Arizona Territory

by Dusty Richards

“Get all your things you want to take and you leave this town. If I hear you came back here, I’ll have you in prison for hiding these three.”

  “You can’t—”

  “Get off your butt and get going—now.”

  She jumped back and ran in the house, cussing a blue streak.

  “Go get those horses that are theirs and bring them around for this lady who helped me.”

  Some of the men from the crowd that had gathered went to do that.

  Cole came back with two heavy saddlebags. “Quite a bit left, boss.”

  “The Stafford bank will be pleased. Jesus, check their other things for money. Then fix her up.” He shook his head warily. “Who buries the poor?”

  “I can bury him.” A tall man in overalls stepped forward.

  “What do you charge?”

  “Five pesos?”

  He nodded his head. “Bury him deep. These people do not want to smell him.”

  Everyone agreed that was so.

  While they waited for the wagon man’s return, Liz started to make them some food. One of the women bandaged the wounded man to stop the bleeding. Bessie left with two sheets over her lap that were bulging with things she took from the house, and rode off under a large black hat that flopped to her horse’s gait.

  Some women pitched in to help Liz and made flour tortillas on the stovetop. Soon, lawmen and the rest were eating. Chet wondered where all the food came from. Obviously, they’d brought some, too. No way his wife could have made it all.

  “You are like Jesus today, a couple of fish and a loaf of bread, and fed lots of folks,” he said to Liz in passing.

  She stopped and whispered, “I paid them for it. They had it ready and thanked me. But I didn’t offer to wash their feet.”

  “That was my job.”

  “You did a good job at it, too.”

  They left the next day for Gallup. The way was slow and when they arrived, he put the prisoners in jail and they sent for a doctor to look at the wounded man. He deposited the money, eight thousand dollars, in a bank for Wells Fargo to return to the Thatcher Bank.

  “Thank God, lots of it was paper money,” Cole said.

  Chet nodded.

  He telegraphed the bank with his report, and told them the rewards went to his two men Cole Emerson and Jesus Morales, in care of Chet Byrnes, Prescott, Arizona. Then he filed a report with the U.S. Marshal’s office in Tucson. They sent telegrams to the families that could get them, then took a bath in a bathhouse. Liz bought them all new clothes, since she didn’t figure theirs would stand a washing. Chet looked up the waitress who’d put them on the robbers’ trail. She met him out the back door of the café and he discreetly paid her twenty dollars for her useful information.

  She kissed him on the cheek. “Just don’t tell my husband I was there,” she whispered.

  He agreed and went to join his bunch to go out and eat at a fancy restaurant.

  “What did she say?” Liz asked, taking his arm when he was back out in the street.

  “Same thing she did the last time. Don’t tell my husband I was there.”

  They laughed all the way to supper.

  That night, the wind came out of the north, and they rode back to the Windmill ranch in four long, cold days in the saddle. The ranch hands took their horses and the pack animals and sent them to the house.

  The four of them collapsed in Susie’s living room.

  “Well, how did it go?” Susie asked.

  Cole shook his head. “We rode over there, caught them, and got most of the bank’s money back. I still find it hard to believe.”

  “Would you like a hot bath, sister?” She pulled Liz up from the floor.

  “Not quite as bad as I did in Gallup. But, yes, I’d take one.”

  “Any of the rest of you want a bath?”

  They shook their heads.

  “Bring us blankets; we want to sleep on the floor,” Cole said.

  Chet agreed, slumped in the chair. Jesus just nodded his head, seated on his butt and his back against the sofa.

  “You win, Liz,” Susie shouted triumphantly.

  About an hour or so later, the women fed the groggy men. A little rest and they took baths, changed clothes, and answered questions.

  “You can stay here another day and rest.”

  “If you think we’ll argue with you, sister, you’re crazy,” Chet said.

  “Good. I’ll have company. Now tell us all the story of the bank robbers.”

  “It all started with a waitress who went to a party and didn’t want her husband to know it.”

