by Tell Cotten
“’Cause it’s against your rules to let a good, honest man like Mr. Tomlin get arrested.”
“Yep,” I replied.
Lee looked at me curiously.
“So, it ain’t nothing personal?”
I thought on that as I watched the setting sun, and I smiled slowly.
“Well, mebbe a little,” I replied.
Chapter sixty-four
When it got dark, Lee and I sneaked down to the barn and saddled our horses.
Ross stood by with a wistful look on his face as we rode out.
“Take care of yourselves,” he said.
“We will,” I replied, and then we trotted out.
It was quiet as we rode towards town. I didn’t realize it, but I had a frown on my face.
Finally, Lee spoke.
“Starting to sink in, ain’t it?”
“What is?” I asked.
“You know…Rachel. You’re starting to realize that you ain’t never going to see her again.”
I thought about denying it, but then I shrugged.
“It’s been on my mind,” I admitted.
“She’s mighty pretty,” Lee commented.
“She is,” I agreed.
“Well, least she’ll still have Ross.”
I knew Lee was trying to make me feel better, but he wasn’t succeeding.
It was silent, and then Lee changed the subject.
“Lieutenant Porter seems mighty sure of himself. Think he’s as good with a six-shooter as he says he is?”
“Don’t know,” I shrugged, and asked, “What do you think?”
“I’ve been doing gun work for a long time,” Lee replied. “And, I’ve seen lots of fellers that think they’re good with a gun. Most of them ain’t. But, every once in a while a feller comes along that’s got ‘it.’”
“‘It?’” I asked.
Lee nodded.
“Yep, ‘it’ don’t happen that often. Me, you, Yancy, Cooper, Kinrich… we’ve all got ‘it’. And, so does Porter.”
“Reckon we’ll find out tonight,” I replied.
“Reckon we will,” Lee agreed.
It fell silent as we trotted on, and I pulled up on top of a little hill that overlooked the town.
“Lieutenant Porter didn’t get a good look at you,” I said thoughtfully. “It’d be to our advantage if’n we knew his whereabouts. Think you could ride into town and look around?”
Lee nodded.
“Be a good idea.”
Lee rode out while I dismounted and sat on a log. I waited for about thirty minutes, and then Lee rode back.
“Found him,” Lee told me.
“Good,” I said as I stood and got back on Desperate. “Where is he?”
“He’s in the saloon with two of his men,” Lee said. “’Cept for the bartender, they’re all alone too.”
“That’s good,” I speculated. “Well, let’s go.”
We both checked our six-shooters, and then we rode into town.
We walked our horses down the main street. The street was dark, and nobody paid us much attention.
We pulled up and dismounted in front of the saloon. Then, we tied our horses to the hitching rail and stepped up onto the porch.
Lee looked at me and winked, and we stepped through the swinging doors.
We paused at the doorway and looked around.
The place was still empty. The bartender was cleaning up things behind the bar, and Lieutenant Porter and his two men were seated at a table in the corner.
Lieutenant Porter looked up, and his face sharpened when he recognized me.
“What are you doing here?” He demanded to know.
Already the feeling was coming over me. I felt alert and ready, and my gun hand hovered over my gun handle.
I walked slowly towards their table, and I stopped about twenty feet away. Lee was slightly behind me.
I looked at Porter’s men.
“Step aside if you want to live,” I told them.
They didn’t move. Instead, they glanced at Lieutenant Porter.
Lieutenant Porter was staring intently at me, and he nodded slightly.
“Go ahead,” he told them.
They wasted no more time. They stood carefully and moved over to the bar.
“Watch ’em, Lee,” I said, and Lee turned slightly so that he could keep them in sight.
“What is this?” Lieutenant Porter demanded to know.
I smiled.
“The time has come,” I said, “to tell you who I am.”
Chapter sixty-five
“Well, this should be good,” Lieutenant Porter smiled shrewdly.
He stood, and his gun hand hovered over his gun. For the first time, I noticed that he wore his six-shooter low and tied down.
Mebbe Lee was right, I thought.
“Well, are you going to tell me or not?” Lieutenant Porter asked, and his voice was thick with sarcasm.
“My name ain’t Joe. It’s Rondo Landon,” I announced.
Lieutenant Porter’s eyes widened. But, instead of surprise, there was amusement in his eyes.
“Well now. The great Rondo Landon,” he said. “I knew I’d seen you before. You remember me?”
“Mr. Jones,” I nodded.
Lieutenant Porter laughed a low, vicious laugh.
“You killed Tom Benson.”
“I did,” I said.
“You was lucky,” Lieutenant Porter scoffed.
“I was,” I agreed.
“You were sore at Benson because he got your Pa killed, right?”
“Mostly,” I said.
“Benson and I were friends, you know.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” I said.
“It was me that gave Benson the idea,” Lieutenant Porter boasted.
I was startled.
“What?”
Lieutenant Porter grinned savagely as he remembered back.
