Over supper, Jesus smiled. “What would have happened to her if we had not run them down?”
“Probably would have been forced into being his wife and if she tried to escape, murdered, forced into prostitution, or taken into the white slave trade.”
“I had sure wondered if the deputy had been right, until that rancher’s wife said her hands were tied. I will stop and thank her on the way home. It was so strange. You mentioned it and she said, yes, she was tied to the saddle horn.”
“At first, I was not so sure he was rambling, either, but we knew he had told us the truth after that.”
“Exactly. I felt bad even doubting him after that.”
“We were lucky, but I’d still gone on this search because of his ride to Preskitt was not a foolish trip when the deputy discounted his story. He needed help.”
“All the horses are being fed for the ride back. I bet Rocky could ride that small paint horse. He is really broke.”
“I bet he’d love it. He says the pony is too slow.”
“I wonder how Spencer is doing.”
“And the widow woman he took with him. What was her name?” Chet asked Jesus.
“Lucinda Marcos was her full name. Her husband was Roman Marcos. He was killed a year ago in a roping accident during roundup. She is a lovely lady.”
“I figured you knew the whole story. I remember that she had nowhere to go after he was killed, so the ranch continued to pay her his wages.”
“She appreciated it and works hard on ranch events with Bonnie. She will miss her when she leaves with him.”
“I hope both of them are happy together.”
“I hope so, too. Spencer’s is going to build a great headquarters.”
All the paperwork was finally done, and now it was only their long ride back. In due time he’d be back to Preskitt and with Liz. It couldn’t be soon enough.
CHAPTER 7
The snow melted in the warmer weather going home. The Olsons were like honeymooners riding side by side, but they kept up and she cooked the meals all the way back. The snow was melting fast when they got off the higher elevation.
When they reached the store, the man who had noticed her tied and crying shook his head and had to hug her. He apologized to her for not helping her.
“Oh, they might have shot you. These men and my husband found me in the end and I am so grateful you worried about me. What you told them helped them find me.”
The storekeeper hugged her again. “He is a lucky man to have such a lovely wife.”
“I am the lucky one. God bless you.”
They kept going home. After they crossed the Salt River they reached the Bar K W and rode up the drive. The rancher’s wife saw them coming and ran out to greet them. Marcella got down from her ride, and both women hugged, then kissed, with the rancher’s wife uttering, “Hail Mary” the entire time.
After that the two of them danced in the dust.
“You are safe at last. I prayed so hard for you, my dear.”
“Yes. My name is Marcella. They spoke about you and knew you were worried about me. I thank you for that.”
“My name is Anna. My husband calls me Duchess.”
“Nice title. You know they learned who had me when you described me with those men?”
“I felt so bad. You looked so sad on that horse.” She hugged her and cried.
“I am fine, Duchess. You saved my life. Be happy. May I come to see you after I get my life straightened out—some day?”
“Oh, yes, do that.”
“I will. Now we must get home. His pigs must be lonesome for him.”
Duchess laughed. “Like Tony. His cows would miss him, too.”
They rode on to the Olson place. They dropped out of the saddle at sundown. Olson rushed off to check on his pigs that a neighbor had fed while he was gone. He came back satisfied they were fine.
Chet waited outside on the porch for him to talk about his business. “If you had more money could you expand your hog operation and make money?”
“Of course.”
“You ever made up a business plan? It would show me how much money you would need to do that and how you could repay the loan.”
“Marcella could do that. I’d help her.”
“Jesus and I will go home tomorrow. When you get it done mail it to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want you to become a success at this place of yours.”
Olson smiled and hugged him. “I can never repay you for finding her. But I can make our hog business much bigger and make enough money to repay you.”
Chet nodded and they went inside.
After breakfast, Olson told Chet, “She says we should bring that plan to you at the ranch when we get it done. She wants to meet your wife and see your ranch. We will take the stage this time.”
“Good. My wife, Jesus, and I will be glad to see you. Wire me your plans before you leave here because the stage arrives up there at midnight and the ranch is six miles east of there.”
“Oh, thanks. Be careful and God bless you.”
She hugged and kissed both of them.
They rode off in the morning for the stage stop. They left the paint out at their place; Chet planned to get it up to his son later. They sold the horses back to the liveryman and took the next stage home.
CHAPTER 8
Liz told him on the ride home from the stage stop office he had gotten a telegram from Hannagen that their project had been okayed by all parties in congress and he needed to start planning it.
“I should have checked with him. I was within a day’s ride over there at Holbrook.”
Liz shook her head. “I think from what you told me it was a great miracle you even found her.”
“Duchess made the difference. That lady is so neat. I don’t know how you will ever meet her, but her testimony to us made the difference. You’d love her.”
“What does the telegraph company need from you?”
“I need to find a surveyor, poles, wire, glass insulators, and explosives to blast the holes out of rock for them. Plus a crew of hardworking guys to stretch it four hundred miles.”
