The minister concluded the ceremony. “And now, by the authority invested in me as a minister of the Gospel, and in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Jeter was the first to give a toast.
“Arabella, hold your hand out, palm up,” Jeter said.
Arabella responded.
“Cade put your hand over hers.”
Cade took Arabella’s hand in his.
“Now, Cade, I want you to remember this solemn moment, because this is the last time you will ever have the upper hand.”
The others laughed.
"Qu'il y ait toujours l'amour entre vous." Maggie said, then she translated. “Let there always be love between you.”
There were other toasts as well, including one by Alberto Tangora. “Que tu amor sólo crecer a partir de este día en Adelante.” And as Maggie had before him, he translated. “May your love only grow from this day forth.”
“Sure now ‘n here’s a Scottish blessing for ye,” Ian Campbell said. “May the best day the two of ye have ever seen be the worst you’ll ever see.”
With the toasts and blessings completed, the cowboys gathered around the table where, on short order, and with Maggie’s help, pastries had been prepared.
“I thought maybe Jeter was going to keep the ring for himself,” Boo Rollins teased.
“No, I wasn’t goin’ to do anything like that,” Jeter said. “I guess I was just so taken with what was happening, I mean, Cade gettin’ married ‘n all, that I wasn’t thinking.”
“Tell me, Mrs. McCall…” Reverend Owen started to say.
“Oh! That’s the first time I’ve ever been addressed as Mrs. McCall,” Arabella said, with a broad, beaming smile. She reached over to take Cade’s hand. “It has such a wonderful sound to it.”
“You’ll get used to it, my dear,” Agnes Puckett said. “And it will get very comfortable.”
“Oh, I’m already comfortable with it.” She looked back at the preacher. “Pardon me, Reverend, you were about to ask a question and I interrupted you. I’m so sorry. What is the question?”
“I was just going to ask if it is true that you’ll be going on the cattle drive.”
“Oui. And I’m very much looking forward to it. I think it will be a wonderful adventure.”
Jeter and Maggie stayed at the LP, while Cade and Arabella rode back to the MW to spend their first night as husband and wife. It wasn’t the first time Cade and Arabella had been together, but it was the first time in a long time, and they very much appreciated the opportunity, and the privacy.
Afterward, they lay next to each other, coasting down from their recent bliss, enjoying the closeness.
“Have you ever looked back over your life, at the twists and turns it makes until it gets you to the point where you are now?” Cade asked. “I was a farmer, a soldier, a prisoner of war, a sailor . . . and now I am here, starting my married life with you.”
Arabella chuckled. “I don’t have to look any further back than the day I got twenty dollars from Monsieur Lundy when I arranged for you to be shanghaied. Little did I know that, one day you and I would be married. I will never forgive myself for that.”
“I’m glad it happened,” Cade said. “If it hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be lying here, together, now would we?”
“Oh, quelle toile nous tissons.”
“What?”
“What a web we weave,” Maggie translated.
Cade laughed. “I’m like Jeter, I’m going to have to learn French.”
The drovers who would make the drive had been bunking at the LP while Cade and Jeter were making preparations to leave. It had not created a problem because the bunkhouse was nearly empty, as so many hands had moved on after the hurricane.
Agnes Puckett and her hired girl, Fernanda Lopez, had been cooking for the ranch for many years, so it was an easy thing for them to cook for the extra men, and now they were helped by Maggie Trudeau. Maggie, of course, was an excellent cook, but she appreciated learning how to cook for a group of hungry drovers.
“You’re a wonderful cook, dear,” Agnes Puckett said, “but on the trail, you won’t have access to all the ingredients you can get when you’re close to a town. Your most valuable piece of equipment is your Dutch oven.”
“My Dutch oven?”
“Yes. You’ll bake your biscuits in it, and you’ll make your stews and beans in the same pot. When you’re crossing a river, you make sure you know where this pot is at all times, because if you lose it, you’ll have a hard time fixing any meal.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Maggie said.
