They had one packhorse that Fred could use for a saddle horse. He also had his new saddle, blanket, and bridle in the wagon. He and Tonio had left an hour early in the dark but the stars and moon were out.
Chet, Spencer, Jesus, and Miguel all left later but they expected to catch him before he climbed the north road up the far mountain. A cool, not a cold morning, their horses did some extra prancingânone bucked. Waving to everyone they left for Gallup.
They stopped for a short reprieve at the Verde Ranch to hug his growing son Adam and Rhea. He spoke to Millie. Tom had gone to the Hereford Ranch. Victor was off working on a farm project. With that visit done, they rode to catch Fred who was halfway up the north slope and smiling like a tomcat who'd just ate a rat when they rode up beside him.
The big horses were sweating but not too much. He said he planned to rest them on the next flatter spot for a few minutes.
“We'll go make camp and build a fire for supper.”
“No problem.” Then he spoke to his team who were lagging. They threw their heads up and pulled hard.
Trotting his horse, Jesus looked back. “He must have driven horses before.”
“I bet he did lots of things back then to survive.”
“He sure is a survivor and he learns fast. That boy even talks different than when he first came.”
Miguel nodded. “He told me Liz told him to vary his words. He does that thinking about it a lot I bet.”
“That's what it is,” Jesus said. “He never says the same thing often.”
Chet agreed. “He doesn't miss much that goes on. Doesn't cuss much more than we do when we get mad. But he has changed his words and how he says things since he came to the ranch.”
“That moved him from a dumb boy to a real guy. I guess I never noticed the guys who say the same things all the time until lately, and riding with you guys I am learning a lot more to say and how to do that,” Miguel admitted.
Spencer made his horse get up beside them. “I really missed Jesus's and Chet's talking, with me down there working them poor boys from Mexico.”
They laughed and rode on.
Camp made and Fred arrived shortly with his wagon. They brushed down the big horses, then fed them and the saddle horses while Jesus and Miguel cooked supper. The ranch cook at the Verde had cut them some choice steaks to take along. That and beans made the supper.
Going north, they saw the printed signs for posts wanted tacked onto trees. Fred drove on while Chet and the men stopped to visit Betty and her baby. Robert was working so the riders kept on going north. They arrived at the Center Point compound. Val and Rocky came out to see the big horses. Claire showed up to help him unhitch, and the two worked like a team. After the horses were watered and brushed down, the other workers came by and watched as the two polished the animals.
Chet came and told them, “The food's ready.”
And the pair came along, talking softly to each other.
“How was the second day?” Chet asked him.
“Even better than the first one. I got over the stomach cramps.”
The two of them nodded at each other.
“You think he may make a teamster, Claire?”
“Yes, sir. I saw him drive in here. He's pretty daâI mean good at handling them.”
“I agree. Your dad buy any poles yet?”
“No, but from all the promises we have, we may soon be buried in them.”
“I hope so. We'll need them.”
“I like your son Rocky. He's going to be as big as you are someday.”
“He is growing. You going to eat with us?”
“May I?”
“Certainly. Show her the way, Fred. I'll have to sit with the others but you two don't.”
“Thanks, Chet, we want to be right.”
“You are.” He went to join his other men.
“Fred isn't going to share her?” Spencer teased.
“No. They need some private time.”
“Boy, back in Texas I saved my money from picking cotton, doing odd jobs, and had three dollars made from an entire summer's work. They had a box dinner auction and dance where you bid on a girl's box lunch. Sharon McIlhaney, the prettiest girl in Shade County, would be the highest one sold. I held out for her red-wrapped box to sell.
“Big Mike Hansen was real serious about her and I knew I had to out-bid him. The auctioneer said on the start the limit on bidding was three dollars and when it got there that bidder was the buyer. They'd been selling for forty to fifty cents a box. When they held up the red box lunch, Big Mike popped up and shouted, âOne dollar.' The whole crowd got real quiet. Then this barefoot boy from Siler Crick, jumped up, shoved his fist in the sky, and shouted, âThree dollars!'
“Big Mike shouted, âTen dollars.'
“The auctioneer shook his head. âSpencer gets the bid.'
“âHe won't live to eat it. I'll kill that wormy son of a bitch here and now.'
“Some elders grabbed Mike, threw him outside, and told him not to come back. But my belly cramped eating her mother's fried chicken and dancing with her at arm's length. I could dance barefooted then, too. She was very polite to me and even asked how I got so much money to buy her lunch. I told her I earned every dime. I had a heavenly night. She danced with others but danced every third one with me. Plus she came got me for the last one. I had a good evening but as the end drew near I began to wonder if I'd live to see the next sun come up.
“I knew from my friends Big Mike and his thugs were waiting outside. Before the last dance, Jim Griffin, a buddy, came by and said he had his grandfather's mule, Jacob, he rode over here and how he was out of a Kentucky racehorse and nothing in the county could catch him. He said if I'd come out the back door and jump over the rail the Colonel would carry me away.
“Sharon kissed me good-bye on the cheek and thanked me for being so polite. I tore out the back door, bound over the rail, hit the saddle kinda hard, grabbed the reins, and never stopped running him until I reached Siler Creek.”
They all laughed.
“That is not all the story. I knew Big Mike would not be satisfied until I was dead. I told my grandma who raised me that Jim would come for the mule. I had a skinny pony, a dry hull of a saddle, a blanket for a bedroll, plus one small iron skillet, and the next morning I left Shade County. She gave me seventy-five cents, which was all she had, and I was on my own at fifteen. I sent her money every time I made some until her sister wrote me that she died and how she appreciated my helping her.
