The men had searched for any sign of Newman’s scouts. Nothing showed up. But Long felt they’d come on the run, attack, burn the ranch down, and leave just as fast.
Thursday night two of his men reported two suspicious groups were camped nearby. Four or five men to each camp. Those, plus the men who would ride with Newman would make a formidable force. But his men were well armed with plenty of ammo and should be able to hold them off.
In the early morning, the ranch horses were moved to the last pasture so they didn’t get shot up in the crossfire. Each man had a strategic place to defend with ample protection to duck behind. When they were all ready he fretted over not having enough men, but it was too late to do anything about it. He kissed Jan and made her promise to stay down low in the house.
His men and Oscar’s made a strong force to defend the ranch. He reminded her to stay down. He didn’t need her shot.
The charge came in mid-afternoon. They rode in, pistols blazing, but the raiders quickly reined up, realizing they were in a trap. Through the gun smoke, he saw someone shouting for them to get back. He couldn’t tell who that was, and all the rifle fire hurt his ears. Then, with a break in the smoke, he saw two more raiders. He took them out himself.
Silence fell aside from the wounded moaning and the pained dying horses.
Jan rushed out to join him on the porch. “Are there any alive?”
“I don’t think so. Go back inside and make some coffee. The men can sort it out.”
“I knew it would be bloody, but are any of our men hurt or wounded?”
“I am going to check. Make us some coffee.”
One by one he was joined on the battlefield by the other ranch hands.
“Any one get hurt?” he asked.
The round of head shakes relieved him.
“Any get away?” Johnny asked, reloading his Colt.
“I don’t know. We have us a big mess. Must be ten dead or wounded horses.”
One of Oscar’s men went after a team to haul the hurt and dead horses away from the house. They began to shoot the suffering animals. The injured horses destroyed, they dragged away the last of the dead animals. Buzzards were already circling overhead.
Then they drug the wounded men aside. Four were dead, the other five shot up and pleading for their lives.
Newman was not among them. That fact made Long mad. How many had escaped beside him? He had to make a decision. If he took them to town, then the carpetbagger’s state police might investigate the matter, and he didn’t need them snooping around.
He still had not decided the raiders’ fate.
“What about the shot-up ones?” Johnny asked him.
“I’m undecided.”
“Why don’t you and her go back to the home ranch and take two men for guards. We can handle them.”
“I hate to do that to you, Johnny.”
“I don’t. They’d not have buried us. This is our war, too. We need these jobs as well. Take her home. I know she’s tough, but I want to learn some things from those bastards before they leave here for hell.”
“Harness up the team for me. I’ll get her.”
In the house she ran and hugged him. “Coffee is ready.”
“They will need it. We’re going home.”
“Why?”
“To be sure they have not struck our other ranches.”
“You didn’t get him, did you?”
“No.”
“What will he do to you next?”
“I am going to try and find out. I want you safe back at the ranch. I can’t afford to lose you.”
“I’m fine.”
“And I want you that way. They will have the buckboard hitched. Two men will go with us.”
She buried her face in his jumper. “Your brother bought this land legally. What do they want?”
“To try and take it away from us. Get your bag.”
She agreed and he loaded her up. The two hands picked to ride back were ready and he told Johnny and Oscar to keep an eye out—they might try to attack them again.
He clucked to the team and they headed swiftly for home. Leaving Johnny and his hands to finish the situation bit at his conscience, but Johnny was right. There was no need to put her through that.
Newman, I will find you and when I do I’m sending you straight to hell. He clucked to the team and then left.
* * *
Long past dark in the near-freezing night they reached the home ranch. The boys told him they’d put up the team. He thanked them, and, her under a blanket to keep warm, they ran for the house.
Hiram with a cup in his hand let them inside. “How did it go down there?”
“We met them. But Newman got away.”
She spoke up, “It was very bloody, Dad. He brought me back because of it.”
Hiram nodded. “There ain’t a war ever happened wasn’t bloody m’ dear.”
She hugged him.
“You two are getting in late,” his mother said, just joining them.
“We came real fast.”
“Did they raid you?”
“Yes. None of our boys were hurt. Newman got away.”
“Jan, come in the kitchen. We’ll let the men talk.”
Harp came downstairs and frowned at his brother. “Everything all right?”
“All the men are. Nine of Newman’s men won’t be at church this Sunday, but Newman and maybe a few others got away.” He dropped his voice. “Johnny excused the two of us. He will interrogate the four wounded and end their breathing.”
Harp nodded. “A good man. Glad he sent you both home. You have any ideas on how to stop them?”
“No. But, after today, when the word gets out about his men disappearing, he will have to pay more to get men to back them.”
Harp agreed.
“I expected them to shoot things up and ride off, but they charged in to kill us. We met the charge and turned the tables on them.”
“Until ye get the real leader of this business, ye will have troubles. And it ain’t Newman. He’s just a paid killer, m’ lads.”
Long smiled. “Aye, Dad’s upbringing is starting to show up.”
