The wagon was built for work, not for comfort. The rough terrain shook Sonny back to consciousness. Andy told him, “Sorry, but you’ll have to put up with this for a while. After a while we’ll get to a better road.”
Pearcy said, “You call this a road?”
It was nothing more than a wagon trail, and a poor one at that.
Andy said, “It’s the best way to get us out of the county without runnin’ into a bunch of nosy people.”
For the fourth or fifth time, Pearcy asked, “Where we goin’?”
As before, Andy said, “You’ll see when we get there.” If Pearcy knew they were going to a Ranger camp, he might abandon his cousin and run. Andy hoped some time in confinement might prompt him to share what he knew.
By the time they camped for the night, Sonny was exhausted. His fever was down, however. Andy told him, “We brought a shovel, but maybe we won’t have to use it after all.”
Weakly Sonny asked, “Was I in that bad a shape?”
Pearcy said, “The angels were already singin’.”
“All I heard was sheep.”
Andy made stew from a piece of mutton Mrs. Hawkins had put in the wagon. He took it as a favorable sign that Sonny ate all Pearcy gave him. Sonny was still confused. He remembered the bullet striking him. He had patches of memory about Pearcy holding him in the saddle and taking him to a ranch house. He remembered almost nothing about his time at the Hawkinses’ place or about the doctor removing the bullet. He did not understand the reason for their flight now.
Pearcy said, “Remember what happened to Callender and Bigelow? It could happen to us. Them fellers are awful afraid somebody will tell their secrets.”
Sonny looked at Andy with frightened eyes. “You won’t let them get to us, will you, Ranger?”
“No, I won’t, but you owe me.”
“We ain’t got any money.”
“It’s not money I’m after. It’s information . . . names.”
Sonny glanced at Pearcy. “We can’t do that. They would kill us.”
Andy asked, “If you knew how dangerous they are, how come you to ride with them in the first place?”
Pearcy said, “We never had nothin’, me and Sonny. It stuck in our craw, seein’ other people have so much, and us with nothin’. We was told that if we took enough cattle from the Teals and the McIntoshes, we could end up with a piece of their land.”
“I thought the McIntoshes were your friends.”
“Jake is. He treats us like we’re somebody. We never cared for the old man, though.”
Sonny put in, “Nothin’ we ever done suited that old fart. Anyway, friendship ends when there’s money on the table.”
Pearcy said, “Me and Sonny figured to go partners when we got some land of our own.”
Andy said, “If you got any land. Don’t you know they would squeeze you out? When you pitch a piece of meat into a bunch of dogs, the strongest will grab it all.”
“Never thought of it thataway.”
Andy doubted that they had thought much at all.
They had been on the trail an hour the next morning when they rode over a stretch of rising ground and suddenly came upon a horseman. Pearcy sucked in a sharp breath and said, “Oh, my God.”
Andy asked, “What’s the matter?”
“I know this man. I think he’s a regulator.”
Andy had seen him in town. It was too late now to avoid him. The man stopped his horse in one rut of the trail so that Pearcy had no choice but to pull up on the team. He gave Pearcy and Sonny a quick glance, then asked Andy, “I know these boys. Looks like you’ve got yourself a couple of desperate outlaws, Ranger.”
Lying was not one of the things Andy did best, but he grabbed at the first idea that came to mind. “Sonny’s horse fell with him and broke his shoulder. We’re takin’ him to his granddaddy’s house till he heals up.”
“Where does his granddaddy live?”
“Uvalde.” That was a long way from Fort McKavett.
“Odd job for a Ranger, doin’ escort service.”
“I thought so myself, but an order is an order.”
The man rode on. He appeared satisfied, but Andy wondered.
By the second night’s camp, Sonny was strong enough that they lifted him out of the wagon and let him lie on the ground. Sitting up, leaning against Andy’s saddle to eat supper, he said, “This ride has churned my innards into buttermilk.”
Andy said, “The old wagon’s springs are tired, like us, but we’ve put the worst of it behind us.”
Pearcy said, “I hope we’ve put the regulators behind us. That bunch would hang the likes of me and Sonny without botherin’ to say grace.”
