“We better go back to Lehi tomorrow,” he told Jones.
Jones nodded. “I may need to find a woman.” He chuckled.
“You have a woman in line who will come up here?”
“I know a widow.”
“You better warn her she has to ride in and out right now.”
Jones agreed.
That afternoon they quit early, gathering everything needed to go back. They’d need to bring in lots of gear when they returned. Alma made a list of supplies. When she gave it to him, she said she had decided to go back with him. He told her it was whatever she wanted and so she busied herself to be ready to leave before dawn. Under the stars the next morning, they set out for their return. The air was frosty tinged, so they dressed for it in jackets, leaving at a jog.
Riding in the lead, he glanced over his shoulder. Dang, he hoped it was still here when they got back. You never knew what could happen off out here like this. Jim had a pistol and had reassured Mark he’d keep good watch over things. Mostly that Gipson fella could cause a heap of trouble if he found out they were gone. He’d best not, though. He’d just best not.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE SECOND DAY OUT FROM the ranch, they pushed into Lehi and Mark reached the store’s phone. He called Sam while Alma sat on a horse outside.
The banker sounded excited about their discoveries. “Can you bring the film?”
“I can be there at noon or so tomorrow.”
“Leave them at the store tonight. I’ll send someone to get them this evening. I’ll have someone there to pick you up at the store in the morning at seven o’clock. You’ve done wonderful work. I imagine you’re tired. In six weeks, you’ll have a dozer up there to open the road.”
“Good. If it’ll run, we can do that.”
“It’ll run. I’m anxious to see your pictures.”
“I’ll be here in the morning.”
“See you then.”
“What did he say?” She handed him the reins.
“We need to leave the film here and someone will pick it up. They’ll come after me at seven in the morning.”
She took the sack of film from Jones, bounded off her horse, and took it inside. In minutes, she was back and in the saddle. They rode back to Jones’s place. Totally weary, they dropped off their horses. The two-day hard ride back from the ranch had them worn out, as well as the horses. After the animals were unsaddled, fed, and put up, they dropped in their own beds, him and Alma in the tent, and Jones in his jacal.
Up before dawn, she cooked him some oatmeal and he shaved. Over his dress clothes—Levi’s and white shirt—he wore a flannel-lined jumper and put on his best hat. She rode into town with him to bring the horse back.
Mark kissed her goodbye, not knowing when he’d be back.
“You be careful.” She waved goodbye.
“That your wife?”
He nodded. No need to explain. She might as well be—hell, she was his real wife. If that last cheating woman of his had filed for a divorce, he should be free to marry her soon. Somehow, he doubted it though. She had probably blown the money he paid her. He might ought to’ve killed her.
Sam had things about the ranch all over the office, and his conference table was dotted with the photos. Mark looked at them, amazed. How in the world did he have them all developed overnight?
Sam shook his hand. “You look alive.”
“I’m fine. Still in a whirl, but fine.”
“You found their vehicles. You think they’ll run?”
“We’d need tires, rubber hoses, batteries, and a tune up. I bet they’d run well. They haven’t been used much.”
“Good. The cattle are there?”
“Oh, yes. Lots of bulls. Big ones.”
“We have a partner who wants to fatten them.”
“They’re wild. Haven’t been handled, but they’ll settle down.”
“How will you tame them again?”
“Make yokes and hitch them. They’ll settle down fast-hitched to another steer.”
“Good. Thursday, we settle the sale up at his office.”
“Good. It’s a real buy.”
“I doubt that anyone else would have tackled it. You have a mind for these kinds of deals.”
“It sure isn’t an office job.” Excitement for the deal built fast, and he felt a lot like a whirling dervish. Spinning like crazy.
It must’ve shown, ’cause Sam laughed and held up a picture of him and Alma. “Is this your wife?”
“Yes.”
“She like the place?”
“Loves it.”
“Good. I can see it in her smile. I can’t wait to go see this ranch of ours. You have help?”
