Buzzard's Bluff

by William W. Johnstone; J. A. Johnstone

  Spade paused as he murmured, “And then along came Ben Savage.” That was the point at which Dalton began ordering assassinations. Spade wasn’t sure how much longer he could be a part of it. He had never given direct orders to any of the men to seek Savage out and kill him, but he had as much as condoned it by his awareness of the order from Dalton. So he was a part of it. He couldn’t deny it. What he wondered now was how far it would it go before Dalton ordered him to kill Ben Savage. And he knew that was the day when he would have to leave the Double-D.

  CHAPTER 16

  Daniel Dalton’s lack of response to the killing of Deacon Moss was surprising to the folks in Buzzard’s Bluff, even though Dalton had made it a point beforehand to state that he did not condone any of his men’s unlawful behavior. Once again, there was peace in the town, and Ben decided he could get used to that. He had made up his mind that Buzzard’s Bluff was where he was going to stay. But if he was perfectly honest with himself, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be downright bored. It occurred to him then that he had never officially resigned his appointment as a Ranger. Captain Mitchell had told him to take as long as he needed to take care of the will settlement, but Ben had not had any intention to take as long as it had. If there was a telegraph in Buzzard’s Bluff, he would have wired Mitchell a couple of weeks ago. He definitely owed the captain the courtesy of a formal resignation, and now that there was time to think about something other than trying to keep from being killed, he felt remiss for letting it go for so long. Thinking maybe the current peace in Buzzard’s Bluff would last for a while, he made a decision.

  “Partner,” he announced to Rachel while they were having breakfast, “I’m gonna be takin’ a little trip tomorrow. Be gone about four, maybe five days.”

  “You are?” Rachel replied, surprised. “Where you goin’?”

  “I’ve gotta go to Austin, do something I shoulda done weeks ago,” he answered. “My captain in F-Company doesn’t know where the hell I am—whether I’m dead or alive. He knew I was gonna take a little time off, but I don’t think he expected me to be gone this long with no word from me. After so many years workin’ for the man, I surely owe him the respect of a formal resignation, instead of just not showin’ up for work.”

  “When did you decide to do it?” Rachel asked.

  “Just now,” he said, “but it’s gonna depend on one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Well, things have been nice and peaceful around here for a few days, so it just might be that ol’ Dalton has really decided to call off the war. So I’m givin’ him one more night, and if we don’t have any more visits from the Double-D tonight, I’m leavin’ in the mornin’. I’ll ride down there and turn in my badge, turn right around, and come home.”

  “I guess we’ll make it all right till you get back,” she said, while thinking that she wasn’t sure she wanted him to go. It didn’t escape her, however, that he said he would come home, instead of to Buzzard’s Bluff. Still, she couldn’t help recalling how suddenly he appeared in their lives. And the thought that he might just as suddenly drop out of their lives came to mind. She and Tiny, and Annie, and Clarice and Ruby, they had all come to depend upon him to protect them. She found it hard to believe how confident she had been on her own, before Ben Savage. She shrugged and suggested, “You could just write him a letter, if you didn’t wanna go to the trouble to ride all the way to Austin just to say, ‘I quit.’”

  “I could, I reckon,” he said, “but I need to shake the man’s hand. Besides, I ain’t much good at writin’ letters.”

  “Then I guess you’d best ride to Austin and do the right thing,” she said. “Like I said, we’ll be all right till you get back.”

  He grinned to think she even thought to reassure him. “Just like you were before I showed up on the doorstep, right?”

  “Right,” she said.

  The day passed without incident and in the evening, the usual regulars showed up for a couple of drinks or a game of cards. A couple of cowhands from one of the smaller ranches came to spend some time with Ruby and Clarice. Everything was running smoothly, just like the old days, when Tuck came in. His arm already out of the sling Dr. Tatum had put on him, he walked over to the bar where Ben and Tiny were talking. “I’m takin’ Sam Grier’s son out to take a look at Mutt Oakley’s old place in the mornin’,” Tuck announced.

