Along the Trail to Freedom

by John Duncklee

  Another man appeared quickly and gathered three legs in order to tie them together with a short rope called a "piggin' string"." It was then that the roper clucked his horse forward and Billy loosened the reata so that the roper could build another loop and snare another calf to brand.

  Billy enjoyed the work that lasted until sundown when all the branded calves were back with their mothers. The few that were left got to be with their mothers but they were still confined in the corrals to be worked on the following morning. Billy joined the others as they walked to the bunkhouse to get ready for supper.

  Billy was amazed at the amount of food that had been placed on the long table. There were two platters full of beefsteak, a platter of pork chops, three large serving dishes full of beans and two dishes of peas and carrots. As the platters were passed around the table each cowboy helped himself to the number of steaks that he knew he could devour after a hard day's work. Then the rest of the serving dishes made their way around and soon the large dishes in front of the men were filled up. The serving dishes found places in the middle of the table and conversation stopped abruptly as the men began to eat.

  Finished with the sumptuous meal, the men left for the bunkhouse. Instead of following the others, Billy meandered toward the corrals. He still felt too much like a newcomer to join the rest of the Sopori crew in bunkhouse conversation, so he went over to the corral, leaned against it and rolled a cigarette. He watched the cattle mill around at his presence. Even the cattle know I'm a new hand. When will I be accepted here as just another cowboy? Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to find Juan Elias' daughter walking toward him, coming from what the hands called 'The Big House', where the owner and his family lived. Billy turned quickly back to the corral, but the girl continued until she stopped next to him.

  "What would your father say to you talkin' to one of his cowboys?" Billy asked.

  "I really don't care what he would say," she said in a tone that gave Billy the impression that she didn't get along too well with her father. ""Besides, my father is not here. He went into town. Where are you from, Billy?"

  "I started on a farm near Charlotte, North Carolina," he said. "Right now I reckon I'm from here."

  "What is life like in North Carolina?" she asked, trying to make conversation.

  "Hot in summer and humid. A feller sweats all the time, even at night. The winters ain't bad, though."

  "Do you like being a cowboy?"

  "So far I reckon it's all right. I've been doin' it for quite a spell. I saw you ridin' today. Do you work with the cattle?"

  "I do sometimes, but my father thinks it is unlady-like. My father thinks a lot of things I do are unlady-like, but I don't care what he thinks."

  Their conversation continued with the two young people getting to know one another until darkness began to obscure the countryside and Billy excused himself and returned to the bunkhouse. He went directly to his bed, saying nothing to any of the others. But he stayed awake with María's words on his mind. She had told him that she would come down to the corrals to see him whenever her father had gone into Tucson. As he reclined on his back with his eyes still open, Billy pictured María in his mind and compared her to Angela at the Lucky Dollar. I wonder why I thought Angela was good looking. Compared to María, Angela is a mud fence!

  The following morning after breakfast as the cowboys gathered for a smoke outside the kitchen, Toby Masters, one of the hands, took Bill aside to talk to him.

  "I'm Toby. I heard someone call you Billy so I will if that's all right with you," Toby said.

  "Suits me," Billy said.

  "I noticed you talking to María, the boss' daughter, down at the corrals after supper and I think you need to know a little about her."

  "She seems like a likeable sort to me," Billy said.

  "Oh, she's likeable for sure, but if her old man sees her talking to you, you'll be on your way back in Tucson as soon as you can saddle a horse to get there. He has got a set idea that there is no cowboy in the world good enough for his precious daughter."

  "She sounded like she and her old man don't exactly get along together," Billy said.

  "Mark my words, Billy, how she gets along with Papa means nothing when it comes to Papa's protective stand. If you want to keep your job, tell her you can't talk to her."

  "Thanks, Toby," Billy said. "I'll keep that in mind."

  They went to get their gear from the barn to start the day's work in the corral with the remnants of the calves that needed attention. By mid afternoon, they had finished with the calves and opened the corral gates so that cows and calves could "mother-up" and head out to familiar parts of the ranch to graze and heal. The straw boss ordered all the cowboys to ride out and start gathering the cattle from the farthest western country and put what they found in a holding pasture next to another set of corrals.

  The men saddled their horses and rode toward the west, some grumbling that there wasn't enough time to get anything started and they wouldn't get back to headquarters until after dark. Billy listened to their complaints as they rode out together as a crew. The straw boss caught up with them within a mile of the ranch headquarters, and rode with them. The grumbling stopped when the grizzled old cowboy joined them riding his powerful looking appaloosa gelding.

  They had ridden five miles before they came to the first cow and calf pair with no brand or earmark on the calf. "All right, you men," the straw boss said. ""Spread out and we'll make one sweep before dark."

