The Floating Outfit 27

by J. T. Edson

  Having proven himself to be a first class cowhand, Dusty went on to become acknowledged as a very competent trail boss, 91 roundup captain, 92 and town taming lawman. 93 Competing in the first Cochise County Fair in Arizona, against a number of well known exponents of very rapid drawing and accurate shooting with revolvers, he won the title, The Fastest Gun In The West’. 94 In later years, following his marriage to Lady Winifred Amelia ‘Freddie Woods’ Besgrove-Woodstone, 95 he became a noted diplomat.

  Dusty never found his lack of stature an impediment to his achievements. In fact, he occasionally found it helped him to achieve a purpose. 96 To supplement his natural strength, 97 also perhaps with a desire to distract attention from his small size, he had taught himself to be completely ambidextrous. 98 Possessing perfectly attuned reflexes, he could draw either, or both, his Colts—whether the 1860 Army Model, 99 or their improved ‘descendant’, the fabled 1873 Model ‘Peacemaker’ 100 —with lightning speed and shoot most accurately. Furthermore, Ole Devil Hardin’s ‘valet’, Tommy Okasi, was Japanese and a trained Samurai warrior. 101 From him, as was the case with the General’s ‘granddaughter’, Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Hardin, 102 103 Dusty learned ju-jitsu and Karate. Neither form of unarmed combat had received the publicity they would be given in later years and were little known in the Western Hemisphere at that time. Therefore, Dusty found the knowledge useful when he had to fight with bare hands against larger, heavier and stronger men.

  Appendix Two

  With his exceptional good looks and magnificent physical development, 104 105 106 107 Mark Counter presented the kind of appearance many people expected of a man with the reputation gained by his amigo, Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog. It was a fact of which they took advantage when the need arose. 108 On one occasion, it was also the cause of the blond giant being subjected to a murder attempt although the Rio Hondo gun Wizard was the intended victim. 109

  While serving as a lieutenant under the command of General Bushrod Sheldon in the War Between the States, Mark’s merits as an efficient and courageous officer had been overshadowed by his unconventional taste in uniforms. Always something of a dandy, coming from a wealthy family had allowed him to indulge in his whims. Despite considerable opposition and disapproval from hide-bound senior officers, his adoption of a ‘skirtless’ tunic in particular has come to be much copied by the other rich young bloods of the Confederate States’ Army. 110 Similarly in later years, having received an independent income through the will of a maiden aunt, 111 his taste in attire had dictated what the well dressed cowhand from Texas would wear to be in fashion.

  When peace had come between the North and the South, Mark had accompanied Sheldon to fight for Emperor Maximilian in Mexico. There he had met Dusty Fog and the Ysabel Kid. On returning with them to Texas, he had received an offer to join the floating outfit of the OD Connected ranch. Knowing his two older brothers could help his father, Big Ranse, to run the family’s R Over C ranch in the Big Bend country—and considering life would be more enjoyable and exciting in the company of his two amigos—he accepted.

  An expert cowhand, Mark had become known as Dusty’s right bower. 112 He had also gained acclaim by virtue of his enormous strength. Among other feats, it was told how he used a tree-trunk in the style of a Scottish caber to dislodge outlaws from a cabin in which they had forted up, 113 and broke the neck of a Texas longhorn steer with his bare hands. 114 He had acquired further fame for his ability at bare handed roughhouse brawling. However, due to spending so much time in the company of the Rio Hondo gun wizard, his full potential as a gunfighter received little attention. Nevertheless, men who were competent to judge such matters stated that he was second only to the small Texan when it came to drawing fast and shooting accurately with a brace of long barreled Colt revolvers. 115

  Many women found Mark irresistible, including Martha ‘Calamity Jane’ Canary. 116 117 However, in his younger days, only one—the lady outlaw, Belle Starr—held his heart. 118 119 120 It was not until several years after her death that he courted and married Dawn Sutherland, who he had first met on the trail drive taken by Colonel Charles Goodnight to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. 121 The discovery of oil on their ranch brought an added wealth to them and this commodity now forms the major part of the present members of the family’s income. 122

