Dead Aim

by Dusty Richards

  A big smile on his brown face showed his white teeth. “Gracias, she will love you for doing that.”

  Long damn sure didn’t want that to happen—his mother was a typical, fat, many-skirted native woman. Long was just thanking the boy for his effort. “Come on . . . Johnny I want to study that land map up at the house for where those other locked-in ranchers live.”

  CHAPTER 10

  The next Monday they rode west by southwest again with packhorses to talk to more landowners locked in by Harp’s land purchases. Johnny, Anthony, and Jan accompanied him. She handled the cooking chores, and he felt they were better set up to do business this trip.

  They met Oscar Beatles, a bowlegged rancher in his sixties. Oscar and three Mexican vaqueros ran the Oxbow Ranch.

  He and Long sat out under a live oak tree as Oscar spit tobacco and whittled on cedar with a razor-sharp jackknife while Long explained.

  “You understand my purpose here is to offer you a price you could live with to sell me your holdings.”

  “I’m sixty-four. I never intended to do anything but have them plant my bones here when the good Lord or the devil calls me to go yonder. I earned this place in the Texas War for Independence as a mounted cavalryman. I was there when we captured Santa Anna. Bought three more sections for fifty cents an acre with my inheritance—Texas needed money in them days like always.

  “Married a woman I met in San Antonio. None of our kids lived. She said she wanted to go home after ten years and four dead babies. I didn’t blame her. I gave her some money and never heard from her again.

  “I sold grown fat steers for so little that me and the boys that work for me about starved out here for years. But we hung on. This year a man took a thousand head of my steers to Kansas and paid me thirty-five thousand dollars. Can you even imagine that much money? Are those people crazy up there paying that much money for a longhorn steer?”

  “My family and I take steers up there, too. He should have paid you fifty thousand. He made fifty thousand for taking them.”

  Oscar went to laughing. “Why me and them boys went to Mexico and had us a ball charming them putas, dancing and drinking. Wow we had a ball.”

  “Can I take your cattle to Kansas next year?”

  “You bet. How about two thousand head? That would clean up my range.”

  “I can do that. Would you sell it all to me—all this, lock, stock, and barrel—and go live out your life with some pretty señorita and one of those drinks with lime in it?”

  “Just what would you pay for it all?” He was laughing at Long’s offer like he was buying a broke down cart.

  “How many cows do you have in your tally book?”

  “Nine hundred and forty.”

  “Heifers?”

  “One twenty, and two thousand big steers ready to go this year.”

  “Four sections of land?”

  “Yes.”

  “One hundred thousand dollars. Half cash now and five thousand a year until paid.”

  “What do I need to do?”

  “Sign the papers. We also want to verify the cattle number.”

  “My boys and I will show you. Why I couldn’t spend that much money in my lifetime.”

  “You two want some lunch?” Jan came over and asked them.

  “Yes. Oscar just sold us his ranch and cattle.”

  “Well what will you do, sir?”

  “Ma’am, you really want to know?” Oscar held a big grin.

  “Sure.”

  “Go to Mexico and dance my life away instead of drying up and dying on this cactus patch.”

  She laughed and hugged his shoulder. “That sounds like a great way to leave this world. This is a nice ranch.”

  “Wish my wife had thought so. She left me twenty years ago.”

  “I would have liked it. The big spring is wonderful. Does it always run that strong?” Jan said to him.

  “Yes. That is why I had to claim this place originally.”

  She nodded and they went in to lunch. “I hope you find happiness and have fun.”

  Aside, she asked Long what they would do next.

  “Go back, get Harp and men to count his cattle. I believe they’re here but we need to check.”

  “It is a nice ranch setup.”

  He agreed but said nothing else. First, it was over a day’s long ride from headquarters. Second, he liked the country up there better and as an owner he would need to be closer to headquarters. He’d find her a place she liked. They had not even looked for one seriously. He’d work it out.

  Johnny laughed, shaking his head. “You bought the place lock, stock, and barrel.”

  “And cattle, horses, and the coyotes as well.”

  “Wow. Who will be the foreman here?”

  “I guess Harp and I will need to pick one.”

  “Put my hat in that barrel. I’m like Chaw . . . if I had a foreman job and salary I could find myself a wife.”

  Jan smiled, leaning on her man’s shoulder. “Funny how a good secure job makes you eligible, huh?”

  “Aw, Jan, you either have to own a working ranch or have a real job to afford one.”

  She agreed and they went to eat the supper that she had ready for them. A nice tablecloth was on her table and as Anthony sat, he tucked the cloth napkin in his shirt like a tie and everyone laughed. She filled their tin coffee cups and told them to eat.

  Anthony softly asked what they were eating.

  “Quail,” Long said.

  “How did she catch them?” Anthony asked.

  “She shot them,” Johnny said, and passed him the potatoes.

  “With a pistol?” he whispered.

  “Shotgun,” Johnny said. “Eat. They’re good.”

  One bite taken and Anthony agreed with a smile. “Good. I never ate them before.”

  Later in their bedroll, Long said, “I guess Anthony liked your quail?”

