“She’ll tell me what she thinks.”
“I know you two get along good.”
“Right.” The big man swung his horses around to leave them.
Cole nodded. “I better get Jesus. Will Anita let him go, ma’am?”
“I imagine so.” She laughed. “They are getting real close.”
Chet watched him ride off for Jesus. “This will be a helluva trip. It was a long ways coming out here and it hasn’t gotten any shorter.”
“You think they are in that country where you left the train?”
“Unless the cattle stampeded off in a hundred directions, then most of them are somewhere up there.”
“What else?”
“There are lots of war-happy Indians there, too.”
“You had trouble with them before, didn’t you?”
He laughed. “One of our first drives to Gallup, Cole and I got attacked. I had an arrow stuck in my saddle fork. He shot one Indian and I roped the one that shot my saddle. I left Cole to bring the Indian in as a prisoner, but he drew a knife and Cole had to shoot him.”
She was amused. “I never realized he was an Indian fighter.”
“It really wasn’t funny. Let’s get home and get a telegram off to this banker. I think we’re his best chance to find them, and we have some room to bargain.”
“How far away are we from there?”
“Six hundred miles.”
“Whew.”
“Let’s ride.”
They headed out in a lope across the rolling upland of sage and juniper for the upper ranch. From the ranch, they drove a buckboard to town where he sent his answer to the banker, requesting twenty-five percent and expenses and a fee if they failed.
He came out of the telegraph office, took the reins, and they drove back home in the dark.
“What is a big cattle drive like?” Liz asked.
“Boring as hell. You drive cattle almost single file and they jog along for fifteen miles a day or so. They get road broke in a week, and then the herders wish one would break and run. At the back are the loafers, who you have to beat all the time to make them keep up and you eat tons of their dust.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“They stampede and run off any chance they can and, usually, in the dark during storms.”
“That sounds awful.”
“That’s why I want us and the boys well paid.”
“I can go along?”
“I would not recommend it. But I won’t tell you no.”
She rode in close and kissed him. “You spoil me.”
“You won’t be spoiled on a cattle drive, I guarantee you.”
“I want to go.”
“Pack light. Today is Tuesday. If he agrees, we’ll leave Thursday.”
“Are you two off on another lark?” Monica asked when they came into the house.
“We got a telegram from Texas today.”
“I know. I sent the boy to find you this morning.”
“A banker has lost a big herd of cattle in Texas. They want us to go find it.”
Monica frowned in concern. “A needle in a haystack?”
“Maybe, but if we find the herd, we could make some real money.”
“Or get scalped or shot by Indians,” Monica said. She went off to do her kitchen duties, shaking her head. “You aren’t going with them, are you, Liz?”
“I thought I would.”
“I thought so, too. Both of you are crazy.”
“We will know tomorrow if he wants us.”
“Good, I will get some rest.” With that, she hurried from the room.
“She mad at us?” Liz asked.
“She gets that way at times,” he whispered.
The banker agreed to Chet’s plan. May told Hampt to go along, that they’d probably need him. Cole and Jesus spent the next day making certain their horses were shod and sound. They put new girths on the packsaddles and new Navajo-made saddle blankets to save the horses’ backs. Chet told them to plan for four packhorses, that would be enough. A sidewall tent was included for Liz. They might not have taken it along except for her. But he kept that a secret from her.
He planned for them to ride his roans. His first day’s goal was to make Windmill Ranch in one day. That would show them they could make sixty miles in a day, and the trip in two weeks’ time, when they’d start looking for the lost herd. There wasn’t much he could do until they reached the Texas panhandle.
“Where could they water three thousand plus head of cattle up there?” Chet asked.
“I’ve never been up on the llano Estacada,” Cole said.
“Me, either. I heard a lot about it, but there isn’t much out there, is there?” Hampt asked.
Chet shook his head. “Lots of nothing. I believe he veered too far west to miss Kansas and to go up that eastern Colorado trail to Ogallala.”
