Sharpshooter

by Dusty Richards

  “We’re proud to have you.”

  Chet had become concerned. They were going on day four and there was no sign of his two men coming back. He’d hired the water man, Casey Boyd, to fill the barrels, so there was water for their horses and people. They were doing fine.

  Chet ordered four more posts. The men set them to make a platform for a two-barrel sheepherder shower he bought at the store. It was set up, plumbed, and ready to use after the sun warmed it for two days.

  Meanwhile, he and all the hands were carefully building a stout trestle inside the cave to run the flatbed cart on wooden tracks over the hump to the outside dock. Then they’d load them into wagons.

  After supper the next evening, the two women had the privacy of the shower. They thought it was kind of chilly, at first, being behind blankets hung on the south and east sides, but their last word was that the shower was great.

  The boys were next. Then they refilled the barrels and the men took their turns. All enjoyed it so much they thought they’d been to some great fancy city.

  * * *

  At noon the next day, the lost scouts came in one nice farm wagon.

  Chet walked out to meet them and frowned at the brand-spanking-new Studebaker wagon and two big Belgian mares. “Only one?”

  “No, siree. We need to unhitch,” Salty said. “The mules and the loaded water wagon are stuck in a sandy wash and we need these gals to pull them out.”

  “Was Tom excited when you got his message back?”

  “He couldn’t hardly believe it.”

  The mares unhooked, the two boys came racing in on horses, wanting to hear about the mules.

  “Ma’am,” Cody said, “have the men set up your new dining hall tent. There’s tables and chairs and a new cook stove for Tad. Some outfit ordered it and when they couldn’t pay for it, we got it for half price.”

  “Well, you boys help them get unstuck. We’ll set up the tent,” Chet said, laughing.

  “Did he say Tom didn’t believe him?” Lisa asked Chet.

  “He did say that.”

  “I’m shocked. As long as Tom has worked for you, and he can’t believe you struck it rich twice.”

  “Heaven, girl, not many people do that in one lifetime.”

  They were raising the tent when the mules began honking, pulling the water wagon into camp. The boys each led a harnessed mare back with them.

  “Dad,” Adam said as he swung around by him on his horse. “These mules could pull hell up on the topside. The mares are great, but, man, those mules are something to see pulling.”

  “We better leave hell down there for now.”

  “You’ll be impressed. I sure was.” Adam rode off, shaking his head.

  What next? The new tent shone in the last sunlight as they secured it. Now they had it up and it would soon be time to leave it all. It made no difference. He needed to spoil all of them. He had not put a price tag on the loot inside the mountain, not even a wild guess.

  No matter. He’d go on ranching as long as he lived.

  Where were the rubies? He hadn’t even looked, he’d been so busy making the trestle that he’d forgotten all about them. They celebrated completion of it over two Dutch ovens full of peach cobbler that Tad and Lisa had rustled up.

  “Well, what’s next, boss man? In a week or so we’ll pack all this home?” Jesus asked him.

  “Probably. I found no books in the top of all those chests. Did you?”

  “What I looked at—no. But there’s got to be a reason for all this treasure being stored in that bluff.”

  “Maybe the books are under that caved-in roof in the front.”

  “Maybe. Strange. That cripple man in Mesa was only after rubies. It was why he wrote me. He had no idea all this was hidden inside the cavern.”

  “What do you suggest we try?”

  “We dig a trench around these buttes knee-deep and look for rubies.”

  “That’ll work. It will be many days before they get the wagons we need up here.”

  “We have a tent. Water supply and shower. Trenching starts tomorrow.”

  * * *

  At breakfast, he told them about his wild idea and why he wanted to do it.

  Everyone agreed it would be interesting. Work was work, so the trenching started at the southeast corner and continued northerly. The first thing they found was a single silver Spanish spur. One of the two men they brought in handed it to Adam. It didn’t look like anything of much value but twenty minutes later it was shining in the sun.

  “Where did you find it?” Chet asked.

