Jim Kane - J P S Brown (14 page)

Kane was sitting on the top board of the corral when
he heard the men who were making the business of these cattle coming
out of the back door of the store. He turned and saw that the first
man approaching him was Juan Vogel. Juan Vogel's face was puffy and
clean shaven. His clothes were even clean. His boots were polished.
His hat was brushed clean. He walked up to Kane and extended his
hand. Kane took it. . "
¿Qué tal
,
Jim?" Juan Vogel said. "What do you think of
mis
alacranes
, my scorpion cattle?"

"I like them. How do you feel today, Juan?"

"
Not at all good. How do you feel?"

"Horrible," Kane said, looking for some
mark of his Sunday punch on Juan Vogel's face. He did not see any
marks. The only residue on Juan Vogel's face of the bouts he had made
the night before was the awakening-from-drunkenness swelling of the
eyes.

"
I am rawly hungover. I have a moral hangover
too," Juan Vogel said.

"
We had a good fight with the bottle and with
ourselves," Kane said.

"
Yes, and we lost," Juan Vogel said. "Let's
recoup and see if we can find homes for these cattle?
 
 

12
A
New Country

Reata.
A
reata
is a rawhide
rope. A well-made
reata
,
well-tallowed and uniform throughout its length, is like another live
appendage of the
vaquero
.
There are two kinds of
reatas
.
One kind is made by braiding four to eight strands of rawhide
together. This is the best kind. If a braided
reata
breaks, a good maker of
reatas
can splice it back together so that no one can
tell where the splice was made. Another kind of
reata
is the
torcida
or
twisted kind. This
reata
is
made hurriedly into strands of hardtwist. No matter how uniform the
strands are or how well tallowed these twisted--
reatas
may be, they are always unmanageable and when
they break they come un-twisted and are irreparable. The saying
"
buena reata,"
when
applied to a man, means that he is always ready to serve a
friendship. He is never daunted by too heavy a task or too hard a
jerk. He splices easily.

How much money do you want for the fifteen head of
two-year-olds, Juan?" Jim Kane asked Juan Vogel.

"
I don't have anything to do with the younger
cattle," Juan Vogel said. "The young cattle are for the
Lion. The old cows and bulls are for me."

"
Are you going to put them on pasture?"

"
No. I'll kill them for the municipal market."

"These old cattle won't yield much meat, will
they?"

"
In this region we only kill
ganado
grande
, big cattle, or older cattle. We
seldom kill cattle that are still producing on the ranches. Here, the
custom of the rancher is to sell only cattle that are no longer
producing. In the market a kilo of the meat of an old bull sells for
the same price as a kilo of the meat of a fat young heifer."

"How much is Arce asking for the two-year-olds?"
Kane asked.

"
I don't know what agreement he has with the
Lion. Here he comes. Ask him."

A slight, middle-aged man was walking toward the
corral.

He wore rimless glasses. He resembled a lean bird. He
had a razor-thin line of whiskers on the rim of a purple upper lip
that resembled the small, clipped beak of a nighthawk. His hat was
tipped back. Juan Vogel, smoking his cigarette and squinting his eyes
against the smoke, introduced the man to Kane.

"
This is our savior, Salvador Arce. Jim Kane,"
Juan Vogel said unsmilingly. Kane and Arce shook hands.

"
Are you a cattle buyer?" Arce asked Kane.
‘

"
Yes, I'm here with the Lion," said Kane.

"
How much will you give for the younger cattle""

"
I'm only here to look at them. The Lion and I
will come to an understanding?

"The Lion has nothing to do with these cattle.
These are my cattle."

"
To tell the truth, I'm not interested in any of
the yearling cattle," said Kane.

"
There are no yearling cattle here. The youngest
are
sobreaño
."

"What to you is
sobreaño
?"
Kane asked him.

"
The cattle that will soon be two years old."

"
In that case I agree they are
sobreaño
but they have eleven months to go to become two years
old."

"I can see you don't know much about these
Sierra cattle." .

"
I do know what I want and I don't want the
thirty head of younger cattle. They won't be of any use to me,"
Kane said.

"Why not?"

"Their horns are too short, too soft."

"
You must be joking. You mean you are buying
horns?"

Arce laughed.

"
Exactly."

Arce looked unbelievingly at Juan Vogel. Arce was
astounded. He looked at Kane. He backed up and looked at the cattle..

You are a phenomenal buyer. Do you buy goats too? I
have some goats with good horns," Arce said.

"
No. Only cattle two to three years old with
horns," Kane said.

"
Why do you want the horns?"

"
We hang them on the walls for the decoration of
cowboy bars in the United States. Also it is said that ground into
powder and served in bourbon whiskey they give special potency to the
American male."

