“Yes sir, fact is we have six rolls in case three aren’t enough. Kind of expensive.”
“How much?”
“Six dollars a roll. Then you’ll need half inch staples to nail it to your fence posts. You have a post hole digger?”
“No, but I bet you have one.”
“We do. It’s two dollars. But I’ll throw in the staples as a bonus.”
“So, I’ll owe you twenty dollars.”
“You add good.”
“How about a wagon? Would the livery have one?”
“Nope, but you can rent a one horse buggy from him and put the wire in the back seat. Your saddle horse could probably pull the buggy unless she is the touchy sort.”
“Let me get the buggy and I’ll be back for the wire.” He watched her. He liked the easy smile she had, the smooth way she walked. Her face lit up when she talked. He shook his head. Now was not the time. He thanked her and rode up to the livery barn at the edge of town.
Twenty minutes later he had rented the buggy, made sure there was room for both himself and the wire, then got a loan of a simple harness for his saddle horse and hitched her to the buggy.
“Should work out fine,” the stable man said. “Rigged up one like this a month ago.”
“Anywhere around here I can buy some fence posts?” Sully asked.
The livery man shook his head. “Not a chance. You want posts you got to cut your own from some of these trees around.”
“What I was afraid of,” Sully said.
He put the saddle in the back of the two seater buggy and drove back to the General Store.
Annie saw him coming and had all three rolls of wire at the front door along with a sack of staples and the post hole digger.
“Hey, those are too heavy for you to carry,” he said. She shook her head.
“Didn't carry them. I rolled them. You can put them in the buggy.”
Inside he paid her for the goods, then stacked up some food supplies. Two loaves of home baked bread, a slab of bacon, a sack of apples, and some pancake flour.
“Two dollars and twelve cents for the people food,” she said. “You should eat well. Hey, you gonna need a good axe.”
“Yeah, right. You’re a good salesman. How much for a good one bitted chopper?”
“A dollar fifty. But it’s a good one.”
He nodded. Put that on my bill.” She left and came back with an axe.
“Yea, like the looks of it. But now I need a saw. You have a four or five foot cross cut saw?”
“Deed we do. And a kit to file the teeth and put a set in them when they need it. You buying?”
“Guess so. Oh, and a hammer, no two hammers. Can’t pound in those staples with a rock.” The saw cost four dollars but looked like a good one. It would pay its way. The hammers were a dollar each. He paid Annie and nodded at her.
“Annie, I thank you for your help. We’re trying to get a small ranch going down south a ways so we might be in here from time to time.”
“Good. We don’t have many new folks here. You stop by any time.” She smiled and he hoped it was a special one for him. He frowned as he loaded the buggy with the saw and hammers. No why was he thinking about the woman? He had many much more important things to take up his thoughts and his work.
“Hey, I better be going.” he said feeling a little flustered by her smooth way even with casual talk. He went up to her and held out his hand. “Annie, it’s been good meeting you. I’m going to be around this area for a time. Hope that I can stop in and see you again.”
“Come in anytime. We even give you a cup of coffee in the mornings.”
“I’ll count on that, Annie.” He touched his hat and went outside with his food.
There was an hour and a half of daylight left when he headed south again. With any luck he wouldn’t get lost in the dark. If he could get to the edge of the big valley, he would be able to find his small boxed in pasture.
The buggy drove easily over the rough countryside. Once he had to cut back a ways to get around a steep incline. Most of the way was flat enough and he could see the edge of the valley ahead just before dusk. He worked his way down the slope to the valley floor, turned right and soon had what was going to be his corral in sight. There were three fires going in a line across the mouth of the small valley and Curley sat beside a small cooking fire munching away on his supper.
“Hey, you made it, partner. But that sure is a strange looking wagon.” They both laughed.
“Wasn’t one for rent in town. Got to take this rig back one of these days. No fence posts so guess we’ll have to cut our own.”
“Nice saw,” Curley said. “My guess is that we will be in those woods over there at daylight sawing away.”
“Figure we’ll need about eight good posts to go across the opening here. The cattle get bedded down?”
“Look like a herd of sheep. Like they never been free a day in their lives.”
“Morning they will be ready to move,” Sully said. “One of us will probably have to stay mounted here on the line to keep them corralled.”
“Outside of that did you have any supper?” Curley asked.
“Plum forgot about eating. Brought back some new food. You cook anything?”
“Did. How would you like half a rabbit? Got it on slow heat waiting for you along with some boiled potatoes, rabbit gravy and some coffee. I think it’s chow time.”
After Sully ate they checked the cattle again. They were still bedded down for the night. Five minutes later they rolled out their blankets, built up the three fires a little, then went for some sleep.
“This could be our home place,” Sully said in the darkness. “Wish that creek over there was a little bigger. But then you can’t have everything.”
“Why not?” Curley said. “Hey, I’m expecting that this S bar C brand is going to make both of us rich. Fact is I’m counting on it.”