  The cowboys rode away from the boss and every two hundred yards or so one of them would rein in his horse and wait while the others rode to take their positions. Billy was the last rider to make the string on the right hand side of the sweep pattern. Once he was in position he looked back and saw the riders begin to ride forward to the west. Billy's position had him close to a large arroyo that meandered down slope. He figured it was the same arroyo that ran near the headquarters. As he rode, Billy thought about Homer and Gus, and tried to imagine how their lives were turning out, and if they felt free.

  The sweep turned up close to a hundred head of cattle. Many were cow/calf pairs, but there were also some yearling and two-year-old steers. Once the cattle were inside the holding pasture, the boss called out that it was time to head for home. Darkness settled over the land before they had ridden a mile. Billy wondered if María would be waiting for him at the headquarter corrals.

  Chapter Eleven

  Billy had liked being a cowboy at the Sopori, but he had fallen completely in love with María. They had been fortunate that their clandestine meetings had not been discovered. But, both were getting impatient to be able to live together.

  Billy and María enjoyed each other's company a lot while her father, Juan Elias, spent time in Tucson. As soon as her father left for town, María sought out Billy wherever he might be on the vast rangelands of Rancho del Sopori. They were both careful to not arouse suspicion that they had fallen in love among the other cowboys and especially with the foreman. Billy had been a Sopori cowboy for almost a year when they had met during the spring gather near the west boundary of what was considered by most as "The Grant"." They had made secret plans to meet in an old linecamp that was no longer used. When the straw boss dismissed the hands that evening, Billy didn't unsaddle his horse. Instead he slipped away and rode less than a mile to the line shack where María waited for him. Dismounting hurriedly, Billy rushed into her arms, holding her closely and kissing her lips passionately. She returned the same feelings toward him. When they had freed themselves of the initial happiness at being together alone they sat down on the two old wooden chairs that had been left behind when the place became empty.

  "Billy, I have been thinking about us all the time lately," she said, putting her hand on his neck above his shirt collar. "Father spent more time than usual at the ranch and I couldn't help yearning to see you and be with you. I think we need to run away from this place and find a life of our own. I know my father would never consent to u
s getting married and he would do everything he could to keep us apart including sending you away as far as he could."

  "I know what you mean, my beautiful one," Billy said. "I agree that it would be wonderful for us to be together and make our own life together, but where could we go to do that?" Where could we go so that I could make a living to support us? And, we must also think about children someday."

  "I have thought about all of that, Billy. We can go to Sonora in Mexico. I have an aunt who lives in a nice village called Tubutama. Rosa is my mother's sister and she would never tell about us to anyone that might tell my father where we were. I trust her completely."

  "What can I do for work in Tubutama?" Billy asked.

  "I have thought all that out, too," she said. "I know where my father keeps a large number of gold coins. I will take those gold coins with us and we will have enough for a good start. There are probably enough in the sacks to buy a ranch down there."

  "Taking his gold would really send him into a tantrum. He would most likely hunt us down as soon as he found out."

  "I look at it this way, Billy. My father has treated me like some sort of possession all my life. I can do nothing without his permission. He has been rough with me because I have rebelled against a lot of his wishes. I remember well the bruises he has put on me. He has done the same to my mother. We have had long talks together, she and me. I know a lot more than I probably should know about my father. My mother also found out that he goes to Tucson a lot because he has a sweetie there. He doesn't know that my mother knows about that. Who knows what he would do to me if he knew that I know all about that?"

  She got up from the chair and came over to sit on Billy's lap. "You really have thought about all this stuff, haven't you?" Billy said.

  "I am glad you can tell that I have been planning things well."

  "Since you have given all this so much thought, when and how do you think we should run away?"

  "Here's what I have planned," she said. "Father should be back from town in a few days because of the spring gather. He needs to know the numbers so he can look for a buyer for the steers. Once the straw boss gives him the count, he will hightail it back to town to try to sell the steers and see his little sweetie at the same time. I have known him to spend at least two weeks in town when he is trying to sell the steers. That will give us plenty of time to get out of here and across the border into Sonora. Tubutama is only a day's ride from the border if we start early."

  Billy kissed her. "As you have been telling me all this I have been thinking that the sooner your father goes to Tucson to sell his steers, the better off we will both be. I have told you many times that I do not feel comfortable working here with a boss like him."

  "So, you agree with me?"

  "Absolutely. And, I love you, María Elinora."

  "I love you, too, my cowboy."

  Three days later, Juan Elias returned to Rancho Sopori. Billy saw him at the corrals in conversation with the straw boss. Billy assumed the ranch owner was listening to the head count of the steers that were of sellable age. Billy wanted to get closer to hear the conversation, but decided that the more obscure he remained, the better. He also knew that María would find out his plans easily, and hopefully not giving her father reason to suspect that she had some devious plan. The following morning Billy watched from the corrals where he was saddling his horse for the day's riding as Juan Elias took his saddled horse from the foreman, mounted the blood bay gelding and rode off on the road to Tucson.