They all laughed.
The women served hot chocolate in cups.
Things settled down, but Long still wanted the demise of Newman along with Jennings who he’d not heard anything on in weeks.
* * *
Plans the next morning were laid out to keep getting ready for the large drives they needed to make to Abilene.
“We are going to leave these ranches short on help. Most of our ranch foremen we’ll need heading up herds. So we need to hire several more hands to be here until we get back,” Harp said.
Long agreed. Six herds on the road would stretch their needs. “Why not use one of the empty pastures at Diamond to start gathering next year’s stock going north?”
“No reason I can see. That would eventually save us labor in the end.”
“Yes, that would help us be ready for next year.”
“We better get busy hiring. In a month we leave for Kansas.”
“We have several vaqueros coming. Our team of black point riders have already hired twenty experienced boys from San Antonio. I think with them we will have enough trail help.”
“I think Hoot and I can hold the ranch together with some more hands,” Hiram said.
“Don’t get yourself hurt, or him, either. I hope we have those raiders either dead or run off before then,” Long said. “But if not, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”
“Ah surely. We can get that done, him and me,” Hiram said.
“Safely,” Harp added.
They all three laughed.
Long asked his wife in bed that evening whether she wanted to go or not.
“I am not with child. Sorry. Yes, I can help the cook and I can herd cattle if you need me. I simply would really hate to be apart from you all summer.”
“It can be dangerous. I realize you’ve done lots of ca
ttle driving, but I don’t want you hurt.”
“I’ll be fine. I won’t slow you down.”
“Plan to go then.”
She rolled over and kissed him wildly. “Great.”
He thought so, too. Now if his dad and Hoot could hold it together everything would be fine.
He and Jan rode horses over to the Diamond the next day with a hand along with them. Doug was on his last day road branding the Diamond steers to head to Kansas. Lots of dust-making, bawling cattle were being worked through two squeeze chutes to complete the job.
Doug met them, and Jan rode for the house to visit the two sisters while they talked business. Harp told Doug he was needed to take a herd to Kansas and to pick a man to be his replacement while he was gone. Doug agreed and sent word for Poncho Sanchez to come join them.
Poncho was tall for a Mexican. Smiling ear to ear under his sombrero when Doug told him that they wanted him in charge of the ranch while he had to go to Kansas with the herd.
“Gracias. I am proud to do that for you. I was raised here and I know every inch of this place. It will be secure for you, Doug, when you get back.”
Doug clapped his shoulder. “I know it will be. Long and I have been talking. You know there are some men don’t like us owning all the land, so be careful. We don’t want any one hurt or any part of the ranch destroyed.”
“I understand.”
“Hiram will be in charge. He will send help if you need some, and you do the same for him,” Long said, and shook his hard callused hand.
“Sí. I better get the men back to work. They slack off when I am gone.” He remounted his anxious horse and rode off.
“Who all are going besides me?”
“You, Chaw, Red, plus three others we’ve hired away from another outfit.”
“Sounds tough enough.”
“We have lots of riders but most never have been up the trail. It will be exciting.”
Doug agreed. “I had plans to marry a girl from town in June. I may marry her before we go north.”
“Fine. Let Mom, Kate, and Jan know. They will help you two get it done. The ranch can buy her a wedding dress. Go to it.”
Doug shook his hand and thanked him.
First time he’d heard about this engagement. That was the reason he took the Diamond Ranch job—to afford a wife. Well he’d have one now. The girls at home would be pleased to be asked to help.
Long rode on to the big house. He announced their foreman Doug was going to be married and would also be taking one of their herds to Kansas in a few weeks. They celebrated with tea and lemon cake. The sisters approved of Doug’s selection of the acting foreman, and everyone bragged on all the house repairs Harp had done for them. Long agreed the place looked much better, repainted and all the small things fixed.
Riding home Jan asked him who the girl was Doug was marrying.
“I have no idea, but he plans to bring her around to meet you three and I said we’d buy her a wedding dress.”
“Yes. That will be great. And you said he was taking a herd north.”
“I imagine she will stay here.”
Jan rode in close and slapped his leg. “I am grateful you are taking me along.”
“I’m even more grateful you’re going.”
They both laughed.
CHAPTER 15
The home ranch had two herds of large steers. Diamond had two, and there were two herds of rancher-consigned cattle. The number one herd was Harp’s with Long as the scout. Number two herd was Red’s. Number three was Doug’s from the Diamond Ranch. Number Four was Chaw’s command for Diamond number two. The fifth herd’s leader was Jerry Hall, and Wake Collins headed the last herd. The last two men had experience.
“We have two thousand head down at Oscar’s we aren’t counting,” Long said.
Harp slowly nodded. “How do we do that?”
“Divide them by six. That is about three hundred plus head per herd.”
“That’s it,” Harp said. “Thank God. Long, we need to get them all road branded and up here.”
They planned to leave the last week in March, each herd two days apart. Long would scout for the first herd and others would scout for each of theirs. He hurried about checking on many things as the crews were being assembled.