Pearcy almost jumped from the wagon when he saw the Ranger camp just ahead. He whirled around on the seat, his eyes wild. “What’s this? What’ve you brought us to?”
Andy dropped his hand to the butt of his pistol to discourage Pearcy from doing something foolish. He said, “I promised I’d bring you to a safe place. I doubt there’s a safer place anywhere than a Ranger camp.”
“We’re under arrest?”
“You’ve been under arrest ever since the Hawkinses’ place.”
Pearcy’s voice quavered. “I’ve heard what the Rangers do to people.”
“Only to people that misbehave. You ain’t goin’ to misbehave, are you, Pearcy?”
Pearcy lowered his head but did not answer. Andy said, “If you don’t like it here, there’s an easy way for you and Sonny to go free. Just give me the names I’m lookin’ for.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“You will, when you get tired enough of this place. I hope you enjoy hard labor.”
He accompanied the wagon to the sergeant’s tent. Sergeant Ryker stepped out and surveyed the prisoners. He said, “Have you and Daggett already taken care of the trouble back yonder?”
Andy said, “I’m afraid not, but these two have had a hand in it. I hope I can leave them here for safekeepin’. One is goin’ to need a doctor’s attention.”
The sergeant nodded, looking at Pearcy. “We can use a swamper to do heavy liftin’ around camp. We just sent the last one off to the pen.”
While a couple of Rangers took Pearcy and Sonny in hand, Andy explained briefly to the sergeant what had happened. He said, “These two boys are little fish in a lake that’s too big for them.”
The sergeant said, “I think we can make life miserable enough that they’ll be glad to give us chapter and verse.” He changed the subject. “Seen your wife?”
“Not yet. I thought I’d drop by and say howdy.”
The sun was still high in the west. The sergeant said, “Your horses look tired out after the trip. Why don’t you give them a day’s rest before you start back?”
Andy had intended to do that anyway, but this made it official. “Sergeant, heaven must have a special place prepared just for you.”
The sergeant grinned. “I’m willin’ to wait.” He turned his gaze toward a man approaching the tent. He said, “That’s a gun salesman. Just sold me a new pistol. I’ll bet he’d oblige us in puttin’ on a little show for your prisoners.” The sergeant went out and talked to the salesman, who smiled as he listened to Ryker’s proposition. Ryker returned and said, “That buggy yonder is his. If you’ll take it a little piece down the road, out of sight, we’ll give your boys somethin’ that’ll keep them awake tonight.”
Andy followed directions. In a little while he saw Sergeant Ryker and the salesman walking toward him. The sergeant paused to fire a couple of pistol shots. He shook hands with the salesman, who then climbed into the buggy.
Andy asked, “What was that all about?”
The salesman grinned. “Ryker pretended that I was a prisoner and walked me by the boys you brought in. He let them hear him say that since I wouldn’t talk, I wasn’t of any more use to him. Soon as we got out of their sight, he fired his pistol.”
Andy whistled to himself. “I’ll bet they wet their britches.”
“It’ll give them somethin’ to chew on besides those hard biscuits. Looks to me like the Rangers could afford to hire a better cook.”
In camp, Andy found Pearcy badly shaken. Pearcy declared, “He shot that man. Walked him out yonder and shot him like a dog.”
Andy tried to keep a solemn face. “He wouldn’t talk. There wasn’t any point in lettin’ him laze around and eat at the state’s expense from now to Christmas.”
“How long had he been here?”
“The sergeant said they brought him in yesterday.”
“They didn’t give him much time.”
“Sergeant Ryker is not a patient man.”
The sergeant walked up to Pearcy, carrying a shovel. “I want you go out yonder and dig a grave. Three or four feet is deep enough. That feller won’t be diggin’ out.”
Pearcy broke into a cold sweat. His eyes were desperate as he turned to Andy. “You promised that me and Sonny could go free if we told you what you want to know.”
“That’s what I said.”
“We don’t know hardly any of the regulators. We were part of a little bunch that was drivin’ off cattle. They used to be members of Vincent Skeen’s outfit.”
“Who else is left?”
