Rosa's Land: Western Justice - book 1 (20 page)

She fell silent, and the other two women began to talk of other matters of the house. Her mother soon left to wake Juan and Raquel and tell them to come for breakfast. As Ethel brought in some more food for her brother and sister, an idea was forming in Rosa’s mind. She finished eating and said, “I’ve got to go talk to the hands. I’ll see you later.”

Leaving the house, she noted that the sun was now climbing in the west, throwing its lambent beams down over the earth. She found Ringo, who was coming out of the kitchen shack, which also included the tables for the hands. “Hello, Ringo.”

“Hello, lady. You should have been here. That Riordan, he’s a better cook than we’ve had. Made some of the best pancakes I ever ate.”

“We don’t need a cook. We need a man who can shoot somebody.”

“Well, Ned and me talked about it. Sure enough he don’t look like much, but you never can tell.”

“He rode in on a plow horse. What good is that to us?”

“Well, maybe that was all they let him have at the judge’s.”

“No, you can tell the way he sat on the plug he’s not a rider. I want you to give him some lessons.”

“Riding lessons?” Ringo laughed. “What do you mean by that? You said he rode in.”

“I want you to teach him how to stay on a fast horse. Start him out with Chief.”

Ringo’s eyes opened wide, and he passed his hand over his face. “Chief? Why, that’s a plum bad horse. He’s throwed me and Ned both, and everybody else that I know of.”

“Put Riordan on him. He’s got to learn somehow.”

“Well, that marshal might get hurt. Don’t that bother you?”

Rosa smiled, but there was little humor in it. “Of course it does, Ringo. But he won’t last against the outlaws if he isn’t ready for it. Sometimes you have to endure unpleasant things to get toughened up to complete what needs to be done. I wish we could take it more slowly, as you all did with Juan and me, but we just don’t have the time.”

Ringo stood looking at Rosa, apparently searching for something to say. Finally he said, “You know, Rosa, you look sweet, but you got some toughness in you.”

“All women are like that. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Well, not all look as good as you, but all of ‘em have a little toughness, I suppose. I don’t like this, though. That horse can be plum mean.”

“Don’t tell Riordan he’s a bad horse. Just get him in the saddle and then get out of the way so you don’t get stomped.”

“Well, it’s your say so, Rosa, but we may have a busted up marshal on our hands.”

Riordan came out of the kitchen shack. He had helped wash the dishes. The regular cook had left a week earlier, so Riordan had been glad to plunge in to fix pancakes. That was simple enough. He found Ringo Jukes waiting for him.

The husky rider said, “Need to give you some riding lessons.”

“Why, I can ride.”

“No, I don’t mean that old pokey horse you rode in on.”

“Maggie is a good horse.”

“Look, sooner or later we’re either going to be chasing after some outlaws or they’re going to be chasing us. In either case that horse is no good. You’ve got to have a fast mount.”

“I haven’t had a lot of experience.”

“Well, you’re fixin’ to get some. Come on. I’ll pick you out one to start on.”

Riordan followed reluctantly, and when they got to the corral he saw that all the hands had gathered, including Ned, who was leaning against the corral post rolling a cigarette. “Want to ride a little bit, Riordan?”

“Sure he does,” Ringo said. “Here. Let me saddle this horse up for you.”

Riordan had a quick mind. He saw that the men were all grinning, and when Ringo led a beautiful black stallion out of the stable, he was sure that he was in for a thumping.
I’ve got to do it. No other way out. I hope he doesn’t kill me
.

“That horse is named Chief. He’s plenty fast,” Ned said. “Easy to saddle. He stands just nice and still. You see?”

Indeed, Chief did stand still while Ringo put on a blanket and saddle. He then put the bridle on. Ringo turned and said, “Okay.”

Riordan approached slowly. The horse was very large and muscular. He turned and looked at Ringo, and there seemed to be a gleam in his dark eyes. “This horse is pretty hard to ride, I take it?”

“Oh, he’s fine. A good horse is always a little harder to ride than your plow horses. They’re lively,” Ringo said. “But you’ll need a lively mount around here, Riordan. Now you just go ahead. Just ride him around the corral here a few times until you get used to him.”

Riordan clenched his jaw as he readied for this newest challenge.

Rosa had positioned herself at one end of the corral. She had a clear view of Riordan and saw the apprehension in his eyes. She heard the men talking about him.

One of the new hands, Charlie Jones, said quietly, “Ned, that’s a pretty bad horse. He plowed me up.”

“Yeah. He plowed me up, too. He’s a good ‘un.”

“I wouldn’t call him a good ‘un,” Charlie said. “This poor fellow looks like a tenderfoot.”

“Well, you know how Ringo is. Always playing a joke.”

A sudden impulse came, and Rosa felt that she should try to stop what was about to happen, for it could be dangerous. Still she said nothing.
He shouldn’t have come here if he wasn’t ready to work
.

She watched as Riordan put one foot in the stirrup then swung his leg over the horse. He grabbed the reins from Ringo, and as soon as he did, Chief exploded with raw strength. Humping his back, he went straight up in the air and came down stiff legged. She saw Riordan jolting up and down in the saddle. He made a wild grab for the horn and missed. He was thrown sideways as Chief twisted and turned like a corkscrew. Three more jumps from Chief and Riordan lost all control. He sailed up in the air, his arms flailing, and turned a complete somersault. He landed flat on his back with a distinct
whump
.

