Texas Tender

by Leigh Greenwood

  “He’s afraid of Newt.” Idalou cast a scornful glance around the room. “All of them are.”

  “I’ll ride with you,” Van Sonnenberg said, stepping forward. “Dad wouldn’t want me to ignore our responsibility to our neighbors.”

  He smiled so warmly at Idalou, Will wanted to plant a fist in the man’s lying mouth and knock that smile off his deceitful face. Instead, he controlled his anger and turned to McGloughlin. “It’s up to you, Jordan.”

  It was obvious Jordan was angry at being put in a position where it was impossible to refuse. Will was beginning to think Mara had come by her willfulness and streak of stupidity fair and square.

  “Come on, Jordan,” Lloyd Severns said. “If you wanted that ranch so badly, you could have paid off the loan.”

  Will was relieved that someone else had put the matter squarely on the table.

  “That’s not what’s holding me back,” Jordan said. “I was just trying to figure out how many men I could spare and still protect my own herd.”

  It was a valiant effort at recovery, but Will was certain every man in the room saw through it for the simple reason they were all afraid of being caught in a showdown with Newt Mandrin. Gradually more men volunteered. Will thought it was ironic that Van had led the way.

  “Let’s meet in an hour at Carl and Idalou’s place,” Will said. “That’s central for everybody. Carl can lead the way from there.”

  “I’m going with you,” Idalou said to her brother, “and not because I want to look over your shoulder. They’re my cows as much as they are yours. If I hadn’t been staying safely in town, this might not have happened.”

  “Nobody could expect you to stay out there in the brush,” Will said.

  “I wouldn’t have let you,” Carl added.

  “It’s pointless to get into an argument over what’s done and can’t be changed,” Idalou said. “I have to tell Ella I can’t go back to work in the shop this afternoon. I’ll meet both of you at the livery stable. Have a horse saddled and ready for me.”

  “You have one determined sister,” Will said to Carl as Idalou turned and marched out of the saloon.

  “Don’t you want to take her off my hands?” Carl’s question seemed to be a mix of frustration and curiosity.

  Will laughed to cover his discomfort at Carl’s blunt question. “I’m not sure I’m man enough. Besides, I don’t think she likes me all that much.”

  “She likes you a lot,” Carl said, grinning and matching strides with Will. “She wouldn’t get so mad at you if she didn’t.”

  Will returned his grin. “I’m not sure I consider that a good sign.”

  Carl’s grin disappeared. “She hasn’t had much to be happy about since our parents died. I was hoping

  you could do something to change that.”

  “You believe in getting right to the point, don’t you?”

  “It saves time.”

  “You’re just like Jake. No wonder she’s like Isabelle.”

  “Don’t you love your parents?”

  “I adore them, but I don’t want to marry them. Would you have wanted to marry yours?”

  “God, no.” They turned the corner and headed down the alley toward the livery stable. “Dad was always dreaming of a way to be a bigger success, and Mom was afraid of any animal bigger than a small dog.”

  “Then where did your sister get her courage and her no-nonsense attitude?”

  “From having to try to fix the mess our parents made and take care of me at the same time.”

  “Looks like she did a pretty good job.”

  “But it cost her Webb. I used to be unhappy about that. Now I realize you’re just what she needs. You’re calm, you like to think things through before you act, and you get things done. Lou respects that.”

  The ground was feeling a little shaky under Will’s feet. “When did you turn into a matchmaker?”

  “When you first asked Lou to walk with you. She was going to accept until she saw you kissing Junie Mae.”

  “Junie Mae kissing me!” Will corrected emphatically.

  “Why was she kissing you? You’re not two-timing my sister, are you?”

  Will heaved a sigh. “First, let me point out that despite my attempts to have it otherwise, your sister has done little more than talk to me. I could be seeing half the women in Texas and you still couldn’t accuse me of two-timing Idalou. Second, I’m not seeing Junie Mae. I accidentally became aware of a situation that has caused her great distress and I’m trying to help her. I’ve already explained that to your sister.” They’d reached the livery stable. “Now help me pick out a suitable horse for Idalou.”

