Maria's Trail (The Mule Tamer) (22 page)

He eventually pulled himself away. He had to
work and she promised to visit him at the gaming table that evening. She smiled
coyly and waved goodbye, promising to visit.  But Maria had other plans. She
went to her room and resolved to stay away from him for the rest of the
evening. She’d work on him over the next day.

At around nine she approached the desk clerk
and asked him to keep some money for her. He was a young man, bookish, and not
comfortable around women. Maria worked her magic and had him stuttering and
stammering. He became pale when she produced her stack of money.

“We, we can’t keep that much, ma’am!” He held
up his hands as if to ward the money off.

“But, you are called the Bank Hotel, no?”

He stammered again and summoned the proprietor
who sauntered over to offer assistance. His eyes widened at the sum, “Go on,
lad, put it in the safe for the lady.” He grinned uneasily at Maria. “Safe and
sound, ma’am, safe and sound.”

She returned to her room and ordered a bath,
got it, and requested half a dozen other things a woman of means would want, as
much as she could imagine. It was all a lot of fun. She was beginning to enjoy
this civilized living and wondered if sleeping on the desert floor would start
to get uncomfortable.

She slept soundly, well into the morning and
then prepared, making herself especially pretty for the dealer. When she
arrived at the dining room for breakfast, he wasn’t there. She joined a couple,
an older man and a woman in her early thirties. They were very friendly for gringos
but Maria knew that there was something about them that was not quite right.

The man stood up and shook her hand gently. He
sat down and introduced himself and his companion. “Name’s Hodgins, ma’am, and
this is my daughter.” They nodded a greeting and Maria ordered something to
eat.

“And what brings you to Flagstaff, ma’am?”

Maria hesitated a moment and pretended that she
was having difficulty finding the English words, she played up her accent
again. She thought that if she was going to make up a story, she’d make up a
big one. She remembered Ulla telling her about Porfirio Díaz and how he was
interested in foreign trade. It was a good story and she was going to have fun
being a rich timber merchant’s daughter.

“My padre, eh, my father, he is coming to buy
timber for the presidente, eh, Díaz, our presidente.” Their eyes widened. “And
you, what is your business?”

“Oh, my daughter and I, we just travel, travel
and do a little gaming for fun. Passes the time. We heard the fellow here, he’s
pretty sharp, from San Francisco.”

“Ah, the cards. Sí, he told me about the cards.
He says he will teach me.”

“Oh, you don’t know cards?”

“Oh, a leetle. We use to play at home, in the
hacienda, with the servants. We’d play for beans and button.” Maria watched the
woman eat and mimicked her actions. She had no use for fine dining or the
implements or courtesies they entailed, but she was aping the lady’s actions
well enough to get by.

“Oh, then you must try.”

Maria grinned and looked a little
self-consciously at the table. “My padre, he say I can do as I will with my
money, to buy things, or whatever make me happy. Maybe I can try this
gambling.”

The woman smiled. “Just as long as it’s for
fun.” She was very nice to Maria. “You never want to spend money that you need
to live on for cards or gaming, that’s for certain, but if you have, say a few
thousand…” her companion coughed and shuffled under the table. “Well, not so
much really, a few hundred to spare, you can have a fair evening of
entertainment.”

“Oh,” Maria brightened. “I have more than seven
thousand, and in your American dollars, I don’ need that much for dresses or
things.

The man choked a little and coughed. Maria
leaned toward him, “Are you okay, Señor?”

“Oh, fine.” He was distracted by the dealer
walking past the dining room. He looked at his companion and grinned. “Think
his feelings are hurt?”

The woman smiled. “Oh, he’s gotten a little
rusty since California. These rubes have dulled his mind.”

They got up and shook Maria by the hand. “We
hope to see you at the table tonight, Miss. We won’t be too hard on you, but we
give no quarter.”

Maria looked up at them. “Que?”

“We don’t give chances, Miss. You’re swimming
with the sharks now, and we don’t give any breaks. Be warned.” The woman pulled
her dress front straight, she smiled warmly at Maria.

