe Miles wants to talk to me. Hank told me that he had said he wanted to smooth things out, but he had no idea what it was about. I’ll take Belle over there and sound him out. That all right with you, Eli?”
“You do what you think is right, Gus.”
Gus nodded. “What do you think, Rachel?”
“It depends on what he wants, doesn’t it?”
“Exactly. If he really wants to make up for that incident the other night, then it’ll be worth it. I have a feeling that it’s not that at all. I think he wants something. What, I don’t know.”
“You take care, Gus,” Rachel added.
He smiled at her. “I will.”
He waved to Eli and left the house to saddle Belle.
Gus trotted down the access road to the Slash M ranch. It was a nice spread. Just the right size, too. He guessed it was eight sections, around five thousand acres. Probably running a couple thousand head, judging by the size of the bunkhouse. Everything was well maintained.
He stopped in front of the house and stepped up to it. He had been invited, after all.
He knocked on the door, and it was answered quickly by a very good-looking woman just past thirty.
“Morning, ma’am. Name’s Gus Matthews. Hank stopped by this morning and said Joe wanted to talk to me about something.”
“Come in, Mr. Matthews. I’m Libby Miles. Call me Libby, please.”
“Thank you, Libby. Please call me Gus.”
She smiled at him. She was a very pretty woman.
“Have a seat, Gus. Joe’s out at the moment. I don’t think he expected you to show up so soon.”
“I can come back later, Libby.”
“No, have a seat. He told me what he needed, and I can handle it.”
“All right.”
Gus sat down in a nice chair, and Libby sat across from him. Gus noticed that she was overdressed for a normal weekday morning. More like a going-out dress. But it sure did show her to good effect. She was very shapely.
“Can I get you some coffee?” she asked.
“No, ma’am. I’m fine. I have a lot of things to do today, so what does he want?”
“He told me that he was impressed with your experience and wants to know if you’d be willing to work for him. He said he’d pay you fifty dollars a month and found.”
“That’s top hand money, Libby. Why would he offer me that when he doesn’t know anything about me at all?”
“He just said he was impressed and to make the offer.”
“Libby, you seem like an intelligent woman, so can we just get all of the smoke out of the air and you can tell me what he really wants? It looks like he’s got a well-run spread here. He’s got a nice ranch and a beautiful wife, and he surely doesn’t need an old cowhand like me.”
Libby was taken aback. Joe had made Gus out to be some yokel. He was far from it. He was quite an image. If she had to picture a western man, he’d be the one sitting right in front of her. And he had said she was intelligent and beautiful. This was an interesting man.
“Gus, I wish I could tell you what he wants with you. My impression is that he wants you away from the Star A.”
“That does make sense. I appreciate the honesty, Libby. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of it around here these days.”
“I know. It’s been that way for a while. Joe had asked me to suggest to you that I would be available to you if you took the job.”
Gus dropped his jaw. “He said that? He was going to make you do that to get what he wanted?”
“You must understand, Gus, what is common knowledge around the ranch. I am his wife in name only. I sleep in a different room. I cook, and I try to manage his daughter. I get paid a salary. He hasn’t touched me since we were married.”
“Still, it ain’t right. Libby, why would you let him push you into such a thing?”
“I don’t have any choices, really.”
Gus sat back. “Well, I’m sorry, Libby. It’s no reflection on you at all, because you are a very desirable woman, but he’s not going to get his way. Now, I’ll head back to the Star A and get my work done for the day. Tell him I appreciate the offer, but I made a commitment to Eli Aronson that I won’t break.”
Libby smiled. “Good for you, Gus. I’ll tell him that.”
She stood and escorted him to the door.
He turned as he was going and said, “Different circumstances, Libby.”
She smiled and nodded as he left. “Different circumstances, Gus,” she said quietly. Gus was very interesting.
Gus mounted Belle and was back at the Star A in fifteen minutes. He let Belle stand and hopped into the house. Eli and Rachel were in the sitting room waiting.
“What did he say?” asked Eli.
“He didn’t say anything. He had his wife Libby waiting to talk to me. He offered me a top hand salary to come and work for him. Fifty dollars a month and found.”
“That’s a lot of money, Gus,” he replied.
“That’s not all, Libby told me that she was supposed to make herself available to me.”
That surprised them both, to put it mildly.
“She said that?” asked Eli.
“Yup. She said that she didn’t know what he was after, but he did want to pry me outta here.”
“I’m assuming you turned him down,” said Eli smiling.
