Mustang (A John Cutler Western Book 5)

by H. V. Elkin

  “Well?”

  Cutler only stared at Chase and continued to smile.

  Ellen was finding this all very interesting. She was wondering if this would lead to some kind of showdown. She looked to her father who was hanging back among his men and watching the little scene, and it reminded her of the night at the party when he did the same thing and Chase was trying to kiss her. Sometimes Harmon acted like other people were put on this earth exclusively for his amusement. Ellen hated that, and it was no wonder she did not have much respect for men. That included Cutler. But if this was going to turn into a contest for men, she would like to see Chase faced down so badly it would wipe that smile off her father’s face. If Cutler’s smile got wiped away instead, well, that was only the second best thing.

  “Well?” Chase repeated.

  Red crouched on the wagon seat, his head down and pointed to Chase, his teeth beginning to show, a low growl rumbled in his throat. Cutler recognized it as the dog’s request for permission to attack. When Red did not like a man on sight, it was a good sign that the man was going to be a problem as long as he was alive. Men might fool other men, but never Red.

  Chase was saying something to Cutler, but Cutler was not listening. Cutler was sizing up the situation and figured it was exactly what he thought when he saw it from a distance. A group of people had gathered to feel superior about not being Cutler. It had happened too many times before for Cutler to get angry about it. But he figured he had two choices. He could challenge Chase in some way to earn the respect of the others and get the nonsense over with. Or he could just turn the wagon and ride out.

  He sent a message from his fingers along the reins, and the mules moved forward, forcing the men in their path to move out of the way. The mules did a wide arc and started to pull the wagon back the way it had come.

  Ellen figured Cutler was not any better than the other men.

  “Hold on!” Harmon called.

  The wagon kept going, slow and steady.

  “‘Hold on!’ I said.” Harmon ran alongside it. “Wait a minute.”

  The wagon stopped, and Cutler stared straight ahead.

  “I’m the owner here,” Harmon said. “Ben Harmon. Howdy.”

  Cutler looked at Harmon as if to ask him why he had not said that in the first place. “Howdy. John Cutler.”

  “Well, Cutler, have you come to do a job for us or not?”

  “That all depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On whether or not you’re anyone I want to do a job for.”

  “By the looks of you, I’d say you could use the money.”

  “You’re the boss here?”

  “Sure, I am.”

  “Then you’re the man I’m here to talk to.”

  “Fine. Let’s talk.”

  “First things first. I got some animals here that need to be tended to.”

  “Sure. I got some men who’ll take care of that.”

  “No, I’ll do that myself. You can sell me the feed.”

  “Okay, if that’s the way you want it.”

  “Second thing, if you are the boss here like you claim, you better do something about that loudmouth hand of yours before I have to myself.”

  “Oh, Tom was only foolin’.”

  Cutler smiled. “Might fool himself into an early grave. Next time I won’t make it so easy for him by riding away.”

  “Don’t you worry none about Tom. He’s the best ranch foreman around these parts.”

  “Just remember what I said.”

  “Well, you take care of your animals. And then you come have supper at the house with us, so’s we can talk things over.”

  “I already figured on breakin’ bread with my friend Dave here.”

  “Cutler, if you’re gonna be workin’ for me . . .”

  “That’s the misunderstandin’, you see. I don’t work for any man.”

  “But we got a job, and if you’re gonna do it, we ought to sit down and see about it.”

  “If I sit down with you, Harmon, Dave’s gonna be sittin’ next to me, because I know he knows what’s goin’ on around here, and I don’t know that you do.”

  “Sure, Dave can come, too. Why not?”

  Cutler asked Baker, “I’d take it as a kindness, Dave, if you’d accept Mr. Harmon’s invitation.”

  “Sure, John, if you want me.”

  “You bet.”

  While Baker rode back to his own ranch to see that things were all right there and Cutler tended to his animals, Harmon tried to figure how he could get control of the situation again. He would have stepped in right at the beginning if he had known that Cutler’s reaction to Chase was going to be to leave. Now Harmon felt at a great disadvantage. He did not like that. He especially did not like it on his own ranch where he was boss.

