The Devils Gunslinger

by Chet Cunningham

  “We just sold three hundred head to the stock yards,” Curley said. “How many head can you handle at one time?”

  “On our first run we don’t want more than two thousand head. We’ll take how many less than that we can get and send them on their way.”

  “We can bring you a herd. Not sure how big but less than two thousand. Take us two weeks to get back to our spread. Then a roundup and a drive here. Be six weeks before we can deliver.”

  “The rails aren’t due here for a month, so that would work out well.” He handed both men small cards with his name on them. “That’s me. My hotel and room number is on the back. I can guarantee you a sale of however many beef cattle you can deliver.”

  “Name is Sully Roberts,” he said. “This is my partner Curley Johnson. I think this was a good coffee stop for us. How about a cup?”

  He had one and they talked the cattle and railroad business for a half hour. When Ed left Sully figured they had made a friend as well as a good business connection. He grinned at Curley.

  “Partner, I’d say we just signed a deal for up to two thousand head of longhorns. Can you deliver?”

  “Hell yes. We hire ourselves six or eight more cowboys and a roundup foreman. Then we fence off that next little valley for a second holding pen. We might top out at fifteen hundred and still get there on time.”

  Sully laughed and grinned. “Partner I think we have ourselves some work to do. First thing in the morning we load up the chuck wagon with trail food and get moving. We should still have eight riders with us. I’ll hit some bars while you’re doing the provisioning and see if I can dig up some more drovers. We move the pay up to forth dollars a month. Should get all the men we need. How many is that?”

  They both figured.

  “We’ll need at least twenty riders for fifteen hundred head,” Curley said.

  “And a remuda of ten extra horses for spares.”

  They both laughed, ordered more coffee, and went on planning.

  The next morning Curley went to a general store for food and Sully went to three different restaurants and announced he was looking for cowboys for a trail drive. He wound up with four men who said they could be ready to leave in an hour and each had his own horse.

  So they left with twelve riders and headed for Gunsight. They made it in ten days by pushing hard. Curley drove into town to get some more provisions and Sully worked the cafes and saloons looking for riders. He signed on three more. Told them when and where they would leave town and then went to talk to the County Clerk.

  “You bet there is government land for sale in the county. Usually have to get a survey done on the wanted land from some benchmark. That costs you about twenty dollars. Then the land itself is now going for a dollar an acre. That’s six hundred and forty dollars a section. You farming or ranching?”

  “Ranching. I’d need maybe ten sections. Any kind of homesteading out here yet? Keep hearing about it might happen.”

  “Not yet unless you are a Reb who got wounded.”

  “Lets me out. I’m thinking over near Connor’s Corner in the Big Valley.”

  “Yes, we’ve had another man asking about land in that area. But as I recall he was a farmer.”

  “Be back to talk about it,” Sully said. Might be a way he could start a real cattle ranch after all.”

  They arrived in camp that evening and everyone was bone weary. Curley whipped up a fast supper and then all six of them hit their blankets.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The next morning Sully called the men together after breakfast and told them about the deal they had with the railroad in Dallas.

  “We get the cattle there and they’re sold for a good price,” he said. “First we have to gather them. You new men will be paired with our old timers to form four man gather units. We’ll start with four units to do gathers the first day. The critters will go in the home pen here. We will have a new one built in the next finger valley in a day or two. The second day we adjust and keep four men here to build the fence across the new valley. If we get done we start the branding. We’ll try to keep up the branding with the gathering. The branded cattle will be put in the new pen in the next little valley west. Any questions?”

  “How many steers can four of us drive back here?”

  “As many as you can handle. I’ve moved a hundred head with five men. Do what works for you. We’ll dig post holes, cut the posts from the woods and get it ready for the wire and staples that I will bring back this afternoon.”

  He picked out four of his old timer and moved them apart.

  “Okay there re the four lead men. The rest of you go and stand with any of the four. No more than three more to a leader. Move.”

