He went out and found supper already on the table as they waited for him.
“Coffee not ready yet but soon,” Annie said. ”How about some beef and stew?”
It was a hearty meal with bread and jam, lots of vegetables and the cut with a fork roast beef. He leaned back. The girls were playing some game that their mother did not approve of.
“Do that later, girls, when you are doing the dishes.”
“Oh, Mama. We did then last night.”
“As I remember you also had supper last night.”
“Yes, Mama,” they said almost in unison.
In the living room they sat on a sofa and talked. Sully was interested in the store.
“How do you get your stock of goods?”
“Order them by mail, they come later on the freight wagon when he gets a pay load in town. Sometimes that takes a month. He’s getting better. Just two weeks last time.”
“How in the world do you pay for the goods?”
“Only way I can. I send cash money through the mail. I put the money in a box or a large envelope or some way that crooks in the post office won’t think it’s money. So far I haven’t lost a dime that way.”
“Smart lady.”
“Why, thank you kind sir.” They both laughed. They went on talking. The girls finished the dishes and came out.
“Let’s play a game, a game, a game,” the girls chanted.
Annie smiled and he saw it was a special one she kept just for her girls. “And what game do you want to play? Tonight we have arithmetic or spelling.”
“Not my favorites,” Sandra said.
“Okay, but no hard ones,” Becky chimed in.
“So let’s do spelling. You both are doing very well. I have some old school books. I’ll take words out of a reading book.” She picked up a worn and tattered book and opened it.
“All right Sandra, you come first. See how many you can spell in your list. First word is snow. Repeat the word, then spell it.”
Sandra scowled, then brightened. “Snow, that’s spelled s-n-o-w.”
“Right. Sandra you get one point. Now Becky how about dog?”
“I know that one. That’s d-o-g.”
“That was too easy,” Sandra complained.
“Remember you’re older, Sandra. Now for your second word. What about water?”
“Water. Tougher. Let’s see w-a-t-o-r. She frowned. “No, make that last o an e.”
“Right by a whisker,”
The game went on for ten minutes more, then a big clock struck eight.
“Bed time,” Annie said. “Give me and Mr. Roberts a hug, then get ready for bed and I’ll come tuck you in.”
They gave their mother a big and long hug, a short one for Sully and trooped to another door and vanished.
Sully turned away. He had to blink back tears. The hug, the girls, it brought back a flood of memories of better times. When he turned back she was frowning.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think how this all might affect you. I shouldn’t have done it all. Now I’ll try to make it up to you. How about a piece of cherry pie with some whipped cream on top and a good cup of coffee?”
Sully nodded not sure he could say a word.
Chapter Twelve
When Annie saw the Sully’s stricken expression she reached out and touched his shoulder.
“Sully I am so sorry. I wasn’t thinking about the girls. I mean I should have known how they might make you feel about your own family. Let me go and get that pie.” She hurried away to the kitchen with one long look back at him over her shoulder
Sully shook his head. He had been surprised by the sudden burst of emotion when he saw more of the girls. They were about the same age as his own two daughters. He wiped the last of the tears from his eyes and took deep breaths trying to settle down. This wasn’t Annie’s fault. Her girls were cute, well behaved, and he had enjoyed watching them. Until it all crashed down on him. He shook his head again, got up, and walked around the living room. It did make him think what might have been if that damn Yankee patrol hadn’t attacked his ranch and his family.
A moment later Annie came in with a tray loaded with two plates with large slices of pie topped with pure white whipped cream.
She handed him a plate with a fork on it. Her face was firm and concerned.
“Sully, I’m so sorry. I know now that my girls must have reminded you of your own two. I should have thought that out ahead of time. The next time we don’t need to have them…”
He waved the fork. “No, no, Annie. I think that seeing them and going crazy for a minute was good for me. I mean a person can keep memories only so long and then it’s time to put them away and move on. I thank you for your help.” He took a bite of the pie.
“Now here is a good cherry pie. Always has been my favorite. Back in Memphis…” He stopped and shook his head. “This is excellent cherry pie. Thank the cook for me.”
Annie beamed. “That I will do. Let me check on the coffee.” She was back a minute later with two cups brimming with hot steaming coffee.
“Hope it isn’t too strong for you.”
“Like it hot and strong,” he said. He looked outside and saw it was almost dusk.
They talked for another half hour, getting to know you kind of talk and found out a lot about each other that seemed to be important. Sully took one last bite of the pie and stood.
“I need to get started so I won’t have to ride all the way in the dark with a strange horse.”
“Yes, I was thinking about that. We left your mount in back of the store. I bet you can find it with that sack of food all tied on and ready for a ride.”
Sully held out his hand at the front door. Annie took it and pulled herself in tightly against him. She nestled her head against his shoulder.
“Meant to tell you. I’m a hugger kind of woman. I do enjoy a good hug.” She leaned back.
“Bit partial to hugging pretty women myself,” he said and they both laughed.
“You ride careful, stay well, and no more gunfights with anyone. You hear?”