  “Over there.”

  The two walked back and they plowed up a large circle. The second spur showed up. Adam was shouting and ran off to wash it. Renny helped him. They brought the pair to Chet.

  “Who dug them up?” Chet asked.

  “I guess they belong to Lucifer Krye?”

  “Yes, I’d say so. If he’s the one that found them.”

  Adam and Renny took them to the man. “Dad says these are yours.”

  “No.”

  “Mister, those spurs are made of silver and the rowels are on them. I bet they were made in Spain. You could hock them for a hundred dollars anywhere. And they have been engraved. Renny and I didn’t find them. You found them.”

  “Oh, okay, I will take them.”

  “Good.”

  Nothing else of any consequence showed up that day. Adam asked his dad why the man didn’t want to accept them at first.

  “I guess he thought we still suspected him of killing the Meadows family. He has lived all his life being insecure.”

  “What is that?”

  “He never had any place he could stay at.”

  “Oh, that would be bad, wouldn’t it?”

  Chet nodded. He walked over to where Mayes and Krye sat on the ground. “I think tomorrow you should get Cody to take you two in the wagon and go get your families.”

  They both scurried to their feet.

  “O gracias, señor.” Both shook his hands. So grateful.

  Cody said, “I can handle it.”

  Later Adam stopped his father. “I saw what you meant. They are both insecure, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  CHAPTER 34

  Cody left early with the two on horseback. Jesus went with him, driving the buckboard.

  Everyone else dug on the trench. It was past lunch when Eldon, the wrangler, shouted, “I found rubies. Oh my God, I found them.”

  Renny set down the water pail she used to serve the workers liquid out of a dipper and ran over to him. The stones were in the dirt and Chet saw his shovel of dry dirt was full of them. Despite the dirt clinging to them, they gleamed scarlet in the too-bright sunlight.

  “Eldon. You have really done it now!”

  Eldon began screaming. He put down his shovel, then he and Renny began dancing to celebrate. Pretty soon they were polkaing all around in the dry grass. “Found it! We found it!”

  Chet was laughing so hard but not without some concern. “Easy on my daughter.”

  “It’s all right, Dad, I’m as excited as he is.”

  Chet, Renny, and Eldon dropped on their knees and began picking out the larger stones.

  Lisa brought a towel to put them on. “Oh, Eldon. You have found the mother lode.”

  They had done it again. How lucky could they get?

  By the time the crew quit for supper, it was obvious they were in the ring where an explosion had burped up a rain of rubies. No telling what else they’d find.

  In their bedroll that night, Lisa said, “I saw the father side of you today. It was sweet. That boy was innocently wild over his good fortune and he had a girl in his arms but it was sweet for her father to say, ‘Go easy on my daughter.’”

  He was chuckling. “I felt that way, too.”

  * * *

  In the morning the quest was on for more rubies, and by noontime they had a large ring of dirt turned up and were down three or four feet deep. The first wagons tha
t Tom sent from the Verde Ranch arrived that day. A tall cowboy in the lead dismounted his horse, took his high-crown hat off, and wiped his sweaty face on his sleeve. “Ma’am, you must be the missus. I’m Earl Butler, and Tom told me you were very pretty. I’m sure glad to meet up with you at last. It is a long ways up here.”

  “Thank you, Earl. That’s my husband, Chet, coming there.”

  “Whew, this is about the last jumping-off place, isn’t it?” He searched around on the flat, glad to be there.

  “We’re glad to have you.”

  They shook hands.

  “Tom said for me to get up here. You had some valuable things needed gathering. It wasn’t hard to find your tracks after I made Joseph Lake. All tracks lead out here.”

  “Lisa, I am going to show him what we’re doing. Tell those men to unhitch and relax—they made it to where they were supposed to land.