“Think we’ll find him in New Mexico?”
“No telling, but when we get over there we’ll start asking questions.”
May, their baby boy, and her daughter were all at the main ranch house to see Hampt off in the morning. Valerie was staying over to see Cole leave. Several others came by that evening to send them off. Frey came by and told Chet if he needed anything he could do to contact him. Ben Ivor and his wife were there, too.
“How long will this take, Chet?” Ben asked.
“I hope not more than three months. But there’s no telling where they went.”
“You get paid, if you don’t find them?”
“Yes. But we have to find them.”
“Any idea?”
“You can’t have over three thousand steers and all black cowboys somewhere between here and the Indian Territory, and not have someone who knows where they are.”
“What else could have happened?”
“Things get trying, even in a smooth drive. Like ships at sea, they might have had a mutiny. I have no idea.”
The men, who had formed a circle around him in the yard, all wished him luck. Chet was satisfied they thought he had a big lost cause, but no one got in his face and said that.
By wire, he put Roamer in charge of the force at Tubac, saying he would be out of pocket for several months searching for the herd. He sent over thirty enquiries on the wire about where that herd might be, to men who knew that country, giving locations where he could get their message if they learned anything. The first contact would be at Gallup in six days. Then at Bernalillo in twelve days, the next at Santa Rosa in eighteen days, and the last at Tascosa twenty-four days later. He assured them he would reimburse them for any expenses. And to send their costs to Quarter Circle Z Ranch, Prescott, Arizona Territory.
They left under the stars for the Windmill Ranch. He’d given Tom the places and locations to reach him by wire, as well as to Monica and May.
On the road, Liz privately asked him if he thought Susie would cut Liz’s hair in a short bob that evening.
“I can see why you ask. You don’t have Anita to help cut your hair, but I love it the way it is.”
“It will grow back. Washing it will be hard. Let her cut it and I can easily care for it.”
“You can ask her. I’m certain she’ll oblige you.”
“You won’t be mad at me?”
He shook his head. “This is not a trip of conveniences. Do it, and I will only cry inside.”
She rode in and slapped his leg. “No, you won’t.”
He had to pass on to the guys she was having her hair cut short at the Windmill. They agreed it was a good idea under the circumstances.
After that, day one was uneventful in the ride to the Windmill. Sarge told them all the places they could stop at safely between there and Gallup, and who was friendly and who was not. He marked them all on a map. From Gallup on, they were on their own. But Chet had no misgivings. He rode with three powerful men and a determined lady. Susie shook her head at Liz’s short haircut as she sat on her horse, but wished them the best.
The days wer
e long, hot, and breezy. Wind-driven sand pecked at their exposed skin and faces. Chilling rainstorms drifted around and on the third day hail battered them. They camped one night on the road, and the next one stayed with an Indian trader, and the last night a rancher. On day five, they rode into Gallup in the late afternoon. He checked the telegraph office with Liz, while the others put up the horses and made sure they were grained and rubbed down.
“I have five wires for you, Mr. Byrnes.”
“If I get more wires, please send them to me at Bernalillo, New Mexico, and ask that they hold them. I’ll be there in five days.”
“No problem.”
Chet and Liz took the wires to a standing desk.
He read them, one after the other.
CHET
BOB DECKER CROSSED THE RED
RIVER IN MARCH. I THINK HE HAS
NO CHUCKWAGON, A GREASY SACK
OUTFIT ON A HALF DOZEN CRAZY
MULES.A DISASTER GOING TO HAPPEN.
WILEY HARPER
CHET
I HEARD THEY WERE GOING WEST
NORTH OF CHISHOLM’S TRADING
POST CROSSING ON THE CANADIAN.