“Yes, Mother,” he said and jumped back out of the way of her playful swat at his shoulder.
He found the horse where he had tied her. The sack of goods was intact. Not much thievery in a town this size where everyone knows almost everyone else.
He rode.
He was about a mile away from the cattle and his camp when it dropped to full dark. He slowed the gait of the unfamiliar mount and picked his way carefully down the slope into the big valley below. He could smell the fire from his camp when he was half a mile away. He could home in on it and not miss it in the dark. When he rode in Curley was working on some kind of a wood carving. He put it aside.
“Well now, I’d guess the chuck wagon work isn’t done yet and you rented yourself a saddle horse. Couldn’t figure out what you’d been doing all this time. Then it hit me. Had to be Annie. Probably took her out to supper.”
He told Curley about the chuck wagon work and how they had filled part of the order of long range food things. Then he mentioned supper at Annie’s house.
“Might have known. Had a feeling you had kind of set your cap for that pretty blonde lady. Bet you met her kids as well.”
“Did, little versions of their mother. Anything go wrong around here today?”
“Nary a thing. We get the wagon and the food tomorrow afternoon?”
“Right. And I have some homemade maps to get us to Fort Worth. Oh, also talked to two men who I hired on. They said they could find us three more. I’ll want to talk to them tomorrow, but these first two look lean and hungry enough to do a good job.”
“They better be. Not a big supply of cowboys around here.”
“How many calves we have in that herd?”
Curley frowned. “No count but I’d guess maybe eight or ten.”
“Don’t know if we could sell them in Fort Worth. Annie suggested we take some along to butcher on the drive. Provide us with fresh meat f
or two or three days at a time.”
“Great idea. I’ll go out tomorrow and get a count. If we take seven of them along that would be fresh meat for twenty days.”
“Sounds good. We want to drive the chuck wagon back or sell it in Fort Worth and build a new one for the second drive?”
“Yeah, slow us down coming back. We lay off the cowboys when we get to Fort Worth?” Curley asked.
“That will be the agreement when we hire them on,” Sully said. “Tomorrow I’ll head into Conner’s Corner about two o’clock. Get the chuck wagon if she’s done and hire on the five men.”
“What if we only have four show up?”
“Then I look around town for a fifth. If I can’t find one there I’ll ride into Gunsight when we pass it on our way east and find the fifth man there. Or not. We may decide that six of us can do the job.”
Sully stretched, took a long drink from the creek, and rolled out his blanket in the side of the lean to.
“What do you think about a tent? Annie says she has a six by eight foot wall tent she will loan to us.”
“Oh, yeah, a tent would be good. But not for the drive. Set it up here when we get back.”
“How many herds do you think we can drive to Fort Worth and Dallas before there’s a glut on the market? Some other guys must be trying the same thing we are. Fact is we met one of them. Wonder if we will see any more?”
“Bet you cash money we will. Oh, with that in mind we should make sure that each of our riders has a rifle along in a boot on his saddle. Never can tell when we might need some long range firepower.”
“Good thinking. Now, put out the fire, I’m done for the night. See you in the morning.” He pulled off his boots, slid out of his outside shirt, and pulled the blanket around his shoulders.
Morning came with rays of sunshine slanting into the lean to. Sully rolled over, rubbed his eyes and sat up. By the time he got his eyes open his brain was in gear and he looked around. Everything was about the same. Today he had planned a ride into the valley to see if the big scattered herd they had found before was still there. He hoped it was. It would be a short drive to his pen when they got back from their first drive to Fort Worth.
Curley had a cooking fire going and was bustling around. He looked over and grinned.
“About damn time you were getting up. I almost ate all of your breakfast.”
“Like the one you haven’t cooked yet?”
“Right but it’s coming. We’ve got rolled oats for oatmeal without milk, two hot cakes and all the coffee you can swallow.”
“Sounds good. Do me a double order. I’m going to take a quick check on the herd.”
The cattle were mostly still bedded down. A few were up and grazing. They all looked to be in good shape, a little fat on the good grass. They shouldn’t shrink much on a drive to Fort Worth. He wondered how much they would get per animal.
Back at the fire he smelled the bacon and grinned. “Forgot to tell me about the bacon,” he called to Curley.
“Oh, damn. I was going to eat that all myself. Now I guess I have to share.”
He handed Sully a tin cup full of hot coffee “To tide you over. Everything ready in about five minutes.”
After breakfast they rode out south and some west aiming for the big herd. When they got there two hours later they saw that most of the animals had moved on to better graze. No more than two hundred remained, most of them in small bands of twenty five or thirty.
“By the time we get back from Fort Worth this bunch will be scattered all over the plains,” Sully said.
“We’ll just have to ride until we find some more animals to round up.”
They rode back making plans for the drive. Sully was due to head into town about two that afternoon to see about the chuck wagon and talk to the prospective riders.
“I’ll get a firm count on the calves we have,” Curley said. “So we have fifteen of them. The ones we don’t eat up on the way should have some market value. I remember some Italian friends of mine were always talking about eating veal ptarmigan.”
