by Will Cook
Major Carl Manners, alerted that this menage was approaching, viewed the whole thing from his porch. Colonel James Gary stood by his side, and the colonel had a wry but sage comment to make about the whole proceedings.
“I never knew it to fail, Major. Send McCabe naked in the wilderness, and he will return on the shoulders of good fortune.” He smiled behind a wreath of cigar smoke. “His explanation of this will be even more astounding.”
The carriage was approaching, and Manners could see McCabe, sitting between the two Cardeen girls. He was dressed in a fine dark suit, and he wore a spotless white shirt with ruffles running down the front. He carried a gold-headed cane. The Cardeen girls wore gay gowns and flaunted parasols.
When the carriage stopped, the Mexican captain immediately leaped off his horse and helped the girls and McCabe down from the carriage. McCabe carried a piece of wood under his arm. He spoke briefly with the captain. They embraced, then the captain got on his horse, wheeled his detail about, and recrossed the river.
Manners’s curiosity was beyond control. He and Gary left the porch and met McCabe halfway across the yard. The old man said: “May I present Rhea and Alice Cardeen. Major Manners, Texas Frontier Battalion, and Colonel James Gary, United States Army.”
“Captain,” Manners said, “where are Grady and Hinshaw?”
“Being heroes,” McCabe said, “but I suspect they’ll wander in one of these days.”
“Perhaps you’d like to explain the grandeur of your arrival,” Manners said.
“I would,” McCabe admitted. “But in the shade.” He glanced at Gary, and smiled. “Jim, would you see that the ladies are made comfortable?”
“You can use my quarters,” Manners said. “The captain and I will have a drink in the meantime. I’m sure you’d like to hear this, Jim.”
“Having heard McCabe’s explanations before,” Gary said, “I wouldn’t want to miss it.”
McCabe and Manners went inside. Manners took a bottle from his desk drawer and glasses, and brimmed three. He looked at the board under McCabe’s arm. “What’s that?”
“A piece of wood Hinshaw picked up. A very interesting piece of wood.” He lifted his glass. “To your continued health, Carl.”
“To hell with that. I never needed an excuse to drink a glass of whisky.”
Gary came in as though he had hurried a bit. He saw his glass and picked it up. “I hope I haven’t missed anything.”
“McCabe was about to explain,” Manners said, sitting down. “Start from the beginning and leave out the lies.”
“My reports are always factual,” McCabe said. “Long, perhaps, but factual.” He explained how they found Vargas’s mountain camp and, in detail, covered the rescue of the two girls. He made certain that Manners understood his clever detective work. He knew this annoyed the major and dwelt on the subject until Manners began to drum his fingers. Gary was smiling faintly as though this were an old routine with him.
“This piece of wood, Carl, came from a weapons crate. Hinshaw snatched it in the heat of battle and brained a couple of Vargas’s men with it. Due to some fluke of luck he carried it with him, and it was later discovered by Grady to have great importance.” He laid it on Manners’s desk. Gary left his chair to have a look. “As you can see, there’s part of two words remaining on the wood. This was, I correctly assume, part of a shipping label. And you can figure out for yourself, the name spells Fred J. Early, Laredo, Texas.”
“It would appear to,” Manners said. “All right, now where are Hinshaw and Grady?”
“In old Mexico,” McCabe said. “In order to get the girls back safely it was necessary to take their horses. They volunteered, of course.” McCabe smiled. “When a captain speaks, every ranger is eager to volunteer. In your own words, Carl, you’ve said that a ranger must be resourceful as well as brave and eager to do more than his fair share of….”
“All right, all right,” Manners said, waving his hand. He reached out and tipped up the board so he could again read the lettering on it. “I trust you questioned the two girls?”
“Yes. They weren’t able to see much, except that Vargas has a good-sized army and plenty of weapons, including machine guns. They are without a doubt of German make, and my original notion, Carl, about them going south across the border….”
“Yes, yes, I won’t argue with you there,” Manners said. He glanced at Jim Gary. “I think this new evidence is enough to start a quiet investigation. I’m sure not going to approach Fred Early on the evidence of this board.”