“We left one fellow up there. Our guide. Long story. My man is hiring more today. He’s also buying some more horses.” How odd it felt, calling Jones “my man.” Like a real ranch boss or something.
“They tell me they can get those bulldozers to somewhere close west of the ranch. I have some diesel tanks and an old pickup for you to use over there until we can get that other one running.”
“Until they come with the Cat, we’ll work on roundup.”
“That sounds good. Have a seat. You can stay in town for a few nights, or you can take one of my cars back and forth to Lehi.”
“I can drive back and forth, if you have a car I can use.”
“Good. I may have a party at my house, and you can tell my friends all about the ranch.”
“Whatever you want.” Things were moving so fast he wasn’t sure he could keep up. Influence Sam’s friends? It would matter for what was coming. Hard to believe his life had gone into high gear like this all of a sudden.
“Would your girl like to attend it?”
“I don’t know, but I can ask her.” Would it matter to him if she was an Indian? He hoped not, ’cause that might cause some trouble between him and Sam.
“I didn’t mean anything.”
“I know, but Alma is well-spoken and a very sweet person. I’d be sure she has a suitable dress.”
“Good. We don’t need money invested in this ranch project, but I have others who might want to be partners in the next project we find.”
Mark relaxed a bit. Sam was an expansive man. He simply wanted more profitable deals all the time. They went to lunch at the Mesa Country Club and he met some other men who were bankers and investors. They knew Sam had a project underway and that he would soon tell everyone his plans. But Sam kept it under wraps and they ate lunch in the glassed-in dining room looking off the hill at the Salt River Valley and the small town of Lehi.
After lunch, Sam took him by his large sprawling house and gave him the keys to his older Lincoln coupe.
“We’ll meet at the office at eight.” Sam left him to drive back to Jones’s.
Back at the jacal, Mark spun the Lincoln to a skidding stop, kicking up debris. Alma ran out of her wall tent, stopped short beside the car. Ran her fingers over the dusty fender. Then she hurried to hug him when he climbed out.
Jones came over and admired it. “Fancy car.”
“I’m simply borrowing it.”
“I didn’t figure you bought it to drive to the ranch,” he laughed.
“It ain’t high enough off the ground to make it. But our bulldozer is coming to build a road.”
Jones shook his head. “Our bulldozer, huh? I ride horses, not tractors.”
Amused, he laughed. “Have you found any help?”
“Two good boys that can ride and rope. They will help us. I told them we have to build corrals and such too, so they know what the job takes.”
“Good. We’ll see you later.” He turned to her, hugging Alma’s shoulder.
They went to their tent and she closed the flap when they were inside. The sun had warmed the structure. He held her, kissing her on the nose and then the lips. She began unbuttoning the blouse she wore, smiling at him as she did. He toed off his boots.
Later, he told her about Sam’s plans. “
He’s having a party at his house when we close the deal. You’re invited. We may have to buy you a dress.”
She paused, looking up at him. “I don’t have to go.”
“Yes, you will. I’m not ashamed of you. In the future, you’ll be my wife when she gets her divorce. I can afford to buy you a dress and you’re not a tobacco store Indian maid. You dressed like the others in school.”
She was silent for a moment. “When Jeff was killed, I went back to the reservation ways and dressed like a squaw. How you need me to dress for this party, I will do it. It will be different at the ranch when I work.” She smiled, then laughed at his expression of mirth.
He hugged her. “You’re a strong woman and I love you.”
They slept in each other’s arms until late afternoon.
Over the next few days, the ranch sale was closed. While Mark handled the business in Phoenix, Jones and the two new-hires took a pack train up to set up more of their needs.
He told her later about their day in the lawyer’s office up in Mayer when they closed the buyout.