  His announcement didn’t ring a bell with Ben at first until he remembered a moment later. “That’s right,” Ben said. “I forgot about that. Forty acres, right? And he’s gonna grow the sweetest peaches you’ve ever tasted.”

  “That’s a fact,” Tuck said. “You wanna ride out there with us? Get a look at a right pretty little piece of land.”

  Before Ben could answer, Tiny answered for him. “Ben’s headin’ to Austin tomorrow.”

  “Austin?” Tuck responded. “Whatever for?”

  “I’ve got some business to take care of,” Ben told him. “Shoulda done it before this.”

  “If I’da known that...” Tuck started, seeming flustered. “This thing with Robert Grier, that don’t have to be tomorrow. I can take him to see that land anytime. That land ain’t goin’ nowhere. So if you need me to go with you . . .”

  “Now, why would he need you to go with him?” Tiny asked. With an impish grin on his face, he was obviously intent upon getting the little runt wound up. Tiny and Rachel had joked about Tuck’s tendency to shadow Ben.

  “It’s just a good idea to have another gun hand with you on a trip that far,” Tuck declared. “Like that trouble we had with them two fellers that tried to rob Robert Grier and his wife when we was comin’ back from Houston. I was there to back him up.”

  “He sure was,” Ben said, trying to keep Tiny from getting Tuck too wound up. “He was right there with his shotgun.” Talking directly to Tuck then, he said, “I won’t be needin’ any backup on this little trip, and I think it’s important to take Robert Grier out to see that land so he can get started on growin’ those peaches.”

  “Well, if you’re sure,” Tuck said. “I’ll keep an eye on the Lost Coyote while you’re gone, in case the Double-D starts raisin’ hell again.”

  “I’m sure Tiny and Rachel will appreciate that,” Ben said. Looking over Tuck’s head, he frowned and shook his head at Tiny, who looked about to comment.

  Ham Greeley walked in then, so he and Tuck sat down to play their usual two-handed poker. The evening went well with a good crowd, and at closing time, Ben sat in the office with Rachel while she counted the proceeds for the night. “Not a bad night,” she commented. “Best one we’ve had in a while.” He nodded in response. “So I guess you’ll be leaving in the morning,” she said.

  “Looks that way,” he replied.

  She walked over and put the cash drawer in the safe and locked it. Then she smiled at him and asked, “You remember the combination?”

  He chuckled, embarrassed. “No, not offhand. I know you told me, but I can’t call it to mind right now.”

  She laughed with him. “I declare, you’re unbelievable,” she said. “I guess I don’t have to worry about you running off with all our money, do I?”

  “Reckon not,” he said and shrugged indifferently.

  The next morning, he waited until Annie got there before setting out for Austin. He decided he might as well eat a good breakfast before starting. While he waited for her, he went to the stable to get Cousin and his packhorse and loaded it with the supplies he had bought the prior afternoon to take him to Austin and back.

  * * *

  It was still not quite suppertime when he pulled Cousin to a halt in front of Fred Pritcher’s stable in Austin after a two-day ride from Buzzard’s Bluff. There was no sign of Fred, so he dismounted and walked back in the stable and found him cleaning out one of the back stalls. “You gettin’ that cleaned up for me?”

  Startled, Fred turned around to squint at him. “Ben Savage!” he exclaimed then. “I thought you musta took off forever.”

&
nbsp; “Well, tell you the truth, I reckon I have. I’m just back in town for tonight. I’ll be leavin’ again in the mornin’.” When Fred seemed puzzled by that, Ben went on to give him the news about his inheritance.

  “A saloon, huh?” Fred was obviously surprised. He couldn’t imagine the man he knew for so long as a Texas Ranger in the business of operating a saloon. “I betcha found out that was a helluva lot different from bein’ a lawman.”

  “You can say that again,” Ben responded. “You don’t know the half of it, but I’ve got a partner who knows the business.” He didn’t bother to tell him about all the trouble he had seen already during the short time since he took over. “She’s been runnin’ the business for quite a while and doin’ a good job of it.”

