Follow The Wind

by Janelle Taylor

  “Is that a yes or no, Miguel?”

  “He will honor his word, but nothing more. He will fight to the death to do his job. Stay alert, amiga. He is a man to steal a woman’s eye. He will not stay.”

  Jessie felt her heartbeat increase. “You did, Miguel. You said you were like him once. You changed. You stayed. What’s the difference?”

  “I had my revenge, my justice. I buried my past. Navarro has not. He is still searching for something, and I do not think he will ever find it. He is from two worlds, yet he fits in neither. He is the kind of man who destroys himself, and hurts anyone who comes too close to him. He is not bad and does not mean to harm those few he loves. It cannot be helped. He is a breed unto himself, amiga. He would not know how to survive if he changes. Do not try.”

  Wednesday moved at a steady pace for Jessie with morning chores and afternoon branding. By quitting time, she was exhausted. She bathed and dressed for the evening meal. Just as they began eating, Tom and Navarro returned. Gran reminded the excited boy to hold his story until after he washed up and sat down. Jessie was annoyed when her father told Navarro to return and give his report as soon as he ate supper. Jed also told him to bring Matthew Cordell along.

  “We’ll have cake and coffee while we talk,” Jessie added.

  After Navarro left to get cleaned up and eat, Jessie looked at her father and said, “That wasn’t polite, Papa. We’re eating, and you know the hands have finished. Hank probably has put away everything. He should have stayed.”

  “That isn’t a good idea, Jess. I don’t want a man like that getting too close to my family. Tom’s already following him around and hanging on his every word. Tom, remember he’s a wild gunslinger, not a man to pattern after.”

  “But, Pa—”

  “Hush, boy. I know what I’m saying. I’ve seen his kind before. If we didn’t need his skills, I wouldn’t let him be here.”

  The tone in Jed’s voice and the look in his eyes warned Jessie and Tom not to argue back, but both were disappointed and angry about their father’s attitude. Tom stared at his plate, his joy and appetite gone. Jessie forced herself to eat to conceal her conflicting emotions.

  Afterward, the room was quiet as no one tried to make conversation. Gran and Jessie cleared the table and washed the dishes. Jed remained in his place and sipped coffee. Tom was sent to his room to get ready for bed while the adults talked. The boy wanted to be included; he wanted to relate his stirring adventure. Jessie whispered to him that she would sneak up later to hear about it, which appeased Tom.

  When the two men arrived, Jessie showed them to the table.

  “Matt, would you like cake and coffee?” she asked.

  Sitting to Jed’s left, he replied, “Sure, Jessie. Gran cooks the best.”

  “Navarro?” she hinted.

  Near the far end of the table, he answered, “Yes, Miss Jessie, I sure would like some.”

  When she served them, Navarro thanked her politely, and so did Matt. Jessie realized that Navarro was making a strong effort to show manners and correct behavior around the man who had been almost rude to him earlier. She hoped and prayed her father would not drive her love away.

  “Fletcher’s men were branding calves like your hands, Mr. Lane,” Navarro related. “I saw about twenty men doing chores close to where he’s settled. They were all unarmed, so they don’t expect any trouble from us. I got a good look at Fletcher; Tom pointed him out to me from our hiding place. Couldn’t hear what he said, but he didn’t seem to be planning anything.”

  “How do you know that?” Matt asked.

  “None of the men strapped on guns and rode in this direction. Didn’t see anybody packing up supplies, either, planning to be on the range a while. Nice spread, but not like yours, sir. Fancy house with a walled yard like a hacienda. Two big barns. Not many longhorns in his herds. But he’s got plenty of good horseflesh. Nothing with Box L brand that I saw. When the men changed shifts, I counted about five or six new faces from those doing branding. I didn’t want to do too much riding around and risk being seen by men on the move. I got the layout of his ranch set in my head, and pretty much know his schedule. I’d say, from what I’ve learned here, he has about two more weeks of branding. That don’t mean he won’t pull some men to attack before he’s done. From all Jessie’s told me, he’s to blame. But we can’t act until Fletcher does. That is, if you want this handled like I think you do.”

  “How is that?” Jed asked, his stern gaze locked on Navarro.

