Arizona Territory (11 page)

They left under the stars for the Windmill Ranch. He'd given Tom the places and locations to reach him by wire, as well as to Monica and May.

On the road, Liz privately asked him if he thought Susie would cut Liz's hair in a short bob that evening.

“I can see why you ask. You don't have Anita to help cut your hair, but I love it the way it is.”

“It will grow back. Washing it will be hard. Let her cut it and I can easily care for it.”

“You can ask her. I'm certain she'll oblige you.”

“You won't be mad at me?”

He shook his head. “This is not a trip of conveniences. Do it, and I will only cry inside.”

She rode in and slapped his leg. “No, you won't.”

He had to pass on to the guys she was having her hair cut short at the Windmill. They agreed it was a good idea under the circumstances.

After that, day one was uneventful in the ride to the Windmill. Sarge told them all the places they could stop at safely between there and Gallup, and who was friendly and who was not. He marked them all on a map. From Gallup on, they were on their own. But Chet had no misgivings. He rode with three powerful men and a determined lady. Susie shook her head at Liz's short haircut as she sat on her horse, but wished them the best.

 

 

The days were long, hot, and breezy. Wind-driven sand pecked at their exposed skin and faces. Chilling rainstorms drifted around and on the third day hail battered them. They camped one night on the road, and the next one stayed with an Indian trader, and the last night a rancher. On day five, they rode into Gallup in the late afternoon. He checked the telegraph office with Liz, while the others put up the horses and made sure they were grained and rubbed down.

“I have five wires for you, Mr. Byrnes.”

“If I get more wires, please send them to me at Bernalillo, New Mexico, and ask that they hold them. I'll be there in five days.”

“No problem.”

Chet and Liz took the wires to a standing desk.

He read them, one after the other.

“What now?” she asked.

“Send a wire home and say we got here and have leads. When we get closer, we can buy a chuckwagon, supplies, and even britches, from the sound of things.”

“I hope we simply find them,” Liz said.

They both laughed.

They were in western New Mexico, as scheduled. If the herd went west at Jessie's trading post on the Canadian River, they may be following it west before they headed north. That could be real tough Injun country. From the sounds of things, this was not a well-supplied bunch to start with. Ten more days and he and his outfit would be in that region with no problems, but that would be a lot to ask.

Over supper in a Mexican
cantina
, everyone read the information on the telegrams.

“Sounds tough,” Cole said.

Chet agreed. “I figured they had a low-cost outfit, but this sounds like they may be stranded with those cattle.”

“What does greasy sack mean?” Liz asked.

“They've got all their cooking gear and food in some burlap sacks strapped on mules,” Hampt said.

“Oh, I see now. You had a chuckwagon when you did this?” she asked Chet.

“Boy, yes. I don't even want to think about that mess.” Chet shook his head.

“Be pretty sorry, but maybe them black cowboys don't expect much?” Hampt asked.

She made a face. “Hampt, even they deserve better conditions than that.”

“I guess so. It's going to be interesting, but they ain't paying this much money 'cause this job is going to be easy.”

“We'll search that country on the Canadian in west Texas?” Hampt asked.

Cole warily shook his head. “Big country, and they haven't got all those Indians out of there.”

“That's on my mind, too.” Chet worried about the Indians being squeezed off the plains and how desperate they must be.

“What will we do?”

“Get a chuckwagon at Tularosa. Plenty of supplies. Rifles and ammo. I don't know how well armed they are. Get as many horses as we can find and set out to find them.”

“Sounds wild, boys,” Hampt said. “But that's all we can do.”

In bed that night, Chet asked Liz how saddle sore she was.

“I have muscles I never knew I had. But I'd never have seen this country if I had not come with you. I don't want to own it, but I am enjoying seeing it.”

“Just so you don't get so damn bored, you'd quit me over this trip.”

“I am not bored. I am surprised that you learned so much from those telegrams. That amazed me tonight.”