The HC Brand went with the ranch, as well, plus all the branded and unbranded animals in the vicinity of the deeded land. They would have the car, tractor, and truck titles, plus all the remaining furniture and horse tack, as well as water rights to the Verde River that Sam’s lawyers found for them. When they were through making the sale, some cowboy cooked prime steaks out at the lawyer’s ranch house and they celebrated.
“So, this is the man found that place for you?” Hall asked, more than a little full of good whiskey by this point.
“Yeah, Mark found it. And he’s the man going to get it back in shape. Tell me who offered you more money after we made the deal.”
“Neal Gipson. Lives up there. Wanted it for his boy. First, he tried to steal it. After he learned it had been sold, he offered more money. Tried to break the deal by raising the bid. He never wanted to give anything for it, but when he heard you’d bought it he had a walleyed fit.”
Mark nodded. No surprise. He kept what he knew about the son to himself, though, hoping the kid didn’t cause trouble.
“Well, we have work to do. We better get back to Phoenix. Thanks again.” Mark shook Sam’s hand.
Sam’s man drove them back to Mesa. Mark parted and took the Lincoln back to Lehi. Jones had already gone back to the ranch with the two boys, Carlos and Byran Brown, so he didn’t share their excitement, but they had a big time.
“The deed lists me as part-owner of the ranch.” Mark whooped and swung Alma around as they danced in the yard. She was as high as he was and had had nothing to drink. The next day, they went back to the ranch on horseback, so they missed Sam’s party. While she was willing to go, she was also relieved. They were returning to the ranch again and he could hardly contain his excitement.
The cattle business proved wild and Western. He used clamps—a large wooden handled steel tool—on the bulls. The clamps bloodlessly cut off the hormones to their body and their masculinity, something Mark learned in FFA in high school. But bulls had to be fore-footed or in a squeeze chute to do it. They roped, branded them, and clamped off their balls. It wasn’t easy work—most of the stag bulls were over twelve hundred pounds. They only found a few aged purebred bulls left alive that Hancock had bought years earlier. They left them, though Sam was looking for new ones to replace the inbreeding going on in the cowherd.
—
THE DAY WAS SET UP for the dozers to arrive. Mark had ridden over to the Bumble Bee side the day before to meet them. It proved to be cold with light snow, so Alma stayed home. He used a tent and had lots of bedding on his packhorse. The dozer didn’t get there until late afternoon and the driver, Frank Roe, started the dozer he brought with the starter engine. He wasn’t bringing the other over until the following week. It was fine with Mark. Frank could unload that one by himself. Mark had a road to clear. Once unloaded, he cleared off a place with the dozer for the man to turn his truck and trailer around. He offered him supper, but the driver was anxious to get back home that night.
Mark ran the dozer for a few hours, clearing a dry wash crossing and starting up the next mountain portion that was so washed out. He slept the night in his tent. At dawn, he made coffee, ate tortillas wrapped around cold beans and bacon that Alma had sent along, and worked another day on the road. With the clack of the tracks and him working the cable lifting the blade up and down with a lever over his head, the job went slow and the Cat used a fifty-gallon barrel of diesel fuel a day. Jones and Alma rode over on horseback to see how it was going. He told them in less than a week he’d be at the house at his current progress.
She stayed with him and Jones took the horses back. They moved the camp closer to the end of the road. Two days later, they made it to the ranch and the road was smooth enough to drive over. Mark and Alma drove to Prescott to call Sam and tell him he could drive up. They took some barrels along in the old pickup to carry fuel in.
Mark called from a phone at the oil supply company. “You can drive up, but don’t expect conveniences. We don’t have indoor toilets, lights, or running water.”
Sam laughed and promised to be there. The two of them went back to the ranch, and they took a bath in a galvanized tub to get rid of the diesel smell that had saturated them.
“I’m glad you can stand me smelling like a gallon of diesel.” He shaved in a smoky mirror and she bathed in the same water she had scrubbed him in earlier—with some more hot water added.
“I didn’t smell much better, so I couldn’t tell.”
