Set Texas Back On Her Feet (A Floating Outfit Western Book 6)

by J. T. Edson

  While Marlene was planning her future, Gus Roxterby was carrying out the orders he had received from her husband that night outside the hotel. Instead of returning to Pilar, he had visited a ranch at which he had known he would find the kind of men he required. Having done so, he was arranging for them to kill Marlene and the Creole in what would appear to be the course of a robbery as they were returning home.

  Due in part to Dusty Fog’s efforts and abilities, Goodnight’s dream of setting Texas on the road to economic recovery had been put into motion. Soon the herds of longhorns would be on the move and money would be starting to flow into the Lone Star State. However, the small Texan and the rest of Ole Devil’s floating outfit were not yet finished with the machinations of the hide and tallow men.

  Appendix One

  During the War Between the States at seventeen years of age, Dustine Edward Marsden Fog had won promotion in the field and was put in command of the Texas Light Cavalry’s hard-riding, harder-fighting Company C. i Leading them in the Arkansas Campaign, he had earned the reputation for being an exceptionally capable military raider the equal of the South’s other exponents, John Singleton Mosby and Turner Ashby. ii In addition to preventing a pair of Union fanatics from starting an Indian uprising that would have decimated most of Texas, iii he had supported Belle Boyd, the Rebel Spy iv on two of her most dangerous missions. v

  When the War had finished, he had become the segundo of the great OD Connected ranch in Rio Hondo County, Texas. Its owner and his uncle, General Ole Devil Hardin, had been crippled in a riding accident vi and it had thrown much of the work—including handling an important mission upon which the good relations between the United States and Mexico had hung in the balance vii —upon him. After helping to gather horses to replenish the ranch’s depleted remuda, viii he had been sent to assist Colonel Charles Goodnight on the trail drive to Fort Sumner that had done much to help the Lone Star State to recover from the impoverished conditions left by the War. ix

  Having proven himself to be a first class cowhand, Dusty went on to be acknowledged as a very capable trail boss, x round up captain, xi and a town-taming lawman. xii In a contest at the Cochise County Fair, he won the title of the Fastest Gun in the West, by beating many other exponents of the pistolero arts. xiii

  Dusty Fog never found his lack of stature an impediment. In addition to being naturally strong, he had taught himself to be completely ambidextrous. Possessing fast reflexes, he could draw and fire either, or both, of his Colts with lightning speed and great accuracy. Ole Devil Hardin’s valet, Tommy Okasi, was Japanese and from him Dusty had learned ju jitsu and karate. Neither had received much publicity in the Western world, so the knowledge was very useful when he had to fight barehanded against larger, heavier and stronger men.

  Appendix Two

  With his exceptional good looks and magnificent physical development, Mark Counter presented the kind of appearance that many people expected of Dusty Fog. It was a fact of which they would take advantage when the need arose. xiv

  While serving as a lieutenant in General Bushrod Sheldon’s cavalry regiment, Mark’s merits as an efficient and courageous officer had been over-shadowed by his taste in uniforms. Always a dandy, coming from a wealthy family had allowed him to indulge in his whims. His clothing, particularly a skinless tunic, had been much copied by the other young bloods in the Confederate States’ Army, despite considerable opposition and disapproval on the part of hide-bound senior officers.

  When peace had come, Mark followed Sheldon to fight for Emperor Maximilian in Mexico. There he had met Dusty Fog and the Ysabel Kid, helping with the former’s mission. On returning to Texas, Mark had been invited to join the OD Connecters floating outfit. xv Knowing that his elder brothers were sufficient to help his father, Big Rance Counter, run the R Over C ranch in the Big Bend country—and suspecting that life would be more exciting with Dusty and the Kid—he had accepted.

  An expert cowhand, Mark was known as Dusty Fog’s right bower, xvi and gained acclaim by virtue of his enormous strength and ability in a roughhouse brawl. However, due to being so much in the small Texan’s company, his full potential as a gun fighter received little attention. Men who were in a position to know stated that he was second only to the Rio Hondo wizard in speed and accuracy.

  Many women found Mark’s appearance irresistible, including Miss Martha Jane Canary; xvii who was better known as Calamity Jane. xviii Only one held his heart, the lady outlaw Belle Starr. xix It was several years after her death that he courted and married Dawn Sutherland, who he had met on the Goodnight trail drive to Fort Sumner.

  Appendix Three

  The only daughter of Long Walker, war leader of the Pehnane—Wasp, Quick Stinger, or Raider—Comanche Dog Soldier lodge and his French Creole pairaivo xx married an Irish Kentuckian adventurer called Sam Ysabel, but died giving birth to their first child. Given the name Loncey Dalton Ysabel, the boy was raised in the fashion of the Nemunuh. xxi With his father away much of the time on the family business of first mustanging, then smuggling, his education had been left to his maternal grandfather. xxii From Long Walker, he had learned all those things a Comanche warrior must know; how to ride the wildest, freshly caught mustang, or when raiding—a polite name for the favorite Nemenuh sport of horse-stealing—to subjugate a domesticated mount to his will; to follow the faintest of tracks and conceal traces of his own passing; to locate hidden enemies, yet remain concealed himself when the need arose; to move in silence through the thickest of cover or on the darkest of nights; and to be highly proficient in the use of a variety of weapons. In all these subjects, the boy had proved an excellent pupil. He had inherited his father’s rifle-shooting skill and, while not real fast on the draw—taking slightly over a second, where a top hand would come close to half of that time—he could perform adequately with his colt Second Model Dragoon revolver. His excellent handling of one as a weapon had gained him the man-name Cuchilo, ‘the Knife’ among the Pehnane.