THAT MEANS THEY’RE IN WEST TEXAS
BY NOW. MOST OF THEM COWBOYS ARE
BAREFOOTED AND THE SEATS OF THEIR
PANTS THREADBARE. THEY WERE WAY
SHORT ON A REMUDA, AND SOME WERE
ON FOOT WAVING BLANKETS. HELL
KNOWS WHERE THEY ARE NOW.
CLINT ROSS
CHET
WHEN THAT OUTFIT CROSSED THE
BRAZOS AT WACO BACK IN THE SPRING,
FOLKS LAUGHED. MOST SAID THEY
WON’T EVER GET THERE. ILL EQUIPPED,
PARD. YOU WON’T FIND NOTHING LEFT. LEROY HAYES
CHET
I NEVER HEARD OF THEM IN WICHITA. GOOD LUCK. HARVEY COLE
“What now?” she asked.
“Send a wire home and say we got here and have leads. When we get closer, we can buy a chuckwagon, supplies, and even britches, from the sound of things.”
“I hope we simply find them,” Liz said.
They both laughed.
They were in western New Mexico, as scheduled. If the herd went west at Jessie’s trading post on the Canadian River, they may be following it west before they headed north. That could be real tough Injun country. From the sounds of things, this was not a well-supplied bunch to start with. Ten more days and he and his outfit would be in that region with no problems, but that would be a lot to ask.
Over supper in a Mexican cantina, everyone read the information on the telegrams.
“Sounds tough,” Cole said.
Chet agreed. “I figured they had a low-cost outfit, but this sounds like they may be stranded with those cattle.”
“What does greasy sack mean?” Liz asked.
“They’ve got all their cooking gear and food in some burlap sacks strapped on mules,” Hampt said.
“Oh, I see now. You had a chuckwagon when you did this?” she asked Chet.
“Boy, yes. I don’t even want to think about that mess.” Chet shook his head.
“Be pretty sorry, but maybe them black cowboys don’t expect much?” Hampt asked.
She made a face. “Hampt, even they deserve better conditions than that.”
“I guess so. It’s going to be interesting, but they ain’t paying this much money ’cause this job is going to be easy.”
“We’ll search that country on the Canadian in west Texas?” Hampt asked.
Cole warily shook his head. “Big country, and they haven’t got all those Indians out of there.”
“That’s on my mind, too.” Chet worried about the Indians being squeezed off the plains and how desperate they must be.
“What will we do?”
“Get a chuckwagon at Tularosa. Plenty of supplies. Rifles and ammo. I don’t know how well armed they are. Get as many horses as we can find and set out to find them.”
“Sounds wild, boys,” Hampt said. “But that’s all we can do.”
In bed that night, Chet asked Liz how saddle sore she was.
“I have muscles I never knew I had. But I’d never have seen this country if I had not come with you. I don’t want to own it, but I am enjoying seeing it.”
“Just so you don’t get so damn bored, you’d quit me over this trip.”
“I am not bored. I am surprised that you learned so much from those telegrams. That amazed me tonight.”
“Those men I wired really know this cattle-driving business. Not much goes on they haven’t observed or laughed at.”
“But we are almost two weeks away from where you start to look for them and already you have many good leads.”
“We’ll need them all, I bet, to find them.”
“I understand. You know, I guess I am more muscle than fat now. Can you find me a pair of suspenders to hold my pants up?”
He laughed and hugged her. “Galluses coming up.”
“They don’t cost much, do they?”
“Heavens, no. I’ll buy or find you some. We better use this bed and then get some sleep. Tomorrow, we ride on, my love.”
Cole had an extra pair of galluses in his saddlebags. He chuckled when Chet asked for them.
“You need them?”
“No, Liz does. We’ve worn her to the bone, and she fears losing her pants.”
Laughing, he handed them to Chet.
That evening, he presented them to her, offering to put them on her pants for her in the morning.
“Where did you find them?” she asked.
“Oh, on some dead outlaw.”
“Where did you find a dead outlaw out here?”
He fastened the suspenders in the back and put the straps over her shoulders.
