by J. T. Edson
“Land-sakes, gal!” he grunted. “What’re you trying to do, kill yourself?”
“It was not heavy,” she replied.
Johnny could have given her an argument about that. The sack was heavy, far heavier than he would have believed the girl’s small figure capable of bearing.
Coming from the store, the owner looked worriedly to where Johnny stood heaving the sack on to the wagon.
“I’m sorry, friend,” he said. “The lady came in and asked me which was your gear. I showed her, and next thing I knowed she’d picked that sack up and toted it outside. I never even thought she could heft it from the floor.”
“And she’d best not heft anymore,” Johnny replied grimly.
“I do not please you, Johnny?” Jaya gasped, looking worried.
“Sure you do,” he replied with a grin and gently laid a hand on her head to ruffle her hair. “Only there’s no call for you to go hefting the heavy stuff around. You lend a hand with the lighter gear if you like.”
By the time the wagon was loaded, Jaya had proved she knew how to stack a load, spread a tarpaulin over it and lash the tarp home securely. She showed embarrassment when
Johnny pressed some money into her hand and told her to go buy a present.
“Man’d be a fool to let a gal like her slip through his fingers,” Mark drawled as he and Johnny watched Jaya skip lightly into the store.
“Likely,” Johnny agreed. “Only I’m not the marrying kind.”
Normally Mark would have accepted, probably applauded his friend’s decision to avoid the bonds of matrimony. However, on this occasion he figured he should break his rule. Johnny needed a good wife, and Jaya showed signs of being a better girl for the job than the sort Johnny would pick given first and free choice of the remuda. Jaya needed a husband, there were too few ways a woman could earn a decent living in the west; and Johnny would make a good husband once he settled in to the idea. Only if Mark knew Johnny, and he reckoned he did, he didn’t figure the cowhand would want him handing out advice on the subject of matrimony. More so when thinking of Mark’s views on the subject as it affected him personally.
There was one way to make Johnny see the light though; and Mark reckoned he was just the boy to do it.
~*~
Jaya used the money Johnny gave her to buy a Stetson hat. When she sat by his side on the wagon box, her eagerness to have pleased him by the purchase started Johnny worrying. The last thing he wanted was for her to get too attached to him. Sure, she was a great little gal, but it was just that Johnny did not think he could make a marrying man.
“Pass it down this way, Jaya,” Mark said, riding his blood bay stallion at the side of the wagon. “I’ll shape it Texas style for you.”
Glancing hopefully at Johnny, who pretended to be too busy handling the reins and make sure his big dun horse followed the wagon, to the tail of which its reins were fastened, Jaya handed Mark the hat.
“See you bought a good hat,” Mark went on, altering the Stetson’s crown to meet the dictates of Texas fashion. “It’s always worth the money.”
Johnny looked towards the girl, now facing Mark and
engrossed in his words of wisdom on the subject of hats. Having seen Mark in action around the ladies before, Johnny felt a hint of relief. He did not forget how Mark cut the ground from under his feet one time with the best looking girl in a Newton saloon. From the way things looked, Johnny reckoned Mark to be using the same technique with Jaya.
“Good ole Mark,” he thought. “You’re sure taking that lil gal off my back.”
Then another thought struck him. In a way he was responsible for Jaya. If he had not brought her out here there would be no need for Mark to take her off his back. What about after Mark got the gal interested? Johnny knew Mark too well to reckon anything more serious than a flirtation could come with Jaya. So what would she do after Mark rode on?
For the first time Johnny began to think of Java’s many good points. He also decided he had best try to stop her becoming too involved with Mark. Not that he cared one way or the other, of course, but he did not want to see that innocent little gal get hurt.
So Johnny tried to regain Jaya’s attention. Woman-like, Java’s feelings had been hurt by Johnny’s apparent indifference to her choice of hats—when she made the choice because she felt it would please him and instead of buying some cheap, rather gaudy jewelry which attracted her. So she intended to make Johnny suffer a little for his indifference.