“I saw in a paper where they hung Big Mike for murder in Fort Worth a few years later. I was in an El Paso house of ill repute a short time after that and someone spoke my name when I came in the parlor. Boys, I swear it was Sharon McIlhaney. I asked her why she was in there. She got teary eyed. Told me she married Big Mike and should not have, but when they hung him she had no choice but take up that profession.
“I gave her twenty dollars and she begged me to stay. I couldn't. It hurt too bad. I guess now you know why I don't get along with doves.”
“Spencer, you have a great lady now in your life, a family, and you are a long ways from leading a shabby life.”
“Thanks. Those two kids are cute. Heck, did you hear Claire earlier. She damn near said
damn
earlier.” Spencer chuckled over it. “Guess she is learning like we all learned.”
Miguel nodded. “My wife said she swore a lot when Chet met her. She doesn't anymore. She told me so.”
“I'd sworn, too, if I'd suffered what she had. Guys, we're all lucky to be here. I plan to spend a day here talking to Cole, my son, and Harold. Then we'll head east to meet the company people in Gallup and get things on the road.”
Val gave them all tents to sleep in. Chet and Rocky played until bedtime. Cole still wasn't back, but she said his job did that a lot to him.
“You handle it well,” he said to her.
“Oh, Chet Byrnes, he's your twin. He rode so long with you, he never leaves anything unturned. I can get a little mad, but he does things right for me. He puts up with me and he is as loyal as you are to your wife. That really means a lot to me and to Liz, too. I know we have talked about it. He rose from a common cowboy to a superintendent. He's your student and he learned well. Like his mentor, he works double hard at making it go right. How lucky can I be? And my childless state doesn't bother him.”
“I'll see you and Rocky at breakfast.”
“Thanks again for all you do for all of us. Liz coming sometime soon?”
“She'll come later when we get it all going.”
“Good. I really love her. How did she take Monica's death? I couldn't come. It was over by the time we heard.”
“I think she accepted it now. Lisa is going to do Monica's job. She's started and it is working.”
“That girl has changed, too.”
“Yes. You saw how hard she worked at the weddings.”
“And she married your new man, Miguel.”
“She also helped Monica, knows the house, what and how we do things.”
“How do you manage all this you do?”
“I simply try. Good night.”
Morning came early. Cole, Val, and Rocky joined him for breakfast at the big tent.
“You made it home after all.”
Cole nodded. “It was late. One of our drivers got drunk and busted up a bar. He did about fifty dollars in damages. I made him pay for it and told him he was laid off for two months. I told him he could come back if he stayed sober and he'd still have a job, otherwise he was through.”
“What do you think?”
“He's a good on-time driver, but if he doesn't straighten his life up I won't take him back.”
“Real tough being a boss, ain't it?”
“I can't understand it. He has a job that pays forty-five bucks a month. Good cowboys make twenty-five. If he comes back he will only make thirty-five dollars until he shows he can be a real driver and not get drunk.”
“You can't save them if they don't want to try.”
“I agree. By the way, I think you have a winner in Harold. I don't have the time for everything, and I know how hard his whole family works. They will buy you the poles, amen.”
Val clapped his hand on the table. “This is the first time he ever said the whole truthâabout not having time for everything.”
“He is busy enough. But the telegraph wire will save you a hundred trips.”
“I know it will.”
“She said you brought Spencer up here to ramrod it.”
“This was more important than the ranch headquarters. Frisco the foreman will get it done down there.”
“To good times.” Cole held his coffee cup up. “I wish I was back riding with you. You took care of all our worries. I simply had to ride along and help.”
“You graduated.”
“Yes. I love this job. It is those hard decisions that kick me. But I know I have to do them along with the rest.”
“Been there. Done that. Tomorrow we go east and set up. Just help Harold and his bunch get the posts bought. They can do it but if he gets stuck, help him and get them rolling east with every empty freighter going that way.”
“Holler when you have enough.”
“I can do that.”
He stopped Jesus. “Where's Fred at?”
“Oh, he asked me if it was all right to go riding on our horses with Claire today. I told him this was a get it straight day here and saw no reason why not. They left before sunup to ride to some small lake with a lunch she fixed for them.”
“Does her mother know?”
Jesus laughed. “I guess she does but that girl is pretty strong minded. Would decide for herself if she were going or not.”
“Jesus, you think you know it all now. I don't know about you.”
“Yeah. You do. You were young once, too. They won't get into any trouble.”
“Harold and Spencer are meeting today. Going over the posts he can buy.”
“I guess we go east tomorrow?”
“Yes. We leave at sunup. It will take over four days to get to Gallup.”
“Fred will be back by then. I know.”
“He better be or her mom will kill them both.”
Chet went over the stage line books with the young man hired to keep them. Rick Simmons was someone Hannagen hired and sent over. He was very smart about bookkeeping and he kept them accurately from all that Chet could learn. Rick was certainly not a rough-and-tumble hand like most of the men around there.
“How are things going?” he asked the new employee.
“Mr. Emerson is so hard working and a gracious man to work for. I have enjoyed myself working here for him. But aside from the Methodist church activities I really miss the library, the music concerts, and entertainment I enjoyed in St. Louis. Do you ever think there will be things like that here someday?”
“Rick, I believe there will, someday when the railroad comes through here.”
“Oh, thanks. There is hope then.”
“Yes, there is hope. We may have a telegraph here in six months.”
“That will be a step up, sir. I have met a young lady since I came here. I guess I have the privilege to marry her if she'll have me and we can live in my small company log hut.”
“Rick, if you get ready to get married and plan to stay here, we will build you a cottage.”
“Really? How fine, sir. How much notice do you need?”
“A few months. But don't hold back. You can get married and live in your cabin until the house is ready.”
“Oh? They said it was a bachelor's cabin. I thought I couldn't live in one married.”