“Out of my mind, I carried him up to the road. A posse met me at the road and offered to take him. I said no. I guess Marge heard about it and arrived to help. We put him in the back of her buckboard and left. That woman saved my life, handled his funeral. All my family was still in Texas. I had no idea how they were getting along—but she knew I had promised a woman in Texas I’d come back for her. She was okay with that. I went back to Texas and that woman couldn’t move her mother and father, they were so bad off health-wise. So she stayed there.
“I brought all of my family out on the Fort Worth–Denver Railroad to the end of the tracks by railcar. Horses, wagons, and all we brought along, and we drove across New Mexico and Arizona on the Marcy Road. Took the cutoff to Preskitt and settled on the lower ranch, where we are going today. Marge was there waiting.
“She liked jumpers. She’d rode them all her life in competition. And she was good at it. I wanted to see the high country, and she offered to go see it with me. My sister said that I would ruin her reputation, so we got married. Her dad gave us that ranch for a wedding present.”
“Wow. Neat gift. I love this place.”
“I did, too. We had a son and she went back to jumping. She always wanted to jump higher. I warned her. Did no good. She had a wreck, broke her neck—died—and I had to destroy the horse. Victor and his wife are raising Adam down there on the Verde. Victor runs the farm operation down there. Another time I will tell you about wife number two.”
“No one handed you much of this on a plate, then, did they?”
“I have made most of what I have from cattle sales to the four Navajo subagencies at Gallup, who I ship six hundred large steers or cows to every month. They bring forty-eight hundred dollars a month. Snow, drought, or heat we deliver them on time and send them good beef.”
“That’s quite a sale. I mean, I have been to Dodge and even Wichita with big herds but not that many head every month.”
“Cattle we can’t supply we buy locally at a fair price.”
“How many ranches do you have?”
“Nine.”
“Some deeded?”
“Most of them are deeded. My land man has bought several homesteads. We fence them then cut and stack the hay.”
“Thanks. I am getting in on the whole history of this.”
He introduced Johnny to Tom and then they met Victor. His wife served them lunch and then they went by the blacksmith shop. Johnny shook his head at them making barbwire. He’d never seen that much speed in a barbwire plant before in his life.
A steam engine powered the operation.
Victor said, “I am getting a steam-driven tractor this winter and a thrashing machine for our barley crop.”
Before they left Chet told Tom that he was sending Johnny down there to learn all about his part of the ranch.
Tom agreed and they shook hands.
His foreman turned to Chet. “Is Cole really going to take that job?”
“He never told me anything different. He wants Salty when he gets back from the honeymoon. Spencer is going to fix the telegraph line on a contract. Fred said he’d make it all right over there while he was gone. I sent for Spud and Shirley to take Cole’s place. I think Shawn and Lucy can get help over there. Or I will find them some.”
“He’s shorter than Toby but he’s a worker, too.”
Chet laughed. “Johnny will be your shadow for three months.”
Johnny nodded. “Tom, I came clear out here to forget some things that happened. My wife and children were murdered while I was taking cattle to Dodge City last year. I appreciate the chance you and Chet have given me to start over.”
“Fine. I am glad to have you.”
They rode back to the top ranch and Chet answered questions.
“I bet Victor gets busy with a steam tractor and a thrashing machine. There is lots of farm acreage up and down that valley back there. I see why he wanted one.”
“But the closest place they can deliver it is off a train in Tucson and they will come up here like a slug crossing your yard.”
“I’ll bet on Victor. He’s a go-getter, isn’t he?”
“All my men are.”
“All right, tell me about Julie in the kitchen.”
“She was raised on this place. Her father is a vaquero and she can read, write, and cook.”
“I knew she was not stupid.” He laughed.
“Several in that family came up from Mexico to work for my old foreman Raphael. They are great ranch hands. Some tough outlaws came up here one night to kill me. The vaqueros turned out, shot some, chased down the rest, and hung them all. They buried all the ones they shot at the ranch and no one knew who hung the rest.”
“How many were there in the gang?”
“I bet a dozen. None got away.”
“I may be lucky to be alive.”
“That vaquero who was riding guard with us last night didn’t know you and he stopped Lisa before she got too close.”
“I heard him.”
“I had told Vance there might be some trying to get us. But he obviously checked you out.”
The lights were on in the kitchen when they gave the boys their horses down in the yard. After they washed up and climbed the stairs, Natalie showed up in the lighted doorway—hands on her hips.
“Don’t show that new man he can come in this late and still get a meal.”
Both men put their hats on their heads and turned. She caught Chet’s arm. “Get back in here, both of you. Lisa told me to say that.”
“I imagine she did,” Chet said. Then Lisa ran over, welcomed Johnny, and kissed Chet.
“Johnny, did he wear you out today?”
“No, ma’am. It damn sure was interesting.”
CHAPTER 22
At breakfast Cole came by and the girls fed him and their other two regular customers. Chet introduced the two men.
“Nice to meet you, Johnny. How did you do?” Cole asked Chet.