  The desperado shifted in his seat. “With as little trouble and bloodshed as possible. You want him defeated and stopped, but not killed. Whatever he’s done, you’re still a good man who hates to take the law into his own hands.”

  The room was silent as Jessie’s father and the man she loved stared at each other. Finally Jed spoke. “You’re right. I’m no murderer. I don’t want him gunned down. He’s been smart. No witnesses or proof to back my charges. He’s got the sheriff and Army fooled. He claims rustlers are using these tricks to cover their thefts. Claims he’s been having mischief over at his place, too. Says somebody might be trying to drive us both out of the area. He’s a liar. Nobody’s tried to buy my spread except him. What do you have in mind?”

  “Me and Jessie decided to do to him whatever he does to you. He’ll learn fast that your loss will be his loss. You willing to do it that way?”

  “I don’t hold to making innocents pay for the guilty’s actions. I can’t order no dogs and chickens slaughtered. We can’t rustle any cattle, either. If we got caught, I’d be held accountable.”

  “I agree, sir. Why don’t we wait for him to move, then make plans?”

  The talk ended almost immediately, as all were tired and it was late. Jessie walked the men to the door, where she asked, “Did Hank give you any supper, Navarro? You got in late.”

  Matt answered for the reluctant man. “He didn’t eat, Jessie. Hank was in the bunkhouse. Navarro washed up and changed.”

  “Don’t worry over me, Jessie. I’ve missed plenty of meals before.”

  “You won’t have to miss any here. I thought this might happen, so I held a plate for you in the warming oven. Wait here while I fetch it.”

  While he obeyed, Matt stayed with him. “She’s a fine woman, Navarro.”

  “Yep, I can see she is.” He thanked Jessie for the food when she returned and handed him a heaping plate. He left before his emotions ran wild over this good woman who always thought of others.

  Jessie turned to find her father watching her. “Giving him food isn’t the same as letting him join us, is it, Papa? We do need him strong and healthy.”

  “Sometimes you have too much heart, daughter.”

  “How can a person be too kind or too polite?”

  “Good night, Jess” was his response.

  “I’ll go tuck in Tom.”

  Jed halted his departure to his room. “He’s too old for that.”

  “I know, but I still enjoy it. He was so excited about his adventure, but he didn’t get to share it with us. I don’t want him to feel left out tonight.”

  “I was foolish to let him ride with that man. He could have been hurt. I would never forgive myself if anything more happened to him.”

  “You can’t protect him forever, Papa. Victories can’t be won unless challenges are confronted. If you have no victories and joys, what good is living? He has to try things to make him feel as close to normal as possible. Even if he gets hurt, he’ll be happy. Let him grow, Papa. Let him take risks. Let him find his place in life. Let him know you’re proud of him.”

  “Do I have to let him get hurt worse or killed to prove I love him? To let him be happy? I can’t, Jess. Tom is different, and nothing can change that.”

  Jessie watched her father disappear into his room. She went upstairs to find her brother asleep. To let him know she had kept her word, she wrote a message on his chalkboard: “Navarro said you were a big help. Thanks. I love you. Jessie.”

 
Just as breakfast was completed in the Lane home and bunkhouse, one of the hands galloped to the barn. He leapt off his sweaty mount and raced to the warning bell. He rang it with all his might. When everyone rushed outside, he hinted between gasps for breath, “Trouble, Boss, nasty trouble.”

  Chapter Eight

  Jed, Matt, Jessie, and Navarro surveyed the horrid scene before them. Along the Calamity River in the southeast section of their ranch was a terrible sight. They rode in silence for a time, then dismounted. The ranch hand who had delivered the grim news had remained behind to rest and eat.

  “Fletcher didn’t prepare for this foul deed overnight. I thought you said you saw nothing unusual on his land!” Jed declared in an angry tone to Navarro.

  As Jessie eyed the numerous dead coyotes that were strewn along both sides of the bank and tossed into the shallow water, she was shocked. “It looks as if they go for miles, Papa. It’s an awful trick, but you know his motive. It’s to terrify the stock and drive them away from water. His men must have hunted prairie wolves every night for days to get this many. He must have stored them somewhere in secret until he had enough to use for his vile mission. Navarro told you he didn’t ride Fletcher’s range. Even if he had, this task was done elsewhere. Then the bodies were hauled here. He couldn’t have known about it to warn us.”