  Joining his father on smuggling trips along the Rio Grande, he had become known to the Mexicans of the border country as Cabrito; which had come from hearing white men referring to him as the Ysabel Kid. Smuggling did not attract mild-mannered, gentle-natured pacifists, but even the toughest and roughest men on the bloody border had learned that it did not pay to tangle with Sam Ysabel’s son. His education and upbringing had not been such that he was possessed of an over-inflated sense of the sanctity of human life. When crossed, he dealt with the situation like a Pehnane Dog Soldier—to which lodge of savage, efficient warriors he belonged—swiftly and in a deadly effective manner.

  During the War, the Kid and his father had commenced by riding as scouts for the Grey Ghost, John Singleton Mosby. Later, their specialized talents had been used by having them collect and deliver to the Confederate States’ authorities in Texas supplies that had been run through the U.S. Navy’s blockades into Matamoros, or purchased elsewhere in Mexico. It had been hard, dangerous work and never more so than on the two occasions when they had been involved in missions with Belle Boyd. xxiii

  Sam Ysabel had been murdered soon after the end of the War. While hunting for the killers, the Kid had met Dusty Fog and, later, Mark Counter. Engaged on a mission of inter-national importance, Dusty had been very grateful for the Kid’s assistance. When it had been brought to a successful conclusion, learning that the Kid no longer wished to continue a career of smuggling, Dusty had offered him work at the OD Connected ranch. When the Kid had stated that he knew little about being a cowhand, he had been told that it was his skill as a scout that would be required. His talents in that line had been most useful to the floating outfit.

  In fact, the Kid’s acceptance had been of great benefit all round. Dusty had gained a loyal friend, ready to stick by him through any danger. The ranch had obtained the services of an extremely capable and efficient man. For his part, the Kid had been turned from a life of petty crime—with the ever-present danger of having it develop into more serious
law-breaking— and became a useful member of society. Peace officers and honest citizens might have been thankful for that as he would have made a terrible and murderous outlaw if he had been driven into such a life.

  Obtaining his first repeating rifle while in Mexico with Dusty and Mark, the Kid became acknowledged as a master in its use. In fact, at the Cochise County Fair he won the first prize—one of the fabulous Winchester Models of 1873 (One Of A Thousand’ rifles—against very stiff competition. xxiv Also it was in a great part through his efforts that the majority of the Comanche Indian bands agreed to go on to the Reservation. xxv Nor could Dusty Fog have cleaned out the outlaw town of Hell without the Kid’s assistance. xxvi

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  More on J. T. EDSON

  i Told in: You’re in Command Now, Mr. Fog.

  ii Told in: The Big Gun, Under the Stars and Bars, The Fastest Gun in Texas and Kill Dusty Fog.

  iii Told in: The Devil Gun.

  iv Further details of Belle Boyd’s career are given in: The Hooded Riders, The Bad Bunch, To Arms, To Arms, In Dixie!, The South Will Rise Again and The Whip and the War Lance.

  v Told in: The Colt and the Saber and The Rebel Spy.

  vi Told in: ‘The Paint’ episode of: The Fastest Gun in Texas.

  vii Told in: The Ysabel Kid.

  viii Told in: .44 Caliber Man and A Horse Called Mogollon.

  ix Told in: Goodnight’s Dream and From Hide and Horn.

  x Told in: Trail Boss.

  xi Told in: The Man From Texas.

  xii Told in: Quiet Towny The Making of a Lawman, The Trouble Busters, The Small Texan and The Town Tamers.

  xiii Told in: Gun Wizard.

  xiv Told in: The South Will Rise Again.

  xv Floating outfit: a group of four to six cowhands employed on a large ranch to work the more distant sections of the property. Taking food in a chuck wagon, or ‘greasy sack’ on the back of a mule, they would be away from the ranch house for weeks at a time. Because of General Hardin’s prominence in the affairs of Texas, the OD Connected’s floating outfit were frequently sent to assist his friends who found themselves in trouble or danger.

  xvi Right bower; second highest trump card in the game of euchre.

  xvii Mark’s main meetings with Calamity Jane are told in: Troubled Range, The Wildcats and The Fortune Hunters.

  xviii Books in which Calamity Jane takes leading roles are: Cold Deck, Hot Lead, Calamity Spells Trouble, Trouble Trail, The Bull Whip Breed, The Cow Thieves, White Stallion, Red Mare (co-starring the Ysabel Kid), The Big Hunt (in which Mark makes a guest appearance) and The Whip and the War Lance.

  xix How Mark’s romance with Belle Starr commenced, progressed and ended is told in: the ‘The Bounty On Belle Starr’s Scalp’ episode of Troubled Range, Rangeland Hercules, the ‘The Lady Known as Belle’ episode of The Hard Riders and Guns in the Night. She also appears in Hell in the Palo Duro and Go Back to Hell, assisting Dusty Fog and the Ysabel Kid.

  xx Pairaivo: first, or favorite, wife.

  xxi Nemenuh: ‘The People’, the Comanche Indians’ name for their nation.

  xxii Told in: Comanche.

  xxiii Told in: The Bloody Border and Back to the Bloody Border.

  xxiv Told in: Gun Wizard.

  xxv Told in: Sidewinder.

  xxvi Told in: Hell in the Palo Duro and Go Back to Hell.