  “She’ll have more faith in your decision than mine,” Carl said.

  “That would be a first.”

  “I’m sure they’d head for the Clear Fork canyon,” Van said. “There’s plenty of grass and water for a small herd.”

  “I’d think they’d want to sell them in San Angelo as soon as possible,” Idalou said.

  “Only a really stupid rustler would take your cows to San Angelo,” Van argued. “Everybody knows your brand.”

  Will saw the logic in Van’s thinking, but he was more intrigued by the fact that Van was eager to lead the search. They’d lost the trail twice, and twice Van had found it. Will was ready to bow before Van’s superior knowledge of the land, but some of the other men probably knew the surroundings just as well. In light of that, Van’s success seemed noteworthy.

  “I think we ought to follow Van’s suggestion,” Will said.

  “I disagree,” Idalou said.

  “If Van’s wrong, we won’t have lost much time,” Will said to Idalou, hoping she could tell from the deliberate way he spoke that he had something in mind.

  While several of the men in the posse argued with Van, Will took the opportunity to speak softly to Idalou. “Trust me. I’ll explain later. Tell Carl, too.”

  While Idalou pulled Carl aside and whispered her message to him, Jordan was insisting that Van was leading them in the wrong direction.

  “Van has twice found the tracks after we lost them,” Will said when Jordan seemed ready to throw down the gauntlet. “I’m inclined to go along with him.”

  “We’ll just be wasting time.”

  “We’d have wasted a lot more if Van hadn’t found the trail,” Will reminded him.

  Jordan agreed to go along, but he continued to object. Van pulled alongside Idalou and busied himself explaining his idea all over again. Idalou listened attentively, but from time to time she cast a questioning glance over at Will. He smiled encouragingly while listening to Carl muttering.

  “If the rustlers get away with this, Idalou and I will have to leave Dunmore. Then there wouldn’t be anything to stop Van from marrying Mara.”

  Will had already considered that. It was part of the reason he found Van’s actions so intriguing. Aside from his apparent friendship with Idalou, Van was a cruel, selfish man motivated entirely by self-interest. Since everyone knew he intended to marry Mara, Will found his friendship with Idalou suspect.

  They hadn’t ridden more than a mile when a shout up ahead told Will that Van had found more tracks. The fifty cows the rustlers had taken weren’t broken to trail so they ambled in a confused jumble rather than an orderly line. That had made it hard to distinguish their trail from the footprints of cows already headed toward the water of Clear Fork. Will and Carl urged their horses forward until they were alongside Van and Idalou.

  “See,” Van said to Jordan, pointing to what was a clear trail. “They did come this way.”

  “It looks that way,” Jordan admitted, “but it still doesn’t make sense.”

  “Could be they were planning to take the herd out of the area altogether,” Will said.

  Less than an hour later, they were peering through a stand of cottonwood along the rim of a canyon. It wasn’t a deep canyon or a wide river, but over time the Clear Fork had cut back and forth across the canyon until it was virtually flat.
At this point the river was running close to the far rim, leaving a wide area of grass where the stolen cows grazed peacefully under the watchful eyes of two men with rifles stationed at opposite ends of the canyon.

  “Do you think there are only two men?” Idalou asked.

  Jordan studied the two sentries carefully with a pair of field glasses he’d kept since his days in the army. “Neither man is Newt,” he said.

  “Can I borrow your glasses for a minute?” Jordan handed the glasses to Will. Careful scrutiny of the campsite hidden in a tangle of willows and cottonwoods didn’t show evidence of more than two men. Still, he had an uneasy feeling that at least one man had to have been posted on the rim of the canyon to watch for a posse.

  “It seems there are only two men down there,” Will said as he handed the glasses back to Jordan.

  “Why didn’t they post someone up here who would have seen us coming?” Idalou asked.

  “Maybe the third rider has gone off for some reason.”

  “You mean Newt, don’t you?” one of the men asked.