“Ah, sí, I unerstan’, lady. It is all in fun.
If I lose, I lose.” Maria blew through her lips as if the money was made of
newspaper. It did not matter how much she won or, more likely, lost.

The dealer approached Maria and watched the
couple leaving out of the corner of his eye. He looked hatefully at them, then
smiled at Maria. “I missed you last night.” He held her hand and kissed it. He
sat down and poured some of the coffee left by Maria and her companions. “What
did they have to say?”

“Oh, they are very kind.” She looked on at him
as he scowled.

“That’s not the word I’d use for them. Be
careful with them, Maria. They cheat at cards. Knew them in San Francisco. They
got run out of the whole state of California, and that’s a big state.”

Maria looked shocked. “I, they said they just
play for fun, they say they are travelers. The man’s daughter seemed…”

“Daughter?” He scoffed. “So, that’s what he’s
calling her these days. More like his whore.” He looked on at Maria, embarrassed.
“I’m sorry for using such a term, ma’am.”

Maria looked a little embarrassed, afraid of
the rough characters she had been with.

“Maybe you should stay in your room until your
father arrives.” He looked concerned as Maria seemed to be ready to faint,
seemed that the whole thing was overwhelming her to distraction.

“Oh, no. No.” She fanned herself a little with
her hand. “It is all, very, how do I say, exciting.” She reached over and
grabbed him by the hand. “If you will look out for me, I am sure to be save,
eh, safe.”

They were all playing when Maria arrived. The
dealer was tense, as Maria had expected, and the couple was very pleased to see
her. Maria had, just that afternoon, been coached by the dealer and she at
least held her cards properly, but had to be prompted to bet at the appropriate
times. She suddenly remembered something, “Ah, I got the chips, but,” she
dropped a wad of several thousand dollars on the table. “I can get more if I
need them.”

They played a few hands and Maria watched them all.
They were good, they were good cheats and pretty soon she was down by half of
her fortune. She smiled, embarrassed. “I am not so good with this game, I
think.” She took the next hand and fumbled with a card, dog-earing the corner
badly. “Oh, I am sorry. It is a ace, now everyone know what it is.” She
shrugged and the dealer took all the cards back a little perturbed at the
pretty señorita. Maria grinned as if she did not know why.

He turned and retrieved a new deck, showed them
all the seal was unbroken and opened the pack. He dealt the next hand.

Now it was Maria’s turn and she played all the
tricks the old man had taught her and a few more that she’d picked up over the
years. Now that the marked deck was out of commission, the cheats had a bit
more difficulty pulling off their shenanigans and this worked to Maria’s
advantage.

She palmed cards, added ones she’d stolen from
the previous deck, shorted the pot, and watched the dealer distribute cards
from the middle and bottom of the deck. When this would happen, she’d knock a
glass over and drench the table. The man was becoming very angry at the
bumbling Mexicana.

And on top of this, Maria was counting cards.
She could tell before the couple or the dealer really had any time to review,
when she had a good hand and, more importantly, when they did not. They were
careless. They were convinced that the pretty señorita had more money than
brains. They could not imagine what was going on in her mind. They were
becoming more frustrated by the minute when Maria suggested the other game, the
veintiuno. They all agreed as the young woman was getting on their nerves.

“I don’ know about this game, you know what
they say about Mexicans, we can’t count to more than ten.” She grinned
sheepishly.

She smiled at them and looked at the pile of
money. “I lost almost all my money and now look,” she dropped chips from a
height and let them clatter all over the table in front of her. “I have the
most now!”

She looked on. “I have a good idea. Let’s play
with many deck.”

“Many deck?” The dealer was not laughing.

“Sí, you know, we put out five deck, that is
what the old hand Pablo used to say. When you play veintiuno, you play with
many deck. It is more fun.”

The dealer and the couple actually liked this
idea. There’d be less chance of the hapless girl winning so easily. They soon
had the five deck game going and within an hour Maria had most of the chips.
She yawned and stood up. “This is very fun, but I am tired. I am going to go to
bed.”

They stood up and wanted to make her stay but
thought better of it. They nodded and bid her a good night.

