North to the Salt Fork

by Ralph Compton

  Lucy gave another little huff, but softened after Jack winked at her.

  News traveled fast in the crowd, and as the evening wore on Jack could see there would be several who wanted to join in the drive. He danced with Lucy; having her close stirred his heart as they gently swayed across the floor. The fiddle music soothed him, but the next square dance energized him and he was clapping and swinging in no time.

  “We should start home early this evening. There’s so much to do to prepare for tomorrow’s meeting,” Lucy fretted once the square dance was over. Jack knew that Lucy took pleasure in playing the hostess, so he rounded up the rangers and they headed out for the night.

  They arrived at the D-T gate a little past midnight, filling the night with their laughter.

  “I bet you didn’t get much sleep on your way home,” Lucy said.

  “Ah, we slept some here and there. We all just wanted to get back.” He reached over and squeezed her knee. “Especially me.”

  Leaning her head against his shoulder, she whispered, “I wanted you home too.”

  Chapter 19

  The next day the meeting went smoothly. Tally wrote each person’s name down when he arrived and how many cattle he’d pledge to the drive. Jack spoke to the group about the technical aspects of cattle driving while Lucy doled out the food.

  “I can’t guarantee I can do any better getting your stock to Kansas than any other driver. But I’ll try. Between now and the fall, I’ll figure out a fair tariff and line up my drivers. I’ll be looking for some good hands. Luke and I’ll build a chuck-wagon box and start gathering a remuda. If you have a good, solid horse, I’ll pay you a fair price for him when the drive is over. But I want only geldings. No cows; just big steers between two and three years old. Those people up there won’t buy yearlings. You send me a foot-sore steer and he won’t make it. You’d be better off eating him at home.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Any questions?”

  “When you leaving with them?” an older man asked.

  “March. Spring marches north fifteen miles a day they say. I’ll head them toward the Salt Fork.”

  “Where’s that?” someone piped in.

  “Wichita, Kansas,” Jack answered. “Anyway, I’ll give you-all some time to think things over.”

  There were murmurs of interest as everyone considered Jack’s words and dug into Lucy’s delicious barbecue and potato salad.

  Jack was surprised he had agreed to another cattle drive. But they needed him. Everyone needed him. Across the room he could see his wife directing young girls with coffeepots toward those with empty cups. Most of all he knew he was doing it for Lucy. Had he lost his ever-loving mind?

  Sister hung on his arm. “You don’t know how much we appreciate you, Jack. We’d all been so scared we’d done the wrong thing not sending cattle north this year. It really hurt a lot of families. We all need the money.”

  “The drive’s going to work, and we’ll turn a nice profit for everyone. It’ll be fine.” He patted her arm reassuringly.

  She smiled and led him to the food table. “I’m making sure he eats enough,” she said, passing Lucy with him in tow.

  Later, when everyone had gone and the two of them lay in bed together, Lucy said, “You sure eased lots of folks’ minds tonight.”

  He shook his head, rose on his elbow and kissed her. “Everyone’s but mine.”

  She held him and they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  Summer passed into fall. The Comanches never showed up, but McIntyre held a confab with Jack and the rangers about doing more patrolling. With the buffalo-hunting season over, they often turned their attention to raids on the settlements, ranches and farms along the frontier. No more soldiers were assigned to the forts than were already there, and there were too few troops to scout such a large area.

  The young rangers began a search for signs that Comanches were in the area. Mustangs left poop in a pile, but a moving barefoot horse—which was the manner in which the Comanches liked to ride their horses—scattered it. The rangers came by the ranch on a regular basis and Luke began to patrol with them, despite his mother’s unspoken concern for his safety.

  Meanwhile Jack and Shanes were busy redoing the wire-stake fencing around the cropland. A couple of Mexicans delivered Jack several oxen caritas piled high with cedar stakes and posts that he’d ordered. The fence job proved time consuming, and each month Shanes took a few days off to go back and deliver more food to his family. He reported that they were doing much better.