“Hell, yes, I turned him down. Made me mad, really. Imagine doing that to your wife. Granted, she told me it wasn’t even a real marriage. She cooks and controls his daughter. She sleeps in a different room, too. I’m going to get Belle unsaddled and get working on that stockade. This little show cost me almost an hour.”
“Okay, Gus. We’ll see you later.”
Gus turned and trotted out of the house.
Gus had the stockade built in two hours. He saddled the gray gelding, hooked up a rope to the stockade, dragged it out to the field, and anchored it down with stakes and rope. Then he built a small fire nearby and laid the branding iron in the fire.
Then he became a cowboy. He would identify an unbranded heifer and rope it. He’d lead it into the small stockade. He’d wrap the rope around the end and brand it quickly. Then he’d let it go and repeat. Each heifer took almost twenty minutes. He was going well and didn’t notice the time.
By the time he finished, it was well past three o’clock.
He left the stockade where it was. Tomorrow, it would be time to geld all those young boys before they went all bullish on him.
He mounted the gray and trotted back to the ranch house. He put the horse away in the barn and returned to his bunkhouse.
____
Joe Miles strode into the main room where Libby sat crocheting.
“Well?” he asked, noting her nonprovocative dress.
“He turned down the offer. Even with my attentions thrown in. He said to tell you that he appreciated your offer, but he had made a commitment to Eli Aronson and was going to honor it.”
“Damn! That throws a wrench into the works.”
“Why? I thought you just wanted to hire him.”
“This is none of your business.”
He stomped angrily out of the room.
Libby went back to her crocheting with a smile on her face.
Joe went down to his office and called for his foreman.
When Ernie Blanchard showed up, he was still unhappy with Joe’s plan to give Libby to that old cowpoke.
“Yeah, boss. What you need? How’d it go with Libby?”
“He turned her down. Imagine that. How could any man turn down that offer?”
Ernie was silently pleased.
“I need you to go on a mission for me. I don’t know where he came from. It’s nearby in Texas. I want you to find out all you can about him. He’s got to have something on him, or he wouldn’t be working for that Jew. We find that, and we can either get him arrested or tell Aronson.”
“I can’t leave for a few days, boss.�
��
“All right, but when you can, get moving fast and find out what you can. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to wait. I’d rather wait till he was gone. He’s a wild card. I don’t know how good he is with those guns. Get back as soon as you can.”
“Will do,” Ernie answered before leaving.
____
For the next two weeks, things were quiet. Gus took care of the gelding without any serious issues, dismantled his stockade, and began his repair work around the ranch. He took three baths each week in his new pool. He enjoyed the water. It was warmer than the creek water, but still cool. It would be autumn soon, and he wondered how much longer he’d be able to use it. It was southern Oklahoma, so he should be able to use it a few more weeks.
Eli instructed Gus to buy some lumber and whitewash, and he began serious repairs.
____
It started in Texas just like it had in Oklahoma. Lou had discovered that going to Texas wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Even though the local law enforcement offices hadn’t been officially notified, the grapevine had passed along enough information that it was difficult to go into any decent-size town. He found that his best bet was going to ranches and farms for food. Trouble was, there wasn’t any money to be had. And he was already in need of money. He only had thirty-six dollars left. He wanted to make one good grab, and then he could go to California or somewhere.
So, he headed back toward Oklahoma. He knew where he could get some money. That savings and loan was so easy, and he knew where there was another one in Hendrick. It was late when he finally reached the Red River, and he wasn’t sure that he had reached the ford in the correct place. No matter, he’d just cross wherever he was.
He knew he was close to where he had followed Gus a few weeks ago. The landscape looked familiar. He led his horse down to the water.
The horse, expecting a ford and solid footing, stepped in. It was okay for the first eight feet, but then the bottom disappeared, and the horse was without ground to walk on. This horse had never had to swim before, much less with a man on his back. He began to panic. He was more than halfway across and thrashing.
Lou was getting riled at the frenzied animal. Then, as was his habit, he did something stupid. He jammed his spurs into the already-distraught horse.
The horse felt the steel dig into his flanks, and he plunged under the water and then came back out, totally out of control, fighting for air, needing someplace to put his hooves.
Lou was fighting to stay on and losing. The horse was only twelve feet from the Oklahoma side when he finally was able to rid himself of that annoying load on his back. Lou didn’t go flying so much as he was washed overboard by a wave created by the horse. He was soon flailing as badly as the horse, but the horse, soon after losing Lou, felt ground beneath his left front hoof. It was mucky, sticky ground, but he calmed down immensely and soon was clambering onto the shore. He reached the shore and promptly trotted off, leaving Lou still in the river, thinking he was about to drown.