Grandfather, who had come to stand beside her, said, “That was a bad fall.”

“Sure was,” Father agreed. “I hope he ain’t bad hurt.”

Ringo bent over the fallen man and said, “You okay, partner?”

Riordan did not answer, as he was trying to suck air back into his lungs.

“Well, that was a pretty bad fall. No fun having the air knocked out of you. You’ll be okay. Here. Let me help you up.”

Rosa watched as Ringo pulled the smaller man to his feet.

“Well,” Ringo said, “maybe we’d better give you a gentler horse.”

“No, that’s the one I want,” Riordan said.

“Oh, come on now, Riordan. This was just kind of a trick. You don’t want that horse. He’s a mean one. You could get hurt.”

“That’s the one I want.”

Rosa heard a stubbornness in Riordan’s voice and saw that his mouth was drawn into a tight line.

“Catch him up for me, will you, Ringo?” Riordan asked.

“What in the world is he doing?” her grandfather demanded.

“It looks like he’s determined to ride that horse,” Father said.

“Why, he can’t ride Chief. None of the men can. You’d better stop it, granddaughter.”

“Let him ride.”

“He’s liable to get hurt.”

“None of my business,” Rosa said. “You break it up.”

“That fellow is more stubborn than he looks.” Father nodded.

Rosa saw that Riordan was stepping back into the saddle, and she watched with shock as twice more he was thrown, each time getting up more slowly.

Finally Grandfather shook his head. “This ain’t right, Rosa.” He entered the corral and came to where Riordan was getting up, his face pale. “That’s enough of this horse, Riordan.”

“I’d like to try again.”

“You can try later.” He turned to face Ringo and said nothing, but Ringo’s face grew red. “That’s all the entertainment today. Ain’t there no work for you fellows to do?” he said.

All the hands scattered like quail then, and her grandfather said, “You take it easy for a while. That’s too much horse for you right now.” He went back, stood in front of Rosa, and bit the words off. “A woman should have some gentleness in her, granddaughter, along with the toughness. I’m ashamed of you.”

Rosa flushed, turned, and left, feeling the hard truth of the statement.

Riordan could scarcely move the rest of the day. That night he was so sore he could barely walk.

Ned saw him limping and said, “You know, Riordan, that big tank out there has been in the sun all day, and the water’s real hot. Why don’t you climb into it? I’ve always heard that heat was good for taking the misery out of sore muscles.”

Riordan could barely turn his head to look at the tank, but he remembered how more than once he’d gotten into hot tubs to ease his aches. “You know, you may be right about that, Ned. Think I’ll just go soak for a time.”

“Sure, that’ll set you up fine!” Ned shook his head, adding, “I didn’t know Ringo had such a mean streak. He knows ain’t many hands able to stay on Chief.”

“I don’t think it was his idea.”

“Why, he’s the one who put you up on that horse.”

But Riordan had caught glimpses of Rosa Ramirez watching him take his fall and seeming to enjoy it. It had not surprised him, for he knew that the young woman despised him. “Oh, just guessing, Ned.”

Limping out to the large tank, Riordan glanced toward the house but saw that the barn cut off anyone who might be coming from there. Slowly, with several grunts, he stripped off his filthy clothes and boots then climbed up the short ladder into the tank. He eased himself down into the water, which was very hot. Slowly he submerged himself and loosed a sigh of pleasure as his weary muscles seemed to welcome the hot bath. He kept his head above water and let the heat draw some of the aches out of his frame. For a long time he floated, thinking of what had happened. Mostly he thought of the pleasure he had seen in the eyes of Rosa when he had hit the ground with terrible force.
She really enjoyed seeing me get hurt
. The thought disturbed him greatly, for he was accustomed to women who were more gentle.

Finally he reluctantly climbed out of the tank and had put on the lower part of dirty underwear, when a voice caught him unawares.

“Don’t you know our animals have to drink water from that tank?”

Turning quickly, Riordan saw that Rosa had appeared and was staring at him. He had always been a modest young man and had an impulse to climb back into the tank. A thin streak of anger touched him then, and he said, “Sorry, Miss Ramirez.” He was aware that she was staring at him and saw something in her look that disturbed him. “If you’ll leave, I’ll put some clothes on.”

Rosa laughed harshly. She had come upon him by pure accident, and her first glance of the half-naked body of Riordan had given her a shock. Now she was embarrassed and said, “Get some clothes on. We’ve got enough scarecrows around here.” Abruptly she whirled and disappeared, leaving Riordan to stare after her.

Slowly he put on the dirty, sweat-stained clothes and returned to the bunkhouse. He found the hands sitting at a rickety table playing poker.

Ringo moved his shoulders uncertainly. He cleared his throat then said, “No hard feelings about Chief, I hope.”

“Not at all.”

Ringo got up and walked over to an empty bunk then gestured at a chest at the foot. “This was George Perkin’s place, but he joined up with some wild riders. You might as well have his stuff. He won’t be coming back for it. He was a real sharp dresser.”