Glorious (33 page)

T
hat night, Ike Clanton visited the founders: Crazy George and Mary Somebody at the Owaysis, Charlie and Rose Rogers in their cabin behind the farrier's shop, Major Mulkins in the office of the Elite Hotel, and Salvatore and Gabrielle Tirrito in their dry goods store. McLendon and Saint, leaning on the outer adobe wall of the jail, watched as he went to each in turn.

“It's an ultimatum from MacPherson, wait and see,” McLendon predicted. “Say, I was so unnerved by MacPherson and the governor that I never thought to ask: Did you get your moment with Deputy Marshal Holmes and share our suspicions with him?”

“I tried, but he didn't let me tell much. Hunky-Dory just said that Safford considers MacPherson to be not only a business partner but a close friend, and the governor doesn't like to hear words spoken against his friends.”

“Then we can't hope for any assistance from Hunky-Dory?”

“He's going to do what he can, which is to try and come through here every ten days or so to make sure we're all right.”

Ike went to the Tirritos last, and when he was done there he strolled back to the livery, nodding pleasantly as he passed McLendon and the sheriff.

“Good evening, both,” Ike said. Saint nodded back. McLendon didn't.

“Come on,” he said to the sheriff. “Let's collect everyone and see what Ike's been up to.”

When everyone was gathered in the family area of the dry goods store, they had the same tale to tell. Ike had made to them what he emphasized was a onetime offer from Collin MacPherson to buy their businesses. The proposed purchase prices were adequate though not overwhelming: $8,000 for the Owaysis, $7,500 for the farrier's, $12,000 for the Elite Hotel, and $5,000 for the dry goods store. In each instance there were the same conditions: all tools, goods, furniture, and other items directly connected to the businesses must be left intact for the new proprietor, and the old owners would leave Glorious immediately after receiving the agreed-upon bank drafts.

“‘Out with the old' was the way Ike termed it,” Mulkins said. “He said Mr. MacPherson expected we'd want to make our fresh starts somewhere else as promptly as possible.”

“He also stressed that our answers were expected quite soon,” Gabrielle said. She sat on a corner of one bed. Saint sat beside her and openly held her hand. “He said that Mr. MacPherson was not a man of infinite patience.”

“Fuck if I'll do it,” Crazy George spluttered. “Goddamn rich man saying, ‘Take some money and haul ass.' Let the sumbitch and his Mexicans try to take my saloon away from me. I'll cave in all their heads. I'll die before I roll over like they want.”

“Don't rule out that possibility,” McLendon cautioned. “We've seen what happens to those who don't agree to MacPherson's demands.
Your lives hang in the balance, make no mistake. The money on offer is reasonable. You're surrounded by armed men and clearly cut off from assistance by the territorial government. Weigh your responses carefully.”

“Mary and me ain't selling out,” George declared. “I'll die before I give in.”

“Same for me,” Mulkins said. “Let MacPherson do his worst and be damned.”

“Papa and I won't sell out, either,” Gabrielle said. Salvatore Tirrito, seated at the table, set his mouth in a grim line and nodded.

Everyone turned to Mayor Rogers, who swallowed hard and looked regretful.

“I'm choosing to accept Mr. MacPherson's offer,” he said. “Tomorrow I'll go to Culloden and tell him so. Me and Rosie will depart on Thursday's stage to Florence.”

“You can't do that, Charlie,” Mulkins protested. “You're the mayor, you're the leader of this town. If you knuckle under, that will encourage MacPherson all the more to stampede the rest of us.”

“I know, Major, and I regret it with all my heart. But, you see, it's Rosie. She's of a tremulous disposition in the best of times. If I turn down MacPherson and events grow ugly, why, I know she'd react poorly. And if violence ensued—well, I just can't risk losing my jelly bunny. I hope you understand.”

Mulkins and Crazy George began to protest, but Gabrielle interrupted. “Of course you must do as you think best, Mayor Rogers,” she said. “Rose is your primary consideration and you place her welfare above that of all others. That's how it should be.” She looked meaningfully at the others in the room. “Let no one attempt to persuade you otherwise.”

