Once a Ranger

by Dusty Richards

  Three days later, they were in Soda Springs. Guthrey wired the fort at El Paso and told them to bring the reward money for the six escapees. He explained that one was dead and buried at Camp McDowell and he had a death certificate for him. The rest would be here when they sent their men to take them back. Save the county the cost of a trial. They also had the Wells Fargo money and would get a reward for that too.

  Guthrey’s four men, in the end, earned eight hundred seventy-five dollars each from the federal and Wells Fargo rewards. The express company sent an armed force on horseback with a wagon to pick up the loot.

  Very grateful for his share, Baker bought a small house for his wife, Donna, and their three kids. Zamora planned on having a small house built on his place so his mother-in-law could move over there from Socorro. His wife, Candy, hugged Guthrey and kissed his face. The deputies cheered, “Grandma is coming.”

  Noble shoved his reward in his pocket for a rainy day and so did Dan. Both thanked him.

  Back at the ranch, he found Cally disappointed. While he was gone, she’d found out she wasn’t with child, but she was happy to have her man back. He was glad to be back too. She’d been there for the rewards payoff and thought he was good to do that for his men, and told him so as they went home in the buckboard.

  “Can we go to the dance Saturday?”

  “I hope so.” He hugged her shoulder. “I think we have things settled down.”

  “I hope so too.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I sure miss you when you’re gone.”

  “That makes two of us.” He felt lots of pride in his woman as he drove the dusty road, ranch bound.

  * * *

  THE NEXT FEW days were nice and calm, and Guthrey and Cally went to the dance on Saturday, and then to church on Sunday. The next week, Guthrey sent Noble with a wagon over to get the Mexican couple, Guermo and Deloris Diaz, for Cally. The sooner the couple got here the sooner she’d have some help. And they might cheer her up—not being pregnant like she expected disappointed her, but he privately teased her that they could sure work on it some more.

  He went to make his rounds while Noble went to get the Diazes. There had not been much going wrong in his absence. He wasn’t mad that things were quiet, but they were too quiet to suit him. Arizona Territory was right on the trail of many bad guys, pickpockets, sham artists, and wanted killers who used this route to escape being arrested, moving like a wave into the areas with the least effective forms of law. It was a wonder they didn’t set up headquarters in either town in the county since they both sat right on the main highway from Texas to California.

  Guthrey rode over to the house of ill repute in Steward’s Crossing to see if Ellen Foster, the lady of the house, knew anything he didn’t about what might be going on.

  He hitched his horse at the fifty feet of hitch rail fronting her white picket fence, which shielded the two-story house’s fine yard full of roses. The black girl he had once saved from being raped took his hat and told him she was sure glad to see him again. He agreed and asked where the boss was at.

  “I goes get her. You’s goes in de kitchen. They got plenty of food in thar and she be right along.”

  “Thank you, my dear,” he said and went down the front hall into the kitchen.

  A tall blonde jumped up from table at the sight of him. “Why, Sheriff Guthrey. What brings you out so early?”

  Three other girls sat around the table smiling for him.

  “It’s not early for me. You girls don’t have to get up with the chickens.”

  She laughed. “No, we stay up with old hoot owls half the night.”

  They all laughed.

  “I’d sure be honored if you’d sit by me,” Blondie said, holding the chair out for him.

  He smiled. “I’d hate to disappoint a pretty girl. How are the rest of you?”

  Blondie rounded him up a cup of hot coffee, canned milk, and sugar. Then real intimately she asked him how he liked his eggs.

  “Scrambled’s fine.”

  “An omelet?”

  “Fine.”

  “We heard you arrested a whole army a week or so ago.”

  “They were really prisoners that were supposed to be in jail.”

  “Those army men who come after them from El Paso spent the night here when they came over. They wanted to know all about you.”

  “Yeah, one said those prisoners were tough sumbitches. But we told them we had an ex–Texas Ranger captain that was our new sheriff.” She stood up and clapped, and the others joined in.

  “Damn right we do.” Blondie kissed him on the cheek like she had rights to him. Thank God Cally would never know. He told them that the law was working fine, and if they needed any help, to call on him.

  One of the thicker-set girls wearing a billowing one-piece sack dress and holding a coffee cup in both of her chubby small hands nodded. “We damn sure will. In most places the law and houses are at odds or being shaken down by the police. Thank God for you, sir.”

  “Well, I see we’re feeding you anyway.” Shorter than most of her girls, Ellen Foster, with her large breasts on a shelf under the expensive velvet dress, stood with her hands on her hips. “To what do we owe the honor of your presence?”

  “Just checking. We get lots of folks passing through this town. Some of them are outlaws. I can’t be here, but you send word and one of my men will come to your aid.”

  “We knew that. What else?”

  “I simply came by to break bread with you.”

  “Very kind. Blondie had a friend come by a few days ago. He’s wanted in New Mexico. But he just came by for a short visit.”

  Blondie nodded. “You know of Bill Bonney?”

  “He’s Billy the Kid, right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Unless he makes trouble for himself in this territory, he’s a free man.”