“I hired Spencer for five thousand a month, like you offered. He is getting some of the Navajos who helped him build it the first time, and he will have a list of needs to start out.”
“I am sure he can fix those problems. I need to get two good men for him to train at that.”
“Yes.”
“Your wife told me to expect Salty and Oleta, who get back here Sunday.”
“He will be here. He’s dependable.”
“I know that. I want to get up there and try to find some good help. They cut back on those boys’ wages so much they lost all the good ones I had working for me. They may be cheaper but I never saw so many wrecked coaches as they have piled up there in their yard at Flagstaff.”
“We all knew they bit their own hand when they ran you off.”
“They never ran me off. I quit.”
Johnny laughed.
“I’d say Cole is high enough today about the pending job to bite nailheads off.”
Johnny agreed.
“My wife told me I was crazy to go back.”
“You are, but their pay will overcome that.”
“I can only imagine, from all the wrecked coaches they hauled in there stacked up, how many they’ve crashed, huh?”
“It will be interesting.”
“I am wound up. Wish I knew more about the books. They may not be right.”
“Trying to hide losses, huh?”
“It must be pretty bad. Cosby wasn’t down here looking for me for his health. All the problems he must be having getting track laid back in New Mexico and him hanging around Flagstaff.”
“He may be doing one thing at a time?”
“I think that’s his plan,” Cole said.
“I understand part of this,” Johnny said. “You two and a rich man set it up and then sold it to the railroad?”
“My partner and I started with the stagecoach business. He knew nothing about it but folks were making money hauling gold, mail, and money shipments as well as passengers. He came to us to set
up those stage stops on the Marcy Road. We bought some used coaches and buckboards to make the four-hundred-mile run from Gallup to the Colorado River crossing.
“We had lots of opposition. One of his own men was working for the competition to stop us.”
“Four hundred miles?”
“Yes. That’s how long it is across there. He knew I was getting along with the Navajo, and their land has to be crossed.”
“Had you ever run a company that big before?” Johnny asked Cole.
“No. But the boss man here wasn’t worried. I was, but Chet told me not to worry, that I can always come back to him and ride guard. When I left the company, it was making several hundred thousand dollars a year and we had the telegraph wire humming. They were afraid not to buy it. If they didn’t then it would’ve cost a lot more later.”
Chet said, “I told Hannagan to make them buy the stage line, too. Railroads were closing down stage lines all over and a close-out auction would have made it tough to get bids on that stuff.”
Cole laughed. “This big, fat vice president came in my office smoking a big cigar and said, ‘Boy, I’m cutting your pay in half. You make too damn much money.’
“I stood and told him I was no damn boy. That I would not take a cut in pay and he could have the whole thing lock, stock, and the barrel.”
“What did he say then?”
“I don’t think he thought I’d quit. I didn’t care. I took my things and left.
“The man who secured horses for me quit that day, too. So did the telegraph man. The man in charge hired more folks—people I’d never have hired, but he didn’t know the difference. I heard all the complaints and I expected management to do something sooner. But big companies, they say, have that problem—not acting quick enough to see what is wrong clear out in Arizona.”
“What will you do for help?” Johnny asked.
“Pay them a better wage. Worry about them on and off the job. Make them family, like we do on the ranches Chet owns.”
“I can see that. What outfit ever paid for a worker’s wedding and honeymoon?”
“The Quarter Circle Z.” He paused. “I wasn’t his first cowboy, but close to it. We set out to deliver that first herd to Gallup. I wanted to work for him. He wasn’t some lazy guy who slept in and didn’t do anything to improve his herd. Chet was a man on the move. He sold the Navajo agency six hundred head a month. The last bunch handling this deal never got the cattle to the agencies on the day designated and those people had to come a long ways to camp out and wait. One person told Chet the cattle that were delivered were so thin they could read a newspaper through them.”
Amused, Johnny shook his head. “And the two businesses, stage and telegraph, were making money?”
Chet nodded. “We made half a million dollars the second year.”
“Then they bought it?”
“You bet, and the good help quit. They cut corners and wages until all the good workers were gone. Lost business. It got so bad the government told them to fix it or else.”
“Good luck. And thanks a lot for taking me on.”
“Glad to have you, Johnny. We always need a good man.”
Having finished talking to Chet and Cole, Johnny, leading his packhorse, rode off to go to work at the Verde Ranch.
“He’ll make a hand,” Cole said.
Chet agreed and they went into the living room to talk. “Are you going to have some time to ride the line with me and make sure we are doing all we can?”
“You need me?”
“I can damn sure use you if you can spare me the time.I’ll pay my two guards seventy dollars a month. You pay them a little extra, but only for the days we work on the stage line.”
“Fair enough. I can hire you.”
“No. Pay the men trailing me around. Then no one can complain about me.”
“As soon as Salty gets back I want to move up there.”
“How many wagons will you need?”
“Eight. Val has added to her stuff since she’s been down here.”
“Vance can handle that. Things are slow here for now.”
“Where can I find a good accountant? One thing worries me. Figures don’t lie, but liars don’t figure.”
