Juanita’s ranting and raving was loud.
“I am a poor widow, and no one understands I lost the man I loved. He was a god. And I am living in the backwoods. None of his would-be friends come to see me out here. Oh, mercy, I am so sad. So neglected. My lawyers say they have me a house in San Antonio. Maybe there I can find a life.”
Hat in hand, Long stood up. “Rogers will take you there in the surrey. He will continue to be your protector when you get there. He costs fifty dollars a month. His men thirty-five apiece and their food and lodging.”
“Oh, so much money. Could you pay them for me?”
“No, ma’am, when you leave here you are no longer my worry or obligation.”
“But I gave you my ranch.”
“No, ma’am, I am paying you for it.”
“But-but, oh, my head hurts.” Her hand gripped her forehead like she was holding back the pain. What an actress she was in this melodrama she was playing.
“The wagons to haul your things will be here Thursday. Have everything packed and ready to go.”
“You sound so much like other men bullying me.”
“Juanita, I am doing what I am prescribed to do. I am paying for your moving.”
Hands on her hips wearing that Roman-style many layers of white lace dress, she spat words at him. “Long O’Malley, you are simply the bastard son of a squaw, and you have no business talking to me like that.”
“This conversation is over. Be ready.”
When he walked down to the buckboard, Jan sat waiting on the seat.
“How did it go?”
Without a word, he took his place beside her and picked up the reins. “That damn woman can go to hell. Carter can handle her from here on. I came close to killing her. You know what she called me?”
“No.”
He made the team trot. “The bastard son of a squaw.”
“Long, I’m so sorry. She isn’t worth a dime. And for her to say that makes me mad as well. You have been defending her from the rest of us from the beginning, and she says that to you.”
In town he hired the wagons to haul her things to San Antonio. That handled, he had another letter from Harp and also from the survey company.
After he read the surveyor’s letter, he told her they needed to wire and confirm the date he’d meet them at the survey start point.
The letter from Harp told him he would sell the Three Star Ranch cattle for him. He said he was fixing to head out with the first herd and had everything under control and ready to head to Abilene.
It was a crazy day, running around town. Jan picked up material and supplies for the sewing parties. He sent the survey company the date to meet them. Then checked with the blacksmith, who asked how his man was getting along on his project.
“Simon’s doing great. When we get the new wire I think he’ll be better. Thanks for your help, and if you ever need anything, holler. We’ll surely help you.”
“Thank you, sir. Tell him I wish him good luck. We are covered up with orders for rolls of the wire ourselves.”
Jan joined him and they had lunch in a café. A couple living southwest of them introduced themselves. He was Lloyd Hudson. His wife Abigail was about thirty. He, ten years older. They had two boys ten and twelve. His brand was the Rocking H, and he told them he had shipped three hundred head of steers with Garland McCoy earlier.
“How many did you ship?” Lloyd asked him.
“Two herds made up of five thousand head this past week.”
“Wow that should help all of our range. I have some Three Star cattle on my place.”
“I will send my men down to get them. The woman who owned the ranch before me wouldn’t let the men hold a roundup, but we are bringing it back to being a ranch now it is our place.”
“Where did she go?” Abigail asked Jan.
“Thursday she’s moving to San Antonio.”
“I bet you won’t miss her. Nice to meet you two. Come by sometime.”
Jan said, “Yes, and you do the same.”
“I guess you will move in the big house now she’s a-leaving?”
“Oh, we’ll see.”
They left. Jan turned to him. “She seemed to like it; maybe they’ll rent it.”
Both of them chuckled over the notion while finishing their meal.
They rode back to the ranch, and on Thursday Juanita walked out of the house for the last time, climbed onto the surrey, and Rogers drove her away. The seven loaded wagons had rolled out ahead of her. He figured that she’d taken lots of the valuable things, but that didn’t bother him that much. He had no need for them.
Jan joined him and together they went up the hill and through the door she’d left open.
“She left all of his books. Bet she couldn’t read English anyway.”
“She packed and took all the dishes, the women told Carter.”
“Wonder where this door goes? It has no knob.” It was a plain door in the hallway on the right going into the kitchen.
After a search Jan said, “Here’s a glass knob and the stem is on it. That should open it.” She brought it to him.
He inserted it and tried to twist—well it must not have been opened in some time. It didn’t budge an inch. Next, two-handed, it moved some. How long had it been closed?
Then at last it opened, and he discovered a steep set of stairs right before him. “Where does that go?”
“Damned if I know. But I want to look.”
“Hmm, there may be snakes down there.”
“If I had a light, then I could see them.”
“I see a lantern she left. It still has kerosene in it.”
“I have some matches.” He lit it and set the wick. Now he had some light. “Stay right up here. I’ll go look.”
He descended the stairs, fighting bunches of cobwebs. At last he reached a hard floor, gritty under his soles. He swept some more webs away and held the lamp higher. A once green six-foot-tall two-door safe faced him.
“What did you find?”
“You will never believe in your life what is down here.”