“Thank you, Miss Gabrielle,” Rogers said. “Well, I suppose I should go home to Rosie now. While Mr. MacPherson's offer encompasses the tools and such in my shop, I don't believe he wants our personal possessions in the cabin. So there's packing to do. I'll say my final farewells to you all on Thursday, before we depart.”

“But what will we do for a mayor?” Mulkins asked.

“You be mayor, Major,” Rogers said, and left the shop.

After Rogers was gone, Mulkins said, “I don't want to be mayor. All I want to do is run my hotel. One of you others be mayor. Mary, how about you?”

“God, no,” Mary replied. “I've got enough trying to keep the saloon in order.”

“Nobody needs to be mayor right now,” McLendon said. “It's the least of concerns. MacPherson's made his offers and he's not going to be pleased by refusals. As soon as you turn him down, you can count on him to act. Maybe the Apaches will strike right here in town. He's surely got something in mind.”

Joe Saint had been silent, but now he leaned forward. “Apaches. Wait a minute. Let's think about the Apaches.”

“But there aren't any, Joe, at least not war bands poised to attack us,” McLendon said. “MacPherson and his men have set it up to appear that way. We've already agreed on that.”

“I know, but there may be a way we can turn it to our advantage. MacPherson's vaqueros supposedly guard us, but, by definition, who ideally protects civilians from the Indians? It's the Army. And the Army is separate from any territorial control.”

“But there's no specific Indian threat,” McLendon protested. “MacPherson made it all up. That's what we wanted to tell the governor.”

“Yes, I know. But what if we took the opposite tack with the Army? What if we told them that MacPherson was right, that we were in grave danger of immediate attack and resulting slaughter?”

McLendon considered that for a moment, then understood the point the sheriff wanted to make. “You're right, Joe. If the Army sent a cavalry contingent to provide additional security, it would be impossible for MacPherson to fake Apache deprivations here, at least while the soldiers were in place.”

Gabrielle said, “That would gain us some time, even if Mr. MacPherson was furious at us for spurning his offers.”

“Yes,” McLendon said, his mind racing now. “And there's been the second silver strike. Word's spreading about it—has to be. Remember after the first one how prospectors flocked here, and that fellow set up the whorehouse in a tent?”

“A tent full of poxy Mexican girls,” Mary Somebody said.

“Yes. And we said it was only a matter of time before more businesses got started, competition for you founders. All right, then. So we get the Army here, and that stalls MacPherson, and if we can keep the soldiers here long enough, just a month or even a few weeks might be enough, then more people will come flooding in and additional businesses might be established—another saloon or two, stores selling dry goods stock, even a hotel. Under tents to begin with, maybe, but businesses just the same. MacPherson couldn't buy out or murder them all. And that would mean there would be no advantage to him of killing any of you. It could work, Joe, it could work.”

“Another hotel,” Mulkins mused. “Well, let it come. I'll match my service and fine windows against any competitor, and may the best man win.”

“Damned if I'll serve gaudy mixed drinks,” Crazy George huffed. “The other fellows can serve ladylike concoctions.”

“Let's not look that far ahead,” Saint said. “We've got a plan with potential, but we need to move fast. It all begins with alerting the Army. I know the area commander is at Camp McDowell, north of Florence, near Maricopa Wells. He needs to be alerted to the masses of Apaches gathered just outside town. I'll get a mule and start for the camp tomorrow.”

“Hold a minute,” McLendon said. “We can't forget MacPherson's watching our every move. I suppose you'd rent the mule from Ike Clanton? Well, once you do, what's to stop him from scurrying to Culloden and informing MacPherson that the sheriff's bound out of town, probably trying to get help? A squad of vaqueros would set out on your trail. They'd find you and cut you down. You're not a fighter, Joe. You'd not stand a chance.”

Saint's brow furrowed. “Don't waste time with petty insults.”

McLendon noticed that Gabrielle was glaring at him too. “I intended no insult, only honest appraisal. I'm not a fighter, either. None of us are.”

“All right, then, I'll borrow a mule from a prospector. Ike Clanton need not know.”

