Troubled range (13 page)

"Is this your fool idea of a joke?" Johnny growled, seeing Mark sit watching him. "Come on, Mark, where in h—"

His words died off as the room's door opened to admit Jaya carrying a cloth covered tray. Johnny let out a startled yelp and ducked under his blankets, drawing them around his naked torso.

"I have brought you coffee," the girl said, setting the tray on a chair. "Shall I bring your breakfast to you?"

"Huh?" Johnny gasped. "Hey—No! And you shouldn't come in here like this, Jaya. I'm not dressed."

"I will fetch your clothes," she replied and left the room.

An amazed looking face stared at Mark as the door closed behind the girl. Mark could not hold down his grin, for he had never seen Johnny so completely at a loss for words.

"D—did she—?" Johnny croaked.

"Not that I know of," Mark grinned. "I never saw her when we got back here. You undressed yourself and went to sleep, like a baby when its mother sings a lullaby."

"How'd you like me to sing you a lul—"

Once more Johnny's words died off as he stared at Jaya. The girl came into the room carrying a neat pile of clothes. Johnny's Stetson, freshly brushed and with the silver conchas of its band gleaming, lay on top of the pile. His spare shirt, undershirt and underpants, all clean and pressed, his levis,

tidied up after their wear, and boots showing an unaccustomed shine, completed the girl's load. Placing the clothes down, Jaya reached into one of the boots and took out a clean, darned pair of socks which certainly had not been clean or darned when Johnny last saw them.

"I have packed your old clothes away to be washed when I have time," she said. "Can I—"

"No!" Johnny yelped as if the words had been stung out of him by a bee. He held the blankets tighter to him. "I can dress myself."

A gentle smile played on the girl's lips.

"1 only wanted to know if 1 could pour out the coffee for you."

Mark grinned and spoke up. "I'll take a cup, if I can, ma'am."

Whisking the cloth from the tray, Jaya poured out two cups of coffee and looked at Johnny.

"How do you like it?" she asked.

"Black and sweet," he replied, sounding dazed.

"I will remember in the future," she promised.

Although Johnny thought up some comment about her having no need to remember, he did not use it. The aroma of the cup of coffee Jaya handed to him made him forget the speech.

"No hotel cook ever threw up Arbuckle's like this," Mark drawled, accepting the cup Jaya carried to him after serving Johnny.

"I made it myself," the girl answered. "Please get dressed now so you can go and eat the breakfast I have cooked for you."

"Sure, Jaya gal," Johnny replied. "Just you go and let us dress."

Not until he was dressing did Johnny realise his wallet and money-belt had been among his clothes. Before he could mention this to Mark, he found them under his pillow. Johnny, who had known enough saloon-girls to have few illusions left, never even thought of checking that the money be intact.

"Where in hell did the bed come from?" he asked.

Mark rose, and began to dress before he answered.

"Jaya must have brought it in for you. What're you going to do about her?"

"I don't know," Johnny admitted. "I can't just turn the gal loose down here. She'd never get by. I reckon I'll take her up to the ranch until she knows her way around."

"Why not marry her?" Mark replied.

Johnny was climbing into his pants as Mark spoke. He stopped with one leg in the air, twisted around and almost fell.

" Marry !" he howled. "Mark, you-all been falling on your lil pumpkin head too many times. Why in hell should I get married?"

"Why not?" Mark countered. "You're all set to settle down and be a rancher. Which same, you're going to need a woman to run the house."

"Nan!" Johnny snorted. "A gal'd just be a drag to me. I'll take her up to the spread, happen she wants to come. But when she knows her way around, waal, I'll stake her to wherever she wants to go."

There the matter rested for the time being. The two men washed and shaved, finished dressing and went downstairs to eat a good breakfast served to them by Jaya. She seemed to be surprised when Johnny insisted she join them, and sat watching him with smiling lips and happy eyes.

Before they left the hotel Mark saw its owner, a friend from his Army days. He learned that Jaya had worked until long after he and Johnny went to bed, at washing Johnny's clothes, sewing tears and replacing missing buttons, darning his socks and cleaning his boots and hat.

Mark did not tell Johnny of his findings. He paid the hotel bill and they took Jaya to collect the hired wagon, then drive to the store and load the ranch's supplies.