“And you do know that you’ll be doing all your cooking over an open fire. Make sure to use your coals. If you’re cooking beans, bury your Dutch oven the night before and make sure that when the night hawks come in, you have them put coals on top of the lid. Then in the morning, your beans are cooked.”
“Oh Mrs. Puckett, do you think Arabella and I can do this? There is so much to learn.”
“Don’t worry my dear,” Mrs. Puckett said as she patted Maggie’s shoulder. “The boys want you to succeed. They’ll help you any way they can. Oh, there’s one more thing you need to know. Anytime you see any wood along the way, stop and gather what you can. Keep it in the coonie—that’s a cow skin that’s attached under the wagon, and if you don’t find enough wood, have your horse wrangler help you pick up cow chips along the way.”
“Cow chips? I don’t know cow chips.”
“Well, they are . . . uh . . .they are, things that you will be in no short supply of. They actually make a better fire than wood.”
“And I will find this marvelous fuel on the prairie?”
“You will find it anywhere cattle have been. When the cattle move on, they leave the chips behind them.”
“Oh!” Maggie said, putting her hand to her mouth. “Are you talking about merde?”
“Honey, I’m not sure of your French,” Agnes said. “But, yes, I’m pretty sure we are talking about the same thing.”
“And you say you can use these . . .turds . . .to cook with?”
Agnes laughed. “Now I know we are talking about the same thing. And yes, they are very good for making a fire you can cook with. They burn clean, with absolutely no odor.”
14
Victoria, Texas:
We’ll be headin’ out tomorrow morning,” Jeremiah Mudd said.
“Good,” Amon Kilgore said. “Did you have any trouble slipping away tonight?”
“Not at all. Ever body’s actin’ like it’s Christmas out at the LP,” Mudd said. “McCall got married last night, ‘n he wants to spend more time with his bride, so he ‘n Willis gave everyone one last night to come to town.”
“All right. You be one of the first ones to get back out there, so nobody notices you didn’t go to the Bit and Spur with ‘em.”
“How many men are in on this?” Mudd asked.
“They’ll be five countin’ you,” Kilgore said. “We’ll be scoutin’ the best place to hit.”
“I can tell you where that’ll be. The Lavaca River. The herd will be all strung out when we’re fordin’, ‘n by the time three quarters are across, that’ll leave just about the number of cows you said you wanted,” Mudd said. “And, here’s somethin’ else. We’ve got two or three drovers that ain’t dry behind the ears yet. More ‘n likely they’ll be the ones left to get those last cows across.”
“And where will you be?” Kilgore asked.
“I’ll see if I can’t trade places with one of the young ‘ns. They won’t want to be eatin’ that dust if they can get on over in the front.”
Kilgore smiled. “You’re a good man, Jeremiah.”
LP Ranch:
By the time dawn broke on the morning the drive was to start, the air was rich with the aroma of coffee and fried ham. Maggie had brioche French toast, and served it with butter and molasses.
“This is quite an undertaking for a
trail drive breakfast, isn’t it?” Cade asked, though he helped himself to a generous portion.
“Magnolia and I thought it would be something nice to serve to the men on the first day,” Arabella replied.
“Now, Cade, don’t you go interfering,” Jeter said as he put three pieces of the French toast onto his own plate. “I think this is a fine breakfast,”
Cade chuckled. “Apparently, everyone else does as well.”
After breakfast, as they were preparing to leave, everyone on the ranch turned out to see them off. The cattle, gathered with other cows that were unfamiliar, sensed that their life had changed in some significant way, and they milled about nervously. The milling around lifted a large cloud of dust, which caught the morning sun and gleamed in a bright gold.
Every cowboy who would be making the drive was mounted, and helping to get 2,250 cows herded together for the long push north.
Goliath, the large steer that GW Jones had selected, was brought to the front of the herd.
“All right, boys, let’s get ‘em movin’!” Cade shouted.