“Those men I wired really know this cattle-driving business. Not much goes on they haven't observed or laughed at.”

“But we are almost two weeks away from where you start to look for them and already you have many good leads.”

“We'll need them all, I bet, to find them.”

“I understand. You know, I guess I am more muscle than fat now. Can you find me a pair of suspenders to hold my pants up?”

He laughed and hugged her. “Galluses coming up.”

“They don't cost much, do they?”

“Heavens, no. I'll buy or find you some. We better use this bed and then get some sleep. Tomorrow, we ride on, my love.”

Cole had an extra pair of galluses in his saddlebags. He chuckled when Chet asked for them.

“You need them?”

“No, Liz does. We've worn her to the bone, and she fears losing her pants.”

Laughing, he handed them to Chet.

That evening, he presented them to her, offering to put them on her pants for her in the morning.

“Where did you find them?” she asked.

“Oh, on some dead outlaw.”

“Where did you find a dead outlaw out here?”

He fastened the suspenders in the back and put the straps over her shoulders.

Busy snapping them on, he helped adjust them. “I shot him between them so you'd have a pair that was uncut.”

“Oh, that is some joke. I couldn't believe you shot an outlaw for me to get suspenders.”

He swept her up and kissed her. “Cole had them.”

“I will thank him.” She shook her head at him and ran her hands under the straps to flex them. “My pants won't fall down now.”

He figured it would take ten days to cross New Mexico, west to east. It took them a lot longer than that to haul the wagons across there. But so far they'd been lucky. They had sound, grain-fed horses that were well shod. Plus, they'd taken good care of them as well.

Later, lost in their lovemaking, he thanked God for all the good things that happened to the two of them.

When they arrived at Bernalillo, New Mexico Territory, Chet had more messages. He telegraphed Monica and May that they were well, and told the telegraph operator to forward any other wires to Santa Rosa, then tipped him well.

“Why in the hell don't he wire San Antonio for help?” Cole asked.

“I bet he's illiterate,” Chet said. “The telegraph wire is still a mystery to some folks and they don't trust it. Heck, it ain't even signed.”

“How many folks would give a ragged black man, all broke down, credit for more supplies?” Hampt asked with a headshake.

Jesus raised a brown finger. “That's the truth. Hampt knows.”

“Boys, it's a big place out there. Wild Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, are all out there. What's left of the buffalo herd is in that country. It's not a healthy place for white or black men to be.”

“We're going to be close to there in a week, boss?”

“I hope so, Hampt. I really hope so.” He looked at the towering mountains with the sunset shining on its walls across the Rio Grande. “We go uphill out of here tomorrow, but we cross around most of it.”

They went to eat at a restaurant. His arm on Liz's shoulder, he asked her privately, “How are the calluses on your backside?”

She chuckled. “They're wonderful. Jesus and I don't have to cook.”

“You're doing great.”

“I am excited to be with you and these three great men. We have had little problems so far. I knew this trip would test all of us. But it is better than waiting for your telegrams at Preskitt.”

“We worried about you coming,” Cole said. “Now you're one of us, Liz.”

“Good. I would never have seen this part of the country. The amazing thing is how big it is. I have not seen a place yet that I would trade for the Preskitt area and the pines. That has really grown on me.”

The men held the door to the café open for her. They soon were seated and had food ordered. Afterward, they took baths, and the men shaved, and they slept in comfortable hotel beds that night. They ate breakfast in the predawn and crossed on the Rio Grande ferry to the east side. Saddle leather creaked, hooves clunked on the hard-packed road, horses snorted dust, and some danced a little before shifting into a rolling gait. They had miles to cover and Chet pressed them every day to make those miles. The third day from Bernalillo they arrived at Santa Rosa, the village of small lakes. He felt better after reading more wires he received there.

“Well, at least we know he exists,” Hampt said.

“Tularosa is two days away or so. When we're there, and while we look for them, we'll start gathering wagons, supplies, and guns and ammo.”

Everyone agreed.