“I’d like to accept this assignment, Carl,” McCabe said.
“All right. I was going to invite the colonel to give you a hand. Of course, this isn’t Army business, Jim, but you might be… .”
“I was holding my breath, afraid you wouldn’t ask,” Gary said. He glanced at McCabe. “You call the shots, Guthrie.”
“Just a minute,” Manners said. “McCabe, damn you and your cloud of dust. You haven’t told me how you got the carriage and the escort.”
“I thought you’d never get around to that,” McCabe said, smiling. He settled more comfortably in the chair. “There I was, if you can picture it, deep in hostile territory with two women on my hands. What do I do about it? Grady and Hinshaw would pull the bandits off my back trail for a time, but they’d pick it up again. I figured I had a day and a half, or two at the most, so I asked myself just where the safest place for me would be.” He clapped his hands. “A guest of the Mexican army. Simple, huh? So I cut across the mountains to Lampazos de Naranjo. I knew General Hildago had a large garrison there.”
“An old friend, I assume,” Manners said.
“As a matter of fact, no,” McCabe said. “I figured the best thing to do would be to play this straight, for if the general caught me in a lie, I might end up in jail. Besides, there isn’t an officer in the Mexican army who hasn’t thought of collecting the reward for Pedro Vargas’s capture, so the information I offered in the line of directions to his stronghold might buy me passage across the river. The general, it turned out, was a real gentleman of the old school. The Cardeen girls were cared for by his wife and three daughters. I got a bath, a shave, and one of his good suits.” He fingered the material. “Not bad goods. Probably cost a man forty dollars in Austin.”
“Get on with it,” Manners said curtly.
“The general immediately dispatched three companies of infantry, one of cavalry, and a company of light artillery, then nicely supplied a carriage and an armed escort to the river.”
Carl Manners stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. “Guthrie, if they ever hang you, I’m positive you’ll talk them into using an old, weak rope.”
Jim Gary interjected: “Guthrie, what kind of an army does General Hildago have? By that I mean is it rag-tag or well drilled?”
“Spit and polish,” McCabe said. “Enough to give Pedro Vargas a rough fight.”
“He won’t do much with five companies after a four day march over rough terrain,” Gary responded. “When I wired my report to the President, I asked for four regiments. Two of infantry, one of cavalry, and one artillery.” He sat for a moment in thought. “Guthrie, I’d like to back out of our little investigation. If I can get the President’s approval, I want to cross the river and talk with General Hildago. I’m not thinking of maneuvering Vargas between two armies . . . he’s too clever for that. However, we might try tricking him to this side of the river and have the Mexican army alerted to cut off his retreat back.” He got up. “I think I’ll compose a message and get it on the wire. Thanks for the drink, Major, and Guthrie, keep me posted on your investigation into the arms shipment.”
After he went out, Carl Manners said: “He plays his cards close to his vest, doesn’t he?”
“Is there any other way to play?” McCabe asked, and stood up. “Well, I guess I’ll get out of this suit. Wouldn’t want to get it dirty wearing it around some office.” He wiped his finger across Manners’s desk. “Don’t you ever dust
?”
By traveling at night and hiding in the foliage along the river, Bill Grady and Martin Hinshaw made their way with the current. They let the river take them, after a week of slow motion, into the Rio Grande. Then in daylight they reached the Texas shore, and Grady gave the log a push and sent it downstream. He declared: “I never want to see so much as a tub of water for the rest of my life.” Then he looked at Hinshaw and laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You ought to see yourself, clothes torn, knees out of your pants.”
“You’re no collar advertisement yourself,” Hinshaw said. “Where the hell are we?”
“About fifty miles southeast of Laredo,” Grady estimated. “Lonesome country. Well, let’s start walkin’.” He shouldered his rifle. “Come on, squirt. We’ve been gone too long now. You want the major to worry?”
“As Texas Rangers we ought to be able to get a couple of horses.”