Pearcy wiped a sleeve across his sweating face. “There’s just a couple that we know, Miley Burns and Ed Granger. They never did think much of me and Sonny. They just took us along when they couldn’t find nobody else. And when Sonny got shot, they ran off and left us to take care of ourselves.”
Andy remembered seeing Granger’s name in his fugitive book. Burns might be there, too, under a different name. He asked, “Are they the ones who took Bigelow away from me and killed him?”
“I don’t know. Till that happened, I never knew that Bigelow belonged to the regulators. Him or Callender either.”
Andy said, “We’ll want you to sign a statement about what you’ve told us.”
Pearcy trembled. “I ain’t much at writin’, so you put it on paper. I’ll sign it.”
After Andy hugged Bethel hard enough to squeeze the breath from her lungs, she stood off at arm’s length and studied him critically. “No bullet holes this time?”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” He did not tell her about being clubbed unconscious when the regulators killed Bigelow. That had left only a small scar, hidden by his hair. It hurt only when he put on his hat or took it off.
She helped him unhitch the horses from the wagon and lead them to a pen. Watching him feed them, she said, “I guess you’ll be going right back, as usual.”
“I’m under orders to give the horses a day’s rest first.”
She was pleasantly surprised. “A whole day together? What will we do with so much time?”
“I suppose there’s a lot of work needs doin’ around here.”
“A lot. But it can wait. If we’ve just got a day, let’s don’t waste it all out here with the horses.”
Her arm around his waist, she led him to the house.
She made breakfast the second morning but ate little of it herself. Staying within reaching distance of him, she mused, “I suppose it would break a dozen Ranger rules if I went with you.”
“What if I did it on my own, without asking you? It wouldn’t be your fault then, would it?”
“You’re thinkin’ like a lawyer. Besides, we don’t know what may happen over there. It could get dangerous. I wouldn’t want you caught in the middle of it.”
“There are other women in that town, aren’t there? Daggett’s new bride, for one.”
“She was born there.” He kissed her. “Best forget it. Maybe this thing will be over with before long, and I’ll be back.”
“They’ll just send you someplace else. It’ll go on this way as long as you’re a Ranger.”
They had been down this road many times. Andy had no fresh arguments. He said, “Can you spare some bacon, and maybe a few eggs? Eatin’ gets kind of chancy on the trail.”
She soon presented him a couple of sacks, both heavy, and a small basket of eggs. He said, “You must figure I’m goin’ to eat a lot.”
“You’ve got to keep up your strength for when we’re together again.”
He lingered with her until his conscience troubled him. This was not what the state was paying him for. He kissed her fiercely and climbed into the wagon. He said, “I’ll see you as soon as I can.” The team made a quick start. Andy looked back to be sure his saddle horse was still tied on behind. He saw Bethel standing with her hands clasped in front of her. She went into the house just as the trail made a bend, and he lost sight of her. He kept seeing her in his mind’s eye for a long time. Someday . . .
He made better time on the return trip. He could push the team for more speed without worrying about jolting Sonny Vernon. He had time to think about the situation to which he was returning, to do some guessing about who might be involved in the trouble. He eliminated first one, then another from his list of possibles, then reconsidered and reinstated them as suspects.
Of only one thing was he nearly certain: that someone was trying to steal enough cattle from the Teals and McIntoshes to leave them in financial straits. They were also trying to manipulate the two families into a crippling fight that would leave them vulnerable to the free range advocates.
Toward dusk he found a creek and decided to camp. He unhitched the team, staking them and his saddle horse where the grass looked greenest, then started a small fire. He lifted out the sack of groceries Bethel had given him and waited for the fire to burn down to smoldering coals. He saw the horses lift their heads and look back in the direction from which they had come. Turning, he saw a woman riding sidesaddle. He recognized her on sight.
Bethel reined up and asked, “What’s for supper?”
He blurted, “What in the hell are you doin’ here?”
She smiled. “A woman’s place is with her husband.”
“Not this woman, and not this husband, not where I’m goin’.”
She dismounted without help and removed her saddle. She said, “I don’t suppose you have another stake rope?”
“No, but I’ve got a pair of hobbles. I ought to’ve put them on you this mornin’.”
