.44 Caliber Man (19 page)

By noon the
following day the furrows had been completed and the caracol made
ready to take the mestenas at the end of the corrida. Felix and the
Kid had scouted out the surrounding ranges and reported that there
were a number of herds of varying size, including three bands of
young stallions that would form a fine nucleus for the remount
contract.

‘
You boys can rest up today,’ Jeanie told the men around the
fire. ‘Cull out and de-pride the stallions in the corral there.
Tomorrow’s Sunday. Monday, we’ll start the corrida.’

‘
What’re you going to do, Jeanie?’ Mark grinned. ‘Sit on your
butt and watch the help working like most bosses—’

‘’
Cepting you, that is, Dusty.’

‘
Is that loyalty or just scared he’ll remember it when you’re
back on the ranch?’ April asked from where she was helping to
prepare the evening meal.

‘
Both,’ Mark admitted. ‘How about it, Jeanie-gal?’

‘
I’m going to see how that lil dun of mine takes to me on the
saddle,’ the girl replied.

On the day of
her arrival, Jeanie had selected a horse from those captured in her
absence. It was a small but shapely dun stallion with lines hinting
at speed and stamina. Having it cut from the others and penned
alone, she began the process of winning its trust. So far she had
done no more than let it grow accustomed to the feel of the saddle.
With the afternoon free, she hoped to carry the training a stage
farther by riding it.

The hope did
not materialize. Having left that morning with the intention of
making a long circle around the camp, looking for signs of the
Flores gang, the Kid returned hurriedly just as Jeanie planned to
visit the dun. Swinging from his horse, the Kid went straight up to
Dusty.

‘
There’s a bunch of Injuns coming, Dusty. Seventy or so, Tejas
mostly.’

‘
They’re horse-hunting, likely,’ Dusty replied, for the Tejas
tribe had long been noted for its friendship with the white
man.

‘
I don’t reckon so,’ contradicted the Kid. ‘There’s a few Kaddo
and Waco bucks along with ’em.’

‘
Renegades then,’ Mark stated. ‘No friendly Tejas’d ride with
Kaddo and Wacos along.’

‘
They know we’re around, Lon?’ Dusty asked.

‘
Saw your smoke, I’d say,’ answered the Kid. ‘What’re you
fixing to do?’

At such a time
Jeanie did not offer to give orders. Came to gun-trouble, she rated
yearling stock compared with the small, soft-spoken Texan. All eyes
went to Dusty as those mesteneros who spoke English told the others
what had been said. Dusty did not reply for a moment, but his eyes
went to the Winchester in the Kid’s hand. An idea took form and
Dusty gave his orders for trying it out.

‘
Colin, Mark, get your rifles and saddle your horses. Ma, have
everything made ready for a fight if it comes. Can you count on
your men?’

‘
Like on you,’ Ma replied.

‘
I’ll take the double and leave Ma the Henry,’ Colin
suggested.

‘
No!’ Dusty answered. ‘Leave the double. You’ll need that Henry
and a full box of shells.’

Riding with the
Texans and listening to Dusty’s plan, Colin lost some of his
misgivings at bringing his Henry when there was only one magazine
rifle at the camp. When Dusty had finished the explanation, Colin
waited to hear the other two cowhands’ views.

‘
It could work,’ Mark decided. ‘They’ll most of them never’ve
seen a repeater afore.’

‘
Them Tejas ain’t real fighting Injuns,’ the Kid went on. ‘And
any Kaddo or Waco who’d ride with ’em’s not likely to be any great
shucks as a brave-heart. I’ll go along with you, Dusty. Less’n you
want to play it safe by laying for ’em and giving ’em a real notion
of what a Henry’ll do.’

‘
Now ain’t that just what you’d expect from a danged Tshaoh?’
Mark snorted. There’s no wonder the other tribes called you
Nemenuh
^xiii
, the
Enemy People.’

‘
He’s not fit company for hard-working, church-going folks,’
Dusty replied.

‘
Which I ain’t with none of, anyways,’ the Kid declared. ‘Play
it your fool way then. Only when they’ve killed ‘n’ scalped us,
I’ll come up and say, “I told you so.” Not that we’re likely to
wind up at the same place.’