  His crew laughed, and so did the collection of ranch hands in the warm living room.

  With his arm around his wife’s shoulder on the couch, he nodded his head. “I can hardly believe with that bit of information we found them in a few days and it was over.”

  Well, there was a little more to it than that, and his weary bones told him so. But they were back on his land and everyone was alright. He couldn’t believe his wife sat there with him—that was neat, too. What was ahead? No one knew that. He hoped it kept going this smooth. And maybe someday he’d catch up on his sleep. Maybe?

  Before they were through visiting, Chet recalled how he had promised to take Liz elk hunting. When the conversation got around to her going elk hunting, Victor spoke up. They were back from their drive and getting ready for the next.

  “Hey, I want to be your cook for that hunting trip.”

  “Sure. We can go next week, can’t we?” Chet asked his crew.

  “I never shot one. I’ll go,” Cole said.

  Jesus agreed and Liz, seated on the couch, said, “I will be ready by then.”

  “Sarge, you can spare him for a week?”

  “Sure. We’ve been doing good getting the cattle over there. We have plenty of time. Though we’ll leave early the next trip, to insure delivery, since that will be the December one and it might snow early.”

  “Thanks,” Victor said. “Oh, when you get home, tell Rhea I said hi.”

  “No more message than that?” Liz teased him.

  “That will be enough.” The whole crew laughed at his expense.

  The two of them stayed over a day or so at the Verde Ranch. He showed his wife the Hereford herd at Perkins again, and she was impressed all over again about them. As they came up on the first ones, she exclaimed, “Oh, Chet, they are gorgeous. Is that the right word?”

  “Yes, they are that. I worried they were used to better grass in Kansas and might not acclimate this easy. I’m certain the cattle born and raised here will do even better.”

  “They will calf in the spring?”

  “Yes, I’ll bring you back. The calves are pretty cute.”

  “I want to see them.”

  “You will. I don’t deny you much.”

  “No, you don’t. Thanks. We better go see about supper.”

  He agreed and they short-loped back to the big house. Tom and Millie were coming for supper. Maria had big plans to feed them. Cole and Jesus had rode on to see about their women.

  That night, she still was talking about the white-faced cattle. Seated on the bed, he pulled off her boots and she laughed. “I never expected to be in such a whirlwind life marrying you. I have more fun and excitement than I ever imagined. Elk hunting next. Whew.”

  “You need to rest a few days. Are we wearing you down?”

  “No. I am fine. Just thinking how lucky I am to do all these things. I am afraid someday I will have to sit home and be a housewife. I may cry.”

  “Not until then, Liz. Not until then.”

  A tear ran down her cheek. “I am sorry, Chet. I wasn’t going to cry. I am so happy to be part of your world, I guess I got choked up on it.”

  He took a clean handkerchief and wiped her tears. “Cry all you want, girl. We do have some life, and I really enjoy it.”

  “Maybe we should pray?”

  “Sure. You want to?”

  She scrambled down on her knees beside th
e bed. “You do it.”

  “Our dear heavenly Father, we want to thank you for all our blessings you have bestowed upon us . . .”

  CHAPTER 21

  They prepared to go elk hunting on the rim. The frost had turned the cottonwoods to gold in the valley. Jesus, Cole, and Liz, along with Victor from the Windmill Ranch, who volunteered to be their cook when he heard they were going hunting, were all set. The young Hispanic had become Sarge’s right-hand man after working as a cook for that outfit for two years. He’d spent the two years learning the cattle business, and then been upgraded to second-in-command.

  Chet noticed how Victor had a lot of interest in his boy’s nanny, Rhea, while they were packing the chuckwagon to go hunting. The days were warm, and she, with the boy in her arms, had shown an unusual interest in their preparations.

  Up early the morning they planned to leave, he asked Monica about the sparking going on.

  “My, yes. I do not know who is the shyest, him or her. Why, Jesus is a Casanova with Anita, compared to Victor and Rhea.”

