Is-A-Man (A J.T. Edson Standalone Western)

by J. T. Edson

  Being clad in the required fashion in case she should be given an opportunity to complete her mission, and having employed the skill at silent movement she had acquired to evade the sentries, Should-Be-A-Boy had scouted the Mexican’s next camp after night had fallen. Although she had satisfied herself that her quarry were present, she had decided there was no way she could be sure of killing all four if she should open fire from her place of concealment. What was more, with her presence betrayed, the added precautions which were certain to be taken would remove any chance of getting the survivors in the limited time at her disposal.

  Showing a wisdom and patience which her tawk and dead father would have regarded as praiseworthy, Annie had accepted she must refrain from trying to carry out her mission until a more suitable opportunity was presented. Acting upon the conclusion, she had withdrawn from the immediate vicinity of camp as silently as she had approached. Continuing the pursuit when the herd moved on at dawn, despite hoping she would not be identified as Nemenuh if seen briefly at a distance, she had taken sufficient care to ensure she remained undetected all day.

  Taking into consideration the advantages she could be offered by the changes she had made to her appearance, the girl had concocted a scheme which she hoped would allow her to bring the quartet on to ground of her own choosing. However, as it was not her intention to attempt anything against them immediately if she succeeded in producing the result she required, she had retained the attire worn during the day. Having circled around well beyond the range of vision of the scouts, leaving behind the other two horses and riding the well-trained blue roan gelding, she had made her way towards the camp.

  Once more contriving to elude the men put out as guards, a more difficult task than when on foot and in darkness, Should-Be-A-Boy had only located three of her quarry while selecting and addressing the Mexican she had concluded, from watching them, was the leader of the party. For the first time in her life, she was making use of her sex instead of trying to conceal it. She was gambling that discovering she was a girl and hearing her cryptic comment would arouse his interest sufficiently for him to want to learn more about her.

  ‘Well now!’ Benito Velaquez remarked in his native tongue, coming out of the bed wagon before his uncle had a chance to continue the conversation with the newcomer. He had gone inside to drink tequila in tequila defiance of the orders he and the other three had been given and liquor always aroused his baser instincts where the opposite sex was concerned. Forgetting everything they had been told about improving their behavior on their return from raping the Comanche girl, he swaggered forward and, extending his right hand towards her, went on, ‘Look at what we have he—!’

  About to ask what the girl had meant, Caraballeda swung his gaze in the direction of his nephew!

  The angry reproof which the haciendero was about to utter went unsaid!

  Even without having identified the tall young man by his distinctively decorated expensive charro attire, as had been the case with the other three—all of them being better dressed than the rest of the party—the raw scratches on his left cheek would have supplied Should-Be-A-Boy with an indication that he was one of those she sought. Controlling an inclination to raise and fire the Winchester at his leering face, she brought his words and gesture to a halt by launching a kick with all the power her sturdy right leg could muster. Caught in the center of the chest with considerable force and unexpectedly, Benito was propelled backwards. Tripping and sitting down with a thud which jolted most of the breath from his body, he spluttered a profanity and made a fumbling grab at the ornate handle of the Colt Model of 1860 Army revolver in the tied down holster of his gunbelt.

  ‘Tell him to stop, mister boss man!’ Annie commanded, pleased to be able to continue using English as she did not want to let it be known she spoke enough Spanish to be able to follow whatever might be said in that language. Swiftly swinging the carbine from its place across her lap and pivoting the lever through its loading cycle, she turned its barrel into alignment upon the younger Mexican while directing the words to the haciendero. Although she would have liked nothing better than to do so, she went on, ‘I don’t want to kill him, but I will if that gun comes out!’

  ‘Leave it!’ Caraballeda bellowed, spinning on his heel and glaring furiously. Seeing his order was being ignored, he darted forward and kicked the gun out of Benito’s hand as it emerged from its holster. Then he turned his attention to his other nephew and the de Ulloa brothers who were showing similarly hostile intentions. ‘Stop that right now, you three. Madre de dios, don’t you know shooting might make the cattle stampede?’

  Despite being just as surprised to see the girl, on her arrival, the vaqueros had followed the example set by their employer in reacting to her appearance. Now, sharing his appreciation of the dangers which a commotion could produce, the nearest of them moved just as quickly to prevent any of the trio drawing a weapon.

  ‘I don’t know what you said, mister,’ Annie remarked, returning the carbine to across her knees without changing its condition of immediate readiness for use, or removing her right hand from the wrist of the butt and leaving its forefinger curled through the trigger guard. Wanting to keep up the pretense of not being conversant with Spanish and yet to show she too appreciated the danger which shooting could create for the herd, she continued, ‘But it’s right lucky for you it worked. I don’t know over much about them critters we call “spotted buffalo”, ’cepting they get scared and take to running real easy should there be any loud noises like guns going off near ’em.’

  ‘She knows what will happen if there’s shooting, so don’t any of you do anything to frighten her into starting! ’ Caraballeda snapped over his shoulder, having noticed how the Winchester was held and reaching the conclusion which Should-Be-A-Boy had hoped to produce. Swinging his gaze back to her, he resumed speaking English. ‘Who are you and what brings you here?’