  Recent biographical details we have received from the current head of the family, Andrew Mark ‘Big Andy’ Counter, establish that Mark was descended on his mother’s side from Sir Reginald Front de Boeuf, notorious as lord of Torquilstone Castle in Medieval England 123 and who lived up to the family motto, Cave Adsum. 124 However, although a maternal aunt and her son, Jessica and Trudeau Front de Boeuf, behaved in a way which suggested they had done so, 125 the blond giant had not inherited the very unsavory character and behavior of his ancestor.

  Appendix Three

  Raven Head, only daughter of Chief Long Walker, war leader of the Pehnane—Wasp, Quick Stinger, Raider—Comanche’s Dog Soldier lodge and his French Creole pairaivo, 126 married an Irish-Kentuckian adventurer, Big Sam Ysabel, but died giving birth to their first child.

  Baptized ‘Loncey Dalton Ysabel’, the boy was raised after the fashion of the Nemenuh. 127 With his father away from the camp for much of the time, engaged upon the family’s combined businesses of mustanging—catching and breaking wild horses 128 —and smuggling, his education had largely been left in the hands of his maternal grandfather. 129 From Long Walker, he learned all those things a Comanche warrior must know: how to ride the wildest freshly caught mustang, or make a trained animal subservient to his will while ‘raiding’—a polite name for the favorite pastime of the male Nemenuh, stealing horses—to follow the faintest tracks and just as effectively conceal signs of his own passing; 130 to locate hidden enemies, or keep out of sight himself when the need arose; to move in silence on the darkest of nights, or through the thickest cover; to know the ways of wild creatures 131 and, in some cases, imitate their calls so well that others of their kind were fooled. 132

  The boy proved a most excellent pupil at all the subjects. Nor were practical means of protecting himself forgotten. Not only did he learn to use all the traditional weapons of the Comanche, 133 when he had come into the possession of firearms, he had inherited his father’s Kentuckian skill at shooting with rifle and, while not real fast on the draw—taking slightly over a second to bring his Colt Second Model of 1848 Dragoon revolver and fire, wheras a tophand could practically halve that time—he could perform passably with it. Furthermore, he won his Nemenuh ‘man-name’, Cuchilo, Spanish for ‘Knife’, by his exceptional ability at wielding one. In fact, it was claimed by those best qualified to judge that he could equal the alleged designer in performing with the massive and special type of blade which bore the name of Colonel James Bowie. 134 135 136 137

  Joining his father in smuggling expeditions along the Rio Grande, the boy became known to the Mexicans of the border country as Cabrito—the Spanish name for a young goat—a nickname which arose out of hearing white men refer to him as the ‘Ysabel Kid’, but it was spoken very respectfully in that context. Smuggling was not an occupation to attract the meek and mild of manner, yet even the roughest and toughest of the bloody border’s denizens came to acknowledge it did not pay to rile up Big Sam Ysabel’s son. The education received by the Kid had not been calculated to develop any over-inflated belief in the sanctity of human life. When crossed, he dealt with the situation like a Pehnane Dog Soldier—to which war lodge of savage and most efficient warriors he had earned initiation—swiftly and in an effectively deadly manner.

  During the War Between the States, the Kid and his father had commenced by riding as scouts for Colonel John Singleton ‘the Gray Ghost’ Mosby. Soon, however, their specialized knowledge and talents were diverted to having them collect and deliver to the Confederate States’ authorities in Texas supplies which had been purchased in Mexico, or run through the blockade by the United States’ Navy into Matamoros. It was ha
rd and dangerous work, 138 but never more so than the two occasions when they became engaged in assignments with Belle ‘the Rebel Spy’ Boyd. 139

  Soon after the War ended, Sam Ysabel was murdered. While hunting down the killers, the Kid met Captain Dustine Edward Marsden ‘Dusty’ Fog and Mark Counter. When the mission upon which they were engaged was brought to its successful conclusion, learning the Kid no longer wished to go on either smuggling or mustanging, the small Texan offered him employment at the OD Connected ranch. It had been in the capacity as scout rather than ordinary cowhand that he was required and his talents in that field were frequently of the greatest use as a member of the floating outfit.