  “He’s nice to girls,” Blondie said. “And he has lots of them. To me he never grew up and that’s the fun side of him. I never saw that killer side of the man.”

  “Lots of outlaws are like that. They say Jesse James never forgot a lesson his momma taught him.”

  “Some of us knew Pete Crawford from El Paso. Most generous man in Texas,” Ellen said. “And he gunned down two Rangers and two town marshals one night in Haileyville over just nothing.”

  Guthrey knew that bloody story too. “If you don’t know any more, then thanks for the free breakfast, it was damn good. I’ll mosey along.”

  Blondie caught his sleeve when he was getting up. “I serve breakfast in bed upstairs. Same price.”

  “Much obliged.” Then Ellen went with him to the front door. “She don’t recognize you’re a real happy married man.”

  “No problem. You know anything I need to look out for?” Guthrey asked her.

  “The man runs the old Whitmore Ranch. His neighbors should watch their backs.“

  “Walter’s his first name. He met my best man over at Soda Springs. I’ll watch him. Liquor makes men talk, don’t it?”

  “Damn right, and there’d be a lot more men hung if the law knew what we know.”

  “Just keep me in mind.”

  Ellen glared at him. “I had no association with the Kid.”

  “I understand. He was simply seeing an old friend.”

  “Sorry. I am used to being accused by men in your place.”

  “When I accuse you, you’ll know it. That other is behind us.”

  “Thank you. And you hurt my business some.” She chuckled. “They won’t stay around long enough for me to make real money because they fear you so much.”

  “Good.”

  She shook her head ruefully. “We will watch out for your troubles.”

  He left her on the porch and went to ride his paint horse on to Soda Springs. He put him in the corral at the jacal he kept in town. Th
ere were too many horses in town to bother a stud horse at a hitch rail while he had business to handle. Then he walked up the hill to the courthouse and entered the sheriff’s office after speaking to the telegrapher at his counter.

  “How’s that Apache horse today?” Baker asked when Guthrey entered their office.

  “Tough. I put him in the pen down at my jacal. No need to have him squealing at every mare comes through town.”

  “Hey, he’s powerful.”

  “He’s a great horse. Anything going wrong around here?”

  “One of our cow counters said he’d seen some suspicious-looking range riders down in the south. They avoided him and his helper, but he thought they were up to no good.”

  “They get any names or descriptions?”

  “No, not much.”

  “I’ll swing down there. I have some supporters in that area. Maybe they’ve seen something.”

  “Good. Those guys are keeping us up on what they see. They found two stolen horses abandoned in a valley last week. They’d been rode to death and the thieves must of left their own horses there to ride off on.”

  “I wonder what they got into?” Guthrey shook his head. “Thank them for helping us. Any word on the redheaded killer?”

  “Nothing. The earth must have swallowed him.”

  Guthrey agreed. “I’m going to bear down on finding him before he does it again.”

  He decided as slow as things were going he’d ride home, spend the night with his wife, and in the morning go south and look at things down there. He’d check with the Mormon Bishop Brown and see if he knew of anything wrong.

  * * *

  THE RIDE HOME went fast. The stallion was excited and flew across the chaparral-covered desert for the ranch. It was near sundown and Cally ran out to catch him. She swung on his neck, pleased to see him. He felt glad he’d come back and kissed her hard. Both of them laughing, they put his stallion up and went to the house.

  “Noble and those folks you hired didn’t make it back here today.”

  “It’s far enough to over there to take a couple of days to get back here, and she has a new baby—or may be busy having it.”

  “All right. I have some supper I can fix for you.”

  “I’ll eat.”

  “Good.”

  “I’m going south to check on things tomorrow.”

  “All right.” She hugged his waist. They eased inside and she led him to the table. “I just love having you home with me.”

  “I love to be here, trust me. That’s why I rode back. It was quiet.”

  “Oh, Phil, I hate to be a pest, I simply appreciate your spending time with me.”

  He hugged and kissed her.

  * * *

  IN THE MORNING, he milked their cow, they had breakfast, and he put his bedroll on his saddle in case he needed to go on after something. He left Cochise in the pen and chose a long-legged bay horse they called Tom.

  “You need to throw hay to my paint horse. He can get water but he’s by himself. I shouldn’t be gone over there too long, and I’ll do my best to be back for the dance.”

  “I know you will. You try hard.”

  “Thanks. Noble can figure out how to house the Diazes. They are gentle, hardworking people.”

  “I will be polite to them.”

  “You weren’t hardly friendly to me when I came here.”

  “Oh, I’m more grown-up than that now.”

  “I know. Just be yourself.”

  They kissed good-bye and she smiled at him. “I will.”

  He mounted up and rode south. He went by Steward’s Crossing—nothing happening. Next he rode over to see Bishop Brown, but one of his wives said he was gone to Salt Lake. No conflict happened there, according to her. He swung east and went to the Peters Ranch to check with Mark. Maybe he’d seen the strangers skirting around through there. Mark’s wife met Guthrey at the door.

  “Mark is out checking cattle. Come in. I’ll make us some coffee, and I have few stale Danishes you might choke down. I know he’d like to talk to you.”