  She laughed. “He ate two of them.”

  * * *

  In the morning Long met again with Oscar about the ranch transfer.

  “I don’t doubt your count, but I feel we must verify it. That would be what my father would call good business practice, and this is a large undertaking.”

  “You know, God bless them, but I have no next of kin alive I know anything about and I’d sure be angry if any showed up claiming they had a piece of the ranch coming or any part of my business. So I want to include my will in this deal. If I should go to heaven or hell, wherever, then you two won’t owe a dime and the ranch is yours.”

  “If that is what you want to do, Oscar, we’d have no objection.”

  “I slept on that last night and it suits me. You boys are young and working hard. Why everyone knows you two weren’t even dry behind your ears yet and you two took those cattle to Sedalia almost through Yankee lines and brought a widow back her share. Those were some real bleak days in Texas. We’d lost a damn war over secession that we had written in our agreement to join the U.S. I wasn’t sure we wouldn’t dry up like a cow pie and eventually all blow away. And two big old boys showed everyone there was another way to do things. If I’d had a son could’ve done that, I’d busted all my buttons over it swelling up with pride when the words came down to me that the boys made it and are coming home with money.”

  “Aw, Oscar, we did what we had to do.”

  “Well Texas may never thank you, but I am damn proud you will have this ranch and everything I have, some day.”

  “We’re proud to be the new owners. A week of us counting cows and cattle, and a lawyer will have the papers written up. If you want the deed and your will separate but still in the paperwork, I am certain they can do that, or add it as part of the deed.”

  “Do that and I won’t ever lose another night’s sleep about who heirs this place and where my savings go to.”

  Long sent for Harp and a counting crew. He had Jan write a letter to his brother explaining all about the deal and with them being Oscar’s heirs. How, now, he felt they n
eeded to make a count of the cattle as a part of the business portion of the deal.

  He knew when he re-read it, the agreement sounded well founded in business principles and Harp would be tickled. There was some pride in it for him making the deal—obviously he had as much business-savvy as his brother. And it didn’t hurt to have a wife who could write fancy, either. He suggested Harp get their lawyer busy drawing up the contract so it could be signed and to have Beatles’s ownership inspected by a land expert.

  “Beautiful job. Oscar would approve it. Johnny can go find Harp and give him your neat letter, then have him send us lots of help to get through with the cattle counting and on with the purchase.”

  “Sounds great to me.”

  “You sound tired. You okay?” he asked her.

  She whispered and then seeing they were alone, she repeated, “I am fine. But I may be pregnant.”

  “Really?”

  She shook her head at him. “Hard as we’ve been trying I should be.”

  Then she jumped up, hugged him, and they danced around the ranch house’s living room to celebrate.

  He stopped and she swept her hair back. “If you are, when?”

  “Eight months—September, maybe.”

  “I should be home from Kansas by then.”

  “I hope so. But I am a big girl. Kate will help me and your mom—I’ll be fine.”

  “I know but I hate I won’t be there to help you.”

  “I am fine.” She bent over, took the letter, and folded the two pages. “It’s getting late. Better go find Johnny and get him to deliver it to Harp.”

  He kissed her to thank her and went off to find Johnny. That was easy; Johnny had his horse saddled and was ready to ride. He secured the letter in his saddlebags and said to Long, “I’ll be back with lots of help in two days.”

  “Just be careful. I want you alive to run a ranch someday.”

  “I will be and I’m ready to do that job.”

  “I believe you are. May God ride with you, mi amigo.”

  Anthony smiled, getting up from his seat on the small keg. “He would make a good one, too. When we were out checking on the cattle at that other ranch, he saw things I didn’t see, but I am learning from him, too.”

  “Good. He may need a segundo.”

  “Me?” Anthony pointed at his chest.

  “You two might make a good pair.”

  “Put me down for that. I would love to do that.”

  “We’ll see, Anthony. We’ll see how things go.”

  “Gracias. I plan to reset the front shoes on your horse today. Johnny noticed them. I’ll do that. You have any other plans for me around here?”

  “Not for two days and then we’ll have all the work we want counting cattle.”

  His man laughed. “Plenty of that to do.”

  The north wind was growing colder. A sure sign they’d have five–six days of cooler weather—no clouds in sight. While it seldom snowed this far south it could blow in some freezing weather.

  She had a fire in the fireplace and it felt good. He stood at the hearth and warmed his front side to the radiant heat from the split oak wood blazing away.

  Could he ever stand to become a leisure rancher instead of having days when he felt he needed to be doing something rather than lounging around like this one? Such non-activity made him antsy as ever, not working, but until Harp and the men arrived, there was not much he could do. So he went in the kitchen where she was making pies from dried apples and raisins.

  He looked out the kitchen window. The strong wind was moving any dust it could find.

  “You like pie, right?”

  “Love it.”

  “Where did Oscar go today?”

  “With one of the boys that works for him. Mica found a spring stopped up. They were going to check on it.” She put two pies in the oven. When she straightened she frowned. “Do I hear horses?”

  “Yes.” He went and put on his gun belt that was hanging on the hat rack by the front door. Bent over to look out the living room window, he could see a half dozen riders coming hard.