  “You shouldn’t’ve done that,” he told Chase.

  “I didn’t see anybody stoppin’ me.”

  “Never mind. You have supper with us at the house tonight. Maybe you and me can keep each other cooled down long enough to see if this Cutler’s worth all the trouble.”

  “Think I can tell you that right now.”

  “Well, he’s supposed to be good, so let’s see.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “And Tom . . .?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Dave Baker’s gonna be there, too.”

  “What?!”

  “Special request of our guest of honor.”

  “I’ll still be there,” Chase said.

  Ellen did not like cooking. It was something she did for her father because her mother always did when she was alive. Since her mother was gone, it was the natural order of things for Ellen to take her place. But she did not like it. She liked it even less tonight because she had to provide for three men besides her father. She did not like Tom Chase. She had no reason to like Cutler. She did not hold it against Dave Baker that he was a different color. He was just another man to cook for.

  As far as she was concerned, she did a man’s work all day. Then when the other men went to be fed outside the bunkhouse, there was a cook to cook for them. But Ellen was expected to take over her mother’s role at the house on top of a full day’s work. It was unfair, and she did not know what to do about it, except put a lot of hate into the cooking. When Harmon heard pots and pans being battered down hard on the cast iron stove in the kitchen, he knew food was being prepared and that it was not going to taste very good. But like Ellen, he accepted her taking over for his wife and did not know what else could be done about it anymore than Ellen did.

  Tonight the quality of the food was the last thing he was concerned about.

  They ate in the kitchen. It was a large room and plenty big enough to serve an army of eaters. It was not as though Cutler was a visiting governor, and his reputation was not enough reason to open up the dining room that had not been used since Mrs. Harmon died.

  The men ate in silence. Ellen joined them at the table. Her mother would never have done that. Mrs. Harmon always served the men, then ate by herself later. Ellen was not going to go that far in replacing her mother, and Harmon accepted the new regime stoically. Things could be worse.

  Nobody said the food was bad. Nobody said it was good. The silence grew heavy. If it was going to be broken, it had to be by the head of the house. So everyone, even Ellen, was waiting for that event.

  “Anybody still hungry?” Harmon asked finally.

  No one admitted he was.

  “Okay then,” Harmon said. “Now that we’ve taken care of our bellies, maybe we can ease our minds. Reckon Dave here has filled you in on the problem, Cutler. That so?”

  Cutler nodded.

  “Now I understood you to be the same John Cutler that took care of the Boone gang and the Thomas boys, that so?”

  “That was a long time ago.”

  “Just tryin’ to be certain you’re the Cutler we’ve been hearin’ about.”

  “That important to you, Harmon?”

&nb
sp; “Well, the kind of money we’re talkin’ about, I guess it is.”

  “You’re payin’ for a man who can get that mustang, aren’t you? That’s what Dave told me. Ain’t that what you told me, Dave?”

  Baker nodded. “Yes, John.”

  Harmon fumed. “Well, of course that’s what we want you for.”

  “Excuse me,” Cutler said. “Your startin’ to run down my history got me confused. Got me started thinkin’ you were lookin’ for a celebrity instead of a hunter.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t expect to hand over a thousand dollars to no ordinary hunter.”

  “Are you sayin’ the whole thing’s comin’ out of your pocket?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Wait a minute, Ben,” Baker said. “You ain’t the only rancher that’s got a stake in this.”

  “Well,” Harmon said, “let’s just say I want to do something nice for my neighbors.”

  “Ben,” Baker said, “I think all of us who’s got horses in that herd’d like to share John’s fee.”

  “What difference does it make who pays?”

  Baker knew how to be diplomatic. “I just think the rest of the ranchers would feel better about takin’ their own horses back if they had a part in gettin’ ’em. You pay the whole thing yourself and they’d be embarrassed about takin’ their horses back. I know I would be.”

  “Now, Dave, there’s no call to be feelin’ that way.”

  “Sorry. Can’t help the way I feel, Ben. Sure the others are gonna feel the same way, too.”

