[Texas Rangers 04] - Ranger's Trail (23 page)

Brackett did not allow the glow to last. “Don’t you mess up them tracks, Badger Boy. Remember, we ain’t trailin’ your Indians.”

Andy could not think of an adequate retort.

He had left Long Red behind. The sorrel had had a hard run last night and might tire out before this search was finished. The gray he had been lent had a rougher trot than Long Red’s, pounding Andy’s innards. This was going to be a long, tiresome ride. But at least he was doing something other than following a plow.

The frustrated horse thieves were not experienced at covering their trail. It seemed to Andy that they did not even try. Perhaps it never occurred to them that the rangers would be vengeful enough to follow them inasmuch as they had failed to get away with any horses.

Tanner observed, “They don’t seem very smart.”

Holloway said, “Most crooks aren’t. Very few make much of a livin’. If they’d work as hard at honest labor as they do at mischief they could make somethin’ of themselves. They live like coyotes and die like dogs, most of them, dead broke and bleedin’ to death in the dirt.”

Andy found where the fugitives had camped for the night on a creek. They had built a fire on a flat rock just above the waterline. A couple of drying rabbit skins, covered with flies, remained as evidence of their meager supper.

Tanner said, “Jackrabbit. That’s about as far from prosperity as you can get.”

Holloway said, “There’s misguided kids back East wishin’ they could run away and become outlaws. I wish every one of them could see this.”

Andy remembered famine times with the People when he had eaten jackrabbit, even rattlesnakes. The thought almost made him feel sorry for the outlaws. But not quite. They had chosen this path. He doubted that anyone had forced them to it at gunpoint. He would reserve his sympathy for people upon whom hard times had fallen without fault of their own.

At midday he approached a small cedar picket cabin, the first dwelling he had seen. Holloway called, “Better hold up, Andy. We’ll ride in slow and careful. Tanner, you and Johnny circle way around and come in from the back side.”

Andy, Holloway, and Brackett dismounted to present less of a target. They gave the other two time enough to reach their position. Andy said, “Looks like somebody has chopped down an awful lot of cedar.” A large area had been cleared around and beyond the cabin. Brush was stacked in piles, probably to be burned when it dried enough.

Holloway said, “I’d figure they’re clearin’ a field, only this ground has more rocks than soil. I’d hate to try and put a plow in it.”

Andy saw a movement and squinted to bring it into focus. “I see a man afoot out yonder. Looks like he’s drivin’ stakes into the ground. Why would anybody do that in a place like this?”

Holloway shook his head. “Damned if I know. Every time I think I’ve got people figured out, somebody throws a new puzzle at me.”

While the three rode toward the man with the stakes, Andy saw Tanner and Johnny approach the cabin from the rear. Cautiously the pair dismounted and entered, then came back out. Obviously the fugitives were not here. Tracks showed they had passed this way, however.

The man carried a sledgehammer and a long cedar stake, sharpened at one end. Andy saw that he had made a line of stakes stretching to the cabin and beyond.

Holloway raised his hand. “Howdy. We’re rangers, on the trail of three riders that came by here. Did you see them?”

The man wiped his sleeve across a gray-stubbled face to clear away a heavy sweat. His manner was jovial, his blue eyes bright though given a wild look by thick, bristly eyebrows. Andy saw that he wore a heavy boot on one foot and a loosely laced shoe on the other. Perhaps that was the only footwear he owned, or perhaps he had not noticed the difference. “They came by early this mornin’ and traded me a couple of tired-out horses for two old skates I had. I sure got the best end of that deal.”

“
Maybe you did and maybe you didn’t. Those men are horse thieves. They may have traded you stolen property.”

The man’s face fell. “You mean you’re goin’ to take them away from me?”

“
We won’t, but if the real owners should happen to turn up, you’ll lose them.”

The eyes brightened again. “By that time maybe I’ll be rich enough to buy plenty more horses. I’ve got me a gold mine here.”

“
Gold mine?”

“
A town. Don’t you see it? A town all my own.” He waved his hand toward the line of stakes. “I’ll be sellin’ lots as soon as I finish layin’ out the townsite. Pretty soon there’ll be houses all over this place. I’ll put in a store and later on a bank.”