  “She’s right, Jed,” Matt added. “His hands must have been busy with branding, so Fletcher must have hired extra men to hunt them and bring them to his ranch.”

  “He could have hidden the bodies in the mountains, Papa.”

  “Some were trapped. Mangled legs.” Navarro pointed out examples nearby.

  Jessie looked at the wicked destruction of life. The coyote was smaller and built lighter than the wolf. The timid prairie wolf was misunderstood and slain by most men but was a creature that rarely preyed on stock or wild game. Although cunning and swift—the coyote fed on rodents, hares, and vegetable and meat carrion. What made Jessie even angrier were the pups and mix-breeds slain along with parents who mated for life. Coyotes readily bred with dogs, and offsprings were called coydogs. Pups, surely entire litters, of both had been killed without mercy. She knew that Fletcher’s hirelings had done this cruel task at night, as the coyote was a nocturnal creature that lived in burrows during daylight.

  Jessie glanced skyward in all directions. It appeared as if hundreds of vultures, the clue that had alerted their ranch hand to trouble, either were circling the lengthy area or landing to enjoy the enormous feast. Countless black dots were seen against the horizon, indicating more carrion-feeders were on the way, as if something had rung a supper bell near and wide to summon them here. “Papa, we have to get rid of these bodies fast so the buzzards will leave. Our stock won’t come near this area with the stench of death and decay so heavy in the air. We don’t have windmills in this area. The cattle and horses will scatter or sicken from lack of water before the air clears and they settle down.”

  Jed tried not to inhale the putrid odor surrounding him. A mixture of rage and depression overcame him. “I’ll pull the men off branding and have them collect and bury these poor critters.”

  “Fletcher has only windmills for water supply,” Navarro ventured. “Right?”

  When Jessie nodded, he suggested, “Blow for blow. If we haul these coyotes over to his place and drop them around his windmills, his stock won’t go near them. Fletcher did the killing; let him do the burying.”

  Jed looked at his daughter’s hired man with new respect. He brightened as that tit-for-tat idea settled in and excited him. “You’re clever, Navarro. We’ll send him back his message.”

  Despite the distressing scene around her, Jessie smiled in pleasure.

  Navarro went on. “Me, Matt, and two of the hands can wrap them in blankets or old canvas, then ride ’em over by packhorse after dark. Fletcher won’t be expecting it so he shouldn’t have any guards posted. When me and Tom were spying, he seemed too cocky and confident to be on alert.”

  “He’ll be hopping mad tomorrow. He’ll deny he’s to blame for this outrage.”

  “The only way he can accuse us of returning them, Mr. Lane, is by revealing he knows where they came from. He’ll keep silent.”

  “By Jove, you’re right again! He can’t say or do anything without exposing his guilt. We’ll get revenge this time.”

  Jessie had held quiet while Navarro impressed her father with his keen wits. She spoke up to refute. “Justice, Papa, we’ll get justice.”

  Jed’s dark blue gaze fused with Jessie’s light-blue one. Lines furrowed deeper on his face as he grinned. “This time, Jess,” he said, “revenge and justice are in the same bucket. We’ll make plans right now.”

  Jessie changed Navarro’s suggestion. “Me, Matt, Navarro, Pete, and Smokey can gather the carcasses in piles while the other hands keep to the branding. We can use those old blankets in the shed that you used for Indian gifts long ago. Talbert, Roy, and Walt are flanking today with Jimmy Joe. Papa, that leaves you and Davy to check on the frightened herds. In case Fletcher’s having us watched today, Matt, Pete, and Smokey can wrap and load the bodies after dark while me and Navarro haul them to Fletcher’s windmills. The work will go fastest that way. We have to be finished by sunup tomorrow. You sure you don’t mind helping with this nasty chore, Navarro?”

  “I hired on to fight Fletcher and his tricks; this is one of them. But you don’t need to help with a dirty job like this, Miss Jessie.”

  “I’ve done similar tasks before, when we had stock die of disease or were gorded during a stampede. You and I only need to deliver about ten to each windmill. The rest, all of us can haul to his south pasture and dump.”