  “She?” Fred asked. “Your partner’s a woman?”

  “Yep. And she’s as sharp as a shoe tack when it comes to managin’ a saloon,” Ben boasted. Fred asked no further questions about his lady partner, so Ben said, “I need to leave my horses here tonight, all right?”

  “Sure thing,” Fred said. “You can use this stall right here.”

  “Good. I expect I’ll sleep at the boardin’ house tonight, if they ain’t figured I’m dead and rented my room out to somebody else.” He figured he’d settle up with the man who owned it and pick up anything he might have left in the room. When he went to Buzzard’s Bluff, he hadn’t expected to stay there.

  “Come on,” Fred said. “I’ll help you unload your packhorse. You gonna leave the dun now, or you gonna need him some more today?” When Ben commented that every place he was going to was in walking distance, Fred led him out of the stable to fetch his horses. “A woman operatin’ a saloon,” he mumbled to himself as if amazed.

  * * *

  He walked about half a mile to the state capitol building and the annex behind it that held Randolph Mitchell’s office, his rifle in one hand and his saddlebags on his shoulder. He was hoping the captain hadn’t left the office early for supper and when he got there, he was pleased to see the door open. As surprised as Fred Pritcher had been to see him, Randolph Mitchell was even more so. “My God!” Mitchell blurted upon seeing the familiar image of Ben Savage in his doorway. “I thought I’d never see you again. What the hell happened to you?”

  “Sorry ’bout that, Captain,” Ben started out with an apology, “but I reckon I kinda had my hands full, and there ain’t no telegraph in Buzzard’s Bluff.” He went on to explain what had caused him to be so busy, from the first day he hit town, until only recently.

  Mitchell listened to Ben’s accounting of the trouble he had run into and the steps he was forced to take to keep his saloon from being run out of business. When he had finished, Mitchell nodded his head slowly and said, “So I gather that you’ve decided to keep your saloon after all that. Is that right?”

  “Yes, sir, that’s right,” Ben said and paused to form a grimace before continuing. “So I reckon I came in to hand you my badge and to tell you I appreciated workin’ with you. You’ve always been a fair man with me. I hope there ain’t no hard feelin’s because of the way I handled this.” He laid his badge on Mitchell’s desk.

  “No, no hard feelings,” Mitchell replied. He paused for a long moment, obviously thinking hard on what he was about to say. “I don’t blame you for grabbing on to something that would fix you and your future for good. I have to tell you, you’re maybe the best man in this whole company when it comes to getting the job done.”

  “I appreciate that,” Ben responded humbly and almost wished he hadn’t said he quit.

  Mitchell nodded his head, still thinking, then he said, “Tell you what, I’m getting ready to go to Bowen’s Restaurant for supper. Why don’t you go with me?” When Ben shrugged as if trying to make up his mind, Mitchell said, “You haven’t made any plans to eat anywhere else, have you?” Ben shook his head. “Well, you’re probably gonna eat somewhere, so come on and go with me.”

  “That sounds good to me,” Ben said “I appreciate the invitation.”

  “Good. Let me lock up my desk here and we’ll go.” He took Ben’s badge off the desk, picked up his hat, and they went out the door. Ben waited while Mitchell locked up. “If you like pork chops, Bowen’s got a new cook who knows how to cook ’em,” he said as they walked out to the street. “He’s got everything else you could want, too, but I like the chops.”

  After all the years Ben had worked for Mitchell, this was the first time he had ever been invited to share a meal with him. It took me quitting to get an invitation, he thought as he parked his rifle and saddlebags just inside the door. He hoped they wouldn’t be too conspicuous. The restaurant was not crowded, since it was early for the supper rush, and the pork chops were as good as Mitchell had advertised. They finished it up with more coffee while the waiter cleared the table of their dirty dishes. Mitchell had more questions about the Lost Coyote and the town of Buzzard’s Bluff.