Finally the cattle were gathered, and under the urging of the cowboys, began the slow, shuffling walk that were the first steps of the more than seven hundred miles that lay between them and Abilene, Kansas. Soon, the cattle fell into place, moving like soldiers on parade with each cow keeping the same relative position within the file.
At the beginning, the herd wasn’t pushed very hard, but was allowed to graze and to grow comfortable in their new environment. Cade rode along with the herd for the first couple of hours, then leaving Jeter in charge, and with all the cowboys in their proper place, he slapped his legs against the side of his horse and urged it into a gallop, dashing alongside the slowly moving cows until he topped a small hill where he stopped to look back down on the herd. They made an impressive sight, the line stretching out. From this position Cade could see the entire herd, with a steer’s head and horns silhouetted against the skyline, and then another, and another still, stretching on back along the trail for three quarters of a mile.
Timmy Ponder was riding about 1000 yards in front of the cattle, herding the just over 70 horses, which throughout the drive would be rotated with the horses the cowboys were riding.
Rollins was at the head of the herd, Ian Campbell was the flank rider on the left side, near the front, and Muley Morris was the first swing rider on the same side, somewhat farther back. Art Finley was riding flank on the right side, with Petey Malone in the first swing position. The rest of the cowboys, Esteban Garcia, Alberto Tangora, Mo Bender and Jerimiah Mudd were positioned on either side of the herd. To Troy Hastings and GW Jones, went the thankless job of riding drag. Cade could barely see them in the dust that was being kicked up by the herd.
Jeter had no fixed position, but was moving all around the herd, keeping his eye on the operation.
Arabella and Maggie were driving the chuck wagon, which was already a couple of miles ahead of the herd. They would continue on until they found a good place to stop for the camp. They had studied a map with Cade, who had made this drive before, and planned to stop at Boggy Creek, where there would be water and grass. Once the cattle were stopped it would take no effort to hold them there because if there was grass and water, they would be perfectly content to stay where they were until they were forced to move on.
Coming down from the hill, Cade put the horse into an easy loping run until he saw the chuck wagon in front of him. Behind the wagon was the two-wheeled hoodlum wagon that would be carrying all the bedrolls, extra saddles, and tools—ax, shovel, branding iron—or anything else that may be needed.
As he came closer he heard Arabella and Maggie’s voices, and for a moment he was puzzled, until he realized they were singing.
Alouette, gentille alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Je te plumerai la tête
Je te plumerai la tête
Et la tête Et la tête
Alouette, Alouette
Cade had heard them singing the song before, so he picked up on it, singing loudly as he rode up to join them.
Ahhhhhh Alouette, gentille alouette,
Alouette, je te plumerai.
Both women were laughing when Cade rode up beside them, and they finished the song together.
“Maybe I’ve got you two ladies in the wrong place,” Cade said. “I should have you riding alongside the cows. They like beautiful music you know; it keeps them quiet.”
“Oh, but it won’t work, Cade,” Arabella insisted. “It would never do for Maggie and me to sing to the cows.”
“Why not?”
“Because, silly, they don’t understand French.”
Cade laughed out loud. “I guess you may have a point there.”
“Oh, there’s the creek ahead,” Maggie said.
“The herd will be here in about another three hours,” Cade said. “Will that give you time to fix lunch?”
“Oui,” Maggie said. “We will have fried steak au jus, with mashed potatoes and biscuits.”
“Don’t bring this up to me at some later time, but I’m glad I couldn’t find another cook.” He turned, to rejoin the herd.
“Cade?” Arabella called to him.
“Yes.”
“Are you going to leave without giving me a kiss?”
Cade smiled. “I’m not about to.” Leaning down from the saddle, he kissed Arabella who was sitting on the wagon seat.
“Lord, Mr. McCall, we goin’ to eat like this ever’ day?” Boo Rollins asked. “Even with Mr. Slade, we most just had cold biscuits ‘n bacon for the noon meals.”
“We’ll probably have our share of cold biscuits on this drive as well,” Cade said. “But I think our cooks are just trying to get used to their jobs.”