Busy snapping them on, he helped adjust them. “I shot him between them so you’d have a pair that was uncut.”
“Oh, that is some joke. I couldn’t believe you shot an outlaw for me to get suspenders.”
He swept her up and kissed her. “Cole had them.”
“I will thank him.” She shook her head at him and ran her hands under the straps to flex them. “My pants won’t fall down now.”
He figured it would take ten days to cross New Mexico, west to east. It took them a lot longer than that to haul the wagons across there. But so far they’d been lucky. They had sound, grain-fed horses that were well shod. Plus, they’d taken good care of them as well.
Later, lost in their lovemaking, he thanked God for all the good things that happened to the two of them.
CHAPTER 11
When they arrived at Bernalillo, New Mexico Territory, Chet had more messages. He telegraphed Monica and May that they were well, and told the telegraph operator to forward any other wires to Santa Rosa, then tipped him well.
CHET
I GOT A REPORT THEY ARE ON THE
CANADIAN RIVER WEST TEXAS. A TEXAS
RANGER SAID THEY WERE CAMPED OUT
THERE. DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THEY HAD
FOR PLANS. THEY HAD SUPPLIES BUT
WERE LOW ON HORSES.
“Why in the hell don’t he wire San Antonio for help?” Cole asked.
“I bet he’s illiterate,” Chet said. “The telegraph wire is still a mystery to some folks and they don’t trust it. Heck, it ain’t even signed.”
“How many folks would give a ragged black man, all broke down, credit for more supplies?” Hampt asked with a headshake.
Jesus raised a brown finger. “That’s the truth. Hampt knows.”
“Boys, it’s a big place out there. Wild Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, are all out there. What’s left of the buffalo herd is in that country. It’s not a healthy place for white or black men to be.”
“We’re going to be close to there in a week, boss?”
“I hope so, Hampt. I really hope so.” He looked at the towering mountains with the sunset shining on its walls across the Rio Grande. “We go uphill out of here tomorrow, but we cross around most o
f it.”
They went to eat at a restaurant. His arm on Liz’s shoulder, he asked her privately, “How are the calluses on your backside?”
She chuckled. “They’re wonderful. Jesus and I don’t have to cook.”
“You’re doing great.”
“I am excited to be with you and these three great men. We have had little problems so far. I knew this trip would test all of us. But it is better than waiting for your telegrams at Preskitt.”
“We worried about you coming,” Cole said. “Now you’re one of us, Liz.”
“Good. I would never have seen this part of the country. The amazing thing is how big it is. I have not seen a place yet that I would trade for the Preskitt area and the pines. That has really grown on me.”
The men held the door to the café open for her. They soon were seated and had food ordered. Afterward, they took baths, and the men shaved, and they slept in comfortable hotel beds that night. They ate breakfast in the predawn and crossed on the Rio Grande ferry to the east side. Saddle leather creaked, hooves clunked on the hard-packed road, horses snorted dust, and some danced a little before shifting into a rolling gait. They had miles to cover and Chet pressed them every day to make those miles. The third day from Bernalillo they arrived at Santa Rosa, the village of small lakes. He felt better after reading more wires he received there.
CHET
I AM SATISFIED HE IS SOMEWHERE ON
THE CANADIAN RIVER. I TALKED TO
SEVERAL DROVERS IN OGALLALA WHO
SAW AND AVOIDED HIS SPREAD-OUT
OUTFIT IN THAT REGION. NELSON DAY
CHET
PAUL NEWLAND SAW THAT BLACK
OUTFIT IN THE CANADIAN RIVER
COUNTRY. THEY WERE NOT MOVING.
HE HAD NO ANSWER FOR THAT.
CHARLES HOLLAND
“Well, at least we know he exists,” Hampt said.
“Tularosa is two days away or so. When we’re there, and while we look for them, we’ll start gathering wagons, supplies, and guns and ammo.”
Everyone agreed.
Arizona Territory Page 11