“Is he down there?” Carter asked, coming into the kitchen.
“Yes, and he’s made a discovery. What is it, Long?”
“A huge safe. Bigger than most banks have. Carter, you know anything about it?”
Carter was down the steps and took the lamp “No. I never knew it was even here. It was built inside the house, wasn’t it?”
“What is in it?” she asked, joining them.
“I imagine it’s locked.”
“You know the combination?”
“No. I bet it went to the grave with Rupert.”
“Well try what opened the other one.”
“Here goes.” He set the dial back to the left and then forced the handle down.
It creaked and she screamed. “You did it again.”
It took both Long and Carter to swing the stiff heavy door open. The light Jan was holding shone on gold bars that were stacked like bricks from the floor to the ceiling of the vault. Both men fell back in shock.
“There is a damn fortune in here,” Carter said.
Jan was gasping for her breath. “My Lord what is this?”
Long was wrestling to get the second door open. It finally gave and screeched open like it was in pain. Canvas sacks were piled in that part of the safe. He cut a cord on one and shoved his hand in, and came out with a fistful of twenty-dollar gold pieces.
“You know he had this here?” he asked Carter.
“No. But I bet it cost the men who stacked it in here their lives,” Carter said.
“I was told that when he was building this house, they had a terrible Comanche raid and all the workers on the house were killed and buried north of here.”
Long agreed. “I bet he and some gun hands killed them and blamed the Comanche. It would have taken several men a few days to pack it down here and then stack it.”
Carter collapsed, sitting on the stairs. “He never
ever told her this was here or she’d never have left this house. How much is here?”
“Maybe a million dollars and she has no claim to it. She left and it is ours. Whew. I can tell you right now, Carter, I will give you enough so you and Edna will have a small ranch to retire on when you are ready to retire.”
“You don’t owe me anything. I work for you two.”
“No, Carter,” Jan said. “Long John O’Malley owes you a ranch to retire on. Now let’s close the doors almost shut, climb upstairs, hide the doorknob, and figure out what to do next.”
“My exact orders.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “It is stuffy down here.”
Once out he closed the hall door, and she used a broom to sweep the cobwebs off of the two of them.
He hid the doorknob. Carter swept the webs off her. Then they sat on the simple chairs she had left in the kitchen.
“We need that in a bank vault in Junction,” she said.
“Yes, we do. Carter, go buy a stout ambulance and a team of big draft horses. Make sure it has bows and a canvas cover. We will also need canvas to cover everything we put in the bed, too.”
“That all will weigh more than a ton.” Carter shook his head still in disbelief over the discovery.
“I bet you it will, too. Buy the horses tomorrow and have one of the boys along to drive them back.
“Sunday we will load it up and cover it. We’ll have two men can guard it at night. Then Monday we will take it to Junction with four riders along acting like they are going to town to raise some hell.”
“That would be slick enough.”
“I’ll pay them forty bucks apiece for keeping quiet.” They separated, and Jan told him, going to mess, “You should make it eighty for everyone. Then if they wanted they could buy a new saddle or whatever else they need or want.”
“I’d have to pay the cattle crew that, too, when they came home.”
“I agree. We can certainly share, considering our haul.”
“I heard he was rich, and I wondered where his fortune went. It is much more than I even dreamed. Now I want more answers, especially of how it got there.”
“I don’t care about that. I will be happier when it’s in that bank.”
“Amen. Start counting employees. I will pay them in gold coins.”
“There are a dozen men working on things around the ranch headquarters. At the blacksmith shop there are four. A dozen hands worked the ranch. Twenty-four cowboys on the trail and two foremen. Two cooks and they each have a helper. Two horse wranglers and five house workers up at the big house who kept it for her. Sixty-five to pay. Eighty times that comes out five thousand two hundred dollars.”
“You are getting good on figures. I can pay it.”
“What did that foreman say to the teacher about some figures like six times eight?”
Long laughed. “He got rapped on the hand with a ruler because he said he’d never need it becoming a cowboy. That was Hoot.”
“You whipped out an answer on me one day, and I made my mind up I could do that, too, so I have been practicing.”
“It will never hurt you, either.”
“So we move it all to the bank on Monday?”
“And Thursday I go up and meet the surveyors at the place they start at.”
She put her hand through his elbow and hugged his arm. He stopped. Why, he could see she was about to cry.
“What’s wrong?”
“All this is happening, and I can’t give you a baby.”
“Stop worrying. We can’t help it.”
“Oh, Long, I do so want to have a baby.”
“I love you. I can’t do anything else but love you.”
“I know. But it is killing me.”
“It will work out. We found a million dollars today. One good thing. Others will happen. Stop crying and brighten up, please.”
“I will try. I don’t want to bother you with this.”
“You don’t bother me. I just can’t stand you crying when there is nothing I can do about it.”
When they walked in the mess hall, everyone stood up holding their cups and someone shouted, “Here’s to the best boss we ever worked for and now we have the whole ranch.”