  The acceptance of the job by the Kid was of the greatest benefit all around. Dusty acquired another loyal friend who was ready to stick to him through any kind of peril. The ranch obtained the services of an extremely capable and efficient fighting man. For his part, the Kid was turned from a life of petty crime—with the ever present danger of having his illicit activities develop into serious law breaking—and became a useful and law abiding member of society. Peace officers and honest citizens might have found cause to feel grateful for that. His Nemenuh upbringing would have made him a terrible and murderous outlaw if he had been driven into a life of violent crime.

  Obtaining his first repeating rifle—a Winchester Model of 1866, although at first known as the ‘New Improved Henry’, nicknamed the ‘Old Yellowboy’ because of its brass frame—while in Mexico with Dusty and Mark, the Kid had soon become an expert in its use. At the First Cochise County Fair in Arizona, despite circumstances compelling him to use a weapon with which he was not familiar, 140 he won the first prize in the rifle shooting competition against stiff opposition. The prize was one of the legendary Winchester Model of 1873 rifles which qualified for the honored designation, ‘One Of A Thousand’. 141

  It was, in part, through the efforts of the Kid that the majority of the Comanche bands agreed to go on the reservation, following attempts to ruin the signing of the treaty. 142 It was to a large extent due to his efforts that the outlaw town of Hell was located and destroyed. 143 Aided by Annie ‘Is.-A-Man’ Singing Bear—a girl of mixed parentage who gained the distinction of becoming accepted as a Nemenuh warrior 144 —he played a major part in preventing the attempted theft of Morton Lewis’ ranch provoking trouble with the Kweharehnuh Comanche. 145 To help a young man out of difficulties caused by a gang of card cheats, he teamed up with the lady outlaw, Belle Starr. 146 When he accompanied Martha ‘Calamity Jane’ Canary to inspect a ranch she had inherited, they became involved in as dangerous a situation as either had ever faced. 147

  Remaining at the OD Connected ranch until he, Dusty and Mark met their deaths whilst on a hunting trip to Kenya shortly after the turn of the century, his descendants continued to be associated with the Hardin, Fog and Blaze clan and the Counter family. 148

  Appendix Four

  Left an orphan almost from birth by an Indian raid and acquiring the only name he knew from the tribe involved, 149 Waco was raised as one of a North Texas rancher’s large family. 150 Guns were always part of his life and his sixteenth birthday saw him riding with the tough, ‘wild onion’ crew of Clay Allison. Like their employer, the CA cowhands were notorious for their wild and occasionally dangerous behavior. Living in the company of such men, all older than himself, the youngster had become quick to take offence and well able, eager even, to prove he could draw his revolvers with lightning speed and shoot very accurately. It had seemed only a matter of time before one shootout too many would see him branded as a killer and fleeing from the law with a price on his head.

  Fortunately for Waco and—as was the case with the Ysabel Kid—law abiding citizens, that day did not come!

  From the moment Dusty Fog saved the youngster's life during a cattle stampede, at some considerable risk to his own, a change for the better had commenced. 151 Leaving Allison, with the blessing of the Washita curly wolf, Waco had become a member of the OD Connected ranch’s floating outfit. The other members of that elite group treated him like a favorite younger brother and taught him many useful lessons. Instruction in bare handed combat was provided by Mark Counter. The Kid showed him how to read tracks and other secrets of the scout’s trade. From a friend who was a professional gambler, Frank Derringer, 152 had come information about the ways of honest and dishonest followers of his chosen field of endeavor. However, it was from the Rio Hondo gun wizard that the most important advice had come. When, he already knew well enough how, to shoot. Dusty had also supplied training which, helped by an inborn flair for deductive reasoning, turned him into a peace officer of exceptional merit. After serving in other official capacities, 153 then with the Arizona Rangers 154 —in the company of Marvin Eldridge ‘Doc’ Leroy 155 —and as sheriff of Two Forks County, Utah, 156 he was eventually appointed a United States’ marshal. 157