  “You think he’s hiding somewhere, waiting for us to get down in the canyon so he can pick us off?” another asked.

  “He’s a dead shot with a rifle,” the first man said.

  “So am I,” Van said.

  “I can handle myself when I need to,” Will said. “Let’s put our heads together and come up with a plan.”

  Van and Idalou objected strenuously to the plan they devised.

  “I found the rustlers for you,” Van insisted. “I have a right to lead one of the groups down into the canyon.”

  “They’re my cows,” Idalou said. “I want to ride next to my brother.”

  “You and I are going to stay up here, because we’re the best with a rifle,” Will said to Van. “Once the rustlers realize they’ve got several men in front of them and riflemen aiming at their backs, they ought to give up without a fight. You need to stay up here,” Will said, turning to Idalou, “because I don’t want the men more concerned about protecting you than capturing the rustlers.”

  “Quit arguing, Lou,” Carl said when Idalou started to protest. “Jordan has already refused to let you ride with him, and I agree with Will.”

  “You’re treating me like a woman again,” Idalou complained.

  “I let you come along with us,” Will said, “but I’m doing everything I can to keep you safe. Besides, with Van and me concentrating on keeping the two rustlers in our sights, it’ll be useful to have someone watching our backs.”

  “He’s got a point, Lou,” Carl said.

  “Okay. If Van will stay, I will, too,” Idalou said, accepting defeat as graciously as she could. “But if eight men can’t capture two rustlers without anyone getting shot, you’re not the men you think you are.”

  Having been shaved down to size, the men headed off to find ways to get down into opposite ends of the canyon.

  The next half hour passed slowly. Will had given the men what he hoped was plenty of time to find a way into the canyon and get into position. Having that much time meant the shadows of evening had begun to approach. If Newt was going to return to the camp, he could arrive at any minute, a fact Idalou had pointed out.

  “That’s why I need you to watch our backs,” Will said.

  At first Van had been furious that he’d been kept up on the rim. But he’d cooled off and spent the rest of the time talking to Idalou. Much of what he said implied that Jordan was behind Idalou’s problems. If, as Will believed, Van’s father was behind the recent escalation in trouble, then it would be to the Sonnenbergs’ advantage to see that the blame fell on Jordan. Van was a handsome young man, as well as physically imposing. With his position as his father’s only heir and his obvious charm, he would appear to be a young woman’s idea of the perfect husband, but there was a cruel side to Van that Will hoped Idalou didn’t overlook.

  Will had a personal interest in Idalou, but it seemed that every time he tried to pursue it, something got in the way. He didn’t know if Idalou was equally interested in him. But even if she didn’t return his interest, he wasn’t about to let her fall prey to Van Sonnenberg.

  “I think everybody’s in place,” Idalou said, moving Jordan’s glasses so she could look from one end of the canyon to the other.

  “Are you ready?” Will asked Van.

  “Just say the word.”

  Simultaneously they fired shots into the ground behind the two rustlers. The men jumped up, looking frantically for the gunman. Just about the time they realized the shots had come from the rim of the canyon, they were confronted with a posse riding down on them with guns drawn. Neither man put up a fight.

  “That was quick,” Idalou said.

  “It was damned disappointing.” Van shoved his rifle into its scabbard in disgust. “What kind of men are they?”

  “Men who don’t want to get killed,” Will said.

  “Hell, out here we hang rustlers. What difference does it make?”

  “Well, nobody’s hanging those men without a trial,” Will said. “Anything else but a trial would be vigilante justice.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “It’s against the law.”

  “We’re the law,” Van insisted.

  “Not as long as I’m sheriff. Let’s ride down and hear what they have to say.”

  The rustlers were tied up by the time Will reached them.

  “We didn’t steal these cows,” a big man with coal-black hair and a heavy beard was saying to Jordan. “We was hired to bring them here and hold them until the owner was ready to move them north.”

  “Who hired you?” Will asked.

  “The man said his name was Saul Tombull.”

  “There’s nobody by that name anywhere around here,” Jordan said.