“I’ll say one thing, I hope they don’t get used to it too quick,” Art Finley said, and the others laughed.
Supper that evening was just as memorable; it was beef and potato stew. For the entire day, Maggie had been carrying beans in a pot of water, and now she added chunks of pork, onions, and peppers to the Dutch oven, then buried it near the fire, putting the hot coals over the top, just as Mrs. Puckett had explained.
Petey Malone got his guitar from the Hoodlum wagon, and he, Art Finley, Muley Morris, and Boo Rollins began singing I’ll Take You Home Again, their voices blending perfectly.
Cade had spread out a blanket and he and Arabella were sitting on it, leaning back against the wheel of the chuck wagon, listening to the music. Tiny, glowing red embers were riding heat waves from the fire, high enough into the velvet black sky that it looked as if they were joining with the sparkling stars that winked down from above. Cade had his arm around her shoulders.
“Oh,” Arabella said. “I thought you said that the drive would be very difficult. This is . . . merveilleux, magnifique! Is it always so?”
“No, not always,” Cade said. He pulled her closer to him. “I’ve never had you with me, before.”
“Tangora ‘n Bender, you two have the first night-hawk duty,” Jeter said. “You’d better get out there.”
Though most of the men had thrown their bedrolls out on the ground around the fire, Cade had made a special place for him and Arabella by stretching canvas out on the ground under the wagon, then draping canvas down around the sides to provide some privacy for Arabella. Maggie was inside the wagon. She had her bedroll rolled out over the sacks of flour and beans, and it was private as well as quite comfortable.
The next several days passed without incident, then on noon of the eighth day, as Arabella and Maggie prepared to move ahead to the night encampment, Cade told Jeter that he would be going with them.
“I’m a little worried about the Lavaca River. Sometimes it can be hard for a wagon to ford, and Arabella hasn’t had that much experience handling the mules. I’ll ride along beside to see to it that all goes well,” Cade said. “Then when I get them across, I’ll come back to help the herd cross.”
“Good idea,�
� Jeter replied, looking up to the sky to see the position of the sun. “If we can get there by four, we should have plenty of daylight to water the entire herd and get them across.”
Amon Kilgore, Fred Toombs, Elvis Graves and Ramon Guerra stood in a clump of trees on a little hill on the east side of the Lavaca river, their horses tied behind them.
“Here comes the chuck wagon,” Toombs said.
“Let it on through, we don’t want to leave any sign that we’re here,” Kilgore said.
“One rider with the chuck wagon,” Graves said, holding a spyglass up to his eye.
“I see ‘im,” Kilgore said. “That would be McCall.”
“You’d better let me cross the river first,” Cade said. “That way I can see how deep it is, and how swift the current is.”
“Oh,” Arabella said, apprehensively.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“The water, it reminds me of the hurricane.”
Cade chuckled. “It isn’t nearly as swift as the water was that night, and I doubt that it’s as deep as it was then. After I go across, I’ll come back and help you get the wagon across. We’ll make a second trip with the hoodlum wagon, so it’ll be easier.”
“All right,” Arabella said.
Arabella and Maggie sat quietly in the seat of the wagon as they watched Cade approach the water’s edge. He sat in his saddle for a moment, looking at the water, then he urged his horse on into it. He rode slowly toward the middle.
“Oh, good,” Arabella said with a relieved smile. “Look, the water hasn’t even gotten up to the horse’s belly.”
“He isn’t all the way across yet,” Maggie pointed out.
The two women watched as Cade rode all the way across, then, reaching the far side he turned around and rode back.
“It’s not too deep, but it’s deep enough to cause the wagon to want to float, so I’ll cross with you.”
Cade tied a rope around the axle, then rode alongside it, keeping tension on the rope. As he had suggested, the wagon tended to float and would have tried to go downstream had Cade not kept it straight with the rope. Once the team reached dry land on the other side of the river, they were able to pull the wagon up onto the bank with no problem. Cade unhooked one team of mules and went back for the cart.
The Western Adventures of Cade McCall Box Set Page 32