  The men laughed and walked to the leader they liked the best. Sully had to move some men from one man to another where there were more than four man teams. One wound up with only three men to round out the fifteen riders.

  “Okay, now remember who you are riding with. Wander, you just have two men, so you draw the fence building project. Get the posts in the ground two feet and leave four feet above. I’ll get the wire back here as quickly as I can. Curley has sack lunches for the rest of you for dinner. Get as many cattle back here as soon as you can. Don’t get greedy. Better to start out with fifty and get fifty here than try for a hundred and wind up with twenty five. That’s it. Grab your dinners and let’s ride.”

  Curley had been warned about the sack dinners and was ready. When the men had left he talked to Sully.

  “You riding in and I should go in and get some food for this army I got here. Also going to look for a cook in town who wants to make twice what he’s making in some café. I need to get into the real ranch work. Okay with you?”

  “Good. About time. I’ll be riding ahead of you. Keep track what you pay Annie and I‘ll split it with you. I should have some wire and staples ready to load on your chuck wagon before you leave. Like to get this wrapped up this morning and be back here by two o’clock. Lots to get done.”

  It was almost seven thirty when Sully rode out for Conner’s Corner. He pushed his mount and got in there by nine o’clock. He went straight to the marshal’s office.

  “Nope, no problems with my guest, Mr. Tracey. He keeps asking when the men from Memphis are coming. I keep telling him the dangers of a Texas prison. I’d guess I can stall him another two weeks. Then we either let him go or I write that letter to the judge in Gunsight.”

  “You know best there. Just keep him out of my way.” He went to see Annie. She yelped in delight when she saw him come in the front door. She rushed to him, hugged him in front of a customer, and didn’t even blush.

  “Been waiting for you. Glad you’re here. Now let me wait on Mr. Ballinger and then we will talk.”

  “Good. Curley is coming with the wagon for three weeks of camp food for seventeen hungry gents. Then, too, I want most of the fencing wire that you have left. I can use about six rolls of it.”

  “Another cattle pen? Glad I ordered in more of it a month ago. Now, Mr. Ballinger what else can I get you?”

  When Ballinger left she ran to him, kissed him seriously, then hugged him and wouldn’t let him go.

  “Woman, how are the wedding plans moving ahead? I promised.”

  “Oh yes.” She leaned back. “We don’t have a real church in town but Elijah Dennis holds church at his house every Sunday. He tells me he has been ordained by a church in Dallas and he is authorized to perform weddings. All we need is a marriage license from the County Clerk in Gunsight.”

  “That we can do. First got to get this food going. We have a big order from a new railroad coming into Dallas. They will take up to two thousand head, so we are pushing. Curley will be here soon with the wagon. Let’s get piling up tons of food. We have seventeen now on the chow lines at the camp.”

  She looked up surprised. “Seventeen? You are going big rancher style. We can do that. I’ve got some new ideas I think you all will like.”

  They wen
t to work and had the pile of boxes and sacks ready when Curley pulled the chuck wagon up outside.

  Sully sat back. “Now for the other things. We need three more hammers and a whole bushel of staples for our new fence. Might get a new double bitted axe, too. And some more of those sculpture matches. That should do it for a time. Soon as we get our gather ready we’ll be back in for our trail food.”

  Annie was looking a little glum. He tickled her ribs and she tried a smile.

  “Hey, I know what you’re thinking. But ain’t so. You get the wedding all set up for tomorrow. I’ll be in town early and get all spruced up with a rented suit and tie. Then we get married. Sound all right?”

  She kissed him. “Sounds beautiful. Better than I had hoped for. The license?” Get that later. Not even sure need one here in Texas.” He watched her and the smile came back. He grinned.

  “Ok with that. Now how much is my bill?” He was surprised at the figure, then thought about the seventeen men eating for twenty five days. He paid it out of his wallet. This might be more business than she had all week.