For the rest of the day, while they travelled across the range heading towards the San Vegas hill country, Johnny tried to get into the conversation which went on between Mark and the girl. He met with little success.
When they made camp for the night, Mark allowed Johnny to slip in and show Jaya how to handle the unhitching and care of the wagon horse. The girl cooked a meal for them and they prepared to settle down for the night.
“You can use my pillow and blankets, Jaya,” Mark said.
“There’s a spare blanket on the wagon,” Johnny put in. “We’ll make Jaya a bed under the wagon and we’ll sleep by the fire.”
“Where else?” Mark replied.
He found that Johnny spread his bedroll on the side of the fire nearest to the wagon. Nor did Johnny go to sleep until he saw and heard the rhythmic breathing by which he assumed that Mark had already settled down for the night. Mark looked across the fire at the now sleeping Johnny and a grin came to his lips. Turning over, Mark drew his blankets up higher. It looked like old Johnny was beginning to point the way Mark wanted him to go.
They moved on at dawn, after a good breakfast and some of Java’s coffee. What that girl could do with Arbuckle’s coffee had to be tasted to be believed. Johnny had always liked good coffee and he could not remember any that tasted just as good to his palate as the kind Jaya made.
Once more Johnny missed his chance. Mark’s praise of the coffee brought a smile to Jaya’s lips and she turned to Johnny.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Huh? Sure, it’s all right.”
Straight off Johnny could have cursed himself. With an annoyed toss of her head, Jaya turned and carried the coffeepot away, pouring a good cup full that Johnny would have liked over the fire’s flames.
Once more Mark monopolized the conversation with the girl and Johnny scowled to himself, concentrating on driving. His few attempts to say anything found the girl attentive, but each time Mark cut him out.
Towards sundown they came into sight of the ranch buildings and Johnny brought the wagon to a halt. He did not notice that Mark dropped back and left him alone with the girl and the view.
“There it is, Jaya,” Johnny said, a note of pride in his voice.
“I think it is beautiful, Johnny,” she replied and her voice sent a thrill through him.
Compared with the O.D. Connected’s great two storey main building, the house below did not appear very grand. Yet Johnny did not care. After all, he did not own the O.D. Connected but he did own that house down there and a fair slice of the surrounding land.
The house was stoutly made of logs, with a good strong roof over it, glass at the windows and a porch on which a man could sit and rock in the evening while his wife made supper for him. There was a good sized, well-made barn, a blacksmith’s forge, a backhouse and a couple of stoutly constructed pole corrals. His uncle had built to last and it would be long, given reasonable care, before Johnny would need to start rebuilding.
“Let’s go take a look inside,” Johnny suggested eagerly and the girl, clutching his arm, agreed.
Watching the wagon roll down the slope, Mark smiled. He had not failed to notice how Johnny and Jaya acted. Give them a couple of days, and Johnny a little more of the treatment handed out the last couple of days, and Mark reckoned he could leave his two friends in each other’s care.
A pump and empty horse-trough stood before the house. Mark swung from his blood bay’s saddle and went to the pump, starting to fill the big trough. A w
oman could likely do her wash in it, or even take a bath on warm days when her man and the help worked the range.
Side by side Jaya and Johnny ran from the wagon, across the porch and to the door. When Johnny’s uncle rode into Brownsville for the last time, he had locked the door and taken the key. Apart from the sheriff’s deputies checking in once in a while, nobody had been near the house since that day. Johnny unlocked the door and he and Jaya entered.
The house had a simple lay-out much used in the west. The front consisted of one room, serving as dining-room, sitting-room, lounge, library combined. It was furnished, the furniture not new, but still in good condition. Three doors led off at the rear, two to bedrooms, one into the kitchen.
The dust of a month of emptiness lay everywhere, but apart from that the place appeared to be untouched.
“Tomorrow,” Jaya said, looking around her, “we start to clean everything.”
“Whatever you say,” Johnny replied.
Mark came into the room, halting and looking around him. Turning, Johnny looked at his amigo and grinned, finding it impossible to stay annoyed.
