“Oh, yeah. As if a woman could ever be the segundo.”
He held her gaze with a long, straight look.
“Keep on like you’re doing, and you could.”
“Tell that to the men. I couldn’t even hire them on my own, remember? They won’t follow orders from me.”
He smiled. “By the time we cross the Red River, you’ll be able to take the herd on to Abilene all by yourself.”
A shaft of fear sliced through her. An old fear, one she knew well, although she hadn’t felt it for a while.
Not since she’d wondered if he would leave her if he found Molly. Was he hinting now that he might leave her and her herd after they crossed into the Territory?
She shot him a quick glance. He was riding relaxed in the saddle, still smiling at her.
Could she trust him? Had her instincts been right these past two weeks?
Or not?
By late the next afternoon, Susanna’s herd was within twenty miles of the Brazos River crossing and Eagle Jack went scouting ahead, leaving her to select the bedgrounds. They had passed two yearling herds whose drovers said the river had been impassable for a week, and it was urgent to find out if they should go on closer to it or not.
“Take the wagon with you,” he said, “and make sure Maynell has her shotgun loaded. If there’s any trouble, use it.”
“I’m wearing my handgun,” she said. “Don’t you think I can shoot?”
“Use it, too,” he said.
The minute he was gone, she had the strangest feeling. What if he didn’t come back tonight? What if he didn’t come back ever?
She knew she was letting fear get a hold on her again when she said as much to Maynell as she rode beside the wagon.
Maynell replied with her famous skeptical look. “Eagle Jack’s not gonna run out on you, girl,” she said. “He’s as good at heart as he is handsome.”
“I really don’t think he will,” Susanna said, “but—”
“—but you ain’t known nothing but people runnin’ out on you, one way or the other, since the day you was born, and that’s what you expect,” Maynell finished for her.
Maynell had known her for only a couple of years, but she knew her well. She knew Susanna’s mother had died birthing her, that her father had run off shortly after, that her relatives had passed her around from one family to another.
They were all too poor and too overworked to take another mouth to feed, and it seemed that as soon as she would even begin to think she was going to stay in one place they sent her to another. That had gone on during all her years of growing up, from the time she was born until she’d married Everett when she was seventeen.
“I suppose so.”
“Ain’t no supposin’ to it,” Maynell said. “It’s a hard-down fact, that’s what it is.”
In a flash of insight, Susanna realized that that was another reason Maynell had insisted on coming along. Making pies for Eagle Jack was only one excuse.
Maynell loved her even more than she’d realized. Cooking out on the ground for a bunch of men three times a day and then cleaning up, packing up, and moving on, only to do it all over again, was much more work than Maynell’s usual chores at Brushy Creek. Susanna resolved to help her more and ride with Eagle Jack less.
They rode along in companionable silence for a short way, then Maynell hit a rock and began a long story about a wagon wreck she’d been in before Susanna was born. She was just building up to the cause of it when the sound of hooves drumming announced a rider coming.
“From the east,” Maynell said, and she was right.
It was a short, stocky bay mare with a tall rider. When he was within earshot, he slowed his horse and called to them.
“This the wagon for the Slanted S herd?”
“Yes,” Susanna called back and turned to ride to meet him.
“Stay by,” Maynell said. “Let him come to us.”
Discreetly, she felt for the shotgun beneath the seat.
The horse bore a brand that looked like a staggered six and a seven, a brand that Susanna didn’t know. Both the little mare and the rider looked well-fed. This wasn’t a grubline drifter looking for a free meal.
He swept off his hat and gave them each a bold smile. “Nat Straight,” he said, by way of introducing himself. “What a stroke of luck to come across two such beautiful ladies out here so far from town. I hear it’s better to be born lucky than handsome, and this proves it right down to the ground.”
With all that talk of luck he might be a roving gambler.
Or with that talk of beautiful ladies far from town, he might be the kind to try to take advantage of women.
Susanna didn’t give him the encouragement of smiling back at him. “My husband will return momentarily,” she said. “Do you have business with the Slanted S?”
“So I’ve heard,” the man said. “But that might depend on what your husband’s name is.”
“Eagle Jack Sixkiller,” she said.
Surprise flashed across his face, then it was gone.
“Congratulations must be in order,” he said. “I wasn’t aware that Eagle Jack had finally got himself roped and branded.”
“Yes,” she said, and then didn’t quite know where to go from there.
“Well, he always did pick the prettiest ladies,” Nat Straight said. His weathered face reddened a little as he realized that might not have been the most tactful thing to say. “But this time he’s gone and outdone himself,” he said heartily. “You’re the most beautiful of them all, by a long shot, ma’am.”
He fell silent, twisting his hat in his hands, obviously wondering whether that remark had been a mistake, as well.
“Thank you.”
How many beautiful ladies had Nat known Eagle Jack to have? There must have been lots. Did he love any of them? She wondered if Nat would know that.
“I reckon I’ll ride on back to my herd now,” he finally said. “How much farther you reckon to go before you make camp?”
