Man Called Ty

by Dicksion, William Wayne

  Ty was stunned by Azalee’s beauty, but he recovered enough to ask, “Would you ladies join us for lunch? Perhaps we can discuss your problem. We don’t want to butt into your affairs, but we might be mutually helpful to one another.”

  “We’d love to join you for lunch,” Kate answered, “and anything you can do to help would be appreciated. There’s a restaurant a few paces down the street. It isn’t fancy, but the food is good, and we can get a quiet table where we can talk privately.”

  Every eye in the restaurant followed them as the waiter led them to a table in a discrete alcove. As they were being seated, Ty noticed two unshaven men wearing tied-down guns get up from their table, pay their bill, and walk towards the bank.

  After ordering, Ty explained his interest in the ranch. “I’m looking for a place to raise horses and this area looks good to me. Would you tell me something about your ranch?”

  “Yes,” Kate responded. “It’s a small ranch—only eight thousand acres. It has good grass, and a stream called Bitter Creek runs through it. The stream is why Rolf Marcum—the largest rancher in the area—wants the ranch. If he owned my ranch, he would dam the stream and control the water in this whole area. I can’t prove it, but I believe Marcum is the man who had my husband killed. ‘Dry gulched,’ it’s called in these parts.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that you lost your husband, and now you are in danger of losing your ranch. An eight-thousand-acre ranch with a house, corrals, and barns has got to be worth many times two thousand dollars. You must have had a large herd of cattle. What happened to them?” Ty questioned.

  “When my husband was killed,” Kate explained, “my ranch hands knew that Marcum had his gunmen do the killing. They were afraid to continue working for me, and they all quit. There was no one to guard the cattle and they disappeared in only a few months. Someone stole them. I know it was Marcum, but I can’t prove it, and it wouldn’t do me any good anyway. Marcum owns the law.”

  “My mother and sister were killed by men just like Marcum,” Ty said. “I’m not going to stand by and watch it happen again. I’ll loan you the money to pay off your mortgage, then when we complete the cattle drive, I’ll return and buy your ranch if you still want to sell. If you don’t want to sell, I’ll work for you and help you get it running again. Perhaps, I can buy another ranch nearby to raise horses.”

  Astonished by Ty’s remark, Gabe asked, “Where in the world are you going to get two thousand dollars?”

  “I have it in my packsack . . . it’s in the chuck wagon. If you’ll wait here, I’ll go get it. I can be back in half an hour, then we’ll go to the bank and pay off the note.”

  Gabe and the women were dumbfounded and looked wide-eyed at Ty not knowing what to say. Finally, Gabe nodded to Ty and said, “We’ll wait for you.”

  Ty rode to the camp, took five thousand dollars in gold coins from one of the bags, and placed them into another bag. When he returned to the restaurant, Gabe and the women met him at the hitching rail. Ty handed the bag containing the coins to Kate. She accepted with a surprised smile.

  “Come with me,” Ty said as he began walking to the bank. Gabe and the women followed. They weren’t talking, but they were wondering how Ty had gotten the money.

  Mr. Stinson, the banker, met them at the door of his small but amply furnished office. It was furnished with three straight-back chairs and a desk. Stinson acted as though he was expecting them. The banker was a small man with a receding hairline and thick horn-rimmed glasses. He looked over his glasses and said, “I’ve already explained that I can’t extend the loan period. I’ll have to have the payment in full, by noon tomorrow.”

  “I haven’t come to ask for an extension,” Kate said. “I’ve come to pay the note in full.” She walked past the banker, counted out two thousand dollars in gold coins, and placed them in stacks on his desk, and then handed the bag back to Ty. In disbelief, the banker watched Kate Covington count out the money.

  “Where’d you get that much money?” he demanded, as he searched each of their faces.

  “It’s no concern of yours where she got it,” Gabe said. “It’s gold, so you can’t question its value. Now, let’s see the note.”

  “I’ll have to get it from the bank vault,” Stinson said as he reached for the coins.