“How’d you like it, Mark?”
“Great. A stout little house with all the furnishings.
You’ve got a good home here, Johnny boy. I’ll go tend to the horses, unless Jaya wants another lesson in horse-handling.”
“She don’t!” Johnny grunted, before the girl could answer. “I want to show her her room—”
On finding her kitchen, Jaya chased Johnny off out to help Mark with the horses while she started the stove and prepared a meal for them. Johnny joined Mark outside and worked in silence, which Mark knew to be unusual for Johnny.
“Jaya says we’re starting house cleaning tomorrow,” Mark remarked as he turned the harness horse into one of the corrals. “Reckon she’s the boss on that end of the spread.”
“Reckon she is,” Johnny replied. “You figure it’ll be all right for you to stay on here, Mark? Ole Devil might have something for you to handle.”
“Nope. He told me to take a few days vacation. So I might as well do it up here, lending you a hand. I wonder if Jaya’s got everything she needs in the kitchen?”
“I’ll go see,” Johnny grunted.
Watching Johnny walk away, Mark grinned broadly. He attended to the horses and when finished, walked to the house. Johnny and Jaya appeared to be getting on much better.
“Johnny boy,” Mark thought as he joined them at the table, “you’ve one foot in the hole and the other on a greasy slope. Just a lil mite more pushing and I’ll leave you set up for life.”
So Mark kept on the pushing. When he wished, he could talk fascinatingly about a number of things. Jaya listened to his descriptions of the pre-war south, of Maximilian’s court in Mexico; and Johnny sat watching the girl, getting more and more sure that he must protect her from Mark.
Not that Johnny cared about her himself. He just did not want to see her hurt—or so he told himself.
The girl showed off another accomplishment, although not one Johnny approved of her doing in mixed company. From her bundle of belongings, she produced a scanty sleeveless blouse and a skirt which seemed to be made of grass, hanging to her knees. Wearing these, and barefoot, she began to dance. It was a dance like the two men had never seen before, with swaying hips, sensuous writhing body movements.
Johnny felt hot under the collar as she sank to her knees in the dusty room and faced him, leaning her torso back as she writhed and her arms moved gracefully in the pagan dance. He enjoyed every movement of it, but swore she would never again dance like that before another man.
“That is how the native girls dance in the South Sea Islands,” she said, rising to her feet. “Did you like?”
“I’ve never seen better,” Mark answered.
“You go put your other dress on now,” Johnny put in, for the grass skirt revealed more of the girl’s legs than even the Chinese frock had. “You’ll catch a cold in that outfit.”
Once again Mark could cheerfully have kicked Johnny across the room. The girl wanted his praise, and instead of giving it, telling her how he enjoyed her dance, the durned fool had to make a remark like that.
A very indignant Jaya stormed out of the room, to return wearing the gingham dress. Ignoring Johnny, she began to ask Mark questions about the range, things a woman should know about and which Johnny wished he could be discussing with her.
“It’s time we were getting to bed!” he growled, unable to stand it any longer. “You use the bedroom, Jaya. Me ’n’ Mark’ll bunk down in the barn until we get the place cleaned up.”
Not until they had spread their bedrolls in the barn, with Johnny getting between Mark and the door, did the young cowhand speak to his blond amigo.
“Take it easy on Jaya, Mark,” he said.
“How do you mean?” Mark asked, straight-faced but enjoying every minute of the situation.
“Shucks, she’s not used to being around fellers. She might—you—that is—it’s—”
“I thought you hadn’t any claim on her,” Mark drawled.
“I don’t have!” Johnny snapped. “It’s just that I feel responsible for her after fetching her out here.”
“Do, huh?”
“Sure, I do!”
“I’ll mind what you say,” Mark said calmly. “Now let’s get some sleep. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”
And with that, Mark undressed and climbed into his bed. He went to sleep almost immediately, knowing Johnny was willing himself to stay awake until sure he had nothing to fear.
Dawn brought a fresh problem for Johnny. Jaya came to tell them that she had breakfast ready for them.