  “Oh, we all need someone. They’ll figure it out.”

  “Did you expect your wife to go off chasing those lost cows in Texas with you when you married her?”

  “No.”

  “Well, me, either. She came back from there acting like she wanted to be a painter, telling me all the colors of those bluffs and the waving grass. Who cares? They were so far out no one else will ever see them.”

  “Liz has a lot of imagination, but she suits me.”

  “She idolizes you, like Marge did. But I never believed she’d ride off to sleep on the ground with you all summer in a dust bowl.”

  “She never complained one time.”

  “No, she never complains about anything that happens here. She clothed all those bare-butted cowboys on that drive, too?”

  “She did, and for under a dollar apiece, she told me. I guess one day we’ll have more weddings, huh?”

  Monica shook her head. “I hope so.”

  “Are they that serious?”

  “Listen, big man, you rub two sticks together long enough, you’ll get sparks.”

  He was eating his breakfast ahead of the others, and amused at her take on the goings-on.

  “Don’t worry, your son is not being neglected. She watches Adam like a hawk, and he gets her full attention.”

  “I had no doubt about her or her care of him.”

  “Are they shutting down the Force?” Monica asked.

  “From my last wires with the new man, I think they are having problems getting funds for it in Washington. You can’t operate a successful law enforcement operation any cheaper than we have.”

  “I know that. Elizabeth told me she expected to find a big marble office building and found wooden benches and tables under a tarp roof.”

  “We didn’t need any fancy buildings. I knew she was shocked at our meager operation when she asked me, ‘this is your headquarters?’”

  Monica laughed. “You had cowboys for marshals. They can always get by.”

  “You are so right. And now, I think the rest are coming down,” he said, hearing footsteps on the stairs.

  Anita came in the kitchen first and apologized for not getting up earlier to help Monica. “What can I do?”

  “Make more biscuits.”

  “I can do that. How are you, Chet?”

  “Fine. Ready to go hunting.”

  “I know. It was fun to have everyone here last night. Victor sure can sing and play the guitar.”

  “He did that on the honeymoon with my first wife.”

  “He said he saw the Grand Canyon on that trip with you. Said it was a big, big, slash in the ground.”

  “He’s a good man. You think him and Rhea will get together?”

  “I think they will, but she won’t give up the boy for him. She is very connected to him. I don’t think even his real mother would be that bonded.”

  “Thanks, Anita. I understand a lot about Rhea, but you’ve given me something to think about.”

  “Please don’t tell anyone I said that.”

  “The secret stays with me.”

  Valerie, who stayed overnight before they left for the hunting trip, came ahead of Cole and greeted everyone. Jesus was behind them. Rhea and his son came next.

  “Where is Victor?” Chet asked when Liz showed up.

  “I imagine rechecking the chuckwagon. He probably was up before you,” Jesus said.

  “Go get him to come eat,” Chet said.

  “I will.” Jesus went to find him.

  “He may be ready to go,” Liz said. They all laughed.

  Chet held Adam and teased him until he laughed. It was never hard to get him to laugh and he seldom cried. But that came from all the attention Rhea showed him.

  “Will he soon walk, Rhea?” Liz asked.

  “Oh, he takes some steps now, but they aren’t steady enough. He will be walking by Christmas, I hope.”

  “That will be nice.”

  Jesus returned with Victor in tow, and he had been rechecking things. Chet understood his concern that the trip go well. That was how he did things, rechecked them. They said he was even fussier than Sarge about every detail in everything he did. That’s what got him the promotion at Windmill.

  “Get any sleep?” Chet asked.

  “Yes, enough. I wanted to be certain it was all there. And it is.”

  Victor said something to Rhea in passing her. She smiled and told him thanks. He took a seat beside her and began to fill his plate. “My last morning not to cook. Thanks, Monica.”

  “You are welcome. Anita has more biscuits in the oven. I will watch them, so she can eat. Anyone need anything else?”