“
But a town has to have people. I don’t see anybody except you.”

“
There’s thousands of people back East lookin’ for a new home. I’ve got the place for them right here. How about you gentlemen? Any of you want to be the first to settle in Hanleyville?”

“
I take it your name is Hanley?”

“
Yes sir, Joshua B. Hanley.
Mayor
Hanley.”

Andy looked around but saw nothing to attract people to a site like this, certainly not in any numbers. The ground was unsuitable for farming except in narrow little valleys where rains had deposited soil washed down from the rocky hillsides. It might do for grazing cattle or sheep, but cedar was so thick the grass was sparse. He did not see a spring or creek.

Hanley said, “My daddy fought with Sam Houston at San Jacinto. The Republic of Texas gave him this land grant. He never could claim it because the Indians was too thick out here. They’re pretty well gone now. I decided it was time to plant a garden in the desert and build a town where there wasn’t nothin’ but a cedarbrake.”

Holloway did a poor job of concealing his misgivings. “Mind if we water our horses before we go on?”

“
There’s a well up by the cabin. Dug it myself. Take all the water you want.”

The town builder resumed stepping off the lots and driving his stakes. Holloway looked back on him with pity. “I’ve seen many a ‘town’ like this, somebody’s wild dream. Poor devil’ll sit out here waitin’ by himself ’til he goes crazy. Maybe he already is.”

Brackett asked, “What about those horses?”

“
They’re not ours. Whoever they were stolen from, there’s not much chance they’ll ever come this far huntin’ them. Leave the poor fool somethin’.”

Hanley’s description of the fugitives, two men and a boy, had matched the one extracted from the prisoner after his early-morning rope dance.

At midafternoon the searchers came across a limping horse, its head down in fatigue. Nearby lay an abandoned saddle, blanket, and bridle.

Holloway said, “The two horses they’ve got left are probably the ones they traded from Hanley. One of those’ll wear down fast, too, carryin’ double. We’ll have them pretty soon.”

Shortly before sundown Andy caught a whiff of woodsmoke on a warm breeze from the west. He had not seen sign of a human since after they had left Hanley’s townsite. It stood to reason that the fugitives had found what they considered a good place to camp. He waited for the others to come up even with him.

Holloway sniffed. “I smell it, too. They can’t be far.”

Andy flinched at a shot, followed quickly by another. By instinct he was half out of the saddle before he realized the sound came from far away. The shots had not been aimed at the rangers.

Holloway said, “Probably tryin’ to get a deer or somethin’ for supper. They need it, judgin’ by the jackrabbits they ate last night.”

The rangers moved into the edge of a cedarbrake and waited, listening. Andy heard nothing else. Either they hit their game with the first shots or it got away and they hadn’t found anything else.

Brackett said, “I could stand a chunk of venison myself. Bo’s cold biscuits are startin’ to taste like horse sweat.”

Holloway said, “They’ll have to do for now. We’ll wait here ’til dark, then close in on them. Maybe they’ll have their bellies full and drop off to sleep.” He glanced at Andy. “Nervous?”

“
Am I supposed to be?”

“
Most people are the first time they come up on a situation like this.”

“
This isn’t my first time.”

Tanner said, “Andy could tell you lots of stories.”

Holloway said, “Another time. I’m fixin’ to catch a little nap while I can.”

Andy wondered aloud how the sergeant could drop off so quickly and easily.

Brackett said, “I was with him several times in the war. He could go to sleep twenty minutes before a battle or after one. Ain’t much that scares him, aside from gettin’ old. Bein’ a ranger, he may not ever
get
old.”

Andy realized that Brackett respected the sergeant. That surprised him. He had not seen Brackett show much respect for anybody.

What’ll it take for him to respect me? he wondered.

Holloway awakened at good dark, as if he had planned it that way. He dug one of the cook’s leftover biscuits from a canvas bag tied with his blanket roll. He watched Brackett while he ate it. “Horse sweat don’t taste too bad,” he said. “You just hold your breath and swallow, like it was gyppy water.”