Chapter Eight
It seemed to Sully that dawn would never come. He had been in and out of his saddle since three a.m. taking his turn watching the herd to be sure it didn’t take off during the night. It didn’t and all were still snoozing when dawn finally did come. He rode back to the small camp they had established at the side of the little valley under some tree with a small creek on one side. Sully was not sure what kind the trees were, hardwoods of some kind. He started a cooking fire and looked at their larder. Still some of the bacon if he shaved off the mold. He got the frying pay heated up and soon had hot cakes and bacon ready to eat.
Curley came awake with the bacon smell and let out a yell of delight.
“Just what I need after almost getting some sleep last night. Them critters still bedded down?”
“They are. Hope they stay that way for a while. It’s fence building day.” After a quick breakfast they finished the coffee and eyed the woods behind them.
“Let’s go in a ways and cut down anything that will make us fence posts six to ten inches thick and six feet long. We put two feet in the ground and have a four foot fence. You want to cut posts or dig post holes?”
In reply Curley picked up the saw, a one blade axe, and headed deeper into the woods.
Sully eyed the opening in the valley and planned out his line for the fence. In the middle he would put a twenty foot wide gate with a pole on one end of the three strands of wire and pinned to the fence post there with a wire loop. He nodded picturing the whole thing then began digging where the heavy brush came up to the edge of the flat land. He put the hole two feet from the brush on the near side so the cows wouldn’t try to break through. He would go down two feet, fighting some rocks and tree roots. When he figured he was two feet down, he paced off ten long strides to what he thought was about thirty feet. He sighted back to the first hole, then the other way to the point he wanted to reach on the other side, and pushed the post hole digger into the harder ground. This one took longer but he had it done. Then left the long handles of the digger sticking out of the hole and went back to
the first hole and sighted across the handles to the far side and picked out his next spot for a post.
He had another hole dug before he saw Curley riding slowly toward him. He had a rope around his saddle horn and behind his mount came four fence posts tied on tightly. He stopped at the middle of the new fence line.
“Which ones you want where?’ he asked.
Sully took the ten inch thick post for the base at the brush then put the other three in holes he had dug toward the center of the valley.
They lined up the first post, threw dirt in around it, and Sully used a stick to tamp down the soil and rocks around the post. When they had it filled in to the top and pounded down the post stood tall and solid. They did the next three the same way then broke off for some food. The cows and calves in their new home had taken to eating the young grass and seemed contented for the moment. They a small stream on the far side of the area.
“When some of those old cows decide they want to move we may have some trouble,” Curley said. “I figure a couple of six-gun shots over their heads will cure them of that need.”
The herd was no problem. They chomped away on the graze, drank from the stream, and settled down for an afternoon siesta. After a quick dinner of fried potatoes and onions with bread, jam, and coffee, the men were back at fencing again. They got out the rolls of wire and unrolled one strand down the length of the first four posts that extended half way across the opening.
Hammers rang on the staples as they fastened the wire to the posts on the inside. The first strand was eighteen inches off the ground. They got the second line on a foot higher, then the third eighteen inches higher again.
Sully stood back and looked at the fence now half done. “Think it will do the job,” he said. “Before dark we should have the whole thing done. If we get four more posts.” Curley laughed and mounted up and rode back into the woods.
A half hour before dark they sat back and grinned.
“Done by damn,” Curley said. “We did it. Even got the gate put in. That means we both get some sleep tonight.”
Curley fried the steaks that Sully had brought from the store and they had fresh cooked carrots and big slices of the homemade bread and peanut butter.
“So, what’s next?”
“We need more stock. Tomorrow we go out looking for more strays or a small herd we can whorrah into our pen.”
“So we bring in enough and have two hundred market ready animals,” Curley said. “What the hell do we do with them? No railroads out here to drive them to.”
“What we have to figure out,” Sully said. “What’s the biggest town around here? Maybe Fort Worth?”
“No idea where that is. Maybe somebody in town would be some help.”
“Good idea. We ride in tomorrow morning and see what we can find out. Maybe the stage depot man could help.”
The next morning they headed for town. Sully hitched up the buggy and drove it back. They, found out the village was called Conner’s Corner and discovered that two roads crossed right inside of town. They had an early dinner at the Home Town Café settling for beef stew with lots of vegetables and big pieces of apple pie. Then they went to the Conner’s General Store. Annie greeted Sully from behind the counter.
“Well the pioneer has returned. Did the saw work out all right?”
“Deed it did, Annie. This is my partner, Curley, he’s harmless.”
“Not true, Annie. Good to meet you. Now I see why Sully wants to come to town.”
She blushed and then smiled. “How nice of you to say so. Anything I can get for you today?”
“We need almost everything. But right now we’re looking for information. How well do you know Texas?”
“Not well at all. I’m from Ohio. My father started this store three years ago and then I came down a year later to help him run it. I know that Fort Worth and Dallas are over east a ways. Quite a ways but I don’ know how far. The man at the stage depot might know.”
“Thanks, we’ll go ask him. We’ll be back before we leave and buy out your store, well almost.”
The man at the stage stop was in his sixties and also ran the local post office. He nodded at their question.