She led the horse to the creek and let it drink its fill, then held out her hand. “The hobbles,” she said.
“I’ll do it,” he said stiffly. He tied the hobbles to her horse’s forefeet. It would not stray far with that kind of restraint. It was likely to remain close to the other horses.
She was still smiling. “Did anybody ever tell you that your nose flares out when you get mad? It’s not a handsome sight.”
“You’ve got to go back.”
“In the dark? I’d wander like a child in the wilderness. You wouldn’t want that to happen to your wife.”
He saw that she had him. He said, “You’ll go home in the mornin’.”
“Maybe. Right now, you put the coffee on and I’ll see what I can fix for our supper.”
He had never been able to remain angry at Bethel for long. She hummed a happy tune while she busied herself around the cook fire. As he watched her, his impatience faded. Come morning, he would put his foot down. She would have to go back. But tonight he enjoyed sharing the blankets and feeling her warmth.
Bethel asked him about the town, the trouble, about Logan Daggett. She said, “He has a severe countenance.”
Andy admitted, “He doesn’t smile much.”
“How did he attract a woman like this Carrie Teal?”
“I ain’t even figured you out yet. How can I understand a woman I barely know?”
Bethel speculated, “Maybe she didn’t realize what it’s like, being the wife of a Ranger who never gets to stay home.”
Daylight brought him awake, momentarily disoriented to find Bethel lying close beside him. He listened to birds announcing the dawn and a cow somewhere, calling for a wayward calf. Gently he nudged Bethel. “Time to get up,” he said. “We’ll have breakfast, then I’ll get you started on the road back to McKavett.”
She yawned and turned aside the blanket that covered her. Wearing only a thin shift, she looked beautiful to Andy, even with her hair disheveled and sleep in her eyes. He was tempted to say there was no hurry about fixing breakfast.
She said, “How can I go back? I don’t see my horse.”
The hobbles lay on the ground, but her horse was gone. She said, “Now, how do you suppose he managed to get the hobbles off? That’s a smart horse.”
Andy felt a little of yesterday’s anger rising. “Maybe he had a smart woman to help him.”
“Well, there’s nothing to be done about it now. He’s probably halfway home.”
“Not quite.” Andy saw Bethel’s horse a couple of hundred yards away, grazing peacefully. “I’ll go fetch him while you fix breakfast.”
Bethel’s shoulders drooped in disappointment. “If anybody ever makes you a good offer for that horse, sell him.”
By the time he returned, leading the horse at the end of a rope, Bethel seemed to have accepted the situation. At least, Andy hoped so. He said, “No tricks this time. You go on back home where you’ll be safe.” He knew there was a chance she would wait for him to get out of sight, then follow.
She promised, “All right. No more tricks. But you’ll have to admit that it’s nice to have me around.”
“There’s never been any question about that. But if worst comes to worst, I don’t want you gettin’ caught in the cross fire.”
They lingered a while after breakfast, then Andy saw Bethel on her way back to Fort McKavett. He already missed her before she was out of sight.
August Hawkins was penning his sheep as Andy pulled up in front of his house. Mrs. Hawkins came out onto the porch, speaking Spanish. Andy did not understand the words, but he understood the gestures. She was beckoning him to come inside.
Andy said, “I’ll go see if Mr. Hawkins needs help with his sheep.”
The dog provided all the help needed, but Andy was ill at ease in a situation where he did not understand what was being said. He shut the gate behind the sheep and told Hawkins, “I’m a little later than I figured in gettin’ the wagon back to you. Got delayed some.”
Hawkins said, “My late wife was like that. She listened politely to everything I told her, then went ahead and did what she pleased.”
Andy asked, “Anything happen while I’ve been gone?”
Hawkins frowned. “A couple of men came by here yesterday and inquired about those two young fellows you carried away.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them I had not seen anyone answering the descriptions they gave.”
Andy said, “Did you recognize them?”
“By face. One is named Granger. If I were given to speculation, I would hazard that they were associated with your prisoners in some sort of mischief.”
“I guess they were worried about what the boys might tell us.”
“Did they tell you anything?”
“Sergeant Ryker is a persuasive man. Pearcy told what he knew. It wasn’t much.”