“Don't forget the guards at either end of town,” McLendon said. “They'd still see you ride off. We can be certain that they've all been instructed to immediately report any of our comings and goings. The sheriff setting out alone? MacPherson would know it in minutes.”

“Doesn't have to be the sheriff,” Mulkins said. “I could go. If anyone asked, I could say I'd been stricken with silver fever and couldn't resist doing some prospecting.”

Crazy George said, “I'll go, and take the pipe in my boot to the skull of the first fool who disputes me.”

Mary touched his arm and said gently, “Darlin', with your poor
vision there's simply no way. You'd set out for the Army camp and end up in Canada or Mexico City.”

“No,” McLendon said. “It can't be any of you. It can't look like anything out of the ordinary. The right person to go is me.”

“Why is that?” Gabrielle asked. “Must you always consider yourself superior to us ordinary folk?”

“It's not that. It's logical. You know MacPherson's been warning me to get out while I can. This afternoon at the barbecue he said it again. When the mayor and Rose take out on the Florence stage tomorrow, MacPherson will see two people he frightened enough to quit and run. If I get on the same stage with my valise in my hand, he'll just assume I'm a third.”

“Self-preservation would be an obvious motive with you,” Gabrielle said. “Of course, I intend no insult, only honest appraisal.”

“The vaqueros won't track the stage. It will be obvious where I'm bound—to Florence—and if you all come out to bid me and the Rogerses farewell, I'll loudly declare that I'm heading on to California after that. Then, when I get to Florence, I'll find my way north to, what, Maricopa Wells?”

“It's some forty miles to the north, and there's a daily stage there from Florence,” Mulkins said. “Then from Maricopa Wells it's another thirty miles, maybe thirty-five, to the Salt River, then fifteen more to Camp McDowell. You can rent a mule in Maricopa Wells and make the ride, or perhaps join an Army group going from town to the camp. It would be a day on the stage to Florence, a half day's stage travel from Florence to Maricopa Wells because the way is easier, and whatever time it took you to get from there to McDowell. In all I'd estimate three days at least.”

“And then time to meet with the camp commander; I'd hope to
persuade him quickly. How long will it take for me to bring the soldiers here to Glorious from McDowell?”

Mulkins mused, then said, “I estimate it's near seventy miles as the crow flies, but you aren't crows. There's rugged country along the way. If the Army'd ride all night, you might arrive late the following day, but I doubt they'll go on in the dark. Too many holes to fall in.”

“All right,” McLendon said. “Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to get to the Army camp. Sunday to persuade the commander to send us troops. A late Monday return here at the earliest, more likely Tuesday. Wednesday on the outside. So you might have to hold out against MacPherson for a week.”

“We can say we need more time to consider his offers,” Gabrielle said.

Mary said, “That might gain a day or two, but never a week.”

“We'll stay grouped up when we can, and where witnesses abound,” the sheriff said. “That will help.”

“The important thing is to try and not arouse suspicion,” McLendon cautioned. “Ike and the rest of MacPherson's spies will be watching for anything out of the ordinary.”

“As you would know,” Gabrielle said.

“As I would know. Do your best to appear resigned rather than rebellious. The better that you give this impression, the better the chances that MacPherson will believe he's about to get what he wants, and so delay any violence. Though he'll do whatever he thinks he must, he'll prefer as little fuss as possible. You must keep your wits about you, and your nerve.”

“We'll do it,” Mulkins said. “Count on us. Just use your way with words and convince the McDowell commander to send soldiers.”

“If we're agreed, let's all get some sleep,” McLendon suggested.
“Ike's sure to come around tomorrow asking what you've decided. The mayor will say he's ready to sell, and the rest of you must stall. I'll talk up my own departure on Thursday's Florence stage. And I'll be back as soon as I can.”

“You know, that may not be necessary,” Saint said. “You're under no obligation to return. If you can get the Army sent our way, you've fulfilled any moral obligation that you might feel. There's nothing to keep you from getting on a stage and continuing on to California. As I understand it, that was your original destination before you made this lengthy sojourn in Glorious.”

“I'll return here from the camp, with the soldiers or, if I fail in the effort, without them. I think I'm a better man than I was when I left St. Louis, and I'm going to prove it. I'm in this to the end.”