  “Come with me. Those boys of mine and others are finding rubies on the other side of these three bluffs. That’s what we came out here for. Earlier I found some Spanish treasure that had rubies in them. A cripple man down in Mesa told me there was supposed to be more around these buttes. He offered me a map. I paid him a small sum and promised him a share. So we came out here and found the treasure train in a cavern under these buttes. Yesterday we found the rubies on the west side of them. Watch yourself and duck your head. This bridge is low.”

  “You’ve made this ramp very recently I can smell the pine.”

  “Yes, we’ve been busy. We didn’t want the mountain to collapse. This back entrance is low. We use a ladder here to go down inside.”

  “Big cave. It really echoes, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes. These trunks were the first thing we saw.” Chet opened one lid.

  “Oh my God, are they all full like this?”

  “Yes. We load that flatbed mine cart, built that ramp, and push it out so we can load the wagons.”

  “How in the hell did a cowman ever figure that out?”

  “We would’ve faced a lot of pickup and carry, so we figured it out.”

  Earl was laughing. “I’ve been talking to Tom about finding me work. He got me up one morning before daylight and said he had a job for me. I never expected this. He said, ‘My boss must have a real find up there. He needs forty wagons to bring it home.’”

  “We have hay coming today for all the horse stock. We import water, too.”

  “I saw the water wagon when I drove up. And you simply found all this and now rubies on the outside?”

  “Yes. Well, I have laid out some cash to assemble it all.”

  “I’m sorry to be so damn nosy. You put a value on all this?”

  “No. I really have not tried to. I have been so busy building that trestle and getting what I needed set up.”

  “You have done one helluva job. I reckon we should load those wagons and haul it down to Preskitt. That will be slow going.”

  “Dangerous, too. If the word gets out about what you are hauling.”

  “Yes. But I have some damn tough men with me. We will deliver it. Mr. Tanner will be set up to handle it there at the bank. Tom has more wagons coming after me.”

  Chet dropped his butt on a trunk. “Earl, it has been a trying deal, but I figure we will make it with all of us trying so hard.”

  “Hell yes.” They shook hands.

  They went down to camp. Four suntanned young men were waiting to see Chet.

  “Mr. Byrnes, sir. I brought four racks of hay. My dad, Greenville Houston, said to see when you’d need some more.”

  “Four-day turnaround?”

  The youth looked concerned. “I can make it in six, sir.”

  “Make it six wagons. Then I will have to see again how much I will need.”

  “Oh, that will be fine.”

  “I owe you eighty dollars a load?”

  “Yes, sir. It is fresh-cut alfalfa.”

  Chet nodded that he heard him and counted out four hundred to hand to him.

  “That’s too much, sir. It was eighty dollars a wagonload.”

  “I saw the hay you brought me today. I am paying you a bonus.”

  “Well, thank you, sir. Six days we will have six loads here, sir.”

  “Stay for supper. My wife has plenty of food and you can get an early start.”

  “We will, sir, and thanks so much.”

  “I invited them to supper,” he said when Lisa joined him.

  “Good. See you shortly,” she said to the boys.

  “Earl wants to get several loads back to Preskitt.”

  “Good idea. I don’t know who’d steal them out here but, yes, I am ready for Preskitt’s cool breezes.”

  “You can go back with him.”

  She cut her eyes around sharply at him. “You aren’t getting away from me that easy.”

  He hugged her and kissed her cheek. “I wasn’t trying. How did the ruby picking go?”

  “Nearly double of what you brought back from the other place.”

  “Who’d ever believe that?”

  “I do. I carried one pail with two hands to our bank. Oh, Jamie Meadows needs to talk to you.”

  “Fine. But I have no answers for him.”

  “I don’t know what he wants.”

  “I can handle it.”

  They parted and he found Jamie finishing washing up.

  The two sauntered off to talk beyond the others, cleaning up for supper.

  “Chet, I am maybe a little sturdier now than I was earlier. I helped them load and I want to thank you for all you’ve done for us. And the families appreciate all you did, too. I appreciate all you’ve tried to do solving the murders, but it’s kinda closed for my part. There were no Indians going to tell us who was there that day. I even don’t care we never knew they’d been scalped. But, even more so, I don’t really feel like coming back here and driving those cows back home. Take me six months and I’d hate even looking at them by then. I’d like to give them to the two men and their four women.”