Sully rode out about two thirty on the roan he had rented from the livery. He made it to town just before four o’clock and went to the cabinet maker who was still busy with his saw and hammer.
“Hey, Sully. Hoped that you would show up. Got a question or two about how big you want some of these bins and cupboards.”
They worked out the size.
“Should have her all done by six o’clock tonight,” the carpenter said.
”Looks good so far,” Sully said. “I’ll be back before then with some cash money for you.” He went from there to the livery and turned in the roan and checked to be sure the dray horse was in good shape. Then he went to the same saloon where he had found the drovers before.
Now there were three of them playing cards.
“Hardy Young, I’m Sully. You still want a ride to Fort Worth?”
“Deed I do, Sully. These are my two gents who want to go along. First one there with the beard is Wade Richards, ornery cuss but good in a saddle.”
Richards stood and held out his hand. “Be pleased to ride for you, Sully. Some wild cattle from the plains?”
“Right. We’ll start out with a hundred and nine. Hop to wind up in Fort Worth with a hundred.”
“Should be no problem. Them wild cattle ain’t as wild as some think.”
Hardy pointed to the third man. “This is Kentuck. Proud of where he comes from. Good man with a rope.”
Kentuck held out his hand. “Yeah, Sully. I rope and ride and I like it.”
“Good you both know the pay is twenty five dollars for the drive whether it’s a month or three weeks.”
They all nodded.
“Now, where are the other two gents you said you could produce?”
Hardy grinned. “Got them stashed at the bar with a dime beer. Both are broke and needing work. I’ll bring them over.” He did.
“Sully, this is Greg Victor. Been on two trail drives, knows his onions.”
Greg held out his hand. “Sully, glad to meet you. Sure want to go on this drive with you.”
“Good, Greg, Wanting to do a job is half the battle. Good to have you on board.” He looked at the second beer drinker. “And who is this?”
“Wolf Barlow is my moniker. Older than these kids, but I can do the job. I can ride anything with four legs, including some old steers.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that. For you last two men the pay is twenty five dollars for the three or four week ride. We should eat good. Taking along some calves and we’ll butcher one ever three or four days. Get your gear, blankets, and possibles ready and tied down. We should be ready to ride out of here by abut seven o’clock tonight. One last good meal.” He looked at the last two men, then reached for his wallet and gave them each a five dollar bill. “An advance on your pay so you can eat tonight. See all of you ready to ride in front of the hotel about seven o’clock.” He paused. “Oh, do you all have rifles and rounds? Not sure what we might run into and I want each of you to have a long gun as well as your six=gun.”
They all nodded.
“See you at seven.”
He left the saloon and went to see Annie. He had to wait while she served three customers. She didn’t rush them and they got exactly what they needed. Then she came over where he was examining the gun case that had three revolvers.
“Hey, cowboy, you want a pistol?” she asked.
“Lady, these are revolvers. A pistol does not have a cylinder. It’s a semi-automatic with a magazine in the handle holding five to seven rounds.” He looked at her and grinned. “But I bet you knew that.”
“Herd about it. How is the chuck wagon?”
“Almost done. All we need to do is load on all that food we bought that I bet you have all ready to go.”
“Do and a bill for eighty four dollars. I know, I know, a lot of money, but you are feeding seven men for two or three weeks.”
“As my father used to s
ay, that would be cheap at half the price.”
She frowned for a moment, then figured it out and laughed.
“No half price sales around here. Let me show you the stack of food boxes I have ready for you.”
She did. He hoped there was room for it all in the new chuck wagon. He had no idea how it would look or where the things would be stored.
“Yeah, and we won’t be more than a day’s ride from some little town along the way after we pass Gunsight. I better get over to that carpenter guy and see how he is doing. Oh, first, I owe you some money.” He paid her from the bills in his wallet.
She thanked him. “Yes, this may be my biggest day all week. I hope you make a lot of drives this way.”
“Hey, so do I. See you with a chuck wagon.”
When he got to the back door of the cabinet shop he didn’t recognize the rig that sat in back. It looked something like the eight foot long wagon he had let there the day before. The cabinet maker bustled out grinning.
“She’s all done. What do you think?”
“This is my chuck wagon? Wow, you did wonders.” He stared at it. The rig now had wooden sides, six feet tall with a canvas top. The front was closed in with a door in it. He opened the door and looked inside.
“Your bedrolls and the long range food will go in there,” the man said. “Lots of room. That’s four feet of space. Then the other four foot in back has shelves. Come take a look.”
Shelves all right, Sully decided. They were in rows around the sides and back of the rig. Room for boxes of goods in the center. Each row of shelves had doors on them that swung out. In back a swing down work table four feet wide and three feet high had legs on it so it rested in line with the bottom of the wagon’s box. It closed with a hasp and a pin on a wire.
Sully was impressed. “Wow, you have everything in there but the food and a cook stove. You do good work. No way I’m going to sell this rig in Fort Worth. She’s coming home with us to get ready for the next drive we make.”
The Devils Gunslinger Page 8