“We ain’t never been to Butcher Bottom,” Possum said. “And we didn’t know we were on anybody’s range. We’re just tryin’ to get this lady and her baby home, so we’ll get offa Lazy-S range as soon as we can.”
“You do that,” Rance said. “We’ll let it go this time, since you sure as hell seemed lost, but I don’t wanna see you folks on our range again.”
“You’re right,” Perley said. “We’re lost, so how about tellin’ us how to find Butcher Bottom.”
His suggestion caused Ace Barnett to chuckle, but Rance responded calmly. “Just keep goin’ the way you’re headed, follow this stream and you’ll strike the Brazos in about three miles. Go north two miles and you’ll be in Butcher Bottom.”
Ace could hold his tongue no longer. “Better hurry up, though, ’cause Butcher Bottom might not be there much longer.”
“Why do you say that?” Perley asked.
“’Cause Mr. Slocum don’t like that rat’s nest of Gypsies livin’ down there,” Ace replied.
“Does that include his daughter-in-law and his grandson?” Perley asked.
“Shut up, Ace,” Rance ordered, then addressing Perley, he asked, “What did you mean by that? And just who are you, anyway?”
“My name’s Perley Gates. My family owns the Triple-G over in Lamar County. The lady in the wagon is Emma Slocum, your boss’ daughter-in-law.”
This took Rance by surprise and he made no effort to disguise it. “Dan’s wife?” He craned his neck then in an effort to get a better look at her. She in turn lowered her head as if trying to hide, not at all happy that Perley had volunteered her identity. “What in the world . . .” Rance started, then paused. “Where’s Dan?”
“Dan’s dead. Killed by a bank robber when he rode with the sheriff’s posse,” Perley answered, repeating the story he had been told by Possum and Emma. “I’m sure his widow is plannin’ to carry that terrible news to his father.” Had Perley been able to see the expressions on both Possum’s and Emma’s faces, he would have known at once that she had no intention of trying to contact Zachary Slocum. In fact, she had hoped he would never know she had returned to Butcher Bottom.
This shocking bit of news was enough to silence even Ace Barnett, sitting in the saddle with his mouth agape. Finally, Rance asked Perley, “What is your part in all this?”
“I’m just tryin’ to help out,” Perley replied. “I was on my way up to The Nations, takin’ a herd up the Western Trail. We met Possum and Emma at Doan’s Crossin’, on their way to Texas. My brothers and I decided they could use an extra hand to help ’em get home safely. We ain’t meanin’ to trespass on your range, we’re just tryin’to get the lady and her baby home.”
Rance was not sure how this startling bit of news was going to strike Zachary Slocum, but, if he had to put some money on it, he’d bet his boss wasn’t going to be very happy to hear it. However, he knew he had to tell him before Ace spread the news. “All right, mister.... What did you say your name was?”
“Perley Gates.”
“Like the ones in the Bible?”
“Yes, sir, only it ain’t spelled the same.”
This brought another laugh from Ace, but Rance ignored it. “My name’s Bob Rance, I’m the foreman of the Lazy-S. I’ll tell Mr. Slocum that his daughter-in-law has come back to Butcher Bottom, and I’ll let you get on your way now.”
“Much obliged,” Perley said and turned to Emma and Possum, puzzled to see the expressions of bewilderment on their faces. “Maybe you’ll hear from your father-in-law now. Might be you’ll decide to move out to the Lazy-S, if Butcher Bottom ain’t to your likin’.”
“Yeah, might be,” Emma mumbled as Perley wheeled Buck around to continue on down the creek.
Behind them, Bob Rance turned to talk to Ace. “Boss is gonna be damned interested to hear about his daughter-in-law comin’ back to Butcher Bottom, but it’s liable to be bad news when I have to tell him Dan is dead. I’d just as soon you didn’t pass this news around till Boss gets back from Fort Worth and I get a chance to break it to him. He oughta be gettin’ back any day now. Can I count on you?”
“Why, sure, Bob,” Ace assured him. “You know me, I don’t run off at the mouth like some of the boys. It’ll just be between me and you.”