Hawkins frowned. “I’ve heard of some Ranger methods that go beyond the pale.”
“The sergeant didn’t hurt them. He just scared them to death.”
“Your friend Daggett strikes me as someone who would do more than that.”
Andy conceded, “He might. It doesn’t take much to touch him off. That’s why I didn’t send for him to help me with Pearcy and Vernon.”
“He may not be pleased that you took the full task upon yourself.”
“That won’t be anything new. He hasn’t been pleased with much else I’ve done. I’ve found that it’s best to do things my own way and ask him afterward.”
At breakfast Hawkins announced that he would accompany Andy to town. “I’ve been waiting for the wagon so I could fetch some things from Babcock’s store.”
Andy said, “I’d be pleased to have the company.” Exchanging talk with Hawkins along the way helped keep his mind from Bethel.
Hawkins stopped the wagon in front of Babcock’s store. Andy shook his hand and thanked him for the several days’ use of the wagon.
Hawkins dismissed the gratitude with a wave of his big hand. “Who knows? I may make a sheepman of you yet.”
Rubbing his hands on an apron, the storekeeper stepped out onto the porch to greet Hawkins.
Andy said, “I’ve been gone for several days. Any excitement?”
Babcock shook his head. “Not since that set-to between Harper Teal and Ranger Daggett. The town has been so quiet that someone claimed to have seen a mountain lion sleeping in the street. I put little stock in that, of course.”
Andy knew the story. The same yarn was being told about Fort Worth. He asked, “Have you seen Daggett around?”
“He’s out in town somewhere. He never comes into the store except to buy some tobacco.”
Andy turned, intending to take his horse to the wagon yard and turn it loose. He almost bumped into Daggett. He looked for welcome in the Ranger’s eyes but saw none. Daggett declared, “You should’ve reported to me as soon as you got to town.”
“I just now got here. Had some delay on the trip.” He explained about Bethel.
Daggett frowned. “A man ought to keep a tight rein on his wife. It’s his place to set the rules and hers to follow.”
Andy doubted that Daggett held any such rein on Carrie.
Daggett said, “I never quite understood where you went. The doctor just told me you were takin’ two prisoners to a safe place.”
Andy told him about escorting Sonny and Pearcy to the Ranger camp. “Sergeant Ryker put the fear of God into Pearcy. He spilled all he knew.”
“Good. Now we’re gettin’ somewhere.”
“Not far enough. The trouble is, he just belonged to a little bunch of cow thieves who took orders from the regulators.” He related the names Pearcy had given him. “Burns and Granger were go-betweens. They never let him get close to anybody higher up.”
Daggett mulled over the names. He said, “I’ve heard the name Ed Granger, but I can’t tie a face to it.”
Andy said, “If we take out Burns and Granger, that’ll bust up the theft ring. But it doesn’t help us deal with the regulators.”
“One job at a time.”
* * *
Andy was not sure he had done the right thing in sending Bethel home. He missed her, especially when he saw Daggett and Carrie together. He could not help making comparisons. He was convinced that Bethel was the prettiest of the two, though Daggett would have disagreed. Carrie was half a head the tallest and a few years the older. Bethel had grown up as the daughter of a well-to-do farmer on the lower Colorado River, though some of the farm had been lost in the bitter Reconstruction years after the war. Carrie’s strong-willed family had struggled and sacrificed to build a modest ranch here in Central Texas, amid feuds and political fighting. Only a person who had nothing would consider them well-to-do. Now Carrie was estranged from her father. Bethel had lost hers years ago.
Daggett and Carrie took their meals in the hotel’s dining room. Andy ate in Kennison’s chili joint down the street, where the food was cheaper and just as filling, even if not so fancy. Eating in the hotel was a quick way to shrink a wallet.
Finished with his meal, Andy walked back to the hotel and waited for Daggett. The big Ranger had not told Andy his plans, and Andy had not asked. He knew how badly Daggett disliked answering questions. Their first stop was the sheriff’s office. Seymour and his deputy were both there, the sheriff taking his after-lunch nap, Deputy Willis looking at pictures in The Police Gazette. The sheriff opened one eye, then the other, as he heard the Rangers’ boots tromping across the pine floor, their spurs jingling. Yawning, he said, “Andy, we were thinkin’ about sendin’ a search party out for you.”