“I guess you better get ready to meet Sam. He’ll be up here tomorrow.”
“I’ll wear a skirt and blouse.”
“Good. Not that I am upset, but I want you to fit in my world.”
“I won’t lose you by being a squaw.”
“Oh, my.” He glanced back and smiled.
—
CALEB DROVE SAM OUT. THEY arrived in his late-model Lincoln, covered with a layer of thick dust from the road. Sam crawled out wearing an overcoat and beat his britches leg with a snap-brim hat. “Nice job on the road,” he said to Mark, turning to face Alma. “This must be Alma.”
“Yes, I am. I am glad to meet you, sir.”
Mark beamed.
“You people are real pioneers.” Sam shook his head, swinging around to see the mountains that hemmed it in. “Can we start hauling out cattle?”
“We can finish the loading chute, and I guess taking cattle out with bob trucks will work. I’d like you to use my friend Noah Gaines for some of it. He saved my life on a hauling deal.”
“I’ll do that. I know and like him. Late Evans down at Chandler is set up to sort them. He wants to feed the thin ones. Late is a good cattle trader. I’ve talked with him about his part and he explained how he’d divide them. He would sell the cull cows and broken-down bulls to a butcher who uses them in lunchmeat. The younger ones will be fed and sent to packers. The market for beef is good.”
“My friend, Noah Grimes, who hauled the horses for us, is in consideration?”
“Yes, Grimes even bought another truck and he’s our trucker. Let’s start shipping next week. Evans can split them up down there. Can he haul two dozen head per truck?”
“Maybe less of those big bulls.” Mark held the front door open for him.
Sam nodded and stepped inside, looking around at the progress they’d made on the house. “Looks good in here. You’ve done a good job.” He glanced from Alma back to Mark. “I’m concerned about the young calves that need to be weaned.”
“Do you have pasture down there for them?”
“Evans mentioned a man down by Tucson who would take them on shares.”
He and Sam took seats on the wooden kitchen chairs.
Alma brought them coffee. “I’m sorry. I have only canned milk, no cream.”
“Alma, it sure won’t matter to me.” Sam smiled. “I know this isn’t New York City, but you’re making yourselves a fine place here.”
Ca
ught up in the excitement, they all laughed.
“I think we should haul off all the older cattle we can and get them off this range,” Mark said. “They eat the most, and if we can get three runs a week out of here, we’d dent them fast. I don’t know if the boys and I can even round them up that fast. But we can tell the truckers when we will have more cattle. We also need them to bring up some baled hay to feed our horses and cattle that are held in the pens.”
“I’ll have them haul it in next week when they come for the first loads. Did you hear anything out of the Gipsons?”
“No, but I’ll tell you about that son.” Mark explained about him shooting at Jones and having that bridle on his horse.
“You did the right thing. He better count his lucky stars you didn’t shoot him.”
“I’m trying to get over killing people.” Mark stood when Jones came in the room. “This man is Dirty Shirt Jones, my foreman. This is Sam.”
“How are you?” Jones put out his hand. “You fly in?”
They all laughed, and Alma brought him coffee.
“Well, Mister Jones, how do you like things up here?”
“Fine, but you just call me Jones. There is too much work up here and if it wasn’t on horseback, I wouldn’t stay here.”
Sam laughed aloud. “Nothing like getting things straight at the start.”
The plan was to haul out all the old cows and bulls first. By law, they had to be branded to transport them and also brand inspected. They planned to do that at Evan’s Chandler ranch with a permit from the state brand inspector’s office, since it was so far out to the ranch for their man to travel up there each time. Things went smoothly.
—
MARK RE-GRADED THE ROAD IN two days and they were ready for the trucks by following Wednesday. When Noah stepped down out of his rig that first morning, he shook Mark’s hand.
“I sure appreciate you getting me this business, Mark. Guess we’ll be busy.”
Blue Roan Colt Page 9