“He was mighty sore at your Pa over that widow woman. He wanted to get rid of your Pa, so I suggested that he saw your axle halfway in two. It worked too, until you showed back up.”
I felt anger starting to build up inside me, but I managed to stay calm.
“This little reunion has been nice, but it’s time to get down to business,” I said. “I’m here to give you two choices. One: you leave this part of the country right now and never come back. Or two: you stay here and I’ll kill you.”
A low, rumbling laugh came from Lieutenant Porter.
“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”
“What’s it going to be?” I asked abruptly.
Lieutenant Porter narrowed his eyes as he studied me.
“I still think I can beat you,” he said, and then he went for his gun.
Lieutenant Porter was good, but not good enough.
With lightning speed I palmed my six-shooter. Right as Lieutenant Porter was bringing up his gun, I fired twice.
Lieutenant Porter was slammed hard against the wall, and he slid slowly to the ground, dead.
There was a smoky haze in the room. As it lifted, I looked over at Porter’s men.
They both raised their hands.
“Don’t shoot us, mister!” They pleaded.
“Where’s the rest of your men?” I asked roughly.
“They’re spread out all through town,” one of them said.
“Well, go and round ’em all up, and then get outta town. You’ve got thirty minutes. After that we’ll shoot you on sight.”
They started to leave, but I stopped them.
“I want you boys to ride back to Austin. When you see the Governor, I want you to tell him that it was me, Rondo Landon, that killed Lieutenant Porter. Nobody else had anything to do with it. Understand?”
They nodded.
“We understand.”
“Good. Now get going.”
They slid by us and hurried out the door.
I looked over at Lee. He was just standing there, looking at me curiously.
&
nbsp; “You all right?” I asked as I reloaded my six-shooter and holstered it.
“I’m fine,” Lee replied. “How ’bout you?”
“Doing good,” I said.
Lee nodded and looked down at Lieutenant Porter.
“I guess he had choices,” he said.
“I gave him two,” I said.
“He chose the wrong one,” Lee said.
“I figured he would,” I replied.
Lee looked at me and grinned.
“You know you barely beat him.”
“He was fast,” I agreed.
“But, not as fast as you,” Lee concluded.
I smiled wryly.
“That’s why I’m still here, and he ain’t.”
Chapter sixty-six
It took Lieutenant Porter’s men less than twenty minutes to gather their belongings and get out of town.
Lee and I stayed until they were gone, and then we mounted up and rode towards the herd.
“There’s one thing I can’t figure,” Lee said as we rode along.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Why’d you tell those soldiers to tell the Governor it was you that killed Lieutenant Porter?”
“I didn’t want Mr. Tomlin getting the blame,” I explained.
Lee studied me curiously.
“You know you’re going to be the most wanted feller in Texas now.”
“I can live with that,” I shrugged.
Even in the dark, I could still see Lee grin.
“You must really love that girl.”
“What?” I asked, startled.
“You just got yourself into a lotta trouble to keep her father from getting arrested and hung. I figure you must love her,” Lee said.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied irritably.
“Sure,” Lee said, still grinning.
It fell silent as we rode on. We had a long ways to go, and by the time we got to the herd the sky in the east was getting light.
Ross was drinking coffee by the chuck wagon, and he looked pleased when he saw us.
“You made it!” He said. “I was starting to wonder.”
“Everybody’s fine,” I replied.
“’Cept for Lieutenant Porter, that is,” Lee put in.
“Oh? What happened?” Ross wanted to know.
I told him, and afterwards Ross looked relieved.
“Well, I’m just glad it’s all over with,” he said. “Now we can concentrate on the cattle drive.”
“Sounds good to me,” I nodded.
The cook was preparing breakfast, and soon it was ready. Everybody ate quickly, saddled up, and rode to the herd.
Ross gave the signal to pull out.
We started pushing the yearlings, and after we got them lined out they took out walking north to Abilene.
Chapter sixty-seven
Altogether we had twenty-four cow-punchers, plus the cook and three horse wranglers.
We had over a hundred horses in our remuda. The horse wranglers’ full time job was to take care of the remuda and keep them up with the herd.
Every man had several horses in his string. Whenever he needed a fresh mount, he would peel off from the drive and head back to the remuda.
I preferred Desperate most the time, for he was young and in good shape. But, we had a long ways to go, so I traded him out often with the other horses I had in my string.
The first week passed smoothly, and we made good time. It was hard work, but I didn’t mind. It kept me busy, and it also kept me from thinking too much about Rachel.
Every night when we made camp Ross, Lee, and I would camp by ourselves out away from the others. It was a good time to plan and discuss all that needed to be done.
We were getting close to the border, so one night Ross looked over at me.
“So far I’ve known the country. But, once we cross the border I’ll need to know which way to go. Feel like going out on a scouting trip?”
“I’ll leave in the morning,” I replied.
“You make sure and don’t lose your hair now,” Lee added with a grin.
“I’ll sure try,” I responded.
The next morning I packed enough grub to last me a few days, and then I saddled up Desperate and rode north.