  “You’re a good deal younger than Jim Vickers was when he quit the Rangers. I expect he was about ready to retire into something with a little less stress. But you’re still young enough to get a little antsy if you have to sit around too long, so I’ve been thinking about something that might interest you.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out the badge Ben had laid on his desk. “Why don’t you keep this, and I won’t accept your resignation just yet. Maybe if I need your help on something in your area, you could lend a hand. From what you’ve been telling me about this Dalton fellow, that sheriff might need some help and you’d be the closest Ranger to send. Whaddaya say? Of course, I can’t keep you on full wages. I’d only pay you for days you worked for me.”

  Ben couldn’t help smiling. It sounded like the perfect solution to the quandary he had been laboring under. He needed no time to consider the offer. “I accept,” he said and they shook on it.

  “There’s something else I need to tell you,” Mitchell continued. “Billy Turner was let go a week ago. Turns out he had another prisoner try to jump him and he had to shoot him. The fellow he shot stole some cows, and Billy had to transport him back to Fort Worth for trial. There had been so many times that happened, and it was usually mostly with a few Rangers in B-Company. My boss asked me about that business with you and Billy and those two prisoners you picked up over at Navasota. I told him the story, just the same as you told me it happened. And I think that carried a lot of influence on the colonel’s decision.” He looked Ben straight in the eye. “I’m telling you this so you’ll know Billy might have it in for you. I don’t know as how you’d have any chance of running into him, but I wanted you to know about it.”

  “Thanks for the warnin’. I don’t see any chance of runnin’ into him. I’m not goin’ anywhere near Fort Worth, and I doubt he’ll pass through Buzzard’s Bluff.”

  They parted outside the front door, Mitchell back to his office, Ben to the boardinghouse that had been his home for the last few years. He had picked the rooming house owned by John Coleman and his wife, Bertha, because it was closer to the stable than any of the other places he looked. It had suited him just fine. He was not in town for most of the time, and the boardinghouse was just a bed and a meal when he had been in town. Consequently, he had never gotten to know any of the other full-time residents very well. For that reason, he got a couple of curious looks from two men sitting on the front porch when he turned in at the walk. “Evenin’,” he offered as he walked past them and went in the door. Since there were two more still sitting at the dining room table, he looked there first, reasonably sure he would find John Coleman there, as well. Coleman usually sat at the table long after supper, drinking coffee while his wife helped their cook clean up the kitchen.

  “Well, Mr. Savage,” John Coleman announced when he saw Ben. “You’ve been away for a long spell this time. You lookin’ for supper? You’re a little bit late, but Bertha can maybe fix you up with somethin’ to eat, if they ain’t throwed it all out.”

  “Thank you just the same,” Ben replied, “I’ve already had su
pper, ate at Bowen’s Restaurant with my boss. But I need to settle up with you. I’ll be here tonight and most likely eat breakfast here in the mornin’. I’ll move out then.” He thought he detected a genuine look of disappointment on Coleman’s face. “I believe I’m paid up to the first of the month and that ain’t but four days from now.”

  “Found you a place you like better?” Coleman asked at once. “’Cause, if you’ve got some complaints . . .”

  “No, ain’t nothin’ like that. I’m leavin’ Austin permanently. I’ve got no complaints. I’m just startin’ out in something new, and it’s in a little town called Buzzard’s Bluff about ninety miles from here.”

  “Oh,” Coleman responded. Like most people, he’d never heard of the town. “Buzzard’s Bluff,” he repeated. “Well, we’ll be real sorry to see you go. You say you’re paid up to the first? I reckon you’re wantin’ some kinda refund on some of your money.” Ben could tell by the anguished look Coleman now wore, that he didn’t like the thought of refunding money.

  Feeling generous, since he was now the half-owner of a saloon and a part-time Texas Ranger, as well, Ben said, “How ’bout this? You give me my breakfast free in the mornin’ and we’ll call it all square on the room rent, okay?” All the other guests paid a rate that included their meals. He had made a deal for a special rate, paying for his room only, with no meals included. He was away for so much of the time, and he had to pay for the room, but he would just pay for the meals when he ate there.