  “You ain’t worried about gettin’ your horses back, are you, Dave? You’re not sayin’ you don’t trust me, are you?”

  “No, I’m not sayin’ that. Think I already said what I meant to say. Don’t think I have to say it again. Now, I’m the one who told you about John, and I’m the one that went and got him. So I figure I got at least an equal say in this.”

  “’Course you do, Dave.”

  “And that means an equal share in any horses in the herd that never belonged to anyone else around here.”

  “Well, okay, suppose you and me go partners on this and not bother the others about it.”

  “Think we got to give them a choice about it since they got horses in the herd. Ben, they’d all appreciate your wantin’ to pay the whole thing yourself, but they wouldn’t want you to do it.”

  “Dave, if that’s the way they feel about it, okay. It ain’t my real concern who pays. It’s how many men Cutler’s gonna have to answer to. Suppose I say we do it one way, and you say another, and somebody else’s got a third idea and so on? Who’s Cutler supposed to listen to?”

  “Don’t know that he has to listen to anyone.”

  “Let’s come to an understandin’ about it, Dave, between you and me, and we’ll let the others go along if they want to.” Harmon took a knife and made marks on the tablecloth to check off the points he thought they agreed on. “First of all, we want to get all those horses back alive.” He glanced toward Ellen. “Includin’ Mesteño. If we can. Second, if killin’ Mesteño means we can get the other horses back, we’ll have to do that. And third, if we can’t do either of those things, we’ll have to kill the whole lot to keep Mesteño from stealin’ any other mares. Now, I can’t see why we’d have to do that, but if we have to, then we have to. Now, I don’t think you can argue with them things, Dave.”

  “No, you got ’em in the right order.”

  “And you know that I want that horse alive. It would just be a waste to kill him.”

  “I know that. Question is, when Mesteño’s captured alive, whose horse is he?”

  “Well, whoever gets him is gonna have a problem on his hands. Tell you what. Since Ellen wants him alive so much, I’ll take the responsibility for Mesteño, and the rest of you can split up the other horses as you see fit.”

  “Ben,” Baker said, “I know Ellen wants the horse alive. I know you do, too, maybe for different reasons. But there’s somebody else sittin’ at this table who wants him dead, and he works for you.”

  “Oh, I think Tom’s not gonna do anything against my orders, are you, Tom?”

  “You’re the boss, Ben,” Chase said. “What you say, goes.”

  “You see, Dave? I’m the boss. That’s the way I like it. Tom and me may have some different ideas about things, like what ought to happen with Mesteño, but when it comes down to it, Tom lets me be in charge.” He smiled broadly and turned to Ellen. “There any more coffee?”

  “It’s on the stove,” Ellen said.

  Harmon’s smile disappeared, but it popped up on Cutler. Cutler got up and got the coffee pot from the stove. He brought it to the table and poured for everybody.

  “Thanks, Cutler,” Harmon said, feeling more now like Cutler was working for him. “That’s why Tom’s my foreman,” Harmon continued to Baker. “He never questions my authority, and he’s a good foreman because he always knows where the orders come from. Now that’s what I’m thinkin’ about Cutler here. There’s got to be just one person he answers to and, since the mustang herd tromps my range more’n anyone else’s, it’d be easier if it was me who was in charge.”

  “That’s between you and him,” Baker said.

  “Then that’s settled,” Harmon decided. “Maybe we ought to drink on it.” He turned to Cutler who had sat back down and was drinking his coffee. “How about it, Cutler, you care for something stronger than that coffee?”

  Cutler smiled at Ellen. “Coffee couldn’t get any stronger.”

  “I keep a jug or two around here,” Harmon said. “It’ll curl the hair on your chest. Want some?”

  “Well now,” Cutler said, “that all depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On whether or not I’m workin’. I like a stiff drink as much as the next man, but I don’t drink when I’m workin’.”

  “Hell, you don’t have to worry none about that. We already decided.”

  “Know you did. I’ve done nothin’ but sit here listenin’ to you decide. Thought it was very interestin’, too.”