He checked his weapons, a silent indication that the others should do the same. He said, “We’ll take them alive if we can. If we can’t, it’s their hard luck. Johnny, you and Tanner circle around. We’ll come in on them from this side. Just be careful you don’t shoot one another in the dark. I don’t want to bury anybody but those horse thieves, and not even them if we don’t have to.”

The three thieves were either supremely overconfident or not very good at their calling. The rangers took them by complete surprise. They looked at their captors with disbelief for the few seconds the rangers required to take charge of their weapons. One made a grab for a rifle just as Brackett picked it up. Brackett swung it and struck him across the head. The outlaw went down like a sack of potatoes.

Holloway said, “You-all just sit right still and don’t twitch an eyebrow. Brackett, you and Johnny put the handcuffs on them.”

Two of the thieves were grown men. One snarled at the other, “You said they wouldn’t come after us because we didn’t get none of their horses. I told you we oughtn’t to’ve built a fire like that.”

The other was the one Brackett had struck. Blood trickled down his forehead. “It was you that kept hollerin’ about bein’ hungry and wantin’ to stop and eat.”

The third sat quietly and looked frightened. He was a boy of perhaps fourteen or fifteen years. His wrists were so thin that Brackett could not make the cuffs fit tightly.

Holloway asked, “What’s your name, son?”

The lad would not look at him, nor would he answer. Holloway tried again without result. He asked, “Son, is one of these men your daddy?”

That seemed to irritate the boy. He exploded, “Hell no they ain’t.” Then, in a subdued voice, he added, “They’re friends of mine.”

Holloway asked the men their names, though he already knew from their confederate’s confession back at the ranger camp. One said he was John Smith. The other was John Jones. Holloway made a wry smile. “Smith and Jones. I’ve arrested a lot of your kinfolks in my time.”

“
We’re from big families,” the oldest man retorted.

“
Of all the victims you could’ve picked, what made you think you could get away with a raid on ranger horses?”

“
We don’t know nothin’ about no ranger horses. We’re just honest settlers mindin’ our own business, lookin’ for a place to make our homes.”

“
I don’t think you’ll need to worry about a home for the next few years. The state of Texas is fixin’ to give you one. Maybe I can help get your terms shortened if you’ll talk to me straight.”

“
Straight about what?”

“
Whatever I decide to ask you.” Holloway turned to the boy, who by now seemed to have lost most of his fear. “I’m askin’ you again, son, what is your name?”

The answer was curt. “Brown. Bobby Brown.”

“
Jones, Smith, and Brown. You got yourself tied in with some real gallows bait, son. They’ll get you nothin’ except a hard life and an early death.”

“
I already had the hard life. Maybe death ain’t so bad.”

“
Don’t you believe in hell?”

“
Hell can’t be no worse than what I’ve already had. And the devil can’t be no meaner than some people I know.”

Andy felt a swelling of pity. It was clear that this boy had been badly treated for a long time.

The outlaw who called himself Smith quickly put in, “It wasn’t us. We been good to him. Treated him like a kid brother almost.”

Holloway’s voice had acid in it. “Teachin’ him to be like you?”

“
Teachin’ him how to get along in a hard world. Every boy needs to learn a trade.”

“
Some trade, stealin’ horses.”

“
We ain’t stole no horses. You see any of your horses in this camp?”

“
It’s not because you didn’t try.” Holloway studied the boy a minute. “We ought to hang the two of you right here for leadin’ this kid astray.”

The boy came to their defense. “Wasn’t nobody around to take care of me after my mama died. My daddy’s in jail. Goin’ to be there for a long time. Arliss and Brewster, they picked me up and let me come along with them. Didn’t nobody else care if I lived or died.”

Holloway almost smiled. “Arliss and Brewster. Not John.” He had known that all along.

Smith growled, “Them’s our middle names.”

Part of a deer carcass was hanging from a cedar limb, a butcher knife stuck in it. Holloway said, “Well, Arliss and Brewster, I’m grateful to you-all for providin’ that venison. We’ve made do on cold biscuits and air all day.” He jerked his head toward the deer. Tanner moved quickly to the task.

After eating his fill, Holloway fetched the fugitive book from his saddlebag. “Arliss Wilkes and Brewster Pardo. Both of your names are on the list. You’re wanted for several things besides horse stealin’.”