  Gabe placed his hand between the banker and the money. “After we’ve examined the note to determine its authenticity, and you’ve signed and marked it ‘Paid in Full,’ you can have the money,” he said.

  “Oh! A smart aleck huh,” Stinson snorted.

  “Remove the aleck part and you’ve got it right,” Gabe smiled.

  Mr. Stinson stomped out. On his way to the vault, he spoke briefly to a man standing in the lobby. Ty watched the man hurry away.

  Kate and Azalee sat on the uncomfortable chairs while they waited. Gabe paced up and down while Ty looked out the window. It took longer than would have been expected for the banker to return.

  When he returned, he had a big burly man following him. The man was Rolf Marcum. Marcum had threatened Ty with gunplay the next time they met, so Ty stood facing him, prepared to meet his challenge.

  Kate and Azalee were surprised that Ty had already met Rolf. It was a tense moment as Ty and Marcum stared at each other. Rolf decided that now was not the time to press the issue.

  As though acting in behalf of the banker, Marcum said, “Be seated men.”

  “We’re here to do business with Mr. Stinson,” Gabe commented, “and it’s no concern of yours. If you want to talk to us, we’ll be through here in a few minutes. In the meantime, get out!”

  The force in Gabe’s voice surprised Ty. Anger flushed the face of the astonished rancher; he stood with his hand poised over his gun and asked, “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

  Not intimidated, Gabe stood firm. “I’m talking to a man who is butting in where he doesn’t belong. If you’re going to reach for the gun, do it now, or get out.”

  Marcum knew that Gabe had called his bluff. “You haven’t heard the last of this!” he said as he stomped out.

  Gabe looked at Ty. “Didn’t he make that same threat the last time you met him?”

  Kate smiled at Gabe with admiration; Azalee looked at Ty with wonder.

  Turning to Stinson, Gabe said, “Now, let’s look at that note. If it’s valid, we’ll complete the business we came here to do.”

  The banker wiped his face with his handkerchief, slumped into his chair, and handed the note to Gabe.

  Gabe read it carefully and said, “Sign this, and mark it ‘Paid in Full,’ then you can have the money.”

  With no other options, Stinson complied, and Kate and her party left the bank smiling.

  “What can we do to celebrate?” Azalee asked, her eyes glistening with excitement.

  There was concern in Kate’s voice when she said, “We still have unfinished business. If you men will accompany us to the ranch—it’s only a couple of hours’ ride—I’ll serve you a good home-cooked meal and we can talk.”

  “A home-cooked meal sounds good to me,” Gabe remarked.

  “Mrs. Covington,” Ty said, “we have two cows that are going to give birth in a day or two. They can’t keep up with the herd so we have to drop them off. Would you like to have them?”

  “Thank you. If we had two cows, we would have fresh milk. We’ve lost all our cows, and we need the milk . . . but please call me Kate,” she said as she looked at Ty and Gabe.

  “Azalee,” Ty asked, “would you help me drive the cows to your ranch?”

  “Yes, I would love to, but I don’t have a horse—we came in the wagon.”

  Gabe could see that Ty wanted to be alone with Azalee.

  “You can ride my horse, and I’ll ride in the wagon with Kate, if she doesn’t mind.”

  “Yes, that will be fine,” Kate beamed.

  “If you’re going to cook us a meal, let me buy the food,” Gabe suggested, as he took the reins and drove the wagon to the General Store.
He bought enough supplies to last Kate and Azalee for several months, loaded them into the wagon, climbed back into the driver’s seat, and asked, “Which way?”

  Kate smiled, pointed to the road leading east, and said, “Thatta way.”

  Her husband had been dead for a couple of years, and it was good to have a man beside her who was willing to take charge and do what needed to be done.

  Gabe was keenly aware that a beautiful woman was sitting beside him, and for the first time since he’d lost his wife and children, he felt good in the presence of a woman. He liked the way Kate allowed him to take the lead.

  “Are you married?” Kate asked.

  "I lost my wife and two children in the war. I was away fighting that war when it happened, and by the time I got home my farm lay in ruins. I went in search of the men who killed my family. I found the men, but it didn’t bring my wife and children back. I was a man without roots, so I started wandering and I’ve been wandering, ever since."