“What’re you wearing that dress for?” he yelled indignantly, for it was the one into which she had changed at the hotel and which caused him to buy her new clothes.
“I have much work to do,” she replied. “It is not good that I should dirty my good clothes.”
“Yeah, but—”
Sitting up, Mark looked at the girl and interrupted Johnny’s protests.
“Man, you look prettier than a June-bug, Jaya,” he said.
“Thank you, Mark,” she replied. “Johnny thinks I should wear my good dress to work in.”
“That’d be real foolish, was you to ask me,” Mark drawled.
“Nobody did,” Johnny growled.
“I have breakfast ready,” Jaya said, in a tone which showed she considered the matter of her dress closed. “Hurry, before it gets cold.”
Not even the mood of “to hell with her, let her make a durned fool of herself over him,” could last in the face of Jaya’s coffee and breakfast. Johnny ate well and even managed to compliment her on her cooking, and her appearance.
With the breakfast over, Jaya gave her orders, and from the way she spoke the men saw they were going to have a hard and busy morning. On leaving the house, Mark removed his shirt and undershirt, putting them with his hat and gunbelt on the wagon box.
“You can’t go around like that!” Johnny objected.
“Why not?” Mark replied. “Jaya’s been on a ship and likely seen a man’s bare chest before now, so why should I get my clothes mussed up?”
“Johnny!” Jaya called, coming to the cabin door. “Will you and Mark come and move the furniture for me?”
“Sure,” Johnny replied, stepping hurriedly before Mark in the hope of hiding his naked torso and saving Jaya embarrassment.
“Why don’t you take off your shirt, too?” she asked. “It will save me some washing.”
For a moment Johnny thought of ignoring the advice. Then he thought why the hell should that big blond bladder of lard get off showing his physique to Jaya. Maybe Mark was a mite bigger, but Johnny reckoned his own build was not exactly so puny that he need be ashamed to show it off. So he stripped off his shirt and left it, hat and gunbelt with Mark’s on the wagon.
Not that Johnny had time to stand around and let Jaya admire his well-developed body. If she noticed it at all,
Jaya gave no hint. Instead she had the two men working hard, carrying all the furniture out into the space before the house while she heated water.
“She sure has some go for a lil ’un,” Johnny said admiringly, looking towards the house.
“Yep, she sure has,” Mark agreed. “Let’s go clean out the barn while she does her chores in the house.”
Despite all his suspicions of Mark’s intentions, Johnny went along with the idea. They heard the sound of scrubbing and Jaya’s voice as she sang a song in a lilting tongue neither could understand, but which sounded mighty sweet to a man’s ears. It made him think of the way Jaya looked in that frock, or how she danced the previous night. Johnny watched Mark, trying to read something in the big blond’s face, but could not.
Johnny threw himself into the work before him like a man possessed. The barn needed a good cleaning and that was exactly what it got. Between them, Mark and Johnny did four men’s work, lifting, toting, moving bales of hay and straw, and by noon they had cleaned the barn.
By noon Jaya had finished scrubbing the house. She stood in the center of the main room and looked around her. If that did not please Johnny, she thought, nothing would please him. Perhaps she had been too friendly with Mark, she could not say, but Johnny had only himself to blame if she had. At that moment Jaya heard the sound of horse’s hooves. She wondered who might be calling and, not wishing to disgrace Johnny before his neighbors, she decided to take a moment to tidy her appearance before going outside.
The sound of hooves brought Johnny and Mark’s attention to the visitor, as they walked from the barn to the house to fetch Jaya and allow her to inspect and comment on their work.
“Going to need some chickens for Jaya to tend,” Mark drawled, then he heard the hooves and turned.
Johnny also turned, saw the on-coming rider and felt suddenly sick in his stomach. Of all the folks he had met during his last visit to the spread, the visitor was the last he expected to see—and the last he wanted to come calling under the circumstances.
Springing from the shaggy scrub horse’s bare back, the newcomer dashed forward to throw arms around Johnny’s neck and crush a hot little mouth to his.