  They loaded the wire on the chuck wagon in the front section along with the tools and staples. The food went in back and it was a good sized load. They had the wagon loaded and ready to roll by eleven o’clock.

  Inside he came up behind Annie who had just waited on a customer. He spun her around, kissed her hard on the moth then hugged her tenderly.

  “Hey there, soon to be Mrs. Roberts. You sure you want to go through with this?”

  “Yep. That’s my new cowboy word. I’m positive.”

  “Good. See you tomorrow. Set the ceremony for one o’clock with the good preacher.” Then he was out the door, into his saddle, and galloping down the main street to catch Curley. He stopped the rig.

  “Hey, you look for a cook?”

  Curley shook his head. “Best do that right now. Like the way Old Charley did the cooking at that little café next to the hotel. Let me go talk to him. Offer him fifteen dollars a week? He’s probably making about eight now.”

  “Do it. I’ll wait while he gets his gear ready and a horse. You can head out after you hire him.”

  It worked out that way. Old Charley was with a last name of Daniels had stripped off his apron, waved at his former boss and hurried out to his boarding hose to get his meager belongings. He didn’t have a horse, so Sully bought one for thirty dollars from the livery. Then they both rode and caught up with the bouncing wagon.

  “Good food and plenty of it,” Sully told Charley. He grinned.

  “Hell, I know that. Used to cook at a ranch before the war. I can outdoor cook good.”

  They reached camp about one thirty. The gather teams were out with their sack dinners. The fence crew was foraging around the camp but found no food. Curley and Charley fed them, then they drove the wire over to the new fence and went back to work.

  Sully took a look. They had six posts dug in across the four hundred yard opening with a dozen more set up to dig in. Curley rode over.

  “Told Charley what to cook for supper. We’ll see how he does. Give you a hand with some wire on them next six posts?”

  They put up three strands the way they had before and caught up with the post hole digger. The other two men were in the woods with the cross cut saw making fence posts. They wouldn’t be done by the time the crew came in with what they had caught today.

  “Put the gather in the first pen,” Sully told Curley. “When we get this fence finished we’ll pick out four men who want to do the branding and get them started tomorrow. Oh, I’ll be gone tomorrow. Getting married.”

  “No best man?”

  “You will be busy rounding up longhorns. I’ll stay in town tomorrow night and get back to work the next day.”

  “Short honeymoon.”

  “Work on that for later. You going to pull that last strand tight so I can nail it on?”

  He did.

  The first team of drovers brought in forty head.

  “Getting harder to find out there,” Harry Young said. “We’ll do better tomorrow.”

  They ran them in the first pen.

  The two other teams had better luck. One brought in a hundred and fifty, the other one a little over eighty.

  “So we have about two hundred and seventy for the first day,” Sully said as they ate the chow from Old Charley. Biscuits and beans, thick steaks from town, and boiled potatoes and beef gravy. The men cheered and called for the cook who came out embarrassed but beaming.

  “Tomorrow get the fence finished on number two and then put the fence guys to branding that first bunch. The banded ones go into the new pen.”

  “Got it,” Curley said. “Going to be good being a real cowboy again.”

  “Hey, and you didn’t even have to cook supper.”

  The next morning Sully arrived in town about nine o’clock. He knew there was only one place in town that sold men’s clothes. He looked over what Annie had.

  “Just one suit that will fit you,” she said. “A nice dark blue. It will last you for years.”

  “Yeah. I’ll just wear it every time I’m, getting married.”

  She took a swing at him but missed. “Now a nice white shirt and a neck tie. Got just what you need.”

  “Hey, you have a wedding dress?”

  “I saved my first one. It still fits. You’ll like it. Now get out of here, rent a hotel room, and order a bath and everything. See you at the Saddle Shop at twelve thirty. He wants to do the ceremony in his parlor. It’s a whole block away.”