  Kate noticed tears in his eyes and started to reach for his hand to comfort him, but decided she didn’t know him well enough to be that informal. It surprised and pleased her to see a man who was so strong and self-assured, moved to tears by the memory of his wife and children. This is a good man, well educated, and handsome, too, she thought.

  Gabe, trying to hide his emotions, wiped his eyes with his bandanna, acting as if something had blown into them. Kate pretended not to notice, told him of how she and her late husband had selected this spot for their ranch.

  “We and our neighbors were prosperous until Marcum moved in and started forcing everyone off their land,” Kate said.

  “Why didn’t the ranchers stand up to him?” Gabe asked.

  “Some of them tried. That’s what happened to my husband. He tried, and Marcum had his men shoot him in the back while he was herding our cattle.”

  “Isn’t there any law?”

  “Yes, there’s a sheriff, but he works for Marcum. I tried to sell my ranch, but there were no buyers since they knew that Marcum would kill them, too. Marcum wanted our ranch, so he stole our cattle. We had to mortgage the ranch to get money to buy supplies. Marcum is the principal stockholder at the bank, and he forced the banker to foreclose. If you and Tyree hadn’t come along, and we had lost the ranch, we would have had no place to go. I’m pleased that Ty is willing to buy it, but I’m afraid Marcum will have him killed, too.”

  “Ty and I signed on for a cattle drive, and we have to complete it, but as soon as it’s done, we’ll come back and work for you. We’ll try to organize the other ranchers and maybe we can elect an honest sheriff. Rustling cattle is still a hanging offense in these parts.”

  “It would be wonderful if you could do that, but I thought Ty wanted to buy my ranch to raise horses.”

  “He does, but I’m sure there’s other land in the area where he can start his ranch.”

  “The man who owns the ranch downstream from me wants to sell, but he can’t, for the same reason that I couldn’t. Oh, Gabe, it would be wonderful if you and Ty were our neighbors.”

  “We’ll talk to Ty about it when he and Azalee come back with the cows, but what’s to prevent Marcum from stealing these cows, also?”

  “Maybe, if we keep them in the corral, he won’t have the nerve to steal them. We can keep them there until you and Ty return.”

  “Do you have enough hay to feed them that long?”

  “Yes, I’ve got lots of hay. Since Marcum stole our cattle, we haven’t had any cows to feed, so we have plenty of hay. But the corral needs to be repaired.”

  “I’ll take a look at the coral when we get to the ranch.”

  Chapter 13

  “There! There’s the ranch house,” Kate pointed. “You can see it through those trees.” At first, Gabe didn’t see the house. It was across a small stream and almost hidden among a grove of trees. As they got closer, Gabe saw a low-rambling ranch house sitting on a knoll overlooking the creek. Further down the knoll, he saw barns and corrals, also surrounded by trees. Kate and her husband had built well. Something about the place made you want to be there. Gabe understood why Kate was reluctant to give it up.

  “We named the ranch ‘Bitter Creek,’ because that’s the name of the creek that runs through it,” Kate said.

  “Why do you call the creek Bitter Creek? Is the water bitter?”

  “No, the water is good, but black walnuts growing along the banks drop nuts into the water. We were told that the Indians named it Bitter Creek because the hulls of the walnuts make the water taste bitter.”

  “Do you harvest the nuts?”

  “Only what we need to eat. It’s difficult and time-consuming to pick the nutmeat from the shell. When my husband was alive, we harvested them for the pigs. We have pecan trees, also—we harvest those. In the spring, we pick berries, and in the summer we gather wild plums and grapes. We grow apples, peaches, pears, and apricots in our orchards. We can’t harvest them now because we have no workers.”

  “It sounds like a paradise,” Gabe said smiling.

  “It was wonderful while it lasted. Bitter Creek was a happy place before Marcum moved in.”

  Gabe and Kate reached the ranch house before Ty and Azalee got there with the cows, and Kate said, “Gabe, please drive to the back of the house to unload the supplies.”