‘
If we do,’ grinned Mark. ‘I’ll ask to go the other
way.’

After which
they became serious. Riding south for over a mile, they topped a
rim and came face to face with the Indians. About a hundred yards
separated the two parties, but the braves were at the foot of the
slope. Looking down, Colin felt a touch disappointed. Going by
paintings he had seen, he expected the Indians to be tall,
impressive men dressed in decorative buckskins and sporting
trailing feather war bonnets. Instead the men below were squatly
built, clad in a mixture of filthy buckskins and cast-off white
men’s garments. Only a few carried muzzle-loading rifles, the rest
being armed with lances or bow and arrows. Reining in their horses,
they showed surprise and broke into a jabber of talk at the sight
of the four riders.

‘
Give me just two lil Pehnane tuivitst
^xiv
and I’ll run the whole stinking
boiling of ’em back where they come from,’ sniffed the
Kid.

‘
Go talk to them a mite,’ Dusty ordered.

Advancing a
short way down the slope, the Kid raised his right hand in a peace
sign. Then he spoke in the Tejas language. Riding forward, a stocky
man, with a rifle on the crook of his arm and eagle feather stuck
into the band of a battered Burnside campaign hat, replied. He
spoke at length, accompanied by grunts from the other braves.

‘
Wanted to know what we’re doing here, Dusty,’ the Kid
announced without turning his back on the Indians. ‘I told him. So
he allows that this’s Tejas country and we’ve got to pay him afore
we can hunt here.’

‘
How much does he want?’ Colin inquired.

‘
Half of all the hosses we catch. Keg of gunpowder, lead for
bullets, caps, knives, presents for his wives for starters,’ the
Kid replied. ‘Likely he’d think out a few more, given
time.’

Is this their
land, Dusty?’ Colin asked.

‘
Naw, and never was,’ scoffed the Kid. ‘What do I tell him,
Dusty?’

‘
To go to hell and roast there,’ the small Texan answered.
Then, hearing a low hiss from the young Scot, went on, ‘It’s the
only way, Colin. Give in to their kind and they’ll come back for
more. When you get tired of giving, or they don’t want you any
more, they’ll jump you. So we don’t start giving.’

The Kid had
been addressing the Indians while Dusty made his point to Colin.
Still not taking his eyes from the men below, the dark youngster
spoke over his shoulder.

‘
He says he’s got fifteen hands of brave-hearts. Stinking
liar—there’s not more’n half that many. Allows they’ll stop us
hunting and take what they want.’

‘
Tell him we’ll have something to say about that,’ Dusty
commanded. ‘Do like I said, Colin, unless they keep coming up. If
they do, shoot to kill.’

When the Kid
repeated Dusty’s warning, the Indians milled around and talked
among themselves. Then they backed their horses away from the foot
of the slope and formed into a line.

‘
Ready?’ Dusty asked, slanting the muzzle of his carbine
upwards and pressing its trigger.

On the heels of
the shot, Mark, the Kid and Colin also sent a bullet into the air.
Their actions appeared to surprise the Indians. However, even a
bunch of Tejas renegades could understand the chance the white-eye
brother was throwing their way. For some reason each of the four
white men had emptied his rifle. That was their misfortune, a gift
from the Great Spirit no right-thinking brave could pass up. So the
warriors started their horses moving forward.

Then they saw
the white men swing the rifles into line but the sight caused them
no concern—at first. Suddenly, despite the fact that no ramrod or
powder flask had been used, the rifles spat again; and again and
again. Lead screamed down the slope as the Texans and Colin made
use of the inventive genius of Mr. B. Tyler Henry. Ricochets wailed
in the horses’ faces and bullets fanned by their riders. The
effects of the rapid fire was all Dusty hoped for. Startled horses
reared, men reined their mounts into turns or sliding stops. None
of the braves had seen a repeating rifle, few of which had reached
Texas. Even the Union Army still equipped its men with
single-shots, so the Indians had yet to learn the devastating
effect of lever-action mechanisms and large capacity magazines.

‘
Spirit guns!’ a brave screeched.