“Hurrah” came from all around the room.
“Thanks. Jan and I are pleased that Mrs. Glass has left and the entire ranch is now ours.”
They broke the news to the crew that all the cowboys would be needed after lunch Sunday for a big project.
That morning Carter drove the big team to park at the front door of the mansion. They used caulk blocks on the wheels to hold it there. The men were issued leather work gloves and the gold bars were brought up. Another crew took them to the truck, and the third crew stacked them in the wagon.
There were several questions asked. How did Rupert get it? When did they find it? Long told them to just load it. He would explain more later.
Carter told the curious to stay away. It went faster than Long ever imagined. The sacks proved heavier, but soon it was all laid in the wagon and covered. They pulled the caulks, and the stiff-legged team of horses went down the hill slowly, and wagon and horses were soon parked and hitched out in front of Long’s office.
Long finally explained. “This is our treasure and will be transported to the Junction bank tomorrow. In appreciation for your help and for not talking about it, every worker here will get eighty dollars to do what they want with. Don’t spend it wildly. If I was a cowboy I’d buy me a new saddle or at least a better one than I have now.”
That drew a round of applause.
“We leave tomorrow before daylight. Carter will tell you who goes. He will tell you now who will guard it in shifts tonight. And thank you all.”
It was all set. He did not sleep well. In the cool morning he and Jan rode their horses alongside the wagon. The four men chosen to ride into town acted like they’d be having a big time.
At ten in the morning Carter parked the rig in front of the doors of the Texas National Bank in Junction.
Long went inside and asked for a bank official.
“Sir may I help you?” A young man in a suit met him.
“You the president?”
“No, sir. My name is Grant Thomas.”
“The president here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ask him to join us?”
“But sir—”
“Ask him to join us. I am going to deposit near a million dollars in your bank.”
“We don’t have that much money—”
“We want to deposit it. Not steal it.”
“OH—sure, sir—”
“Are you and those cowboys out there here to rob us?” the big man demanded, coming out at a run from his office. “My name is Lawrence Hobbs.”
“My name is Long O’Malley. I own the Three Star Ranch. I have a large deposit to make in your bank. You do take deposits? Then come with me.”
“Sure—well—I must say I am glad to meet you.”
“Drop the tailgate so he can see.”
Hobbs stared in disbelief. “Was—was this stolen?”
“No. This is my gold and I want to open an account in my name and place this all in your vault. Some of my men can help. They don’t all need to stand guard.”
“We certainly can take care of it.”
“Men, get him the wooden trunk.”
They carried the new lumber box back by the rope handles and set it down.
“That is cash.” He unlocked both locks and handed them to one of the men. The lid was lifted.
Hobbs swallowed hard. “May I ask how you acquired all this gold and money?”
“They are a part of the assets of a ranch, the former ranch owner’s legal heir sold to us.”
“Do you have a copy?”
“Jan, show the man the copy of our deed.”
Hobbs read it quickly. “It all seems in order. The money?”
“That is ours.”
“You real
ize I need to be careful in this business.”
“But at the sight of the crowd gathering, you are telling everyone you have a very rich vault huh?”
Hobbs frowned, then he spoke to his man. “Thomas, tell the marshals to move the crowd back.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I hope we didn’t get off on the wrong foot with you, sir?”
“No. We know this is unusual. But I am anxious for you to get all of this inside.”
Two men showed up with wheelbarrows, and things speeded up. It took over an hour to empty the bed. They gave him a receipt for the bars. They were still counting the cash.
The bank was closed for the day while the exchange was made.
“May I buy you and your wife supper at the hotel?” Hobbs asked.
“Certainly.”
“My cashier will bring you the receipt for the money. The value of the bars will be what the gold sells for.”
“I understand that.”
“Madge, my wife, and I will meet you at the hotel in thirty minutes. I have sent for her. I am very grateful for your business.”
“I think we will get along fine. I am glad it is your obligation to guard it.”
The rest went easy. Long felt all the eyes on the two of them walking the two blocks to the hotel with Carter, Jeb and Collie Burns, the two brothers that were his guards for the day, coming behind them.
That’s the guy with all the gold bars he put in the bank.
CHAPTER 34
On the next Thursday he met the surveyor at a grassy point north some twenty miles east of his place. Arthur Miles was a thin man but he looked wiry. He wore shorts and a tan short-sleeve shirt. Long considered it too early to trust the weather though it was warming every day. But the man was not a warm person to talk to—like this survey was all beneath his worth.
Jeb and Collie Burns rode with him and waited while Long finished his business with Miles.
Miles said, by his calculation, they would be at the northeast corner of the ranch in three to four days. They would use strips of cloth to mark the ranch line as they went for any fencing activity to follow. That satisfied Long. Section corners would have brass markers. He promised to have one of his crew to check on them twice a week to see whether they needed food and supplies.
The surveyor never said when he expected to have the survey completed. No matter. It was being started. The next morning he shook Miles’s hand and they rode home.
Dead Aim Page 24