"You stack and I'll load," Mark told Johnny on reaching the store.

"Any way you want, amigo" Johnny replied.

Neither of the men noticed Jaya, who had ridden alongside Johnny on the wagon box, climb down and walk on to the sidewalk. The girl followed Mark into the store and watched him pick up a sack of potatoes, sling it on his

shoulder and stroll out of the door with no more apparent effort than a kid toting a bag of candy.

"I thought I'd tote all the heavy, stuff out first," he told Johnny who took the sack from him.

"Any way you—" Johnny began, than glanced at the store's door. He came erect fast, his eyes bulging wide open. "Great blistering horned-toad! Will you take a look at that?"

Swinging around, Mark saw what had startled Johnny. Came to a point the sight rocked him back on his heels too.

Jaya came through the door and across the sidewalk, toting a heavy sack of sugar on her back. She walked forward, bowing under the weight, but keeping moving with it.

To his credit, Johnny reached the sidewalk even before Mark. He sprang over the side of the wagon and took the sack from the girl's back.

"Land-sakes, gal!" he grunted. "What're you trying to do, kill yourself?"

"It was not heavy," she replied.

Johnny could have given her an argument about that. The sack was heavy, far heavier than he would have believed the girl's small figure capable of bearing.

Coming from the store, the owner looked worriedly to* where Johnny stood heaving the sack on to the wagon.

"I'm sorry, friend," he said. "The lady came in and asked me which was your gear. I showed her, and next thing I knowed she'd picked that sack up and toted it outside. I never even thought she could heft it from the floor."

"And she'd best not heft any more," Johnny replied grimly.

"I do not please you, Johnny?" Jaya gasped, looking worried.

"Sure you do," he replied with a grin and gently laid a hand on her head to ruffle her hair. "Only there's no call for you to go hefting the heavy stuff around. You lend a hand with the lighter gear if you like."

By the time the wagon was loaded, Jaya had proved she knew how to stack a load, spread a tarpaulin over it and lash the tarp home securely. She showed embarrassment when

Johnny pressed some money into her hand and told her to go buy a present.

"Man'd be a fool to let a gal like her slip through his fingers," Mark drawled as he and Johnny watched Jaya skip lightly into the store.

"Likely," Johnny agreed. "Only I'm not the marrying kind."

Normally Mark would have accepted, probably applauded his friend's decision to avoid the bonds of matrimony. However, on this occasion he figured he should break his rule. Johnny needed a good wife, and Jaya showed signs of being a better girl for the job than the sort Johnny would pick given first and free choice of the remuda. Jaya needed a husband, there were too few ways a woman could earn a decent living in the west; and Johnny would make a good husband once he settled in to the idea. Only if Mark knew Johnny, and he reckoned he did, he didn't figure the cowhand would want him handing out advice on the subject of matrimony. More so when thinking of Mark's views on the subject as it affected him personally.

There was one way to make Johnny see the light though; and Mark reckoned he was just the boy to do it.

Jaya used the money Johnny gave her to buy a Stetson hat. When she sat by his side on the wagon box, her eagerness to have pleased him by the purchase started Johnny worrying. The last thing he wanted was for her to get too attached to him. Sure, she was a great little gal, but it was just that Johnny did not think he could make a marrying man.

"Pass it down this way, Jaya," Mark said, riding his bloodbay stallion at the side of the wagon. "I'll shape it Texas style for you."

Glancing hopefully at Johnny, who pretended to be too busy handling the reins and make sure his big dun horse followed the wagon, to the tail of which its reins were fastened, Jaya handed Mark the hat.

"See you bought a good hat," Mark went on, altering the Stetson's crown to meet the dictates of Texas fashion. "It's always worth the money."

Johnny looked towards the girl, now facing Mark and

engrossed in his words of wisdom on the subject of hats. Having seen Mark in action around the ladies before, Johnny felt a hint of relief. He did not forget how Mark cut the ground from under his feet one time with the best looking girl in a Newton saloon. From the way things looked, Johnny reckoned Mark to be using the same technique with Jaya.

"Good ole Mark," he thought. "You're sure taking that lil gal off my back."