“Do you feel better, now that you know they are out there?” she asked him behind their hotel room door.

“They didn't take wings, anyway.”

“You knew this would be tough.”

“Oh, yes. Liz, I'm pleased we have some evidence they are somewhere up here. But getting things rolling won't be easy.”

“You love challenges. Heavens, you chose me. You could have sent for a German farm girl.”

Her humor had him laughing.

“I am blessed to have you.” He hugged her tight. “Day in, day out, I look over and see that roan horse bob his head beside me and you riding on uncomplaining.”

“I asked to come along. I love being with you. You are a tough leader, but those kinds of leaders win wars.”

“We're going to win this one. Thanks.”

“Tell me about Tularosa.”

“It's a frontier town. Not much law, unless the rangers have straightened it out. Be careful, and stay with one of us all the time.”

She yawned big and buried her face in his chest. “We will do this. Let's try to sleep.”

They stayed the next night at a west Texas rancher's place. Herman Acres, a big man the size of Hampt, was delighted to introduce Liz to his Hispanic wife, Leona. His ranch crew were interested in their search and what they'd do when they found them.

Chet explained they had to find them first.

“We heard about them, but never exactly where they were.”

“What's wrong?” one man asked.

“A Texas banker hired us to come from Arizona to go look for them.”

“They figured they wandered that far?” another cowboy asked.

Chet shook his head with a smile. “I have no idea what they thought.”

“Hey, guys, we're glad you stopped by, and come any time,” Herman said.

When Chet rejoined his wife in the ranch house, Leona had found her a bath and Liz beamed. “I told them they needed to come stay in Oak Creek. I have never been there, but they can catch trout, and it is cool in summer?”

“Both. If you come, just let us know. It's a heavenly place. Those folks bring us produce all summer long.”

Leona smiled. “We get brave, we might do that.”

“How many horses could I buy off of area ranchers, if I need them?” Chet asked Acres.

“Oh, a hundred, I bet.”

“I may need two hundred.”

Acres narrowed his blue eyes at that number. “You figure that's his problem?”

“No idea, but it has been offered as one.”

“That's going to be a real mess.”

“A big one, I fear.”

“Good luck. Send me word if you need horses. I'll gather them for you.”

“Thanks, I may be sending for them.”

They rode into Tularosa the next day—a town of adobe hovels, with skinny black Injun camp dogs that bared their teeth at them, and naked brown-skinned children who stood back and looked hard at them. Some fat, Mexican women ignored them and looked to be on a shopping quest. And two barely clad, skinny whores came out in the street to proposition them. They must have thought at first that Liz was a boy.

“Hampt, try the saloon. They may know something in there. I'm going to the telegraph office.”

“Got'cha,” the big man said, dismounted, and hitched his horse at the rack beside several other hipshot mounts.

When Chet walked into the office, the telegraph key operator nodded to him from behind the counter.

“Chet Byrnes. Any messages for me?”

The man nodded. “Only ten. You expecting more?”

“Glad to have any at all.”

He and Liz took them to the stand-up table and she began unfolding them. Jesus and Cole stood back to listen.

“We're close, boys.”

He shook his head, amused. “I don't think I'll do that, Millard.”

They all laughed.

Chet picked up the next.

The room was quiet.

“Who the hell is that?” Cole asked.

“A smart aleck in Wichita.” He read on.

“Here's another that knows nothing.” He put it down.

“That is probably May's,” Jesus said. “She is bighearted enough to do that.”

“The rest are nothing. They don't know a thing.”

“Who are you looking for?” the clerk asked.

“Bob Decker, a black drover and a big herd.”

“Oh, them niggers are up on the Canadian. I guess they're going to homestead up there. You want them?”

“Yes, you know what the problem is?”

“Water run out. They got here too late. All those moon lakes are dry.
Playas
, you know what I mean?”

“I know both words. You mean he stopped up there 'cause the water was gone?”

“That's what they say. You need anything else?”