"
And the Americans give them to people they
cuckold," the Lion growled as he came walking up. "I have
Manuelito's truck coming for the forty-five head of
becerros
,"
he told Arce.

"
I need more money for the fifteen head of
two-year-olds," Arce said to the Lion.

"
No, no, no, no," the Lion said, bowing his
head and shaking it. "You agreed to deliver forty-five head for
the money I loaned you. I'm taking them now."

"
All right. But give me more money for the
fifteen head of two-year-olds or let me sell them to the American,"
said Arce.

"
I am going to sell them to the American,"
the Lion said, laughing.

"
It is not just."

"
Look, Salvador. What is
ganado
?"

"
Animals like these. Cattle."

"What else does the word ‘
ganado
'
mean?"

"
Gain. Profit."

"
Well, that is why I loaned you money. To gain
and to profit by it."

Juan Vogel finished his cigarette, lit a new one off
the tiny butt of the old one, looked over the fence at the cattle,
and laughed.

"
Bueno,
" Arce
said. "I won't argue with you about it.

A truck backed up to the loading chute at one end of
the corral and the Lion went in and separated the younger cattle from
the old cattle Vogel was going to take. The cattle were gentle and
easy to handle.
Serranos
carrying
reatas
helped the Lion
load the cattle on the truck. Salvador Arce stood outside the corral
and watched.

When the cattle were loaded the Lion came over to
Kane. "
Vámonos
,"
he said. Kane got down off the fence. Juan Vogel did not turn. He
stood shot-hipped and slack-waisted with his arms on the top board of
the fence.

"
I'll see you in town, Juan," Kane said.

"
I'll see you," Juan Vogel said. He did not
turn away from his concentration on the cattle.

Kane and the Lion drove back to Rio Alamos to a house
by a small lime orchard and a barbed wire and mesquite post corral.
They got out of the car. A light-complexioned man, his face deeply
tanned and creased by the sun, walked up buttoning his shirt. Kane
recognized him as Güero Chavarin, one of the men he had met at
Teresita's restaurant the day before.

"
How are you, Güero?" Kane asked.

"
Fine. How are you?` Chavarin laughed, and
automatically lifted a hand to hide his rotten teeth.

"
We've got forty-five head coming in from San
Bernardo, Güero," the Lion said. "Have you any feed for
them?)

"
I have a few bales left of the alfalfa you
brought Friday night," said Güero.

"
Have you got ten bales?"

"
I think so."

"
You ought to. I unloaded thirty-five bales here
Friday."

"
I'm sure I have enough."

The truck from San Bernardo rolled in and the Lion
went over to direct the unloading. Chavarin stayed close to Kane. He
appraised Kane, laughed, and said, "How do you feel?"
mocking Kane.

"
Bueno
,"
Kane said.

"
Are you going to be in Rio Alamos a while?"
Chavarin kept a silly, patronizing smile on his face. He didn't show
his teeth though.

"
Yes," Kane said. He didn't feel well
enough to carry on a conversation.

"Buying cattle?"

"
Yes." Kane watched the Lion unloading the
cattle. He hoped Chavarin would shut up.

"
With the Lion?" Chavarin laughed, hiding
his mouth with one hand.

"
Yes."

"
Be careful he doesn't devour you,"
Chavarin mocked. Kane looked at him. "He won't. We have always
dealt well with each other."

"I can buy cattle cheaper for you than the Lion
can. All you have to do is give me a commission?

"
I already have an agreement with the Lion for
buying the cattle."

"
How many are you going to buy?"

"
Five hundred head."

"
So many? It will be impossible for the Lion to
buy them all for you."

"Then I won't buy five hundred, will I?"

"Probably not. Do you like dairy cattle?"

"
I don't know anything about them."

"I do. That is my business."

"
It is?"

"
Yes."

"Where is your dairy?"

"
I don't have one at present."

"
Oh."

"
I am ready to stock a dairy at present. Milk is
the best business here in Rio Alamos. If you will buy the cattle,
American cows to stock my diary, we will make more money than five
thousand of these
chango
,
monkey,
corrientes
would
and I won't steal from you."

"
You won't steal from me?"

"No."

"I'm glad to know ,that."

"
I am honest. I don't want to take an American
like most of these people do. I have always liked Americans. People
like the Lion and Juan Vogel will take advantage of an American
because he has money."

"
And you won't?" Kane asked him.

"
No. Never."

"
Good." Kane exaggerated a sigh of relief.

"
Then you think you'll do it? How soon do you
think you can get the cows down here?"

"
I don't know."

"Let me know as soon as you can so that I can
have everything ready, " Chavarin said, no longer in the mood to
patronize.

"
OK," Kane said in English.

"
Do you think you can let me have some money now
so that I can fix my corrals and stock up on some feed?"
Chavarin asked, trying a full test of Kane's air.