Cole got a big six-by-six the first day. Chet missed getting a shot through the junipers at two different ones. Tom put a four-by-five bull down the next day. The third day it snowed lightly, and Chet met his trophy bull head-on and dropped him with his first shot. He cut his throat, then rode back to camp to get help. Hank and Tom came back with him and dragged him, with the help of their horses, to a large pine and pulled him up to gut him. Cole came down to help them. They were busy dressing him when a great roar made them turn. When Chet whirled around, forty feet away a giant silver-tip grizzly was growling at them. The horses broke their hitched reins and fled.
Hank with his bloody dripping hands tossed Chet the 44/40. He caught the gun, levered a cartridge in the chamber as the bear, in a rage, was charging them to claim the carcass. One shot, two shots, and three, and the bear went facedown less than six feet from the muzzle of the Winchester. Chet sighed.
Cole on his knees on the ground had his six-gun in his hand. Tom had an ax in his. Hank hurriedly went off and pissed.
“Where in the hell did he come from?” Chet asked still shaken.
“Downwind. He must have smelled the kill.”
“Boys, that was just too close.” Chet felt his weak legs still might fold. “I am still shaken. Best thing happened here is that damn bear is dead.”
Tom said, “You’ve got a great bear rug. You are going to mount him?”
“Hell, yes, and get the elk skins tanned to make Lisa a long coat.”
“There’s three.”
“Yeah, Cole. Millie, Val, and Lisa can all have one.”
“You’re right, Chet. The coat idea is bound to make them happy.”
“Won’t they love that?” Tom asked.
“We better butcher that bear, too. Raphael loves bear meat.”
Tom put his ax aside. “It is going to be a damn big job.”
“I think we had a great hunt and I am grateful I got to go along,” Cole said.
They had plenty meat and the next day went home.
They rang the bell and ranch folks came out to see. It took two men to hold up the hide and show everyone at the ranch the grizzly. They couldn’t believe the meat. Chet had brought home the hides, the racks, the bear carcass, and the elk hindquarters.
Lisa, wrapped in a long, black coat, shook her head at the bearskin. Raphael’s men took charge. They, like Chet, figured his foreman really was excited about the bear meat.
Cole shook his hand and took his saddle horse hitched on the back of the wagon and drove up the mountain.
“Who shot the bear?” Lisa asked.
“Hank was the closest to the nearest rifle leaning against a tree, but his hands were all bloody, so he tossed the gun to me. I levered in a shell as the bear was coming right at us. I pumped three bullets in him and the third one stopped him six feet from my boot toes.”
She hugged him. “Oh, my Lord.”
“He’s going to be a rug on the floor. I am tanning the elk hides and you, Val, and Millie are getting long coats.”
“Oh, I have seen coats like that. Do they know?”
“No. It’s a secret.”
“I can keep it that way. But the bear was that close?”
“That close. Now, let’s you and I go get closer.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
* * *
Anita turned out to be all right and Jesus said he wasn’t sure he wanted to have been charged by an 800-pound grizzly. It still didn’t stop him from eating his share of elk meat at the next feed Lisa put on.
Chet received another letter from another ex-sheriff in Colorado. Maybe he’d have to go to Colorado and see these men.
Dear Marshal Byrnes,
My name is Harold Shell. I am a retired county sheriff but during my early terms of office I arrested a Mac Arnold once for stage robbery. He got off by producing some false witnesses to testify he was with them at the time of the robbery. I recently attended a funeral of a fellow lawman in Raton, New Mexico. I am certain I saw Arnold. He must have seen me because he went the other way. He’s much older now, but I am good at remembering and recognizing faces.
Harry Gould is a former sheriff, too. He lives there and he has had some dealings with Arnold himself, so he’d know him and could tell you if he was in the area. I wish you lots of luck finding that no-good scoundrel and putting him away.
Harold Shell
Chet wrote a letter to the postmaster, with a second letter addressed to Harry Gould, saying the man was an ex-lawman and he was a U.S. Marshal and the enclosed letter needed to reach him.
Two weeks later Gould wrote him saying his letter made it to his house.
Yes, I know Harold Shell well. Mac Arnold doesn’t live in Raton but he visits the area off and on. I didn’t know Arnold was wanted or had any outstanding warrants or I’d have reported him. I think he knows people around here and may come to sponge off them since he is not dressed as fancy as he was in his heydays. I will check and try to learn who he sees when he visits here.
Harry Gould
Chet now had a lead in southern Colorado or New Mexico. But Arnold didn’t live either of those places—only visits. Something might break soon.
“Well, what did we learn?” Lisa asked.
“He visits there is all.”
“Well, if he does that you will get him. Now, I need to talk to you about Christmas. I know Liz gave every man on the ranch a pocketknife last year. What do we do this year?”
“Suspenders?”
“Sounds right and they can use them. Dress material for the ladies? They won’t hardly buy it for themselves.”
“Good idea.”
“Liz had marked down what she gave each year at Christmas so she didn’t repeat too close. I am going to continue that.”
“Nice. What else?”
“The foremen and their wives.”