  When he was gone Jack was grateful for the rest, and he would reshoe his horses and use the big gray to do light work. He was sitting on the porch swing one warm late afternoon in early fall, thinking about the coming winter and his firewood supply. Shanes had gone home and the girls were busy canning apples with a new-fangled glass Mason jar system. There were sliced apples drying on racks and cinnamon lingered in the air, drawing saliva from his mouth.

  Lucy brought him a hot dish of the fruit and a spoon. She stood by the porch post looking off at the fall-painted hillside as he ate.

  “Have you noticed what’s been going on?”

  Jack scratched his beard. “Probably not.”

  “Well, there’s Tally and the hired man’s budding romance, for one.”

  “Shanes?” Jack said in surprise.

  “Yes. I think they’re getting serious and I can’t say that I like it.”

  Jack was silent, still dumbfounded by the news.

  “I saw him kiss her behind the corral before he left for home.”

  Jack sighed. “Well, what can I do?”

  “Speak to her,” Lucy said firmly. “Fifteen is entirely too young to get married.”

  He blew on the hot apple chunk on his spoon. “How old were you when you got married?”

  “That was different,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

  “Just tell me, Mrs. Starr.”

  “Fourteen,” she answered, tight-lipped.

  “Well, how can I talk to her when you’ve already set your own example?”

  “Well, the least you could do is send him to live with one of the rangers.”

  He shook his head. “Shanes is learning how to work and he’s taking care of his family. He never slacks, never hides on me, never plays sick on me. He’s a good worker.”

  “But he has nothing to offer a bride.”

  Jack stiffened. “Neither did I.”

  The words made Lucy soften. “Jack, what should I do?”

  “When he returns we’ll have a meeting with both of them and learn their intentions.”

  With a wary shake of her head, she bent over and kissed him. “You seem to have answers for everything.”

  He sighed. “Well, I don’t know how to handle everything. I’m going up to see Craig again and try to get through to him this time.”

  “Your last trip sure didn’t convince him that he should marry Marsha.”

  Jack shook his head. “He needs Marsha and she needs him. His excuse that the incident with Mrs. Lerner broke his spirit is wearing thin. He’s just afraid.”

  “Of what?”

  “Of himself and how he’ll handle a wife and married life.”

  “What will you do to change his mind?”

  “That’s the thing. I’m still working on it,” he said.

  Three days later he had a cool ride to Craig’s ranch. A north wind was blowing in and he huddled into his unlined jumper, short-loping the gray. He found his man making gate hinges from flat pieces of iron.

  “Hi,” Craig said, pulling off his leather gloves and shaking Jack’s hand. “Been a long time. What can I do you for?”

  “I came to get you,” Jack announced.

  “What for? You got Comanche problems?”

  “No, but I’ve got Preacher Teck at my house and your bride will be waiting for you there. Now go clean up and get ready to ride back, ’cause I ain’t taking no for an answer.”

  Craig pe
ered hard at him. “You’re serious.”

  “I’m as serious as if that girl was my own daughter.”

  Jack waited to gauge Craig’s response, afraid he’d fight him on it. But Craig just dropped his head and laughed. “Well, then, I better get cleaned up—she ain’t mad at me for not doing this sooner?”

  “No, she’s going to be there. Waiting for you.”

  “Guess you like married life alright if you’re pushin’ it on an old bachelor.”

  Jack laughed. “Go clean yourself up. I’ll finish these hinges.”

  Strains of fiddle music wafted in the night air when Jack and his sergeant descended the hill to his ranch. Chinese lanterns were hung along the eaves and from the branches of the trees, and several rigs were parked outside the house. The rangers met them, taking their horses and congratulating Craig.

  “When things calm down later tonight, you two can use our bunkhouse. I moved Shanes out for the night,” Jack told him.