  ‘They call me Annie Singing Bear,’ the girl introduced, feeling sure the name she had been given by her mother was not known to the Mexicans even if they had heard of her as ‘Should-Be-A-Boy’. ‘And I’ve come to tell you what kind of trouble you’re in on account of that son-of-a-bitch and those other three young bastards over there.’

  ‘How did you know it was us who—?’ Benito began, increasing the girl’s satisfaction by proving he too could speak sufficient English to be able to follow the conversation and, if their reactions were any guide, the same applied to the other three.

  ‘Shut your mouth!’ Caraballeda thundered, spinning around with such obvious anger that the incautious question was ended before being completed. Then, once more returning his attention to Annie, he decided to try a bluff, ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘Then it could just be I’ve come to the wrong place,’ Should-Be-A-Boy answered, having inherited her father’s skill as a gambler and having been a successful competitor in games which depended upon the use of deception. ‘Which’s a pity’s I was counting on getting paid well for what I’ve got to tell.’

  ‘Paid?’

  ‘Paid, with American money. I’ve seen the way white women live and conclude it’ll be a whole heap easier’n staying with pappy’s folks on the reservation. Only I’ll need some cash to buy clothes’s’ll let me get started among momma’s kind.’

  ‘And what is it that you have to sell?’

  ‘You show me a hundred dollars in American money and I’ll tell.’

  ‘That’s a lot of money.’

  ‘Not’s much’s you’ll lose should those spotted buffalo of your’n get scattered to hell ’n’ gone,’ the girl declared, confident she had aroused enough interest to give her plan a chance of succeeding. ‘Which’s what’ll happen ’less’n you find out all I know.’

  ‘Here’s the money,’ Caraballeda said, taking a thick wallet from the inside pocket of his bolero jacket and counting off the appropriate number of ten-dollar bills. ‘But I don’t hand it over until I decide you’ve earned it.’


  ‘They don’t know it, but after they’d done bad wrong to a gal from the village, those four was seen from close enough for them to be described so well they can be picked out easy,’ Annie supplied truthfully. She continued, with less veracity, ‘Everybody was all riled up, but the old man chiefs and the Agent talked ’em out of coming after you. All ’cepting her two brothers, that is. They’ve tooken them an oath of revenge and’re after making good on it right now.’

  ‘That doesn’t worry me,’ the haciendero claimed, but he could not prevent a trace of his concern from showing to the perceptive girl. ‘I’ve more than two men with me.’

  ‘Sure, but those braves won’t come at you with head down ’n’ horns a-hooking,’ Should-Be-A-Boy countered. ‘Fact being, happen they get what they want, they’d sooner leave the rest of you be so’s they don’t get the rest of the band in fuss for them breaking the treaty.’

  ‘And what do they want?’ Caraballeda asked, although he knew the answer.

  ‘Those four jaspers,’ Annie replied, indicating the quartet with a disdainful motion of the carbine. ‘Just them, not anybody else, but they’re bound and determined to get them even if it means tagging along and cutting down anybody who gets in their way, or scattering the herd so’s they can be had while the rest of you’re trying to stop your spotted buffalo from getting clear away.’

  ‘That’s interesting,’ Caraballeda admitted, having suspected the seekers after vengeance would adopt similar tactics. ‘But not enough to be worth a hundred dollars.’

  ‘Would you be willing to pay it for knowing where to find ’em?’ Annie inquired.

  ‘Give her the money, Uncle Ruiz!’ Nicosia Velaquez requested and the de Ulloa brothers muttered their concurrence. ‘Then you can send men to get them.’

  ‘Like hell will I send any of the men!’ the haciendero stated bluntly. ‘I’ll pay the girl for what she knows, but you four brought this trouble on yourselves and you’re going to deal with it the same way.’

  Sixteen – It’s Her Who’s After Us!

  ‘You see!’ Benito Velasquez hissed, his tone and manner redolent of the triumph which came through being proved correct. ‘They’re where she told us that we’d find them and they’re doing just like I said they would!’

  ‘Why don’t you go over and shake them awake?’ Arnaldo de Ulloa suggested in a sot to voce snarl, scowling at the two shapes lying in the center of a clearing on either side of a fire which had almost died away.

  ‘Don’t start arguing!’ Nicosia Velaquez commanded, also holding down his voice yet managing to induce a note of savage urgency into his words. Starting to bring up his Winchester Model of 1866 rifle, he went on, ‘Let’s shoot them from here and get it over with!’

  Accepting the wisdom of the suggestion, being satisfied by the way in which the situation had developed, the other three young Mexicans also brought the rifles they were carrying to shoulder level!

  Seeking additional proof of the danger before parting with the money requested by the girl, Don Ruiz Caraballeda had gone further into the matter of how, if the Pahuraix sought revenge, it could bring them into conflict with the white authorities for breaking the terms of the treaty they had signed. Confirming that the point had been taken into consideration by the council of elders, she had noticed he seemed more disturbed than pleased when she said they were considering asking Agent Dillingham—who had coped successfully with a similar situation—to have his people’s law deal with the men responsible for the rape and subsequent death of Loves Dancing. In fact, he had appeared relieved when she had gone on to explain how two braves had claimed to be instructed by Ka-Dih to take the oath of vengeance and that it had been decided they must be allowed to carry it out before other measures were contemplated. Thinking about what had followed, she had concluded he had some reason for wanting to avoid official intervention.