* * *
“Maybe we shoulda told him the whole story,” Possum said to her. “He already figured out you don’t particularly wanna go back to Butcher Bottom. And I expect he just found out what Zachary Slocum thinks of Butcher Bottom, but ain’t no need to tell him about the money.”
“How are we gonna keep him from findin’ out?” Emma replied. “We’re gonna have to hide it somewhere before we get to Butcher Bottom. If Raymond Butcher finds out I’ve got that much money, he’ll take it away from me.” She looked at him and nodded her head to emphasize, “If he finds out you’ve got that money, he’ll likely have his followers take it away from you, too.”
“We might need to take him in as a partner,” Possum said, referring to Perley. “It’d cost us a lot, but it’d be better’n losin’ all of it to those crazy folks you told me about in Butcher Bottom.”
“I don’t know,” Emma fretted. “He’s so doggone honest, he might wanna take it back to the bank.”
“There’s that possibility,” Possum said, “but we’re gonna have to decide what we’re gonna do, and we’ve got to do it now. If that feller was right, we ain’t but about five miles from Butcher Bottom. We’re gonna have to find a place to hide that money before we get there.” They talked the problem over and over as they followed Perley down the stream. Then finally, he pulled Buck to a stop and turned around to come back to them.
“Well, yonder’s the Brazos,” Perley sang out cheerfully. “Couple of miles and you’ll be home, Emma.”
Still uncertain, Possum made a decision. “That’s good, Perley, but me and Emma decided we wanna make camp by the river and go into the settlement in the mornin’.”
Astonished to hear that, Perley asked, “You wanna make camp now? It ain’t even noon yet. We’ll be there in about an hour, if it’s where that fellow Rance said it is.”
Thinking as quickly as he could, Possum said, “It’s Emma, she’s been away for a long time and she’s needin’ to fix up a little bit before she sees everybody again.” He could see by Perley’s expression that he thought that was pretty silly.
“That’s right, Perley,” Emma said, unable to think of anything better to offer. “It’s been a while and I wanna look my best.”
“Well, I reckon we can wait till tomorrow, if that’s what you wanna do,” Perley said. Although he found her attitude beyond surprising, he lectured himself to be patient with the still-grieving widow. He was eager to see Emma safe in her home and anxious to get started back north to overtake the Triple-G cattle drive. He received a second surprise when they reached the river and he suggested a camping spot that looked to be suitable.
“I don’t know,” Possum countered. “This stretch is kinda wide open. Might be better to look for a spot with a little more cover, maybe even that way,” he said, pointing south.
“You remember that Rance fellow said Butcher Bottom is to the north, don’t you?” Perley asked. When Possum responded with nothing more than a blank expression, Perley said, “Why don’t you pick a spot that suits you?” Possum said he would, so Perley reined Buck back to walk beside the wagon when Possum turned the horses downstream. Possum continued to puzzle Perley as he drove the horses past several suitable camping spots, looking for one that pleased him.
“This’ll do,” Possum finally announced when they came to a point where the river took a sharp bend around a thick clump of trees, separated from another stand of trees by a grassy clearing. “We’ll camp here.”
“This suits you, does it?” Perley couldn’t resist a little playful sarcasm. “For a while there, I thought you had a hankerin’ to camp by the Gulf of Mexico.” Possum made a weak effort to laugh at his remark as he exchanged worrisome glances with E
mma. Their strange attitude did not escape his notice, but he was not concerned enough to question it. His mind was occupied with thoughts of delivering Emma to her sister’s house and getting started back on his way to catch up with the Triple-G herd.
Possum drove the wagon into the midst of the clump of trees before stopping, causing Perley to wonder if he was fearful of an attack from some source. He pulled his saddle off the big bay while Possum unhitched the two horses from the wagon. As she did every night, Emma began to gather wood for a fire. When she found enough, she built the fire closer to the edge of the trees. A stray thought wandered through Perley’s mind as he stood by the river’s edge watching Buck drink. She could have built her fire in the middle of the trees, a lot closer to the wagon, he thought. Maybe she thinks she needs some exercise, since she’s been sitting on that wagon seat all morning. He promptly dismissed the thought, since it was of no concern to him, and replaced it with another. He wondered, now that their journey was nearing an end, what Possum’s plans were. From the beginning, he had the impression that Possum had no intention to remain in Butcher Bottom. Perley supposed he would find out tomorrow if Possum was planning to ride back north with him.