  Craig stuck out his hand and stopped him. “I ain’t never done that before.”

  Jack was stumped. “Well, just let nature take its course and don’t be in a hurry.” Lord, was that what worried him so much? That’s the easy part of marriage, Jack thought.

  “You think I’ll be alright, then.”

  “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

  Craig grinned and they headed inside.

  The wedding went off without a hitch and the new couple soon slipped away to the fresh sheets in the bunkhouse while the rest of the group danced and partied on the D-T Ranch.

  Jack felt smug about his matchmaking abilities until he rounded the corner of the house and caught an entirely different couple kissing.

  “I’m sorry, Dad,” Tally said, quickly disengaging herself from Shanes and staring intently at her shoes.

  Everyone turned bright red. Finally Shanes blurted out, “We can’t help it, Captain.”

  Jack shook his head. “Reckon we better have a meeting in the morning with your mom. I don’t think we can put this off any longer.”

  “You won’t send him away, will you?” Tally asked, fear growing in her eyes.

  “Captain, I wasn’t trying to ruin her reputation,” Shanes said, desperation creeping into his voice.

  Jack didn’t say a word, hoping that his silence would keep them away and off each other until the meeting the next day.

  He left Tally and Shanes to return to the party, where Red Larson cornered him next to the lemonade tub, his face filled with anxiety. “I think you ought to know that Hiram Sawyer says he’s going to take a herd north in the spring. Anyone owes him any money is going to have to use his herd to ship their cattle.”

  The news was a sucker punch to the gut.

  That son of a bitch, Jack thought.

  Chapter 20

  “He did what?!” Lucy propped herself up in their bed in the dim light.

  “Last night Red told me that Sawyer has been telling folks if they owe him any money they’ll have to ship their cattle with his herd.”

  She chewed her lip. “What will we do?”

  “Why, I bet half of the folks that were here last night owe him money. They’ve had no income so they’ve all been living on loans.”

  “Can he stop them?”

  “I don’t know Texas law that well, but there’s probably something in it about removing mortgaged cattle from the state.”

  “What about your bond?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it. I really expected that issue to be dismissed by now, but Everett will know if I leave the state, which might complicate things for us if I have to go to trial.” He stood up and stretched. “Do you think that damn Sawyer was behind my arrest? I’ve been thinkin’ it all along, but there’s no evidence against him.”

  “I’ve never said it, but I wondered it too,” she confirmed.

  “If he was the one, then he’s liable to pull the rug out from under me when we get ready to leave, isn’t he?”

  She lit a candle for them to dress by and blew out the match. “I would say yes.”

  “I better go see Everett in Austin.”

  “I’m so sorry, Jack. I shouldn’t have asked you to go to Kansas, knowing about your situation.”

  “Well, let’s put it out of our mind for now,” he suggested. “Today we need to talk to Tally and Shanes.”

  She looked at the ceiling for help. “Oh, heavens. What should I say?”

  “Ain’t no need in getting all upset. Let’s see what they want to do. After all, it’s their lives, not ours.”

  “I know. I know. It’s just hard when you’re expecting your third child, knowing that your second one wants to run off and get married at such a young age.”

  “Third child?” Jack was blown away by the news.

  Lucy beamed. “I’m not entirely sure just yet, but I think we can expect a baby come next April.”

  “Well, I’ll be a horn-swaggled toad!” He picked her up and spun her around, overwhelmed with joy. He saw the tears glistening on her lashes. “Damn, that’s exciting news.”

  With Luke out patrolling with the rangers, the four of them were alone that morning at the ranch. After breakfast Jack called everyone together.

  “First of all, it looks bad to have two people living on the same ranch in a relationship out of wedlock.”

  “We a-ain’t doing anything but, um, kissing,” Tally stammered.

  “I didn’t say you were. I said it looked bad in the eyes of other folks. Your mother and I feel that young people who are serious about each other have to realize there are limits.”