“Yes, I want to send some wires home. Cole, write one to your wife. Liz, write one to Monica and the girls. I'll write one to May for Hampt.”

Cole took off his hat and clapped it on his chaps. “Whew. We've made it.”

“Can I send one to Anita?” Jesus asked.

“Sure.”

“Thanks, boss man.”

“No problem.” He went to work on his message for May.

Hampt arrived and came in the door, fresh faced. “You all hear where they're at?”

Chet nodded and pointed north. “This man said they're stopped 'cause the water holes dried up. Here's the message I'm sending to May. You write the rest.”

“We are writing them all,” Liz said, amused.

“I want Cole, Jesus, and Liz to find us a house or rooms to rent and take care of the horses. Hampt and I are riding up there and see what the hell we need to do to get them rolling. We'll be back later tonight. Eat supper if we aren't back.”

“We can handle it,” Cole said.

Liz agreed. “Just be careful.”

He kissed her on the forehead. “We will. You stay close to those two here.”

They went outside, took their horses out of the string on the rack, mounted up, and rode northeast. In a while, they found the line of cottonwoods that marked the Canadian bottoms and headed east. It was obvious that the scattered, grazing cattle were a part of the large herd they sought.

“These cattle sure been rode hard and put away wet,” Hampt said with a shake of his head about the cattle's thin condition.

Chet was upset about how they had found the animals. “I agree. These cattle, big and small, are in tough shape.”

“Is this grass no good up here?” Hampt asked.

“No, they didn't get like this overnight. I think he's pushed them too hard to get here.”

Hampt looked deeply concerned. “What can we do?”

“Get organized.”

A black cowboy rode off a nearby ranch to stop them.

He set the horse down roughly in front of them. “What you's wants?”

“Mister Bob Decker.”

“He's a busy man. What's you need him fo'?”

“'Cause I'm his new boss. Now show us the way.”

With narrowed eyes, the black cowboy glared at him. Then he snorted. “Hmm, he ain't taking no orders from the likes of you.”

Chet put his hand out to stay Hampt. “Just lead the way to the camp.”

“We may have us a thing here,” Hampt said under his breath.

“We'll settle it. No problem.”

Hampt looked skyward for help. “I hope so.”

“We can work it out.” The man began to lope his horse and they fell in behind him.

They came over a rise to see a scattered camp of tents and tarps set up with a lot of small fires and black faces raising up to see who was coming in. The guide jumped off his horse, went to the tent fly, and pointed back at them.

Way over six feet tall, the snowy-headed black man who came out folded his arms on his chest. Some of his gold jewelry flashed in the afternoon sun.

“What can I's do for you?”

“My name's Chet Byrnes. Samuel Severs sent me here to ramrod this herd drive and get it to Ogallala. Would you like to see the paper he sent me to take it over?”

“He owes me—”

“I am authorized to pay you that agreed amount, if you assist me in getting them up here.”

A larger black man with a bald head appeared to demand, “Who dis man?”

“Yeager Brown, meet Chet Byrnes.”

Chet nodded to him.

“They sent him from San Antonio to take over.”

“Who?”

“Sam Severs.” Decker held out his hands. “He says we'll get paid, if we help him.”

Yeager reflected on it a moment. “What you gonna do?” he asked Chet.

“Reorganize this train.”

Decker held up his hands to stop them. “I's wants these boys paid. I asked dem to come with us. I will collect that money for dem.”

Still not convinced, Yeager shook his head, squeezed his chin, and spoke. “How many slaves you own, growing up in Texas?”

“Me and my brother.”

“Huh?”

By then Hampt and Decker were both laughing. Chet shook his head. “We never owned a slave. My people came from the hill country of Arkansas to Texas. My grandfather and father fought for Texas freedom.”

Yeager came right back with, “You a damn rainmaker? You don't look like one to me.”

“No, that's God's job. But I want an inventory by tonight of your food, guns, ammo, and number of usable horses.”