  “The drifters, Mayes and Krye?”

  “Yeah. They have kids and nowhere else to go. They done their part. They aren’t my kind of people but they ain’t afraid of work. I know the family would do that.”

  “You can’t tell who is married to who now anyway.”

  Jamie chuckled. “And I have been dreading that drive back home.”

  “Let’s see after supper what they want to do.”

  “Thanks.”

  Later, Chet and Jamie went down to where the family was camped. They all jumped up from eating when they saw who it was.

  “Ease back down. We want to talk. You know Jamie Meadows. It was his brother and sister-in-law and their children that were murdered. He has some good news for you and I also have something to say.”

  Everyone got settled back on the ground. One of the darker women bared a breast to hush a hungry baby.

  “We came to find the killers and we feel none of you had a hand in their murders. That place down there reminds him too much of them for him to stay and ranch there. But he thinks you, and I mean all of you, deserve that ranch. It is a homestead claim to three hundred sixty acres. You must improve it and live on it, and one day he will sign it over to you so you will have a deed. You know the cabin will need to be added on so all of you can squeeze inside.”

  They laughed.

  “He has a registered brand he can give you and twenty some cows and calves to start a herd.”

  They sucked in their breath.

  “Why give us all that?” Krye asked.

  “’Cause I can’t take it home with me.”

  “Oh, Jamie, we are so sorry.” They all rushed over to hug and pat on him as he cried.

  “Then you will accept his gift?” Chet asked.

  “Yes. And we appreciate all you have done for us,” a part-Indian woman said.

  “I will pay you for your time, too.”

  In bed later with his wife, he explained what Jamie did.

  “I see why h
e cried. He came to find some peace, didn’t he?”

  “And in the end, they showed him they cared.”

  Yes.

  * * *

  Four trunks per wagon was enough for each team to haul back to Preskitt. Chet and Earl reached that agreement after loading the first one. The trestle worked well and Adam showed Earl all the bolt holes in their flatcar’s topside rim that he and Rocky left after unbolting the box from it. Twenty-two wagons were loaded and they hardly looked like they’d made a dent in the numbers of trunks still resting on the cavern floor.

  They’d leave in the morning to go back.

  Barrels of water and sacks of grain were in one wagon, and in another, camping gear and food. There was one spare wagon, just in case. Earl didn’t want that much loot simply waiting, alongside those desolate stretches of road, for another wagon to get there to pick it up.

  Jamie had all the papers that he’d need to switch the ranch over to the settlers. They’d get them back in the mail sent to Joseph Lake. They all hugged him, one at a time, before he rode off. Chet promised him his share when it was settled.

  “You don’t owe me anything, Chet Byrnes.”

  “Listen, I owe you. It will come to you.”

  “I wish my brother had lived to really know you. You two came from the same past world. He’d have made it big up here, too.”

  Chet agreed and they parted.

  A week later wagon train number two arrived at Three Sister Buttes. A rancher Chet knew climbed down along with a woman he recognized. Curt Baker and his wife, Adeline. They ranched south of Preskitt.

  “Howdy, Chet. Tom says you have worlds of stuff to haul back. I visited with Earl, who was going south on the Navajo Trail a few days ago. This Spanish treasure business is sure treating you all right.”

  “Keeping me busy, anyway.”

  “Tom said your sons and daughter are even up here this summer with you.”

  “I have two sons, Adam and Rocky, and the judge asked us to consider adopting a girl who lost her parents. Renny is a very nice young lady. You may have heard that she won the novice race at the fairgrounds recently.”

  “We missed that one, though I recall someone saying you didn’t have a daughter?”

  “I do. And she and the boys are around here somewhere. Earl showed you the treasure we’re hauling back?”