“Is that all?” She laughed, going to check on Monica in the kitchen.
He frowned after her. Is that all? He needed lots more and would have to find it. He better wire Hannagen for more information and get ready for finding poles and two contractors. The poles would have to come from up there where the pines were, around Center Point, on the rim. And he’d need an army of wagons to haul them east to Gallup and start there. Unless they needed to start from over on the Colorado River at the same time as the eastside started so as to meet in the middle. Then he’d have to bring the wire and material overland from San Francisco and send the poles over there.
He better get the how and where they’d start from from his partner before anything else. He immediately wrote Hannagen his letter requesting where to start and mailed it.
Liz and him, the next day when the temperature warmed up, rode over to see May and Hampt.
They were welcomed by a very pregnant May who was excited they’d come to see them. She gave them a full report on his nephew and her stepson Ray who was attending college in St. Louis and how he might not come home the following summer vacation, instead touring with a music group he played the piano for.
“I got him into playing and he was such a natural at doing it. He has gotten better and better at it. His brother Ty never played an instrument in his life but he is the real horseman. He is the best at training horses. You have both seen and know that.”
“Yes. That gray Diablo horse is still one of the best broke horses I own.”
“Tell her about Bonnie,” Liz said.
“She’s with a baby again,” Chet said.
“She’s like me, fertile.” Then May blushed.
“Fertile men around here.” Liz laughed and that made him feel better; she was taking such things more like her old self.
Chet sho
ok his head and went to meet Hampt who had just ridden in—and probably had seen them coming.
“I heard rumors you bought a new big ranch?” The big man stepped off his horse and hitched him.
“Yes, in that grassy desert country north of Oracle. Thirty sections.”
“Wow, is it a good place?”
“Bank repossessed it. The cows Weeks had on it are old enough to vote. We’re culling them, and my man over there says this fall he can buy us young cows at Socorro carrying half or better British breeds in them for twenty-five dollars a head plus bred back.”
“Why so cheap?”
“There is so little market over there for anything, and people need money to live on over there, too.”
“Now that the Apaches are not very much of a problem, I bet you can drive them through their land as a shortcut.”
“I bet so. Even hire some Apache boys to drive them is all we’d need to do that.”
“Hey, get your horse. I want to show you a real set of cows I have now.”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
Hampt laughed. “You really must trust me. You hardly ever come by here to check on me.”
“Hampt, I’d trust you with my life. You know that.”
“Where’s your guardsmen today?”
“Spencer is down at Oracle, picking up a wife at Diablo and taking her to the new ranch house site at the Apache Springs Ranch that he is supervising.”
“Who did he marry?”
“You recall hearing about a cowboy called Roman Marcos working for JD that got hurt and died from his injuries in a roundup accident last year?”
“Yes, I heard about it from Bonnie’s letter to May. Big shame. He had two kids?”
“Yes, Spencer knew all about it.”
“Didn’t he have a woman?”
“She went back to where she came from. I don’t know any more than that.”
Hampt laughed. “Me either. Start looking and tell me I am not about to have all white-faced cattle on this ranch.” He waved his hand at the long string of white-faced young cows that raised their heads from the hay they were eating to check out the riders.
“You are coming on. They look real good, too.”
“I am busting my buttons over them. Glad you got to see them.”
“My last trip to the Verde, Tom said that those range cows that were dumped up here needed to be driven out?”
“We moved three hundred head of cows plus calves I bet down into the Verde River wilderness a week ago while you were gone after that man’s wife who got kidnapped. They won’t ever find those cows down there I bet.”
“Everyone agreed to do that, didn’t they?” Chet asked.
“Yes. Everyone agreed. All the ranchers were upset about these people that drive cattle on others ranges and don’t check on them or anything. The situation needed to be controlled.”
“Bet they won’t do a damn thing, either, at the next legislative meeting.”
Hampt shook his head in disgust. “They’ve got too many paid-off legislators in their pockets.”
“See any other problems?”
“No. Now tell me more about what Spencer’s doing?”
“You know I bought a new ranch north of Oracle. One of Weeks’s outfits the banks repossessed. W Bar W is the brand. There is a man named Frisco whose family ran it even before Weeks bought it. He will stay and run it. He is married to a much younger woman he rescued in Mexico. She is a very neat lady and funny.
“Spencer is building new headquarters at a new site on the place. The previous owners did not live on the ranch and they looked like many Sonoran places we saw down there, just adobe jackals and pens on a dusty flat. There was a big spring in a cottonwood canyon that we chose for the home place.”
“That woman he met on the stage left him?”
Chet nodded. “Rebecca was not happy I guess playing the wife role. Spencer paid her fare back to where she came from. He went after the widow woman I mentioned with two kids on the Diablo Ranch he met when he was down there.”
“So your ranch operation expands some more.”
“Yes.”
“Hey, you need any help holler.”