“Yep, heard you were in town. Finding any of them wild steers?”
“A few, yes. When we get enough for a trail drive, where do we take them?”
“Could be a problem. Whole town here eats up about three steers a week. So no market here. Fort Worth would be good, but it’s one hell of a long way east. Got a stage driver here who might know some more. Let me dig him out. He’s had a long enough nap.”
The man who came out was tall and thin with one good eye and one blinded. He held out his hand. “Peters,” he said. “Landy Peters is the name. I drive the stage.”
“I’m Silly and this is Curley. Can you tell us how far it is to Fort Worth?”
“Stage coach time? That would be a good ten days at twenty miles a day. Say two hundred miles or so. You going that way?”
“Not for a while. Any other big towns around besides Dallas?
“Not that you could throw a stick at. Oklahoma City is up north a long ways and east. Not much else.”
“What’s the closest railroad from here?”
“Might be Oklahoma City. Not sure if they have rails or not. None in Fort Worth or Dallas that’s for sure?”
“How big is Fort Worth by now?”
“Must have twenty, maybe twenty five thousand folks over there. Dallas about the same size or maybe a little bigger.”
“They have stock yards where they buy cattle?”
“That they do. Lots of pens and slaughter houses and all. Run a lot of animals through there.”
Peters hesitated. “Seems you gents might be in the cattle business.”
“Right,” Curley said. “Hunting for some good markets.”
“Figgers. All them wild cattle out there. Bound to be men rounding them up.”
“Two hundred miles,” Sully said thinking on it. “Might work. Could take a herd ten miles a day or about twenty days. Not unreasonable. Thanks. Oh, how often does the stage come to town?”
“Once a week. This is the end of the line west for us. Turn around here and head back but I get a day off in between.”
“Any freighters come this way?”
“Nothing on a schedule. One man used to come once a month but now he gets here only when he has a payload. I carry the mail so that makes us regular once a week.”
They went to talk to the town City Marshal. The town wasn’t a county seat so no sheriff. The man was in his fifties, didn’t wear a gun, and looked like somebody’s grandfather.
“Heard you men were in town. My business to know. Put up some wire so must mean you are rounding up our wild cattle. Good luck. Two other outfits tired it and gave up. What can I do for you?”
“About how far to Fort Worth from here?” Sully asked.
“Figures. Got me a map that says it’s about two hundred and fifty miles. Not sure now accurate that is but somewhere around there.”
“And how big is that area? How many people?”
“Now I can help more. Same map shows the town as being near forty thousand folks in and right around Fort Worth.”
“Good. You have been a great help to us, Marshal. Now one more question. Are there ever any cowboys floating around town looking for work?”
“Depends how many of the local ranchers make money or go broke. Saw two in town last night, but they will be moving on. Guess you men aren’t quite ready for a trail drive yet?”
“Right, we’re just getting started. Thank for your help.”
Outside they sat in chairs in front of a small woman’s clothing store.
“We could always rob a bank,” Curley said with a grin not meaning it.
“And you could always go back to Tennessee and polish boots.”
They talked to the livery man when they turned in the buggy and the harness.
“You gents still interested in a sma
ll wagon? Got one for sale. Some clod buster gave up and took the stage east yesterday. Sell you the wagon, a draft horse, and harness. The whole thing for thirty dollars.”
“Too much,” Curley said. “Give you twenty for the whole thing.”
“Not a chance. Less than I paid for the wagon. Tell you what. I’ll let the whole thing go for twenty five dollars cash money.”
Curley grinned. “Got yourself a deal. Hitch her up.”
“Like the way you bargain,” Sully said.
Curley laughed. “Don’t count on it. I’ll probably blow another five dollars before we leave town.”
They drove the wagon back to the General Store and looked at each other.
“Okay, what do we need?”
“Everything,” Curley said. “First some twenty penny nails so we can build a lean-to to keep our hides out of the rain. I hate to sleep in the rain. Then we add on to it and make it into a small cabin with some bunk beds. We can get a stove later. Some more blankets, some oats for the horses, and about a hundred more things.”
“Sounds like you intend to stay a while,” Sully said.
“I do until I’m a millionaire no matter how long it takes.”
Inside the store they bought more food including some canned goods, sugar and salt, coffee, bread, and some good looking apples.
Annie buzzed around like a mother hen suggesting things they might need.
“You have a wagon now and can carry lots of things,” she said.
“We’ll try. Now what county are we in and where is the county seat?”
“This is Oretegra County and the seat is about twenty miles east called Gunsight, Texas.”
“Good. Need to register a brand.”
“Oh, the marshal can do that and forward it on to the county. They will send it to Austin to the capital.”
“Don’t say. Have to pay him another visit.”
They paid the bill for the food to Annie and loaded all on board the wagon.
Before noon they had talked with the town marshal.
“That’s the B bar C brand. Are the letters connected with the bar?”
“They are. Easier to use a branding iron that way. Can the blacksmith here make us up our brand on an iron?”
The Devils Gunslinger Page 5