Then another thought struck him. In a way he was responsible for Jaya. If he had not brought her out here there would be no need for Mark to take her off his back. What about after Mark got the gal interested? Johnny knew Mark too well to reckon anything more serious than a flirtation could come with Jaya. So what would she do after Mark rode on?

For the first time Johnny began to think of Java's many good points. He also decided he had best try to stop her becoming too involved with Mark. Not that he cared one way or the other, of course, but he did not want to see that innocent little gal get hurt.

So Johnny tried to regain Jaya's attention. Woman-like, Java's feelings had been hurt by Johnny's apparent indifference to her choice of hats—when she made the choice because she felt it would please him and instead of buying some cheap, rather gaudy jewellery which attracted her. So she intended to make Johnny suffer a little for his indifference.

For the rest of the day, while they travelled across the range heading towards the San Vegas hill country, Johnny tried to get into the conversation which went on between Mark and the girl. He met with little success.

When they made camp for the night, Mark allowed Johnny to slip in and show Jaya how to handle the unhitching and care of the wagon horse. The girl cooked a meal for them and they prepared to settle down for the night.

"You can use my pillow and blankets, Jaya," Mark said.

"There's a spare blanket on the wagon," Johnny put in. "We'll make Jaya a bed under the wagon and we'll sleep by the fire."

"Where else?" Mark replied.

He found that Johnny spread his bedroll on the side of the fire nearest to the wagon. Nor did Johnny go to sleep until he saw and heard the rhythmic breathing by which he assumed that Mark had already settled down for the night. Mark looked across the fire at the now sleeping Johnny and a grin came to his lips. Turning over, Mark drew his blankets up higher. It looked like old Johnny was beginning to point the way Mark wanted him to go.

They moved on at dawn, after a good breakfast and some of Java's coffee. What that girl could do with Arbuckle's coffee had to be tasted to be believed. Johnny had always liked good coffee and he could not remember any that tasted just as good to his palate as the kind Jaya made.

Once more Johnny missed his chance. Mark's praise of the coffee brought a smile to Jaya's lips and she turned to Johnny.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Huh? Sure, it's all right."

Straight off Johnny could have cursed himself. With an annoyed toss of her head, Jaya turned and carried the coffeepot away, pouring a good cup full that Johnny would have liked over the fire's flames.

Once more Mark monopolised the conversation with the girl and Johnny scowled to himself, concentrating on driving. His few attempts to say anything found the girl attentive, but each time Mark cut him out.

Towards sundown they came into sight of the ranch buildings and Johnny brought the wagon to a halt. He did not notice that Mark dropped back and left him alone with the girl and the view.

"There it is, Jaya," Johnny said, a note of pride in his voice.

"I think it is beautiful, Johnny," she replied and her voice sent a thrill through him.

Compared with the O.D. Connected's great two storey main building, the house below did not appear very grand. Yet Johnny did not care. After all, he did not own the O.D. Connected but he did own that house down there and a fair slice of the surrounding land.

The house was stoutly made of logs, with a good strong

roof over it, glass at the windows and a porch on which a man could sit and rock in the evening while his wife made supper for him. There was a good sized, well-made barn, a blacksmith's forge, a backhouse and a couple of stoutly constructed pole corrals. His uncle had built to last and it would be long, given reasonable care, before Johnny would need to start rebuilding.

"Let's go take a look inside," Johnny suggested eagerly and the girl, clutching his arm, agreed.

Watching the wagon roll down the slope, Mark smiled. He had not failed to notice how Johnny and Jaya acted. Give them a couple of days, and Johnny a little more of the treatment handed out the last couple of days, and Mark reckoned he could leave his two friends in each other's care.

A pump and empty horse-trough stood before the house. Mark swung from his bloodbay's saddle and went to the pump, starting to fill the big trough. A woman could likely do her wash in it, or even take a bath on warm days when her man and the help worked the range.

Side by side Jaya and Johnny ran from the wagon, across the porch and to the door. When Johnny's uncle rode into Brownsville for the last time, he had locked the door and taken the key. Apart from the sheriff's deputies checking in once in a while, nobody had been near the house since that day. Johnny unlocked the door and he and Jaya entered.