  Appendix Five

  Throughout the years we have been writing, we have frequently received letters asking for various terms we employ to be explained in greater detail. While we do not have the slightest objection to such correspondence and always reply, we have found it saves much time consuming repetition to include those most frequently requested in each new title. We ask our ‘old hands’, who have seen these items many times in the past, to remember there are always ‘new chums’ coming along who have not and to bear with us.

  1. We strongly suspect the trend in movies and television series made since the mid-1950’s wherein all cowhands are portrayed as heavily bearded, long haired and filthy arose less from a desire on the part of the productions companies to create ‘realism’ than because there were so few actors available—particularly to play ‘supporting’ roles—who were short haired and clean shaven. Another factor was because the ‘liberal’ elements who were starting to gain control over much of the media seem to obtain some form of ‘ego trip’ from showing dirty conditions, filthy habits and unkempt appearances. In our extensive reference library, we cannot find even a dozen photographs of actual cowhands—as opposed to civilian scouts for the Army, old time mountain men, or gold prospectors—with long hair and bushy beards. In fact, our reading on the subject and conversations with friends living in the Western States of America have led us to the conclusion that the term ‘long hair’ was one of opprobrium in the Old West and Prohibition eras just as it still tends to be today in cattle raising country.

  2. Introduced in 1873 as the Colt Model P ‘Single Action Army’ revolver—although with a caliber of .45 instead of the erstwhile traditional .44—was more generally known as ‘the Peacemaker’. Production continued until 1941, when it was taken out of the line to make way for the more modern weapons required for use in World War II.

  2a. Between 1873 and 1941, over three hundred and fifty thousand were manufactured in practically every hand gun caliber from .22 Short Rimfire to .476 Eley; with the exception of the .41 and .44 Magnums, which were not developed commercially during the original production period. However, the majority fired either .45 or .44-40. The latter, given the designation, ‘Frontier Model’, handled the same cartridges as the Winchester Model of 1873 rifle and carbine.

  2b. The barrel lengths of the Model P could be from three inches in the ‘Storekeeper’ Model, which did not have an extractor rod for dislodging spent cartridge cases from the cylinder, to the sixteen inches for what became known to the public and firearms collectors as the ‘Buntline Special’. The latter was also offered with an attachable metal ‘skeleton’ butt stock so it could be used as an extemporized carbine. The main barrel lengths were: Cavalry, seven and a half inches; Artillery, five and a half inches; Civilian, four and three-quarter inches.

  2c. Popular demand, said to have resulted from the upsurge of action-escapism-adventure Western series being shown on television, brought the Peacemaker back into production in 1955 and it is still in the line. During this period, because of interest arising from the use of such a weapon by actor Hugh O’Brian starring in the W
YATT EARP series, Colt for the first time produced and gave a Model the name, ‘Buntline special’, albeit with a barrel only twelve and a half inches in length.

  3. We consider at best specious—at worst, a snobbish attempt to ‘put down’ the myth and legends of the Old West—the frequently repeated assertion that the gunfighters of that era could not ‘hit a barn door at twenty yards’. While willing to concede that the average person then, as now, would not have much skill in using a handgun, knowing his life would depend upon it, the professional pistolero on either side of the law expended time, money and effort to acquire proficiency. Furthermore, such a man did not carry a revolver to indulge in shooting at anything except at close range. He employed it as a readily accessible weapon which would incapacitate an enemy, preferably with the first shot, at close quarters, hence the preference for a cartridge of heavy caliber.