Grady shook his head. “You don’t look like a Texas Ranger. Where’s your badge and papers? The same place mine i s . . . in Manners’s desk drawer. So let’s start walking.”
They spent the whole day in a dreary march. That night they built a fire and cooked the last of their bacon and coffee. Before they bedded down, five men rode into their camp and pointed rifles at them.
It was Hinshaw who said: “Now, wait a minute. Careful with those things.”
The firelight was not bright, and the mounted men were half shrouded in shadows. Bill Grady asked: “Carlisle, is that you?” He peered at one tall, bearded man. “It’s me, Grady. I stopped at your place two years ago when you had the rustler trouble.”
The tall man dismounted, struck a match, and held it close to Grady’s face. Then he whipped it out and said: “Put up your repeaters. I know this man. We saw the fire from afar and thought a couple of Mexicans had crossed the river to rustle some beef. I’ve been running a few head in this area, and we were having a look-see.” He regarded Grady carefully. “You look a little down in the heels.”
“We’ve been across the river,” Grady said. “This is Hinshaw, a new recruit in my battalion.”
“Is that so?” Carlisle asked. He turned to one of his men. “Let them have your horse, Harry. You can ride double with Smitty.” He rolled a cigarette, and passed the makings to Grady and Hinshaw. “The next time I’m in Laredo I’ll pick him up. Sorry I can’t spare another.”
“Riding double suits me fine,” Hinshaw said.
Carlisle smiled, and looked from one to the other. “I guess you’ve got your badge with you, ain’t you, Grady? I ask because I know a man don’t enlist in the rangers for life, and I wouldn’t want to lend a horse unless I was sure of getting him back.”
“I don’t have my badge,” Grady said. “But you’ll get your horse back.”
“Well, now, it’s just your word then, ain’t it?” He drew on his smoke and shied it into the dying fire. “It’s kind of risky, being on a man’s land with no real business. And having once been a ranger don’t mean a thing to me. The worst sinner I ever knew had once been a fire-eatin’ preacher.” He glanced at his men. “We don’t bother the law any more with our troubles, Grady. All you did was chase the Mexicans across the river. When I send one across, he don’t come back.”
Bill Grady said: “Carlisle, don’t make a mistake now. Turn your men, and we’ll go on about our business.”
“Now, I can’t do that,” Carlisle said. “All I know is that you’re on my land and that I didn’t invite you. I know you’ve been a lawman, Grady, but your friend I don’t know from Adam’s off ox. There’s a stand of cottonwoods about two miles from here, near the river. They’ll do.”
Martin Hinshaw said: “Is this some joke? Mister, you’re making….”
“This is the kind of a man you’ve got to do business with, squirt, the big’ Texas man who doesn’t believe in taking the time to check facts before he shakes out a rope for a hanging.” He dropped his hand near his holstered revolver. “Two to one, squirt. The odds scare you?”
Carlisle understood this and started to swing up the muzzle of his rifle. Bill Grady drew his .44, firing as it came level with his hip. Even then he shot a scant second behind Hinshaw who spilled a man from the saddle. As the man fell, he triggered his rifle into the air. The odler two, moving slower man Carlisle, threw up their hands and quieted their horses with their knees, fearful that this animal skittishness would be misread.
Hinshaw walked over and rolled the dead man on his back. He said: “I killed him, Bill.”
“Don’t worry about it. Get their rifles.” He pointed his pistol at Carlisle, who sat on the ground with a smashed shoulder. “I told you, you were making a mistake, and you’re going to find it out when we get to Laredo.” He glanced at the two men still mounted. “Get down. Help Carlisle on his horse and put the dead man across the saddle. Squirt, tie the two horses together.”
Grady covered the two men while they worked, then he had Hinshaw tie their hands behind them. “Mount up, squirt, then cover them while I mount.” He doused the small fire with water from his canteen, then stepped into the saddle. “All right, gentlemen, start walking. When you get to Laredo, your feet may have a few blisters, but that’s nothing to what the judge will hand out.” He looked at Hinshaw and laughed. “I’ve been a ranger for thirteen years, and that was the first time I ever pulled my gun quick. I didn’t do bad, huh?” -
“You were slower’n hell,” Hinshaw said. “When we get to the barracks, I’ll teach you how to do it right. I’m also going to teach you not to call me squirt.”