  “What did he look like?” Will asked.

  “He was a big man, over six feet, with yellow brown hair. He was well muscled, but his clothes didn’t fit real good. He cussed a lot, too.”

  A perfect description of Newt Mandrin.

  “It’s no use trying to throw the blame on somebody else,” Van said. “We’re going to hang you for the lying thieves you are.”

  “I’m taking you back to Dunmore,” Will said to the pair. “We’ll let a judge decide whether you’re telling the truth.”

  “Why would we risk our necks for so few cows?” the man asked. “And if we was rustlers, why would we hole up here where it was easy to catch us?”

  Questions Will had already asked himself. He was sure he had the right answers, but he had no way to prove his theory.

  “I agree with Van,” Jordan said. “You let them get away with rustling, and we’ll have every two-bit thief in Texas down on us.”

  “They didn’t get away with it, did they?” Will asked.

  Van reached for the rope hanging from his saddle. “Who’s with me?” he asked.

  “Right beside you,” Jordan replied.

  Will walked to his own horse, but rather than reach for his rope, he pulled his rifle out of its holster. “I’ll shoot the first man who puts a rope on either of these two,” Will said.

  “Not if we shoot you first,” Van said.

  “That ought to look real good when the judge comes around,” Will said to Van. “A vigilante group kills the sheriff so they can hang two men who were denied a trial.”

  “We don’t need a trial,” Jordan said. “We found them with the cows.”

  “I know Van is a fool and a hothead,” Will said to Jordan, “but I’d thought better of you.”

  “You calling me a fool?” Van shouted.

  “Apparently he’s hard of hearing, too,” Will remarked.

  Van reached for his gun, but the hammer on Will’s gun clicked ominously. They all looked stunned to see he’d drawn it with his left hand while still holding the rifle in his right.

  “This is stupid,” Idalou said, stepping forward. “If either one of you shoots the sheriff, you’ll end up being hanged for murder.�
� She pushed Van’s hand away from his gun.

  “Will is right,” Carl said as he came to stand next to Will. “Besides, these are our cows. If Idalou and I are willing to let the men stand trial, the rest of you don’t have anything to say about it.”

  Van had a lot to say, but Will kept his eye on Jordan. He could see the man’s determination waver.

  “Have it your way,” Jordan said finally. “But if this brings a plague of rustlers down on us, it’ll be your fault.”

  “You can’t allow him to let rustlers go!” Van shouted.

  “He’s not letting them go,” Idalou said. “He’s taking them to jail to stand trial.”

  “You’re just like every woman in Dunmore,” Van raged. “You take one look at him and you’ll do anything he wants.”

  “I’m not a woman,” Carl said, “and I agree with the sheriff.”

  “I am a woman,” Idalou said, squaring up to Van. “Yes, he’s mighty fine-looking, but I can still think. Now put that rope up and let’s go home.”

  “I’m staying with the cows,” Carl said. “I’ll bring them back in the morning.”

  “What if the other man comes back?”

  “Are you really stupid enough to believe there is another man?” Van asked.

  From the look in Idalou’s eye, years of friendship were rapidly losing significance. “I’m stupid enough to believe that thieves probably tell the truth at least as often as upstanding citizens lie.”

  Will chuckled inwardly at the look on Jordan’s face.

  “You’ve known me for ten years,” Van said. “I’ve helped you whenever I could. Are you saying you believe I’m lying to you?”

  “This isn’t a question of lying, Van. It’s a question of obeying the law.” She turned to Will. “I’m staying with Carl.”

  “You can’t,” Carl said immediately. “It’s not safe.”

  “It’s not safe for you to be here by yourself. Will can’t stay, because he has to take the men to town. The other men have families and duties to attend to. There’s nobody else to stay.”

  “I’ll stay,” Van said. “Dad doesn’t need me.”

  That was the most logical solution, but Will could tell that Carl wasn’t going to agree. “Jordan,” Will said, “could I trust you to take these men to town and turn them over to Emmett or Tatum?”