CHAPTER 4
As the afternoon wore on, Perley decided the time was well spent, for he took the time to give Buck a little attention. The big bay had not been worked especially hard, since his daily requirement had been mostly pacing that of the wagon and usually no more than twenty miles were asked of him each day. Since there was time and opportunity, he decided it was time he took a bath. There had been no real occasion to take one on the cattle drive across the northern part of Texas to Doan’s Store. And while the nights were still on the chilly side, the late spring days were already warm. When he announced his intention to Possum, the old fellow thought that was a jim-dandy idea and encouraged him to do so. “I’d take one myself if I wasn’t havin’ one of my rheumatize spells,” he said. Perley didn’t push the matter, not particularly interested in having company, anyway. “Don’t worry none,” Possum said. “I’ll take care of things here.”
This was an opportunity he hadn’t even expected, and Possum went at once to tell Emma. “Perley’s gone over around the bend to take a bath. This is a good chance to bury that money while he’s gone, so let’s dig it outta the wagon.”
“I thought we were thinkin’ about tellin’ him about the money,” Emma said.
“I know,” he replied, “and I reckon we will before it’s over, but there ain’t no use to put it on his mind till we have to.” She shook her head, not really able to decide which was best.
There was more than plenty of privacy from the camp, since Emma had built the fire at the edge of the trees away from where Possum had parked the wagon. And since the river wrapped itself around the clump of trees, Perley found a grassy knoll near the edge of the water that just suited his purposes. He let Buck graze on the grass while he got ready for his bath. He stripped down to his long underwear and stopped there to decide how far he wanted to go. Summer was just approaching, but already he was finding the afternoon sun causing some sweating. He paused to make himself decide, time to come out of the winter underwear or not? Might as well, he decided, so he waded out into the water, still wearing his long-johns, thinking he’d wash them at the same time, then take them off to let them dry.
While Perley was enjoying his bath in the chilly water of the Brazos, Possum was working hard back in the clump of trees. Using a short-handled shovel, he was under the wagon, laboring to dig a sizable hole, one big enough to bury the heavy canvas bag containing two cotton bags holding both his and Emma’s share of the stolen money. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, now that he had fulfilled his obligation to Dan Slocum’s widow. But he knew he didn’t want to roll into Butcher Bottom with that amount of money in the wagon. Like him, Emma wasn’t sure what she should do with her share of the money, but she agreed that it wasn’t a good idea to show up in that settlement with all that money. Trusting him, she told him to bury her share with his, and they would decide when to retrieve it after they saw what might have happened to the little community after she had been away for such a long time. All the way back, she had struggled with her decision to return to Butcher Bottom, thinking she might choose to change her mind. Finally, since she was here, she decided to try to persuade her sister and her husband to leave this place and try to find a place where they might survive on their own. Thinking about that now, she was certain that was what she wanted to do, especially since she had the money to start someplace else. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Possum call her name.
“I’m done,” he said and motioned for her to come back in the trees to the wagon with him. “Take a good look around you, so you’ll remember this place when the wagon ain’t here.” She tried to memorize the setting as best she could. “Now get down on your hands and knees,” he said and dropped to his knees. Before crawling under the wagon, he asked, “Can you see where I buried it?”
She looked around on the ground, covered with dead, wet leaves. When she could see no place showing loose dirt or disturbed leaves, she asked, “Is it under the wagon?”
“Right under it,” he answered, satisfied that she could not find it, “dead center. Here, lemme show you.” He reached under the wagon and raked a handful of leaves back with his fingers, to expose some freshly disturbed dirt. “See this?” He placed a fingertip on a short piece of stick protruding straight up out of the ground. “That’s it, right under this stick.” She reached out and touched the stick. “Now you know exactly where your money is, right?” She nodded and he raked the leaves back in place.