“That’s going to be some education,” Grady said, and moved out with his prisoners.
Chapter Fifteen
Fred Early left his store and walked down the street a block to Batiste Rameras’s saddle shop. Rameras was talking to a customer. When he finally finished, Early went over to the counter. Two men worked at their benches, and Rameras spoke to them in Spanish. They left the shop. He started to close the front door, and Early said: “Don’t do that. Sending your workers out before noon is suspicious enough. This afternoon I want you to come over and measure my motorcar for a new top. To anyone who’s started thinking, that will stop them.”
“You’re a cautious man,” Rameras said. He was short, very heavy through the chest and shoulders, and, although he was growing large in the stomach, there was still a great power in him. “Recent events do not please me, Señor Early. The two girls have been brought back, snatched from the very hands of El Jefe.”
“He ought to learn to take a better grip, then,” Early said. “It’s no concern of mine.”
“Men will talk of this and laugh. El Jefe does not like to be laughed at. The old one was gone and came back with an escort of Mexican soldiers. The other two have not returned.” He swore softly. “Three men defying the army of El Jefe. It’s not good.”
“One of those men was Martin Hinshaw,” Early said. “You remember the father, Batiste?” He enjoyed the shock and rage on Rameras’s face. “What do you want from me now, Rameras? More machine guns?”
Rameras remained silent for a moment. “So, the son comes back? Ah, it is a sweetness to me, a rare wine that I will drink. The old man, McCabe, must die. The other two may die with him, particularly Hinshaw. I want it arranged.”
“Arrange it yourself,” Early said. “I’m a merchant, not a killer.”
Rameras shook his head. “I will kill them myself, but first they must be brought to me under some pretense. Put your mind to it, señor. I’ll send my man to you in two days.”
“I don’t want any part of it,” Early said flatly.
Rameras smiled. “Señor, we both play a dangerous game. El Jefe will be the emperor of all Mexico, and you will be a very rich man. But to be either, no mistakes can be made. We would hate to lose you, señor, as a friend, but if you threaten us or refuse to co-operate, we would have to reveal the source of our arms and find another.”
“I see,” Early said. “I either take orders
or you cross me, is that it?”
“Plainly put, yes,” Rameras said.
Early shrugged. “All right, I can’t fight that. I’ll see what I can do.”
He left the shop, returned to his own store, and went into his office, closing the door. This would take some figuring out, he decided, and spent an hour in deep thought, finally arriving at a conclusion. From his file he took a thick sheaf of folders, put them in a leather satchel, then went out in back of the shed for his motorcar. Early drove out of town and took the road to Ranger Headquarters, stopping away from the main building because there were some horses tied there and he didn’t want to booger them.
He went into the headquarters building, carrying the satchel, and spoke to the ranger on duty there. “I would like to see Major Manners on urgent business, so if you’ll tell him I’m here ”
“The major’s got someone in his office now,” the ranger said.
“This is most vital,” Early said.
“There ain’t anything that crossed the major’s desk that ain’t vital. If you’ll just wait….”
“I can’t!” Early shouted, and burst past the ranger, flinging open the door to Manners’s office. The conversation stopped, and they all looked around: McCabe, Grady, and Martin Hinshaw. The ranger recovered from his surprise and grabbed Fred Early by the arm, intending to pull him out.
“What the hell is this?” Manners demanded.
“Sorry, Major, but he busted past me.”
“If Mister Early’s that determined,” Manners said, “then let him come in. Resume your post, Hardin.”
“All right, Major. Sure sorry.” He looked at Early as though he blamed him for making him look bad, then closed the door.
“Take a chair, Mister Early. You look a bit agitated.” Manners offered him a cigar, which he declined.
“Major, I’d like to talk to you … alone.”