  Jed, eager to repay and rile his foe, said, “Let’s head back and get prepared.”

  At the house, Jessie dressed in well-worn clothes and located old gloves that could be discarded later. She grabbed a bottle of flowery cologne, then rushed back to the corral with the food Gran had packed for them. Water was taken along in canteens, since the river was befouled with rotting flesh. She noticed that Matt, Navarro, and two hands were ready to ride. Another hand was to bring the blankets and packhorses to them later as a precaution against Fletcher’s possible spies. Jessie tossed Navarro some old pants and a shirt that she had taken from her father’s work chest, aged garments saved to be used only once for tasks such as this one. “Use these so you won’t ruin yours.”

  Navarro changed in the bunkhouse and returned. As Jed and Davy headed out to check on the stock and hands started branding near the corral, the four men with Jessie rode southeastward to the river.

  The group approached the first bodies of coyotes, pups, and coydogs in various stages of decomposition. Jessie asked each man to pass her his bandanna before he folded and tied it over nose and mouth to shut out as much of the stench of death and decay as possible as they worked. She dotted the cologne on the triangular cloths and returned them before securing her own in place. The men thanked her. Even though Jessie rarely wore the cologne, Navarro and Matt were stirred by the womanly air that filled their nostrils.

  “I’ll put it in my saddlebag. Don’t hesitate to use it,” she told all of the men.

  Each began to drag the animals into piles. Often, skittish vultures had to be scared off with loud shouts and waving arms. The persistent buzzards simply flew to another body farther away and ripped into it, as if devouring their first meal in weeks.

  Jessie thought the vultures were ugly creatures, but they served a purpose as they rid the land of carcasses. Their weak feet were big, made for walking and grasping. Their strong beaks, skilled at tearing into hides and meat, made her cringe at the thought of lying weak and helpless while carrion-feeders circled overhead.

  Jessie shuddered and cast that horrible vision from her head. She looked at the pitiful creatures she moved to the growing piles along the riverbank. Brush wolves hunted alone or in relays. Many times she had listened to their nightly serenades of mingled short yaps and mournful howls. Killing
them was wrong, as they rarely harmed mankind and his possessions. Although their pelt colors varied, most were a grizzled buff with reddish legs and splashes. Their long fur was coarse, their bushy tails black-tipped. Their golden eyes were mostly closed in death.

  As the group labored, the sun’s heat and brilliance increased. The fetid odor worsened. Flies buzzed and gathered on the furry mounds and on uncollected bodies. They worked all day—sweat, blood, dust, loosened fur and flesh clinging to them and making their horrible task harder.

  They halted and put a distance between them and the rank location to try to rest and to eat a light meal. Both were almost impossible. At dusk, the packhorses and blankets were delivered by Jed and Davy.

  Jessie persuaded her weary father to return to the house to get some sleep for the tasks ahead tomorrow while she, their foreman, and two hands rested after their lengthy chore. It was getting cooler, but she resisted putting on her light wool jacket and ruining it. She glanced at the setting sun that was providing the last remains of daylight. Soon a full moon would rise from the east and give them enough light to work through the night.

  “This was a vicious and evil deed; it shows how twisted Fletcher’s mind is,” Jessie remarked as reeking creatures were loaded on packhorses and tied down.

  “Get the next load covered and ready,” Navarro told Matt. “We’ll return soon.”

  Jessie and Navarro rode for the nearest windmill on their enemy’s land. They were cautious during their journey, but didn’t sight any of Fletcher’s men, not on that trip or any of the other ones. She decided that the confident man must have allowed all of his men to return to his bunkhouse that night.

  The malodorous task continued far into the wee hours of the morning. The couple hauled and discarded coyote bodies around each windmill. Bar F stock nearby hurried away from the fearful odor of death. They hated to punish innocent creatures for their owner’s wickedness, but it wouldn’t be for long, just enough time for their foe to get the message that they wouldn’t stand still for such repulsive acts. Wherever the task was done, Navarro let Jessie ride ahead while he lingered behind and used his Apache training to conceal their tracks. He had told them that using wagons was unwise, as wheel marks were harder to cover.