“There won’t be many out here to pick from. I’d bet Cosby could find you one back East that would like to fish and hunt who’d move out here and do that job.”
“Damn good idea. Thanks. What are you doing next?”
“Kind of waiting to talk to Billy Bob when he gets back from Hackberry.”
“Oh yeah. You had him take word to Spud and see if he wanted to run my ranch.”
“Vance told me he’d handle that one, too, until I got someone. It being so close.”
“Good idea. Hey, hay sales. I don’t know where they buy theirs, but Toby has lots of hay to sell, doesn’t he?”
“He’s three hundred miles from the last station in Arizona. Unless they’re robbing you, we couldn’t compete.”
“That’s right. I am thinking about everything. Hal Bowers was my horse buyer. You haven’t seen him since he quit them, have you?”
“No. But I bet we can find him. I’ll send out some letters. He may be back in Fort Worth.”
“Who is that auctioneer who holds those stage line closeout sales?”
“He still mails me bills. The last one is in on my desk.”
“I’ll go get it. He might be a cheap way to buy used coaches.”
“It isn’t the cost to buy them. It’s the freight to get them here.”
“Right, I recall that. I’ve been looking in every corner for new ideas to save money. Didn’t I hear you bought a steam tractor and thrashing machine?”
“It is ordered. Victor takes delivery of it in Tucson sometime this spring. Then he has to drive it up here.”
“How fast will it go?”
“Smooth road, about fifteen miles an hour but they turn over easy so unless it is smooth, only five or so.”
“Does it have brakes coming over the steep mountains?”
“It says they do and we can use a belt on it and saw lumber. We can use it, can’t we?”
“Sure. And pump water?”
“That, too.”
“Be handy as a pocket on a shirt. I’ll go back up there and help Val.”
“Thanks for coming by. I won’t see much of you unless I go to Flagstaff, will I?”
“Damn quit talking like that. Money ain’t everything.”
“It helps a lot, though.” Cole left him for his own place.
After he’d gone, Chet read the Miner back issues.
Lisa came in and told him they had lunch ready. He thanked her.
Later in the day Billy Bob made it back. Chet went out to welcome him and the couple he brought back.
His messenger waved his old felt hat. “I brought them, Chet.”
He hugged Shirley and shook Spud’s hand. “You did good.”
Spud looked around. “Where is our place at?”
“South a few miles. A big two-story brick house. You two will like it.”
Shirley’s eyes almost bugged out. “Two-story brick?”
“And Cole is going back in and run that stage-telegraph deal again?”
“Oh, he is going to run it, but it is a mess.”
“Billy Bob had never seen the place where Cole lived?” she asked.
“No, we bought it a while back. Leveled some land and have some artesian wells to irrigate alfalfa. Those girls will have food fixed. Wash up and come up in the kitchen.”
“Chet, we are so dirty. We have been riding for days.”
“Shirley, eat some lunch. You can go upstairs and take a bath after that.”
“You are the boss. Come on, guys. I am starved.”
Everything went great. Shirley and Lisa hit it off. Spud made them laugh about his version of the trip down there. Things were going smoothly at Hackberry. Shawn had several guys capable enough to handle his job. And Lucy was going to have another bab
y.
After they ate, had baths, changed into clean clothes taken out of the bundles on the packhorses, which the ranch boys had unloaded for them, they hopped in two buckboards and ran for the other place.
When Shirley saw the two-story house, she began crying. “I can’t live in that house.”
“You damn sure can, sister. You are as good as any woman in this world. Quit crying.”
They met Cole’s wife, Valerie, Chet’s son Rocky, and Cole. Neither Spud nor his wife were very tall, and standing inside the doors on the polished floors at the foot of two winding stairs, they looked like lost kids to Chet.
But he knew in time they’d love it.
He found a chair while they took the tour, led by Valerie. Still lots for him to get done but they had the time. In no time, the short man would finish straightening out the entire ranch. Cole had it all going and Spud would finish it.
They were back for supper, and Lisa gave them bedrooms, including Billy Bob, who was going to sleep in the barn but she stopped him.
Things were going well. Salty came back with Oleta, and Chet told him he needed him to help Cole. Salty agreed it would be a good opportunity for him, and Oleta wouldn’t care. The housing up there was much better than the casa they’d had to live in on the ranch.
The overloaded wagons wagged their way north. Lisa found lots for Valerie and Oleta to take with them to their new residences. Chet kissed his wife good-bye and took off after the wagons that had left a couple hours earlier. He knew he would catch up, knowing going down the hill would slow them down. He planned to get some of Victor’s big draft horse teams to help them up the steep road on the north side of the valley the next day.
It all worked out fine. Three days later they made Flagstaff and were on the ranch-owned property. In the sunset, wearing his businessman suit, the railroad president strolled in their midst. Cole introduced him as Mr. Cosby.
He even lent them a hand unloading.
Chet, Cole, and Cosby were talking during a break they took.
Cosby said, “The wire was down three hours today. How it got repaired, I don’t know.”
Sharpshooter Page 15