  “Then we’re all settled. You’ll get started tomorrow. I’ll . . .”

  Cutler interrupted. “It was interestin’, but I’m gettin’ tired of it now. And I’m not sure I want to take a job from a man who’s hard of hearin’.”

  “Who’s hard of hearin’?”

  “Guess you are, Harmon. Either that or plumb forgetful. One’s as bad as the other.”

  Chase stood. “See here, Cutler! Nobody talks to Ben like that.”

  “Maybe nobody did up ’til now.”

  “Think you better apologize.”

  Cutler turned to Harmon. “I’m sorry you’re so deaf or forgetful,” he said.

  Chase lunged across the table, grabbing for Cutler’s shirt with his left hand, his right cocked in a fist. Cutler shifted in his seat, and pushed the hand down into his hot coffee. Now Chase was coming forward and off balance. Cutler hit his jaw hard, and the cowboy went sprawling several feet from his empty chair. For a moment, no one moved. It happened too quickly for anyone to believe it, and Chase was dazed. When Chase recovered, he got to his feet slowly and stalked toward the table. Cutler had not moved from his chair. He did not move now.

  “Hold it, Tom!” Harmon said.

  “This is between him and me,” Chase said, wiping a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth.

  “Not in my house it ain’t. You two got something to settle between you, you can do it after the job’s done. Now cool down, you hear me?”

  Chase hesitated, then looked at Cutler, his eyes blazing. His anger grew because there was no outlet for it. The last thing he expected was for the boss to interfere.

  Ellen was wondering about that, too. Her father had stood by and watched when Chase was manhandling her at the party. Her father had watched when Chase was baiting Cutler out by the corral earlier. Why did he step in now? Harmon answered her question. “There’s only one thing that’s important right now, and that’s gettin’ Mesteño. Ain’t no room
for anything else ’til that’s over. You hear me, Tom?”

  Chase was still glaring at Cutler. “When the job’s done,” he said, “so are you, Cutler.”

  “You don’t make it sound too appealin’,” Cutler said.

  “Damn you!” Chase clenched his fists.

  “Tom!” Harmon yelled. “I mean it. And Cutler, lay off him, you hear?”

  “I hear real good,” Cutler said.

  Chase stood there a moment longer, then stomped out of the room.

  “Seems like he should’ve thanked you for the meal,” Cutler said.

  “Now, never mind that,” Harmon said. “At least everything’s settled for now.”

  “No,” Cutler said. “Everything ain’t settled.”

  “Well, I want you to put off any showdown with Tom until you finish the job.”

  “Oh that part’s settled, all right. Least, if it is for him, it is for me. But the rest of it ain’t.”

  “What rest of it?”

  “The part you seem so forgetful about, Harmon. The part I told you about when I first got here. Now, I don’t give a damn who pays me when the job’s finished. And I think I know the real reason you wanted to do that all by yourself.”

  “You’ll get paid if you do the job, don’t worry about that.”

  “There you’re right. I’ll get paid if I do the job. I don’t accept pay if I don’t finish what I’m supposed to do. Now there’s a little difference there. You figure you’ll pay me only if I do the job. I’m tellin’ you not gettin’ paid for not doin’ the job is my condition, not yours.”

  “Well, it all amounts to the same thing, don’t it?”

  “No, it don’t, because there’s more to it than that. But I figure when a man insists on bein’ the only payer, maybe he wants more than to do a good turn for his neighbors. Maybe he just wants to be in charge.”

  “’Course I do. I already said that.”

  “Well, I’m tellin’ you for the last time you better unsay it. Nobody’s in charge of gettin’ that mustang but me. If I want help, I won’t ask for it, I’ll tell you. If I decide to go it alone, that’s the way it’s gonna be. Now, you’ve had your chance to get that horse and you couldn’t do it. That’s when they call me in. When they can’t do something themselves. That’s why I’m worth a thousand dollars to get the job done. Because I get the job done. And that’s because I’m the only one who knows how to do it. So I’m not about to take orders from you or anybody else. Now, you tell me if that don’t sound familiar to you.”