  The leader of the Mexicans had shown much interest in learning where Should-Be-A-Boy claimed to have seen the two braves who, before preparing to spend the night, were seen making ‘medicine’ to prepare them for carrying out their quest. Clearly knowing of the Pahuraix predilection for living near water, and hearing they were in a clearing on the banks of a stream, he had felt sure this too was the way of the Waterhorse Comanches when engaged upon such a spiritual activity. Wanting to estimate the extent of the danger, he had asked what would happen if the men being sought killed their pursuers. He was informed that, under the circumstances, the population of the village would regard it as the will of Ka-Dih and would not allow any further action, even the reporting of the incident to the Agent, to be taken. Satisfied and relieved by the latter information, he had paid her the promised hundred dollars and allowed her to depart unhindered.

  Giving thought to what he had learned, being unable to envisage any reason why it should not be the truth, the haciendero had concluded that to allow anybody other than the errant quartet—who were clearly known to the Pahuraix—to deal with the braves authorized to seek revenge could lead to the herd and the counterfeit money being endangered by the rest of the band. Being cold-bloodedly ruthless by nature and having a serious need of the profits which would accrue from the trip, he had decided the safety of the cattle and illicit merchandise far outweighed family ties, especially to the far from likeable sons of a second cousin, in the decision of what was his best line of action.

  After the girl had left, much to the consternation of his nephews and their companions, Caraballeda had repeated his assertion that they alone would have to cope with the threat to their lives. Nor was he swayed by the Velaquez brothers pointing out how their family had financed the illegal aspect of the enterprise upon which he was engaged, but he had reminded them that he had more to lose than anybody in Mexico should things go wrong because of their drunken misdeeds. Furthermore, having alienated themselves from the vaqueros by their arrogance and idleness since leaving Chihuahua, they had been just as unsuccessful in their attempt to persuade volunteers to accompany them. Knowing them, he had taken a precaution against their running away by giving a warning that their only hope of survival was to dispose of the men who were seeking them. If they should try to escape by taking flight, they would be tracked down and, lacking the knowledge they now had of where their enemies could be located, they would be caught and killed long before they reached safety.

  Accepting they would have to act unsupported, the four young men had followed the instructions given by the girl. On reaching the woodland, she had directed them to, they had heard chanting in a foreign language and had seen the glow of a fire amongst the trees some distant ahead. Remembering they had been told their quarry would be making ‘medicine’, they had deduced the voice was praying.

  Although Arnaldo de Ulloa had said they could ride up shooting and end the threat straight away, Benito Velasquez had pointed out the folly of such a course. This could not be accomplished without a great deal of noise which would warn the braves that somebody was coming. The only sure way to deal with them, he had claimed, would be to wait until after they had gone to sleep. Supporting his brother, Nicosia had suggested the attack be held off until day was breaking. By doing so, they would be able to see more clearly where they were going and keep down noise which would serve to alert the Indians to their presence. Although the de Ulloa brothers had not cared for their companions doing all the planning, neither had been able to come up with a better scheme. Passing a bottle of tequila around to help keep up their spirits, they had waited until dawn was starting to lighten the sky before continuing their advance.

  Going forward on foot, given a spurious confidence in their abilities by the potent liquor, the quartet had felt sure they were moving too silently to be detected by their intended quarry. Certainly there was nothing to suggest the contrary when they had come into sight of the small clearing. Two horses were standing hobbled and grazing on the banks of the stream which ran through it. Covered by blankets, their owners appeared to be sleeping deeply and unaware of any danger threatening.


  More by accident than deliberate intent, the four rifles crashed at the same instant, different targets having been selected. Both the blankets jerked and holes appeared where the torsos of whoever might be lying beneath them would be. However, although the hobbled horses snorted and showed signs of alarm, neither shape made any movement.

  ‘We’ve got them both!’ Benito Velasquez enthused.

  ‘Let’s make sure!’ Arnaldo de Ulloa commanded, working the lever of his rifle and walking forward.

  Just as eager to see the results of their efforts, the other three Mexicans duplicated the actions. Noticing how completely motionless their targets continued to be, each was convinced the braves were killed instantaneously. Eager to collect proof that they had ended the threat to their existence without needing to be helped by anybody, they had eyes for nothing else. Separating as they approached the fire, each pair of brothers went to a shape.

  ‘Let’s take a loo—!’ Nicosia Velasquez began, jerking aside the blanket.

  ‘Shall we take their sea—?’ Ruben de Ulloa commenced, in the same breath, also pulling away the covering he and his brother had selected as their target.

  What was brought into view produced four very startled exclamations at the same instant!

  ‘Madre de dios!’

  ‘What’s thi—?’

  ‘There’s nobod—!’

  ‘This isn’t a ma—!’