  After helping Gabe unload the supplies and care for the horses, Kate went into the house and began preparing supper.

  Gabe went to the corral to see what repairs were needed. He began working on the corral thinking, I’ll repair it enough to hold the cows, and finish the job when I get back from the cattle drive.

  Chapter 14

  Ty and Azalee rode to the cow camp. When they got there, the cowboys gathered around. They couldn’t take their eyes off Azalee.

  “Sam,” Ty said, “we’ve come to get the two cows that are going to give birth. I would like to give them to this young lady and her mother so they can have fresh milk. Their cattle have all been stolen by Rolph Marcum, the man who claimed he owned my bay stallion.”

  “Good,” Sam replied. “I was concerned about dropping them out of the herd with no one to care for them. I’ll write a bill of sale giving the ladies legal title.” After writing the bill, he handed it to Azalee, and then said to Curly and Shorty,

  “Would you cut those two pregnant cows out of the herd?”

  As Ty and Azalee drove the cows away, Sam called out, “Ty, don’t forget, we’ll be starting the herd northbound at daybreak.”

  “Yeah, I know, don’t worry. Gabe and I will be here.”

  Having spent many hours in the saddle, Azalee was an accomplished rider. They drove the cows across rolling grassland with occasional gullies and draws. After about an hour, they reached the top of a low hill that overlooked a wide valley with a creek running through it.

  “This ridge marks the western boundary of our ranch,” Azalee pointed, “and those hills in the far distance mark our eastern boundary.”

  “That’s a lot of land. It would provide grass for a large herd,” Ty noted.

  “We had over a thousand cows and more than two hundred horses before someone—we believe it was Marcum—killed my father. After they killed him, they stole every animal we had.”

  “Why didn’t you hire cowboys to watch over them?”

  “We tried, but no one would work for us. They were afraid of Marcum’s gunfighters. Everyone knows that Marcum wants to own all the land in the valley, and he will kill to get it. If he gets our ranch, he'll put a dam across Bitter Creek and, in the dry season, control the water that the other ranchers use to water their animals and irrigate their crops If the ranchers don’t have water, they would have to sell.”

  Azalee paused. “Ty, could we stop for a while in the shade of those big trees? I come here when I want to be alone. It’s my secret place, and I want to share it with you.”

  “Of course. I’m pleased that you’d want to share your secret place with me. Our animals can drink from the
creek while we rest. The cows won’t wander far.”

  A grove of trees grew by the creek and squirrels were chatting in the branches. Wildflowers were abundant, and the sound of a small waterfall gave the place a magical feel. Azalee dismounted and walked under one of the trees, tied the reins of her horse to a branch and sat in the cool shade. Ty dismounted and sat beside her. It was a beautiful spot, and Ty understood why she called it her secret place. He and Azalee enjoyed the cool shade while they shared the beauty.

  Azalee looked at Ty and said, “Please tell me something about yourself.”

  “There’s a lot to tell,” he replied. “I’m not sure where to begin. What would you like to know?”

  “I would like to know your full name, where you came from, and why you’re here.”

  “My name is Tyree Terel. I kept my last name secret because men are hunting me. They want to either kill me, or take me back to Tennessee where I came from. I killed two men in a gunfight.” He told her his story, leaving out the part about the gold.

  “The major in charge of finding me is the brother of one of the men I killed, and he’s determined to kill me. The major’s name is Pothman, and he's in command of a troop of men. I couldn’t fight the army, so I had to leave my home to the carpetbaggers. I lost my mother, my father, my sister, and the farm. The farm had been in my family for four generations. I can’t live there anymore, so I’m trying to find a place to start a new life.”

  “I’m sorry, Ty. I overheard some men in town talking. One of them said that you’re a gunfighter and that you’re very good with your gun. Are you a gunfighter?”

  “No,” he said emphatically. “I’m not a gunfighter. I don’t like using my gun against other men, but if I’m forced to, I can, and I will.”

  They sat in silence for a while. “Azalee, would you tell me something about yourself?” Ty asked. “You’re very beautiful. Is there someone special in your life?”