“The coats will be ready. The elk skin ones.”
“I almost forgot them.”
“Give the other foremen’s wives a letter to go get a coat for themselves. And the men can use a Boss of the Plains Stetson hat. Shawn, Cole, Toby, Fred, Spencer, Raphael, Sarge, Cody, JD, Ortega, Tom, Victor, and Jesus.”
“I forgot how expensive it gets.” She looked around with a smile. “Everyone is gone today.”
“Fine, we can solve this later. Let’s go hide.”
She laughed and hugged and kissed him. “You are habit forming.”
Two days later in the mail was a letter from San Antonio.
Dear Chet,
I hope this letter finds you in good health. My name is Niles Craig. I am a Texas Ranger and ran across some interesting things while investigating a case about some killers for hire. They were involved in a job to murder a rancher. That man lives around Kerrville. We stopped them but they had papers on them about killing you. $2,000. Chet Byrnes rancher Prescott, Arizona Territory. The person for them to contact was N. M. Reynolds. We could not locate any NM so we had to let it go. I thought you should know. I understand you are a U.S. Marshal too.
Niles
“What’s wrong?” Lisa asked.
“My old enemies in Texas tried to hire some killers to murder me for two thousand dollars.”
“I’d pay more money than that for them not to.” She dried her hands on a tea towel.
He shook his head at her answer. She had a sense of humor and he loved it, but some folks still might not give her a chance.
“Why are they still mad at you? You’ve been out here almost five years, haven’t you?”
“Yes. But some folks never forget.”
* * *
They prepared for two big parties. They would have a ranch party on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas day everyone they knew was invited to come eat. There would be music to dance to. Lots of food and beer, but no gifts. It would be too much.
Lisa sent out invitations to all on the list.
“Aren’t there teenage ranch girls in school?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Hire them to do these kinds of mailings next time. They will be thrilled and take some of the work off you. Josey did lots of work. Hire two girls to do what she did. They need the work and you don’t need to do it all.”
“Sí, patrón.”
“Lisa?”
“I miss Josey, but I don’t need or want a bunch of help now your guests are gone.”
“You are the boss not the worker.”
“I can handle it.”
“I appreciate you to death. But I don’t need you to be worn out to save a few dollars that those people could use. Now who is the leader for this Christmas event? She needs to report to you. You don’t report to her.”
“Reba. She is one of the best women to organize everyone and not make anyone mad.”
“Great. Add in a few more women so you have a council.”
“I hadn’t thought about doing that.”
“Start having lunches for them when you get your help picked. They will be proud to eat with you in this house and that will get you more workers.”
“Can we go to the Verde Dance this Saturday?”
“Sure. Tell Raphael to cook something and we can go down and play with Adam, and sleep overnight in the big house again.”
She bent over and kissed him. “I’m so glad to have you. These are the nicest days of my life.”
“You have earned all of them.”
On Friday of that week, the cold rain started. Above freezing but steady rain that shifted in and out. No doubt, up on the rim, at Flagstaff, it was snowing. Moisture was so critical to ranching and the territory Chet seldom complained. The men were getting ready to cook half a steer and he’d put on his canvas coat and old hat to check on them.
Four vaqueros in rubber raincoats stood in the barn alleyway.
“It’s a heck of day to have to cook, isn’t it?” he asked.
Ric shook his head. “No, we could be back in Mexico wondering what we would feed our families tonight.”
The others nodded in agreement.
A man in his thirties, Ramon said, “We have warm dry houses here. Our children go to school, and we always eat three meals a day. Plus we are paid cowboy wages where most people pay their workers much less than that.”
Again, they all nodded.
Ric smiled. “It is never a bad day, rain or shine or snow, working for you and your wife.”
“Thanks. If it doesn’t drop colder and snow we will go, otherwise we will stay home.”
The weather stayed the same. Lisa, bundled in rain gear, went to the Verde with Chet and a vaquero named Juan. Raphael promised they would have the meat set up that afternoon
The rain came in shifts, the overcast keeping the sun away. They arrived at the big house mid-morning. Rhea shouted from the door for them to come inside.
“After you put the horses up, come around to the kitchen. We will feed you.”
“Gracias, señora.”
“This your first trip down here?”
“Sí.”
“You will have fun. We won’t go to the dance until later in the afternoon. You can stay in the house until then.”
“I will do that.”
Chet and Lisa went inside. Adam had something to show Lisa. Victor marked a place in his book, closed it, and rose to shake Chet’s hand.
“What are you reading?”
He showed him the spine. How to Farm Agricultural Crops. “Hampt loaned it to me. He said he could have read it himself but he enjoyed May reading it to him when the kids were asleep. There’s lots of information. One thing I learned from it was how to check how good my seed was.”
Chet took a chair at the table. “How does that work?”
“You take burlap sacks, wet them, and put the seeds in a layer. Keep them moist and in a week or so they germ something and hatch like babies.”
“I think that word is germinate.”
“Have you read this book?”
“No, but I have heard that word spoken. So that is Hampt’s bible on farming.”