“Not far,” Susanna said. “I’m looking at that grove of trees over there to the northwest. That meadow next to it may be just right.”
“I’ll find y’all, then,” Nat said. “We can hold my herd all the way back here tonight if you don’t have enough room and not throw ’em all together until we head out up the trail.” He started to turn his horse, then stopped. “Tell Eagle Jack we’ll be here directly,” Nat Straight said, as he wheeled his horse.
“Will you be here for supper?”
Again, the tip of the hat.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, “along about that time. But thank you kindly, we got our cook wagon with us.”
Susanna watched him ride away. Surely she had heard him wrong about throwing the herds together to go up the trail. Eagle Jack would have said something to her about it if he had plans like that.
Wouldn’t he?
By the time Eagle Jack got back from the river, Susanna had picked the bedgrounds where the drovers were beginning to settle the herd—she’d done a mighty fine job of it—and she was sitting on a log somebody had dragged up to the fire, scooping more coals onto the top of the Dutch oven. Evidently, she was in charge of the sourdough biscuits again, and he was glad. The ones she made were the best he’d ever eaten. Maynell was frying steaks.
And some cowboy was walking from his ground-tied horse into camp, clearly headed toward Susanna. He took another look. It was his trail boss, Nat Straight. He’d know that swagger anywhere.
“Nat!”
At Eagle Jack’s shout, he turned and came out to meet him.
Eagle Jack dismounted and they shook hands.
“We’re holding the herd a couple of miles back,” Nat said. “Figured you’d wanta wait and throw ’em together when we head on out.”
“Sounds good,” Eagle Jack said. “How’s their condition?”
“Fat ’n’ sassy,” Nat said. “We took it slow after we got your message.” He gave Eagle Jack a look. “Wish I was in as good
a shape as the herd.”
“What’s the matter with you?”
“Nearly had a heart attack a while ago.”
“What happened?” Eagle Jack asked.
“That pretty lady over there told me she’s your wife. I swear, it was a shock to my system, Eagle Jack. I come within a hair of swallowing my tobacco.”
Annoyance stabbed at Eagle Jack, irritation that this silly marriage farce had carried over to his home territory. Nat was one of the best cowboys on the Sixes and Sevens and there were eight or ten more men from the home ranch with the herd. He hadn’t thought about them and the married-up story he and Susanna were telling.
He’d pay hell if his mother heard it—she’d been hoping and praying he’d get married and settle down for so long that this would make her hysterical with happiness. She’d never believe that it was only a tale for the trail.
He needed to correct Nat’s thinking.
“Aw, that’s just—” He bit his tongue.
Nat would be with all them the rest of the drive. The man was a big talker and he could never keep a secret, no matter how trivial.
Besides, talking and gossip and jokes and foolishness were about the only entertainment for everyone on the long, hard journey. No sense providing any ammunition.
The men who were with him and Susanna believed they were married and if they heard differently now, their trust in him as a leader would be broken.
Trust meant life or death on the trail.
Besides, he couldn’t make Susanna out to be a liar. She was the one who had told this to Nat.
“…just somethin’ I did on the spur of the moment,” Eagle Jack said.
Nat laughed. “Well, she must be as quick as she is beautiful if she could get you hog-tied and branded before you could get home from one short jaunt to Salado,” he said. “Did you know her very long?”
“Nope,” Eagle Jack said, and started them walking toward the fire. “Just met her that trip.”
He needed to get them into the middle of some more people. Enough of this heart-to-heart. Nat always was as curious as a cat, no matter what the subject or the situation.
Now he’d have to try to send word, somehow, to his mother about what the real situation was. There’d be opportunities, from time to time, to send and receive letters at trading posts and towns they might visit, and Nat had a lot of girlfriends back home. One of them even worked for his mother.
This news would travel fast because nobody had ever thought that Eagle Jack would settle down.
His mind was spinning. It was too late now, since they’d already spread the story, and he guessed all this intrigue was necessary. Even with Maynell and Jimbo along as chaperones, it would save a whole lot of problems if everyone believed Susanna was married to him.
She stood up and turned to them as they approached. “Well, hello,” she said. “I see y’all have found each other.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Nat said, with a tip to his hat. “I hope you won’t hold it against me none for appearin’ here at your fire after I declined your offer of supper.”
“Not at all,” Susanna said, giving Nat a bright smile, “you’re more than welcome.”
Now that was a smile that was totally unnecessary, in Eagle Jack’s opinion.
The men were coming in by twos and threes to eat and she began helping get the food ready. Eagle Jack watched her bend over and brush the coals off the lid of the oven, thinking how small her waist was and how lush the curve of her breasts.
The heat from the fire made her face glow.
He saw that Nat was watching her, too.
A shaft of resentment stabbed through him. He turned to Marvin and his cohorts, who were picking up their plates from the tail of the chuck wagon.
“Men,” he said, “I want you all to meet Nat Straight. He’s trail boss for my beef herd that’s joining us here. The two herds together will make us about four thousand head to trail to Abilene.”