  They drew up in a line fifty feet from the front porch. None he recognized right off.

  “Trouble?” she seriously asked, drying her hands.

  “I don’t know what they want.”

  “You don’t have to go out there.”

  “But I do.” He shrugged on his jumper.

  CHAPTER 11

  “Why look who we found, boys. If it ain’t one of them land-grabbing buzzards from Kerrville. The Indian brother.”

  “State your business or get the hell off this ranch,” Long said, coming out on the porch and closing the front door behind himself.

  “Well, O’Malley, you don’t own this place yet, so you can’t order me anywhere.” The big man was rocking his large Mexican wooden saddle horn.

  “Well I’m buying this place. So I have some say-so in who stops here.”

  “Boys, we’ve done come too late to tell the old man not to sell it to them land grabbers.”

  They nodded their heads and moaned like they were hurting.

  “Now leave.”

  A Winchester action clacked. The horse-mounted men caught their reins and drew them up.

  “You don’t scare me.”

  “You should be scared, because my men have orders to shoot you first. Ready to die? Just what in the hell are you here for anyway? To threaten us? Well load up and go home and stay there, because we will shoot you on sight if you intend to trespass and are intent on threatening us.”

  “We will have lawyers in Texas court that will bar your taking this rangeland from the rightful users.”

  “Well do that in Austin. The sale was legally made and we own it. Period. If I report that you are threatening me on my own land, the state police and black soldiers will be at your house shortly to take you to that prison camp they have ready for you.”

  “You’re talking big here. You won’t be doing that when our lawyers have you evicted. Let’s go, men. He will see who this land belongs to when the Texas Supreme Court tells him to go packing.”

  “Wait. My name is Long O’Malley. I didn’t catch yours?”

  “Albert Newman. Why?”

  “Albert, if you ever come back and threaten me or my men again I’m going to kill you, and I want your mother to know you’re dead so she don’t pine over your being missing.”

  “Ha.”

  “You won’t think that when I get through with you. You have till the count of five and my men start shooting. One . . . two . . .”

  The open window beside the door showed a black shotgun barrel sticking out from between the curtains. He hoped she wouldn’t use it until they were far enough away to only sting them or their horses. The three of them would be hard pressed to fight them. This would not happen again. He’d have a force to back whoever was here until this was all settled . . .

  They left, and Long eased down some.

  Late afternoon Oscar and his men rode in and Jan had supper ready for all of them.

  “How was your day?” Oscar asked, straining his back against the hands on his hips.

  “We had company. Albert Newman and some hired guns came by to tell us they are challenging Harp’s land deal in court. Told us that the Supreme Court of Texas will trash our purchase when his lawyers get us in court.”

  Oscar frowned at him. “Can they really do that?”

  Long shook his head. “Texas sold us that land to pay some bills they did not have money for. The government didn’t have the money to do it.”

  Jan went by with some food on a tray and asked Oscar if his back was hurting him.

  “Oh, some.”

  “If you can stand a massage I can loosen it,” she said.

  “I can stand a lot. When you get time I’d appreciate it.”

  “Eat your supper while it is hot. I can fix your back so you can sleep.”

  “Thanks.”

  “She can do it, too,” Long told him when they
sat down.

  “I figured she can. They threaten you?” Oscar asked.

  “Some. Anthony had his rifle and she had her shotgun; I wore my gun.”

  “How many were there?”

  Anthony said, “Nine counting him.”

  “Oh, he had plenty of help.”

  Long nodded. “They left after the threat he gave me.”

  Her eyes like slits, Jan said, “Oscar, I wanted to fill his backside with my birdshot.”

  They all laughed at her words.

  “As well as you shoot quail, you’d have him standing in the saddle to ride his horse home.”

  His ranch hands laughed over that, too.

  “They weren’t sure how many men I had or we’d had our hands full with that many gun hands. Anthony cracked his Winchester open and shut it. They weren’t sure how many more were coming with him.”

  “You know this man?” Oscar asked.

  “No. But I could see he’s tough and those men were not kids. We will need more guards down here until things settle down.”

  “Legally can they do anything?” Oscar asked again.

  Long chuckled about the notion. “No. Texas spent that money.”

  “Who do you think hired him?”

  “That’s a good question. I doubt even all the landowners inside the area could afford his services. I think someone wants this ranch and wants the O’Malley brothers off it and will try anything to get it done including hiring Albert Newman. I think they heard about our state land purchase too late to stop our man and Harp from closing the deal down there and now are trying to run us off or have a court intervene.”

  “It won’t mess up our deal will it?” the older man asked.

  “No. Nor will his shouting in court. They have no real claim.”

  Oscar smiled. “I am going to enjoy being retired. Thanks.”

  “I sure hope so. If you want to live here we can fix that for you at no cost to do that.”

  “I am pleased. I know how short Texans are on money, and it won’t get any better fast, either. You two have done many things right and will continue to build on your ranch.”

  Long agreed and hugged Jan’s waist as she came to stand by him. “I told him he could live here if he wanted to live here after the sale.”

  “Why not?”