But he didn’t. Just like the horse, he felt mud under his boots and managed to claw his way to shore. He finally made it and flopped down on a silt-covered bank. He lay there, breathing heavily. Not thanking God for his deliverance, just cursing the horse that had put him there.
He was cold and wet and not happy with the world. He still had his money, wet though it may be, and his pistol, but he only had a total of twelve rounds left, including the four in the gun’s chambers. He had never reloaded after the savings and loan. The nearest town, he figured, was Kinnick. He couldn’t go back there, but he might be able to find a ranch or farm someplace. He needed to get something to eat.
He trudged along until he finally came across some cleared land. It was a small farm. He walked across the fields and headed toward the house. When he reached it, he could already smell the food. He stepped up onto the porch and knocked. The door opened, and a young girl of maybe twelve stood there.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“I’m sorry to bother you, miss, but my horse throwed me into the river and run off. Is your mama or papa home?”
“Stay there,” she commanded. “Mama!”
A few seconds later, a handsome woman of about thirty showed at the door. “Yes?”
“Ma’am, I hate to be a nuisance, but I got tossed in the river by my horse and he run off. I was wondering if I could get warm and maybe something to eat. I’d be happy to pay you for it.”
The woman was nervous about it, but cash was so hard to come by, she gave in.
“Come on in, then. Set by the fire. My husband should be back shortly. He had to go to town on business.”
Lou really only did want food and heat. Until he saw the girl. She was perfect. Just the right age. He tried not to stare at her. He stood by the fire.
The woman brought him a blanket.
“Come on in, and I’ll give you something to eat.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
He smiled at the girl, who smiled back at his handsome face.
“My name’s Ethyl.”
“My name’s Gus.”
She walked in front of him, and Lou watched her as she stepped. He was mesmerized.
He sat down at the kitchen table, wrapped in the blanket.
“I’m Emma. Emma Powers. That’s my daughter, Ethyl. My husband is Frank. He should be home shortly.”
“Gus. Gus Matthews. I had been working a spread in Texas and was crossing the Red when the horse got spooked by a big water moccasin.”
“They’ll do that,” she replied as she scooped some stew into a bowl for him. There was cornbread and coffee as well.
When she scooped more into another bowl for Ethyl and one for herself, he that knew her husband, if he existed at all, wasn’t coming back tonight. Lou couldn’t believe his luck.
Chapter 5
It was chicken day at the Star A. Now that everything was repaired and the herd was in good shape, Gus was going to take the wagon into Kinnick and see about getting those chickens and the supplies to build the coop.
Gus had the wagon hitched and ready to go by eight o’clock.
He waved at Eli and Rachel as he rolled down the access road.
____
Lou had eaten a good breakfast for himself. He’d had to cook it because Emma Powers was tied up in her room. Probably still asleep. Just a little tap from his Colt had knocked her out, and then he had tied her up and put her in bed. Then he visited sleeping little Ethyl. She had squirmed a lot, but he’d had his way. She was just what he wanted, too. He had thought about taking her with him, but he had just tied her up and left her on the bed. She was still sleeping, too, he imagined.
He took what little money he could find and went out to the barn. He found a horse and a saddle. Perfect. He saddled the horse and five minutes later was riding from the farm.
____
Gus arrived in town an hour later. He pulled up to the feed and grain store.
They walked into the place and bought three rolls of chicken-wire screen, some lumber, two bales of hay, and a large sack of chicken feed.
“Looks like you’re building a chicken coop,” said the proprietor.
“Looks that way, doesn’t it?” Gus grinned at him. “Now, I need to find some chickens. You know of anyone who could sell me a couple of dozen?”
“You might try the widow Powers. She owns a farm about two miles southwest of town. Nice lady. She usually has too many anyway. She’s always seeing if I’ll take some off her hands. Needs the money, too.”
“Sounds good. I’ll head that way.”
Gus paid his bill and headed the wagon south of town. He had some trouble in finding the small turnoff that went west, though. It was barely noticeable. After five minutes, he turned down a short access road to a small farm and headed to the house. It was a bit run-down, but he could understand why.
He pulled the wagon up to the door and stepped down and walked up onto the porch. He stopped at the front door
and knocked. He waited. Gus knocked once more. He waited for a few seconds.
He was about to leave and check out back when Gus thought he heard someone shouting, but it sounded muffled.
He cautiously opened the door.
“Hello?” he shouted.
He heard the sound again. Only more distinct. He entered the house and walked down the hallway.