  They shook their heads and she refilled coffee cups. “I have my order in for two fat bull elk.”

  “I bet we get them,” Cole said.

  Victor drove the team as they set out for the Verde bottoms. Everyone else was on horseback and went ahead in the cooler predawn. Chet noted for the first time that Jesus kissed Anita good-bye. He’d seen Victor with his forehead pressed to Rhea’s before they left. Cute lovers.

  All of them were anxious to be on top of the rim by evening. They only took a short break at the lower ranch. Tom wished them well and they were on the road again.

  It was past sundown when they made a dry camp on the rim in the big pines. Victor had brought plenty of lanterns. They watered the horses from the two water barrels, planning to refill them the next morning at the sawmill. Supper was soon cooking.

  Liz’s tent was struck, and the horses ate grain out of feedbags hung on their heads. They soon had coffee, and the beef Victor got from Tom sizzled along with fried potatoes and biscuits in the big Dutch oven. Somewhere in the night, a wolf howled and another answered.

  Liz scooted closer to him on the bench. “That was not a coyote.”

  “No, he was a big old timber wolf. They can be calf-eating rascals if they ever get a taste of one. They mostly eat deer, but one bite of beef and they turn bad.”

  “Did you have them in Texas?” she asked.

  “No, we had those smaller red wolves. I think, like the buffalo, they once had them in Texas, but they got shot out early on.”

  “Oh, we have the red ones in Mexico, too.”

  “Yes, we heard them when we were down there,” Cole said.

  “We better help him get cleaned up here,” Chet said. “Morning will come early for us to move and set our camp farther up the road.”

  Everyone lent a hand and things were put away.

  “At our next camp, we better swing those provisions in the sky. There ain’t no shortage of bears up here.”

  Victor agreed. “I hope they don’t come in our camp.”

  Later, in their bedroll with his wife, she said, “I never knew Victor before. He is a real smart person.”

  “Yes, I’m going to talk to Tom about making him the farm manager on the Verde place. I have a young man in the Force who’ll need work if they
shut it down. Shawn McElroy is a smart, hardworking cowboy who could take Vic’s place at the Windmill herding cattle each month to the Navajos.”

  “I met him down there. He is the quick thinking kind.”

  “Yes. Roamer can move on to Wells Fargo. I’m certain Dodge wants him to work for them.”

  She snuggled against him. “What if Victor and Rhea want to get married?”

  “They can live in the big house and Adam will be close enough to share with us.”

  “Think he’d like farming?”

  “It would be a challenge. Hampt was a cowboy, but he applied himself and is the best alfalfa raiser I have. Vic could do the same, I bet. Tom is fine, but he has lots to cover. I think Vic could make a better farm operation manager, and we need that.”

  “We better get some sleep; morning will be early.”

  “Love you.” He really did; she fit right into his life and he really felt dedicated to her. Drifting off to sleep he thought about big elks—with tall racks.

  CHAPTER 22

  Morning came, with the campfire smoke hanging low and swirling around their legs. Chet knew a storm moving in caused the smoke to hug the ground, and wanted to get set up in their camp that evening before an early snow came in.

  With the horses saddled, the team hitched, dishes washed and packed away with the rest of the camp items, they rode north.

  “Cold wind this morning,” Cole said, riding beside Chet and Liz.

  “It will bring in a storm before nightfall.”

  “If it is coming, in these dang pine trees you can’t see very far,” Cole complained.

  “It won’t be long and we’ll see it building, I bet,” Chet said.

  “I’m not going to bet with you. You’re too good at figuring weather out.”

  They all three laughed.

  They stopped and talked to Robert and Betty, who wished them good luck hunting, and then the hunting party went on to the springs to make camp. Victor told them to peg down the tents securely, that he was looking for a storm.

  Cole laughed. “We’re all weathermen.”

  They busied themselves helping Vic fix supper. The wind came up stronger and clouds began to build afterward. They all turned in, but Chet got up in the night and discovered snow falling in great flakes like leaves.