“How long will it be safe to leave it there?” she asked. “What if we have storms or floods?”
“It ain’t gonna be buried here long,” he said. “I’ll sure be diggin’ up my share right after I take you to Butcher Bottom. I didn’t figure you’d leave yours buried very long, either, as soon as you figured it was safe to get it.”
“Yes, of course,” she quickly agreed. “I know I’ll feel a whole lot better with that money out of the wagon. In Butcher Bottom, nothin’ belongs to you. Everything belongs to everybody.”
“Well, that don’t make no sense to me,” Possum said. “Let’s get out from under here before Perley comes back and wants to crawl under here to see what we’re lookin’ at.”
They went back to their campfire. Possum poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot sitting in the coals at the edge of the fire. Emma checked to make sure the baby was not fussing, then she poured a cup for herself and sat down to tell Possum what she had decided to do with her money. “Rachael’s husband was a good farmer,” she said. “I think we oughta be able to find a good piece of land and build our own place.” She hesitated then before adding, “That is, if they would want to leave Butcher Bottom. I’m afraid they might be so caught up in Raymond’s religious ranting they can’t see right from wrong.”
“You think he would try to stop ’em from leavin’?” Possum asked. She answered with a grimace that said maybe. “I reckon it’s a good thing me and Perley are with you,” he said, “else, he might try to stop you from leavin’ again.”
“Well, now, ain’t this the prettiest sight for sore eyes? Ol’ Possum and the widow woman havin’ theirselves a friendly little cup of coffee.” Startled, for the voice came from behind them, in the opposite direction Perley had taken to go to his bath, Possum froze, recognizing the voice. “You just set right still, so you don’t give me no reason to shoot you,” Jack Pitt warned when he walked around in front of them, his pistol aimed at them. “Howdy-do, Miz Slocum? It sure is a pleasure to meet you,” he sneered. “I enjoyed doin’ business with your husband. Too bad he ain’t here for this reunion, ain’t it?” Turning his attention back to Possum then, he said, “I had a devil of a time trackin’ you two down. You never told me you was fixin’ to leave town.” He paused to take another look right and left. “Where’s your new partner you took in, the one that done
all the shootin’ back on Smoky Creek?”
“He took off,” Possum replied, “cleaned me and Emma outta all our money and took off. Ain’t that right, Emma?” Too frightened to answer, she made not a sound, to Possum’s dismay because he had hoped she would have said something that might have distracted Pitt’s attention from him. Even so, he put his cup down close to the rifle lying on the ground near him.
Pitt was not distracted. “Now, Possum, you’d be a damn fool to reach for that rifle,” he said, his tone soft and deadly, as if he wished Possum would reach for it. “We’re wastin’ time here. Whaddaya say we go get that money? The sooner you two get me my money, the sooner I’ll be gone and you and the lady won’t have nothin’ to worry about.”
There was absolutely no doubt in Possum’s mind that he and Emma would be killed as soon as Pitt had their money in hand. His only hope was to stall him as long as possible and hope that Perley would return in time to help. “We split that money up fair and square, so you got your share of it. Matter of fact, it was your idea. You was the one who said we’d split it three ways.”
Getting impatient now, Pitt replied, “That’s right, and now I’m sayin’ my share is all of the money. I’m the one who shot that son of a bitch. You and Dan didn’t kill him, I did. So all that money belongs to me. Now, let’s get it up. I’m tired of foolin’ with you.”
Desperate now, Possum countered. “How do I know you ain’t gonna shoot me and Emma as soon as we hand over the money?”
His question caused Pitt to grin. “You don’t,” he replied, “but you know for sure I’ll kill you if you don’t give me my money. So the only chance you and the little lady have is if you give me my money.” He shifted his gaze directly on Emma and grinned. Thinking him distracted, Possum started to reach for his rifle again, but Pitt was too quick. He fired a shot into the ground between Possum’s hand and the rifle. “I warned you, damn it!” Pitt roared. “Next time, it ain’t gonna be in the ground, and me and Miz Slocum will go get that money without you.”
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