“I will. You know that I trust you and count on your leadership.”
“You know I won’t ever forget you hiring me when you came here the first time from Texas.”
“Hey, I feel like you are my brother.”
“That makes me feel good. Do you ever miss him?”
“You have done a good job filling his boots, my friend.”
“You know my thoughts. May and the kids are all one big blessing to me. This ranch is a job, well, like heaven.”
“Good thing, pard. You earned it and more. I better get home.”
“Elizabeth doing all right?”
“You saw her. Thank God she has a good attitude about things.”
“Tell her that she is in my prayers. I wouldn’t want to say anything to upset her.”
Chet clapped him on the shoulder. “I will, and now I’ll go up, get her, and head for home.”
“Who will help Jesus?”
“A young man from the Preskitt Ranch. Miguel Costa is his name. I think. Raphael really likes him, wants to train him to replace himself, but first wants him to ride with me and Jesus for a time.”
“I don’t know those vaqueros that well, but on that last cattle drive with those unwanted cattle, they really worked hard. My men said I should borrow them more often to help us.”
On the ride home, he buttoned up his coat. Liz did, too. The weather had turned colder. When he dropped off his horse in the yard, a stable boy came, on the run, and took both their horses.
Chet went to the house appraising the buttermilk-looking sky for future developments. It was going to snow. And soon. The moisture would be good and his operations were braced for it with plenty of hay. No telling how much or how long it would last.
Liz ran to use the facilities and left him with Monica.
“Well, no one rides with you anymore?” Monica asked with her hands on her hips when he stepped onto the back porch.
“I simply rode to Hampt’s and talked to him.”
“The rules say someone would ride with you wherever you go.”
“I had Liz with me. I will try to do right the next time.”
“You better. And choose a man to take Spencer’s place.”
“I think Raphael already did.”
“Good. Supper will be ready soon.”
Liz was smiling as she came into the room. “It’s good to be back, Monica. It is getting colder out there.”
“I worried about you being out in it.”
“Thanks. But I am not a baby.”
“Supper is ready. Will it snow?”
“I think so.”
“Let’s eat. I am starved,” Liz said.
After the meal he read the newspaper as the fireplace crackled. Curious about the weather, he parted a curtain. The yard was white beyond the covered porch, and lots more big flakes were falling. They might be in for a real one. Wind was out of the east. Strange direction, he thought, for it to come in from.
“Think it will snow much?” she asked.
“No telling until we wake up. Let’s go to bed.”
Lying in bed, he listened to the wind in the eaves. This storm had grown, in the last few hours, to a bad one. No telling how much snow had fallen or how much they’d have in the end. Well, sleep tight, folks. It’s just another obstacle.
CHAPTER 9
Chet woke early, dressed, and went down to the kitchen. Monica was feeding small sticks to her range fire. She straightened. “You have a big shovel?”
“No need for it yet, it’s still snowing.”
“How much?”
“Several feet is what it looks like. I don’t know what the record is, but I bet we’ve beat it for the most ever. Damn sure a big one.”
“When will it quit?”
“I have no idea.”
&n
bsp; By noon it stopped but remained cloudy. One of the hands had cut a crossing from the big barn, through snow half as tall as he was, to the house. It took over two hours to get it done. Raphael was his first visitor on this new highway.
“I think someone took revenge out on us. Where is Sarge and the cattle drive he is on?” his foreman asked.
“He should be close to the New Mexico border by now. He has some haystacks and a setup over there. I’d bet the snow is not that deep there.”
“I hope not. Do you need anything? I will send some boys over here to move more firewood in by the fireplaces.”
“Good. How is everything else?”
“We are working to feed the stock. I dread the cold that will come next.”
Chet agreed. “Make sure everyone is safe and is accounted for when you end the day. Someone could get lost and die from exposure out there.”
“I will tell everyone to do that. I never saw so much snow in my life.” He tipped his snowy hat and left the house.
Liz joined him. “How long will it take to melt if it warms up?”
“A week or more. There is lots of the white stuff out there.”
She shook her head warily and laughed. “What a mess it will be.”
“People unprepared are going to lose lots of cattle on the range.”
“I never thought about that,” Monica said. “How will we do?”
“Better than them. We have lots of hay.”
She nodded.
“We’ve worked to have that extra supply for years like this.”
“I never think of those things. That is why I cook and you run ranches.”
He hugged her. “We appreciate you.”
The next day he helped fork hay on some big sleds that Raphael had bought somewhere as a bargain, prepared for this day. The first horse team had tromped out a way to the open country where the bawling cattle stood waiting. They looked great in the bright sunshine as forage was forked off for them.
“We may lose some cows that didn’t come in last night ahead of the storm,” his foreman warned him as he watched Chet throw some more hay. “You know that my boys can do this. Fork off the hay?”
“I know, but I wanted to help. Not sit and worry about the other places and what they did not do right.”
Deadly Is the Night Page 8