Which just
about summed up the feelings of the rest of the band. The hint of
supernatural intervention proved the final straw to break the back
of the attack. Whirling their horses around, the Indians fled
across the range. Dusty and his companions lowered their smoking
rifles and watched the departure.

‘
Whooee!’ whooped the Kid. ‘Grandpappy Long Walker’ll laugh fit
to bust a gut when I tell him about this.’

‘
Will they be back?’ Colin inquired, feeling slightly cheated
at the lack of spirit shown by the braves.

‘
Naw!’ scoffed the Kid. ‘If they’d been Comanches—’

‘
I wouldn’t’ve tried it,’ Dusty interrupted. ‘You’d maybe best
trail along after them, Lon. See them on their way, then make a
circle and cut for sign of the Flores bunch.’

‘
Yo!’ answered the Kid. ‘How soon do you want me
back?’

‘
Take all the time you want,’ Dusty told him. ‘Only try to be
back by Monday to start work.’

‘
I just knowed you’d say that,’ the Kid grinned.

Riding back
over the rim with the other three, the Kid halted his horse on the
other side. They left him waiting to make a start at his work and
continued on their way to the camp. Looking around as he approached
the wagon, Dusty found that Ma had organized its defense very well.
The mesteneros and women left the places from which they would have
made their fight as the trio came up.

‘
You pulled it off, huh?’ Ma asked, cradling the Henry on her
arm.

‘
Looks that way,’ Dusty replied. ‘I sent Lon to see them on
their way. We didn’t kill any of them, so they’ll likely not be
back.’

‘
Let’s hope they don’t come back,’ Jeanie remarked, putting the
Sharps carbine into the wagon. ‘We can do without Injun
fuss.’

Within a short
time work around the camp was resumed.

Assisted by the
Texans, Jeanie gave her dun its first taste of being ridden. To
lessen the chances of injury to herself and the horse, she had it
led belly-deep into the stream before mounting. Doing so prevented
the horse from bucking wildly, although it managed to dump her into
the water once. Before nightfall it would allow the girl to sit on
its back while in the stream. However Jeanie knew it would be a
different tale when she first tried riding on dry land.

Sunday passed
quietly and without the Kid returning. His absence caused the
others no concern. All his early life had been spent preparing for
such missions and he could be relied upon to stalk the Tejas unseen
by any of them. Jeanie gave her dun another session in the water,
then tried on land. After a session of bucking, the horse started
to run. Followed by Colin, Jeanie allowed the dun to run itself out
and returned to the camp with it in a subdued condition. Although
she had won another stage for control, her every instinct warned
that the fight was not yet over.

In the
afternoon Jeanie accompanied Colin and Dusty on a hunting trip from
which they returned with two whitetail deer. After supper, Colin
unloaded his trunk and took out the cleaning kit for the big double
rifle.

‘
What are these, señor?’ Fernàn asked, indicating the bagpipes
which Colin had left on top of the trunk.

‘
Why not play a tune on them and show him?’ April suggested
with a grin.

‘
Sure,’ Ma went on, I’ve seed ’em afore and wondered what kind
of music they made.’

‘
I warn you the pipes are an acquired taste,’ Colin smiled,
rising to comply with the request. ‘But to a Scot, there’s no music
in the world like them.’

Watching Colin
tuck the tartan-covered bag under his left arm, erect the four
beribboned pipes and place the chanter to his lips, Jeanie decided
that she would acquire the required taste if it pleased him.
Sucking in a deep breath, Colin started to blow. After a low
murmur, the pipes began to wail in their eerie, dirge-like yet
beautiful manner. Startled expressions broke from the mesteneros
and Ma stared at the young Scot as he strode up and down before the
fire.

‘
Damned if I don’t try to da—’ April began.

And at that
moment the horses gave notice that they had not acquired a taste
for Highland music. Snorting and rearing, the mounts on the
picket-line fought at the securing rope. In the larger pen, the
mustangs heard and panicked. Two went down, then a third as they
tried to move faster than the sarprimas allowed.

‘
Cut it out, Colin!’ Dusty yelled, bounding to his feet. ‘Get
to the picket-line some of you. Down to the night-pen,
Felix.’

‘
My dun!’ Jeanie shouted, snatching up her rope and darting off
into the darkness.