  “Well, I have a resolution,” Shanes nervously piped in. “If we got married, we could make everything right in the eyes of God and everyone else.”

  Tally quickly agreed.

  “Marriage is forever,” Jack said sternly. “It’s a serious commitment. You would need a ranch or a better job to support a wife.”

  Shanes threw open his palms. “I can work. I’m learning lots of things. I know I can’t sit on my backside and expect manna to fall from heaven. Tally and I could live in the bunkhouse until we find a place. I’d never let her starve, or even come close to it.”

  Lucy had remained silent until then. “I hope to God you know there’s more to marriage than kissing. You’ll have babies and bills and obligations.” She began to scrub at the tabletop furiously with a washcloth before collapsing into her chair in tears. “I’m not ready for my baby to be a wife and a mother. But if it’s what you really want, Tally, I’ll get ready. We’ll help you any way we can.”

  Tally walked around the table and embraced her mother. “We plan to be married on Christmas Eve.” She squeezed her mother’s hands. “Don’t cry, please.”

  “Well, we give you our blessings,” Jack said. “And while we’re discussing big life changes we might as well tell them our news,” Jack said to Lucy.

  Lucy nodded. “Next spring,” she said, blowing her nose in the handkerchief he handed her, “we’re having a baby.”

  The kids leapt up from their chairs and let out a whoop. It was a helluva morning for the Starr family. He wasn’t married a year yet and he’d soon be a father and probably a grandfather. He thought about his grandmother in heaven and smiled. I hope you’re proud, Grandma. I’m really a family man now.

  The town of Austin was already up and energized when Jack walked from the livery stables to the café early in the morning. It was crowded with folks gobbling down their breakfast before rushing off to work. His greatest concern was that Everett would be out of town and he wouldn’t be able to learn the status of his case and what he needed to do to leave Texas legally on the cattle drive. He ordered food and sipped the bitter coffee the waitress poured for him. No wonder folks used cream; a cup like that needed quite a lot to mask the taste.

  He waited in the hallway of Everett’s office building. A young clerk opened the door on his way in to work and caught sight of him. “May I help you?” he asked.

  “Is Mr. Everett go
ing to be in today? My name is Jack Starr. Everett represented me in a murder case that’s still pending.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard about you. I’m Steven. He should be here around nine or ten. Come in.”

  Jack busied himself reading the morning newspaper that Steven had provided. Not that he gave a damn about anything in the pages, but he needed something to pass the time and keep his mind occupied.

  When Everett strode in, he smiled. “Jack Starr, what a pleasant surprise. How are you?”

  He rose and shook the man’s hand. “I’ve come for some counsel, sir. I need to take a cattle herd to Kansas next spring and wanted to know my status with the courts.”

  Everett let out a low whistle. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that question for you, but let’s go see the state prosecutor and get this sorted out. Steven, we’re going to the attorney general’s building,” he said as they left the office.

  “Penskey, the state prosecutor, has your case now,” he informed Jack once they stepped outside. “He’s a good man. Not prone to corruption like some others.”

  After a taxi ride to the attorney general’s building, they were ushered into the private office of the prosecutor.

  A round-shouldered man whom Jack supposed was Penskey peered up at them from behind thick glasses and asked his law assistant to find the case papers. He sat behind his polished desk, steepled his fingers and cleared his throat. “Does Mr. Starr know we have had several requests for rearrest?”

  “On what charges?” Everett asked in surprise.

  “Some are worried that you might be a threat to the community.”

  “Can I ask the name of the man who’s made these requests?” Jack asked, trying to keep a tight lid on his temper.

  Penskey shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t confirm or deny anything.”

  “Was his name Hiram Sawyer?”

  Penskey remained silent, but Jack could tell he’d hit the nail on the head.

  “If you don’t have a recorded mortgage on livestock, can they be moved out of state for sale?” Jack asked, switching tracks.