Maria added three thousand to her bankroll and
looked at a clock on the mantel. She could leave now, but eyed the bed. It was
so soft and she was enjoying it. She decided to leave in the morning. She was
just about to undress when she heard the knock on the door. She thought about
not answering, knew who it was and didn’t want to deal with him this night.

He knocked again and tried the handle on the
door. This made her angry and she pulled it open quickly, startling the dealer
and making him jump a little. She smiled innocently. “Oh, hello.” She looked up
and down the hall as it was not appropriate for men to visit a young lady at
such an hour.

“Miss, I need to talk to you.” He looked back and
forth as well and took the initiative, pushing his way, gently, but firmly,
into her room.

She moved to the other side of the room and sat
down at a writing desk full of her winnings. She’d made certain to change the
chips to cash and there was a significant pile in front of her.

The dealer eyed it lovingly, like a dog after a
new soup bone. He looked back at Maria.

“Miss, you’ve made a bit of a mess for me.”

“Que?”

“Oh, let’s stop this, the both of us. I know
what you are, and now I’ll tell you what I am. I’m in with that lot. We were
going to rob the house and take off, then you came in. We thought we’d get your
money too.”

Maria reached over and pulled out a cigar.
There was no reason to hide from him any longer. “So?”

“So…,” He looked her over. She was especially
captivating now that she was working on the cigar. “Why don’t you throw in with
me?  How’d you like to live in the best hotels, we could go east, we could see
the world. Ma’am, I’ve never seen anyone who could count cards like you, and with
that dumb Mexican act, we could rule the damned gambling houses of the world.”

He was misty-eyed and Maria had him. She
regarded him through the smoke. He was a good looking gringo, that was certain.
She could get used to looking at him, and maybe even do some other things. She
thought about him trying to cheat her. He couldn’t and that bothered her on two
levels. First, she could never trust him and secondly, he was too stupid to
pull it off. She was smarter, more talented than him. Why would she need him?
He wasn’t really a very good player. She decided to keep these thoughts to
herself.

“No, gringo. I am going back to Mexico.” She
decided not to say any more. She didn’t want to waste time and he wouldn’t
listen anyway. She watched him get angry and prepared herself for action. He
did not disappoint.

“Well, what if I tell you I could have you
arrested, locked up and thrown in jail? You’ll never see Mexico again.”

Maria stood up and got close to him. She looked
into his eyes and reached out, squeezed his cheeks together gently. “You are a
nice boy, but you are in, ah, over your eyes, ah, in too deep water. You are in
too far and I’ll forget that threat, but you have to go now, gringo.”

He stood, not certain what to do. She wasn’t
afraid and not in the least intimidated by him. In fact, it was the other way
around. He put up his hands in surrender. “All right, but you’re missing a plum
opportunity, a plum opportunity.” He turned to leave. “Just one kiss?” He gave
a look more confident than he was.

Maria looked at him. He was bold and a little
drunk. She decided to humor the poor fool and kissed him gently on the cheek.

He was on her and threw her at the bed, missed,
and they both landed on the floor. Maria was angry and tore at his face with
her nails. He recoiled and screamed like a child. He fell back on his backside
and held his bleeding face. “Goddamn, why’d you do that?”

She got up and found a rag and fresh water.
When she turned he was pointing a little gun at her, a two shot not unlike
Maria’s own. She dropped her shoulders in disappointment. She was not in the
mood for this nonsense.

“What now, gringo? Are you going to shoot me
with that little gun?”

“No, eh,… yes, if you make me. You’re going
with me. We’re going to become a team, like that old bastard and his whore.
We’re going…”

Maria had her own gun out now and pointed at
the gringo dealer’s head. She stared him down. “This is what is called a
Mexicano standoff, gringo. You shoot me, I shoot you. We both go to hell
together.”

“If that’s how it’s got to be.” He fired and
Maria obliged, her bullet passing through the man’s left eye, dropping him like
a ragdoll. 

His bullet was small, a little thirty one and
Maria took the shot just above the nipple of her left breast. It felt like a
bee sting and she sat down for a moment to think things through. People would
be beating on the door soon and she had to decide what course of action she
would take.