  Guthrey followed Olive into the kitchen. She lit the range and set the coffeepot on the iron stove top. She waited for the fire to start, then with a big breath, she blew out the match, which was about to burn her finger.

  Head down, she didn’t look at him when she started to speak, “I guess I owe you a big favor.”

  Seated at the table with the chair turned out to watch her, he frowned.

  “You knew who I was?” The hard look in her clear blue eyes questioned him.

  “You looked familiar from someplace. I’m sorry, but I knew I had seen you before.”

  She lowered her head to look out the windswept windows that fluttered the curtains. Satisfied no one was coming, she said, “It was in Texas years ago.”

  What did they call that town? A sleepy cow town, and he’d been stationed there once before the war. Her name then was not Olive. She was a teenage girl he’d kissed hard outside the dance hall in the dark—“Florence was your name then.”

  She nodded. “When you wouldn’t marry me, I ran off like a fool with a worthless guy named Clay Freedle. Dumb girl, but I finally left Clay and started calling myself Olive. I married Hemp Carter not long after. He was older but he treated me nice. I’ve been a respectable woman ever since. We were in several Texas towns but he ended up with a good freight business in Tucson. One day he had a heart attack and died. I met Mark in Tucson at my church. So I sold the freight business and came up here with him. He’s a good man, but I felt like I’d faint when you came up here that day.”

  “I wouldn’t ever have said anything.”

  She ran over and hugged his head. “God bless you, Phil Guthrey.”

  “Olive, I am pleased you have Mark and a real fine life here.”

  She backed to the kitchen range. The fire was blazing and she replaced the stove-top lid. “Oh, I have not slept for nights. Why did I think you would do that to me?”

  “I have no idea. I almost married several women since that time. My sister about gave up on me ever getting married, and then I met Cally, and she was the one for me.”

  “You are a very lucky man. Where are you going today?”

  “There were reports of some men slipping around the countryside looking like they were casing things for what they could get into.”

  “Have you seen them?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “All I have is rumors about them.”

  She shook her head. “I have not seen any strange men, but we aren’t on the main road.”

  “That’s the road they’d need to take: your back road, so they could stay out of sight.”

  Her water boiling, she added ground coffee to the pot. “I have not seen them.”

  “I hope they went on their way. I’m also looking for a man with red hair who has a Mexican boy with him.”

  “What did he do?”

  “Murdered some folks.”

  She shook her head. “I haven’t seen him either.”

  “Good thing. He’s dangerous and not many have lived to tell folks about him.”

  “I’ll be on the watch for him. And now that my concern is over about you giving me away, I’ll have Mark take me to that dance some Saturday so we can meet your wife.”

  “You bet. She’s a neat young lady, she gardens and cans; we could eat for two years on her supplies in the cellar.”

  She laughed.

  “She, her brother, and their father, who was shot before I joined them, lived on the income of a small beef herd. So saving food and having it was important. They do okay. Not rich but comfortable.”

  “Mark and I make it fine too.”

  He agreed, finished his coffee, and thanked her. “I’ll get on. Headed towards the Thayers’ next. See if they saw something.”

 
“Tell Nell hi. She’s a good neighbor. You learned her story, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, she told me. It is almost unbelievable.”

  “Brave, determined woman. I don’t know if I could have stood all that she went through.”

  “Thanks, Olive. And you know your secret is safe with me.”

  She dropped her chin. “Thanks, my friend.”

  He rode out and headed east on the wagon road. En route to the Thayers’ ranch, he stopped and spoke to several ranch people and a freighter coming out who’d delivered some timbers to a mine development. No one had seen any suspicious men roaming around. He felt better reaching Thayer’s place, and the rancher came out of the house with his wife, Nell, to greet him.

  “You two getting along all right?”

  They nodded and smiled. Thayer said, “No problems here. What brings you out this way?”

  “Looking for some drifters. And a killer. Have you two seen any drifters?”

  “Not lately,” Thayer said and his wife shook her head.

  “How about a redheaded man and a Mexican boy?”

  “No. Is he dangerous?”

  “Deadly. Keep your guard up for him.”

  Nell took his arm. “Come inside. I’ll make us something to eat. My husband can put up your horse. Up here visitors are scarce so we hold them hostage. How is your wife?”

  “Good. You met Noble. He’s moving a family over to help her. They’re a nice young couple to work on the place. She works too hard.”

  “I wish we had someone like Noble to help us.”

  “They come pretty scarce. I don’t know how old he is.”

  “What’s scarce?” Thayer asked, coming into join them.

  “Good old men like Noble for ranch help are hard to find.”

  “He’s a dandy. When I rode with them boys I couldn’t believe how great a hand he was.”

  They discussed Guthrey’s search for troublemakers and resolved there weren’t many of them hiding in the Dragoons. After eating the meal Nell served, they relaxed and talked about ranching and cattle. Thayer had bought three new shorthorn bulls and he wanted some more.

  They talked about markets and, of course, old man Clanton, who held the reins on the beef market in the territory.