He saw, from the corner of his eye, Susanna’s surprised turn toward him and felt her gaze on him. She said nothing, however.
They all shook hands with Nat as Eagle Jack introduced them each by name. Then he introduced Maynell and Susanna.
“You’re throwing another herd in with ours?” Maynell asked bluntly.
“Yes.”
“And they’ve got their own chuck wagon.”
It wasn’t a question, but Eagle Jack answered it anyway. “That’s right.”
He went to the wagon to get a plate for himself.
“Then who’s the cook?”
Maynell’s belligerent tone made him turn to face her. She planted her fists on her hips. In one hand she held a long-handled wooden spoon like a weapon.
Uh-oh. He’d expected a few fireworks from Cookie but not from Maynell. He tried to think fast.
“You mean on this wagon?”
“I mean on this trail drive where you’re talking two herds in one. You aim for me to cook for another whole crew of men?”
“No, Maynell,” Eagle Jack said, keeping his tone calm. “In fact, you don’t have to cook at all if you don’t want to. The other herd has a cook who’s been up the trail several times and he can cook for everybody.”
Maynell snorted.
“Hmpf. Never seen a man yet who could cook vittles fittin’ to eat. I ain’t looking to starve nor t’ let y’all starve, neither.”
Eagle Jack picked up a tin cup and went to the coffeepot. He tried to make sure of what Maynell was saying.
“If you want to keep on doing what you’ve been doing, Maynell, that’ll be fine.”
Cookie would throw one of his famous fits at the very thought of competition, not to mention the waste of building two fires for every meal, heating two pans of water to clean the dishes, and maybe some men getting better food than others. Darn! Why hadn’t he left Maynell at home?
He thought of the right thing to say just in time.
“You think about it,” he said. “If you want to specialize in such things as pies and cobblers and fluff-duff and raisin pudding and bear sign and such, you can.” He finished filling his cup and turned to give her a smile. “Nobody can make pie like you can, Maynell, no matter how many times he’s been up the trail.”
She smiled back at him.
“Always did like a brown-eyed handsome man who appreciates a little something sweet,” she said. “It’s pudding tonight.”
Then she carried her spoon to the fire and used it to stir the beans.
Pleased with himself, he finished serving himself some of everything and walked to a spot out on the grass between Nat and Marvin. He crossed his feet, balanced his plate in one hand and his cup in the other, and let his knees move outward to lower himself to sit.
But he felt Susanna’s gaze on him again. It was so strong it seemed to hold him up in the air. He looked at her, but he couldn’t see the approbation there that he had expected. She looked angry, as a matter of fact.
Why, he couldn’t possibly say. She should be happy that he’d saved her from having to listen to Maynell’s tirades for the rest of the trip. And he’d done it pretty darn smoothly, at that.
Yep. That was one small problem solved.
Now, if he could only have the same good luck with the big ones.
Chapter 10
Eagle Jack balanced his plate on the calves of his legs, set his coffee cup on the ground beside him, and began to eat. He had plenty more pressing problems to think about than who thought he was married and who didn’t and who was going to be cooking what for the two crews of drovers.
They were two crews now but they’d have to mold themselves into one and do it in a hurry. A river crossing, no matter how easy it looked, was always one of the most dangerous undertakings on the trail. A million things could go wrong and every man of them had to be alert and willing to do what had to be done. If they didn’t work together, somebody could die, a lot of valuable cattle could be lost, or both.
He glanced around while he cut anoth
er bite of his steak. Nat was a good swimmer, so he ought to send him to look for another spot. If a place looked likely, Nat could swim it to judge the depth of the water and the strength of the current.
If they couldn’t ford it, though, the wagons would be the trouble, and he might as well accept the fact right now that that would be the case. If there was another good, shallow crossing on this section of the Brazos, he’d never heard of it, and he’d lived in the area all his life.
His only hope for the wagons would be the ferry near a little town called Sycamore. He glanced at the western sky. There was still a lot of daylight left, and a man on a fast horse could get to the ferry and back by midnight. The evenings were steadily getting longer and there’d be a big moon.
He looked around the fire. Marvin’s buddy, Rod Cooper, would be a good choice. He was young and full of vinegar and always wanting to horse around and play jokes at bedtime, no matter how hard he’d worked that day. He could put some of that energy to good use.
Everyone ate fast and in silence, as was the custom. When each man finished eating, he went to the wreck pan and threw his dirty plate in. Some kept their coffee cups and refilled them and then gathered again to talk a little. Supper was the only meal of the day that they could ever linger at the fire.
They would be expecting Nat to tell what news he’d gathered coming up the trail and the happenings that had befallen his herd. A new man in camp was expected to offer entertainment in exchange for his food, but they were out of luck tonight because he had a job for Nat to do.
Eagle Jack spoke to Nat quietly and then to Rod. Both of them started for their horses.
As Eagle Jack turned back to the other men, he noticed that Nat gave a smile and a farewell tip of his hat to Susanna as he passed her and that he said something to Maynell. Nat would leave no stone unturned when it came to finding favor with the ladies.
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