Buchanan's Revenge (20 page)

The two big men looked for the girl then looked at each
other, broke into grins that were really laughs on them
selves. Buchanan wiped the top of his bottle with his
grimy shirtsleeve, extended it to Leech.
"Have a drink, Big Red," he invited.
"Well, thanks, brother! Thanks! Don't mind if I do!"
That was the start of a beautiful friendship, and along
about dawn Lash Wall deposited both happy behemoths into the rear of an empty freight wagon and carted them
back across the Rio again. The next night another ship
ment of duty-free cotton made its way into Mexico, from
a point ten miles downriver, and another and another for
thirteen consecutive nights.

When it could find the smugglers during the first week,
th
e Army of Tamaulipas offered resistance. But each time
it did try to interfere with the convoy the result was the
same
—a sorry drubbing—and the commanders in the field
finally decided that non-interference with the damned gringos was the better part of valor. General Cueva re
signed his commission, went back to raising horses, and
Governor Diaz set up a conference with the Brownsville
merchants to arrange for a reasonable ten per cent tariff
on the goods shipped into Matamoros.

Everybody was happy, especially Rita in Ciudad Vic
toria. Rita and Linda and Josephine and Marie and Lolita
—and all the girls who were waiting and eager to provide all sorts of entertainment for the free-spending Americans
when each night's work was done.

Then the last shipment was delivered, the job was done,
Big Red Leech threw a fine blowout that lasted three
days and three nights, and his army dispersed to the four
winds.

Twelve

B
uchanan!"
It was a female voice that hailed him as he rode
through the main drag of Brownsville, happy-sounding
and vaguely familiar. He turned his head to see Cristy
Ford waving to him from the seat of a shiny new
brougham that was parked before the entrance to the
Crystal Palace. He swung his white stallion toward the
carriage, spotted John Lime exiting the casino at the
same moment. The man's arm was still in a sling from
the battle at the jail.

"Hello, Cristy," Buchanan greeted her. "Howdy,
Sheriff."

"Well just look at you!" she exclaimed, taking in the
fancy new clothes, the new boots, the clean white shirt
and string tie. "Why," she said, "that's even a new horse."

"That filly fooled me," Buchanan said. "Some little runt
of
a mustang made eyes at her over in Nuevo Leon and

she
decided to become a mare."

"Heard it was a very prosperous operation,"
Lime
said.
"For all concerned."

“
Not bad," Buchanan conceded. On his broad face was
th
e grin of content that came from the satisfying action
of
the past three weeks.

'We heard about all the fighting," Cristy said. "This
tow
n hasn't been talking about anything else, in fact."

"And your private fig
ht with Leech," Lime said. "We heard
about that, too."

“
Things get blown up," Buchanan said. Then he
stared at something that seemed to interest him more. It
wa
s the huge diamond ring that sparkled on Cristy's finger.

"Mrs. Lime?" he asked.

She nodded. "As of two weeks yesterday."

"Well, say, that's fine! Congratulations, Sheriff."

"Former sheriff," Lime told him, pulling back his jacket
t
o show the absence of the little gold star that had been
a
lmost a part of the man. "My bride has a strong aversion
t
o guns and gunplay," he added. "We're leaving this fron
t
ier country for the more civilized life in Virginia,"

"Wish you best of luck," Buchanan said sincerely,

"Thank you. The office of Sheriff, incidentally, is up
f
or election. Why don't you enter your name in the
l
ists?"

"Not me," Buchanan grinned. "But I think my budd
y
L
ash Wall will be interested."

"An outlaw?"

"Wouldn't be the first time, Mr. Lime. And I think
L
ash and Brownsville deserve each other." He tipped his
h
at. "Well," he said, "I got to be moseyin'. Things to do."

"Where you bound for, Tom?" Cristy asked him.

"Same place," Buchanan said doggedly. "New Orleans,
This time I got passage all booked. Going there by boat."

The pretty bride laughed up at him. "That," she said,
"ought to be something to see!"

Buchanan bade the newlyweds good-by and good luck,
rode on until he came to the Wells Fargo office. There
be made three consignments of cash, two to San Antonio,
the third to Jess Bogan in Alpine. The sender of the
money was listed in each case as The Double-B Fast
Freight Company, R. Bogan, Prop.

And that was the end of it.