Repeated meetings were held and the herd leaders met several times on things they must handle. All of them had past experience and were becoming experienced with the men on their team. Horses were assigned and wranglers were herding them. The two company herds were being held at Hoot’s ranch inside some fenced pasture. Diamond Ranch had enough fenced pasture to hold both of their herds.
Number five, Jerry Hall’s, was on some state land west of Kerrville. Number six headed by Wake Collins was closer to San Antonio.
The six chuck wagons were on the herd sites. Each outfit had eighty horses and two teams of mules in case one went lame. Most of the remuda horses were not shod, which saved them money, and most of the land to Kansas was not rocky. Several of Long’s mounts were shod since he would need them for some hard riding as the front man.
He and Harp talked out how well the spring rain had fallen and the grass under a warmer sun was breaking dormancy. That was essential to the drive—feed for the steers. That and all the other cattle being gathered to go north would make the alleyway crowded going that way, even as vast as the land was.
Two herds mixed meant weeks lost to separate them and risk mixing with more while sorting. The scouts had to be certain they didn’t ever let that happen. Long knew many scouts had never done this job before, and those men didn’t realize the full responsibility they held. And some herd bosses wanted to be there first, regardless of the losses they could suffer with such small thinking. He’d lectured all the other scouts about every aspect. But once they left, he’d be up front searching the best path and they would need to make their own decisions each day.
Jan worked on his tight back muscles every night, and he slept well in her arms. They married Doug and Antoinette, a cute young girl who was going to stay with Easter while they were on the drive. Days flashed by and he wondered what he had not done right.
Two years earlier at this time he and Harp were fifteen-dollar-a-month drovers if they managed to get that small herd through to the rail head in Missouri. They did that and had been to Kansas successfully the past year. This was the largest one yet, and it was a real long ways to Abilene when he left the ranch. Under the stars he rode in the coolest part of the early morning northeast to pick the place where they would camp that first night.
He had made arrangements with a landowner but still wanted to be certain there were no problems ahead on the first day’s route. Jan would come with the chuck wagon. One thing he appreciated about her, she was a hand with a horse and liked herding cattle. Poor girl. She better like all of it because she had many days in the saddle ahead of her. Still he was pleased she was joining them for this drive because they could use her help.
Lots of things ran through his mind. Some special angel rode on his brother’s shoulder, and his as well, to get them through both past drives successfully. He drew a deep breath and set his horse off in a trot. He had lots to do.
Mid-morning he was at the site and spoke with the landowner John Delphi, a German immigrant who met him smiling.
“You said you’d be here early. Get down. Gretchen has fresh coffee made.”
Long dismounted and hitched his horse. “Thanks. Cattle will be here about noon.”
“There’s plenty of grass and water. They will be fine here.”
His wife came out on the porch. “Oh, Long, you must be bringing those steers today.”
“Yes, they are behind me. Good to see you. My wife is coming with the herd, so she will visit with you.”
“She said she wanted to go with you. I bet she’s pleased.”
“Gretchen, she is very happy to be going along.”
“Get in the house. I have some fresh coffee for you two.”
Long agreed and started to follow.
John stopped on the stairs. “Any more problems with those raiders?”
“Not so far. We eliminated some of them and others had not shown their faces before we left. We hired extra men to back ours.”
“Good. There’s some sorry outfits in this world we live in. Getting worse now the war’s over. I thought people would be glad it was done, but they’re worse acting now than they were before it started. And black soldiers ordering citizens around. It sure isn’t right or good.”
“Nothing any of us can do but be quiet, don’t upset them, and one day they will leave us and we’ll have Texas back.”
“When will that be?”
“Not soon, but we will get Texas back. There isn’t enough down here to steal to keep them around here very long.”
“Can’t be quick enough for me.”
“John, quit complaining,” she scolded him. “Or them black troops will be out here.”
“It still makes me mad.”
“John, we never arranged how much I pay you for the pasture.”
“No need. You’re taking two hundred and fifty of my steers. I trust you boys and that will be enough.”
“Thank you. You realize that now, every other day, a new herd will arrive. That will make six of them; so for the next two weeks there will be lots of bawling going through.”
Gretchen poured his coffee first. “It will sound like money to us.”
“They say cattle may be cheaper this year up there.”
“How much cheaper?” he asked.
“I am not sure but twenty to forty dollars a head some say. I don’t know anything certain, but we will sell them for all we can get.”
“I understand markets and I trust you two men. I won’t complain either way. Gretchen and I are out of debt and have money held back. Not a lot of people our age are that well off in these times.”
“And God bless the O’Malley brothers for getting us there.”
“We try, Gretchen. We really try.”
The chuck wagon and remuda arrived, and Long went with John to show them where to park.
Jan arrived and hugged him. “First day went fine. I love helping. I’ll help Jimmy get the food ready. The cattle aren’t far behind us. No problems whatsoever.”
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