“Yes and we seek him for help. Shawn planted his alfalfa from a letter May wrote with his instructions. He told me he had a perfect stand. And he showed me how, too. Hampt and May are a wonderful couple.”
“Her parents had disowned her for marrying my brother and then he was killed. May originally didn’t want to come out here with the family, but she had little choice. She came. Hampt asked me if he could ask her to a dance. I never noticed, but they became serious and, one day, they asked if they could get married. It was a match in heaven. We never knew she could sing or play the piano. My sister and May were close as could be and Susie didn’t know, either. Hampt brought that out of her.”
“I remember him courting her in the early days. He is the man to ask about things in farming.”
“And if you ever get in a fight he’s the man to back you. He took a handful of black cowboys on that drive to Ogallala and taught them how to shoot rifles. They turned back several war parties on that drive.”
“Chet? Rhea has a question. Adam will be five next year. They will let him start school. Do you want him to go to school here or at the Cherry School?”
“Rhea, what do you want?”
She looked close to tears. “I want what is best for him.”
He stood up and hugged her. “Then he stays here with you. That was the plan from the start. You have done all I asked. He accepts and listens to you. He belongs here.”
“See, what did I tell you?” Lisa said.
Rhea hugged him. “I don’t know what Victor and I’d do without him. Thanks so much.”
“Rhea says the word is out. The Byrnes Ranch is cooking again and there will be a crowd at the dance even with the rain.”
“Good. We enjoy it. And we know many people can’t afford to do it. We can.”
“How are Spencer and Fred doing?”
“That last snow worried them, but they fed most of the cattle. No losses. Said in their letter they learned a lot. They say the best answer is to buy a ranch on the Little Colorado to raise hay. So they are looking for one. They have fifteen hundred cows and heifers plus yearlings. That makes them the largest ranch I own. They have bought hay since they took it over and are still buying more. With the size of that herd they eat lots when the snow covers the grass.”
“Arnold didn’t ever feed hay?”
“I guess not. There is no irrigation. He has one section, might make farmland, south of the Marcy Road. He planted several acres of corn there a year back, then a midsummer storm came and washed it away, so he fenced it and left it. Spencer and Fred haven’t decided what we should do with it.”
“Dry land corn is iffy around here. We raise some but it has to be irrigated.”
“He only planted sixty acres.”
“That cost money.”
“And it did not work.”
“Lunch is ready,” Lisa said. “You two joining us?”
“We will, my dear. I see it is raining again.”
“I hope folks from up north across the river are already here. I bet that river rises today.”
“I never thought about that. It can get big.”
Victor agreed. “Floodwater never got up to the houses here, but it got within a hundred yards once and it was two miles wide.”
They damn sure didn’t need that. Millie and Tom joined them and rain was the topic.
Chapter 24
After lunch the men talked about future plans. Tom suggested they increase the purebred herd at Perkins, rather than the range cows under the operation they now grazed in the irrigated field. They could fence lots of deeded land and let the Herefords out to graze it and have more hay land.
“How large?”
“We have enough free range down here to move those other cattle down here. We cleared up these ranges last year when we drove the free-grazer cattle down in the Verde wilderness.”
“Tom, let me pencil in the cost of fencing it. You have, what, three line riders up ther
e?”
“It takes four now.”
Chet nodded. “Finding that many purebred cows might be a chore.”
“If we can find them, I’d rather have heifers. Those first Kansas cows we bought are pasture cows but the heifers born up there do real well on the range. I think heifers would learn what to eat and do better.”
“Good observation. It will take miles of fence and won’t make us popular even if we now keep their cattle out with our line riders.”
“It is your deeded land.”
“Yes. Let me think on it for a few days. It is a good plan.”
Victor agreed. “There is more land that can be opened and irrigated.”
The rain let up and they drove to the dance.
On the way, Chet talked about his first coming to the area and the kids all adjusting to being in Arizona.
“When we came here, those boys of May’s were in their early teens. They fished every day and brought them home to Susie to clean and cook. Most were catfish but one day they caught a huge carp. Must have weighed ten pounds. Of course carp are bony, and Susie, rather than mess with it, fed it to the cats. That made those boys so mad we nearly had a revolution at the ranch.”
“Tye and his brother?” Victor asked.
“Yes. Once or twice I had to lecture them when they treed poor May, which they used to do even when they were small.”
“They grew up to be good men.”
“I think that was May’s doing, though Sarge had a later hand in it.”
“It was their brother that got murdered while here with you?”
“Heck was such a rebel with May I brought him out here with me, and he became so grown up. That’s when I bought Verde ranch. We were traveling home, when stage robbers took him hostage, murdered him, and threw him in a canyon. In my anger, I shot them all and then went to find his body. I carried him in my arms, for I don’t know how long. Worst day of my life. Why, as a boy he’d ridden clear back from Kansas to our ranch in Texas to tell me they’d murdered his father.”
“Your first wife came to your aid.”
“She saved my life.”
Tom joined in. “Me, I get a little mad at times when I hear how rich guys walk in from Texas and go to buying up ranches. You’ve had hell but continue to save lots of people like me. I am thankful.”
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