I kept a sharp look out for Injuns. I did see some old campfires, but I never did see any Injuns. I was glad, because I figured we would have enough troubles without having to worry about Injuns too.
For three days I scouted out the land. I went at least sixty miles up ahead, and I drew out a map as best as I could.
A herd as big as ours needed a lot of drinking water, and I found several good water holes where we could stop.
I also looked the grass situation over, and I figured out the best trails to take so the cows could graze as they walked. The grass was short in a few places, and I marked them down on my map so Ross would know.
I rode back to the herd that third night. I unsaddled in the dark, and then I went over and joined Ross and Lee.
The cook brought me a plate of grub, and while I ate I told them all that I had found.
I handed Ross the crude map I had made. He looked it over and asked some questions, and I answered them as best as I could.
After that I turned in and slept hard. I was still groggy the next morning, but a warm breakfast and a few cups of coffee woke me right up.
I saddled up Desperate and joined the rest of the crew. The morning passed quickly, and early afternoon found me riding back at the drag.
It was then that Lee came riding over.
“Did Ross mention the new hand he hired?” Lee wanted to know.
I shook my head curiously.
“No, he didn’t.”
Lee smiled, happy to be the one that delivered the news.
“Well, a drifter rode into camp a couple of nights ago looking for work. He talked like he knew how to handle cattle, so Ross hired him. But, I wish he hadn’t.”
“Why’s that?” I wanted to know.
“He talks too much,” Lee declared.
“Is that all?”
“No. He’s cocky, and he also thinks he’s a gunfighter,” Lee explained. “You know the sort.”
“Sounds familiar,” I nodded.
“Anyway, he’s saying that one of these days he’s going to meet up with Rondo Landon, and when he does he’s going to kill him,” Lee said with an amused grin.
“Is that a fact,” I said dryly.
“Yep, but that’s not all he’s saying,” Lee said as he kept my interest. “He’s also telling a tale about Rondo that I never heard before, and I thought I’d heard ’em all.”
“And what’s that?” I pressed.
Lee was enjoying himself, and he took his time. He reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a cigar, and bit off the end.
“It seems this feller knew Rondo during his childhood,” Lee said as he struck a match on his saddle horn and lit his cigar. “He’s telling everybody that Rondo was a right mean youngster, and that he even shot one of his own kin.”
I was startled, and I jumped in the saddle.
“You mean you really did shoot one of your own kin?” Lee looked at me with his own startled look.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” I replied, and then I explained about my childhood incident with Jake Bellows.
When I was through I asked Lee, “What’s this feller’s name?”
Lee grinned.
“Calls himself Mr. Smith.”
“Sounds fake,” I said.
“It does, don’t it?” Lee agreed. “Yep, if’n I was a betting man, I’d say his real name is Jake Bellows.”
“It might be,” I shook my head in disbelief.
“I reckon we can find out tonight. You can get a good look at him then,” Lee said as he thought the situation over. “You know, even if it is him, he might not recognize you. You’ve probably changed a lot since he’s seen you last. Remember, Lieutenant Porter didn’t reco
gnize you.”
“You could be right,” I said as I moved over and pushed up a slow moving cow.
Lee turned his horse to leave. But, before he did, he flashed me a grin.
“Yep, like I said; this cattle drive is going to be mighty interesting.”
“It’s looking that way,” I agreed, and then Lee was gone.
I rode over to Ross and told him the situation.
Ross listened in disbelief, and he frowned irritably.
“He seemed like a good hand, so I took him on. I’m sorry now that I did it,” Ross said.
“It ain’t your fault,” I said. “There’s no way you could have known.”
“What do you figure on doing now?” Ross wanted to know.
“I’ve got to know if he recognizes me,” I answered. “If he does, then we’ll have a problem. If he doesn’t, then things will be just fine.”
Ross nodded in agreement.
“Sounds good to me. When do you want to talk to him?”
“If it’s all right with you, I’ll meet him tonight after we’ve made camp,” I replied. “And, it might be a good idea if’n you and Lee were with me. Things could get ugly.”
“I’ll be ready,” Ross replied.
I nodded and rode back to my spot.
***
Evening time finally arrived.
We held the herd up in a little gully. Ross got everybody set on the night watch, and then Ross and I rode into camp.
Lee was already there, and Ross and I tended to our horses and joined him. The cook brought us some grub and coffee, and we sat around a small fire and ate.
“Before you rode in I found your ‘Mr. Smith,’” Lee told me.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“He’s by the main campfire, telling stories.”
We finished eating, and then I put down my plate.
“Well, let’s go meet him,” I said.
I stood, checked my six-shooter, and walked towards the main campfire.
Lee and Ross followed, and it was a good feeling to know that they were there.
Chapter sixty-eight
It didn’t take long to spot Mr. Smith.
Sure enough, it was the same ol’ Jake Bellows from my childhood. He still had that pudgy, bully-like look about him, and he was sitting right in the middle of everybody as he told a story with a smug look on his face.