  Billy knew, by the fact that he rode a saddle horse to town, that the ranch owner was avoiding taking his wife. Otherwise he would have been using the buggy.

  Juan Elias was not a mile down the road when María came from the "Big House" to the corrals. She spotted Billy and motioned him to join her.

  "Try not to look like we are lovers. I just wanted to tell you to come out here after sunset and get ready to saddle one of my horses. Mine are better than any of the ranch horses. Nobody can accuse you of being a horse-thief if I give you one of mine. I will lead the horse down here, you can get him saddled as quickly as possible, and then we can head south to be away from this prison. Make sure you have everything you want to take with us because we will not be coming back here, maybe forever."

  "That sounds wonderful," Billy said. "I would love to kiss you right now, but one of these cowboys would surely see us. I will meet you tonight on the far side of the corrals where I will have my saddle and other stuff ready."

  "All right, my cowboy, we will be together soon."

  She started to walk back to the "Big House" as casually as she could, but changed directions toward the stables to get her tack ready for the trip south.

  After supper, Billy went down to the corrals where he got his saddle ready for the ride. Darkness of night began flooding the landscape, and soon he heard María arrive leading both her horse and the one she was giving him. He had a fleeting thought of being glad that his woman was not only beautiful, but also an excellent hand with horses. She whispered to him. He quickly saddled the blue roan mare, mounted and saw her mount her dappled gray gelding. They rode their horses at a walk away from the ranch headquarters being careful to whisper instead of talking in a normal tone that might be heard. After crossing the Sopori Arroyo, they found the trail that would take them into the Altar Valley and through the vast Buenos Aires Land Grant into Sonora. When they were a mile away from headquarters, María reined up beside Billy.

  "We made it without anyone seeing us," she said. "They won't miss us until morning and even then there is nothing they can do. My father is in town so he cannot give any orders to the cowboys."

  "From what you told me, we should cross into Mexico tomorrow sometime," Billy said.

  "We should get there in the afternoon, but then we have to find a place where the fence is either down or broken enough to collapse the rest of the way."

  "I brought a pair of pliers just for that purpose," Billy said. "If it wasn't so dark I would show them to you."

  "Good," she replied. "You brought pliers and I brought gold!"

  "How did you manage to get it?"

  "I must tell you this." she said. "My mother knows all about this. I had to tell her in order to get the gold that my father hid under the floor in their bedroom. There's a trap door and underneath is a compartment where he put the bags of gold coin. My mother is on my side and will not reveal anything to my father. She told me that she wishes that she were going with us."

  "It sounds all right to me as long as we can count on your mother not giving in to your father's anger when he finds out his gold is gone. From what you have told me about him, he probably thinks more of his gold than he does his wife and daughter."

  "You are very perceptive for a cowboy, Billy. I guess that's one of the reasons I love you."

  They continued riding through the night, resting the horses now and then at the waterholes along the trail.

  At daybreak they reined up after crossing a small arroyo that drained a vast extent of grassland. "It's time for some carne seca," María said. "You people call it 'jerky'.'" They had been riding through grassland almost all the way since leaving the Sopori headquarters. She had heard all of her life how this part of the world was the best cow country of any because of the grasslands. There were a few mesquite trees and other brush along the arroyos, but in-between there was a grassland supporting a wide variety of grasses that cattlemen in the area held in high esteem for raising cows and calves. This was especially true because the mild climate never made it necessary to feed the herds expensive hay during the winter.

  The trail south was easy to follow. After finishing a handful of carne seca they rode further south until suddenly, beyond an arroyo they had crossed, they came to blackened grassland. "Must have been a range fire here recently," María said. "This stuff burns every so often, and afterwards the grasses come up nice and green and beautiful. The fires keep the brush from invading the grassland."

  "I see tha
t some of the clumps have a little green on them already," Billy said.

  The blackened grassland lasted until a bit past the boundary fence between Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. The fire had burned up the wooden posts so that the barbed wire hung uselessly from some posts that were not completely consumed by the fire. Other strands of wire were flat on the ground.

  Billy dismounted and with his pliers, bound the strands that lay spread out on the ground tightly together with a piece of broken wire he had found nearby. He did this so that the horses would not get tangled in the wire when they stepped over it into Sonora. He led his horse over the wire and María followed, riding. "Well," she said. "We made it this far. There's only a day's riding left. We can stay with Miguel and Sara Soto in Saric tonight and then get to Tubutama the next day around noontime."

  "Sounds good to me," Billy said. "Who are these people in Saric?"

  "The Sotos are friends of my aunt. Sara and my aunt grew up together in Tubutama."

  They came to the Altar River, reined up in the middle of the stream as they were crossing, and let their horses have a long drink before proceeding.

  On the south side of the river they followed a well-used trail that meandered with the river. At one point the trail veered off toward the hills, where the trail stopped and joined a wagon road. "Where did this road come from?" Billy asked.