  He nodded, touched her shoulder, and rode down to the Conner’s Hotel. It wasn’t the best he had seen but it did have a bath tub. He took the new clothes and ordered bath water heated. While he waited he stretched out on the soft bed. Damn, this would be great to sleep in a real bed every night. Maybe soon.

  He ground off three layers of trail dirt in the bath, then dressed in the white shirt, tie, and suit. He felt all spruced up. He trimmed his beard to a half inch and felt he looked almost presentable. There was no photographer in town so there would be no record of this wedding. He didn’t worry about it although Annie had not been happy about it.

  He arrived at the Saddle Shop five minutes early and realized that his trail boots were not polished. Too late for that. He looked up and saw a buggy coming with a driver on a high seat. In back sat Annie in her wedding dress and both girls in pretty dresses. She stopped the rig at his feet and smiled.

  “Only buggy in town. I rented it. Hop in. Our preacher is already at his house.”

  Two minutes later they stood in front of a small house with an upstairs.

  “This is it,” Annie said. “Too late to back out now.”

  “A ring,” he blurted. “I didn’t get a ring.”

  “No jewelry store in town,” Annie said, then shook her hand. “So I bought two rings for you from my own stock.” She gave him the two gold bands and looked up. “Hope this is all right.”

  “All right? It’s perfect. Let’s get this done.”

  Sully didn’t remember much of the actual ceremony. His mind was still out in the big valley hunting stray longhorns. He said the right words, and Annie did too, they exchanged rings, and were pronounced husband and wife. The kiss was short but sweet. They thanked the preacher, Sully gave him ten dollars, and the girls ran up and hugged them both. He could see that they had been crying for joy. Then they all hurried out to the buggy.

  “The girls are going to the Paulson’s for the rest of the day and tonight,” Annie said. She looked quickly at Sully. “If that’s all right.”

  “It’s perfect,” he said. “I was going to show you my hotel room but this sounds better.”

  The girls squealed in delight when told they could stay overnight with their friends. They hurried inside and the buggy dropped the newlyweds off at Annie’s house. Sully gave the driver a five dollar tip and he hurried away grinning.

  Inside the house she caught him and kissed him gluing her body against him. The kiss was
long, she eased away from him, and brought both of his hand over her breasts.

  “Oh, yes that feels so fine. I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I met you that first time in the store.”

  He rubbed her breasts and felt his blood getting warm. He took her hand. “Where is your bedroom pretty lady?”

  The next morning Annie’s eyes were shining as she fixed coffee and hot cakes for them. They were full of plans.

  “Going to buy ten sections of land out in the big valley,” Sully said. “Going to put up a proper ranch house and barns. Make it a real ranch. Be our land nobody can take away from us. Going to have to start saving the best of the brood cows we roundup. Keep them in a separate pasture somewhere. Want to have a working ranch and produce all the steers I can for sale to the railroad. They will buy all we can take them. Should have another trail drive or two before winter.”

  “Where will you get the wood for the buildings?”

  He told her about the whole house you could order from back east. Doors, windows, beams, roofing, the whole thing. All you had to do was nail it together.

  “What about Curley? Will he want to stay on the ranch?”

  “Not sure. We haven’t talked about it. But I figure he may want to cash in his half and move on somewhere.”

  “So what comes first?” Annie asked.

  “First we go get the girls, then you probably have half a dozen customers waiting for you to open the store.”

  “No, I mean what’s next for you?”

  “Get a new herd gathered, branded, and headed for Dallas. If we can get a thousand head there, that would be a pay day of maybe thirty five thousand dollars.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t even imagine that much money. Enough of this. Let’s go get the girls. I bet you want to be changing into your trail clothes and ride out for your camp.”

  “You are right. I’ll change and then I want to check with Dr. Sharp about my arm. Feels good, but I want him to take a look.”

  He did. The doctor nodded. “Looks good to me, Sully. Is it bothering you any?”