Daggett cut straight to the guts of the matter. “Do you know where we might find Miley Burns and Ed Granger?”
Seymour rubbed sleep from his eyes and put on his thick-lensed glasses. “They stay out with the owls and the coyotes. I hardly ever see them in town. What do you want them for?”
“Pickard brought back information that they’re a little careless with other people’s cattle.”
Seymour did not seem surprised. “Granger has a squatter’s shack back in the hills. He has a brother here in town. Works as a clerk at the hotel.”
Daggett said, “Oh, him. I didn’t connect the name. He sure don’t look like a cattle rustler. He looks like a clerk.”
“I don’t think him and his brother see much of each other.”
Andy told the sheriff, “I found out who shot the horse from under you. Like you guessed, it was Pearcy and Vernon.”
The sheriff pulled out his shirttail and rubbed his glasses on it. “I suspicioned that, but I wasn’t close enough to see for sure.”
Andy said, “You may not’ve known it, but you shot Sonny in the shoulder.”
“With these poor eyes of mine? It had to be the devil’s own luck. Where are those boys now?”
“In a safe place. It was them—Pearcy, anyway—who told me about Burns and Granger. He was sore afraid they’d come after him to shut him up. Or the regulators would.”
“What did he know about the regulators?”
“I’d better not say, not till me and Daggett have a chance to check on all of it.” Though Pearcy had been able to tell him little, it might be useful to let the impression spread that he had indeed given Andy some useful information.
The sheriff’s face settled into a deep frown. “In the beginnin’, we needed the regulators. Things had got out of control. I looked away because they were doin’ work that the law wouldn’t let me do. They hung some bad men, and they ran some others out of the country when I didn’t have any legal basis to do it myself. Even horsewhipped a few wife beaters and whiskey-soaks who wouldn’t support their families.”
Daggett nodded grimly. “I’ve seen it happen in other places. After a while people went to usin’ the vigilantes for their own purposes. They accused innocent men they wanted to get rid of. They went to takin’ whatever they wanted because folks were afraid to fight back, or even to say anything.”
Seymour nodded. “That’s about the way it played out.”
Daggett said, “Up at Gainesville early in the war, a mob came together, supposed to be good Confederates. They got to accusin’ first one man, then another, of havin’ Union sympathies. Some did, I suppose, but others just had somethin’ somebody wanted bad enough to bear false witness. They wound up with a mass hangin’ that folks up there are still ashamed to talk about.”
Seymour said, “There was a time I could’ve stopped it but didn’t want to. Now I wouldn’t even know where to start.” He took a whiskey bottle from a desk drawer and silently offered it to the Rangers. They declined. He took a long swallow, then asked, “Want me to go with you after Burns and Granger?”
Daggett said, “We can handle it. It’s better if you stay here in case the Teals and the McIntoshes all come to town at one time.”
“You’re a Teal in-law. Can’t you keep that from happenin’?”
“You know what Harper Teal said to me. I don’t have any more say in that family than”—he broke off as a tall man stepped through the office door—“than that newspaperman comin’ yonder.”
Jefferson T. Tolliver was dressed in a white suit that contrasted with the black ink stains on his fingers. His confident stride carried him up to the officers. He said, “I am preparing to go to press with this week’s edition. I wonder if you gentlemen have anything of interest to tell my readers.”
Andy would not have told Tolliver what time it was, but Daggett said, “We’re goin’ out to try and find two men. We’ve got it on good authority that they’re cow thieves.”
“On what authority, may I ask?”
“A couple of other thieves. It takes one to know one.”
Outside, Andy said, “I don’t see why you had to tell him that. He’ll blab it all over town.”
“But if we don’t reach Burns and Granger first, we’re apt to find them shot dead or hung from a tree.”
“Either way, the job gets done. The regulators would save the county the cost of a court trial.”
“That’s too rough for my taste.”
Daggett shrugged. “Rough or not, it’s justice. We’re not talkin’ about Sunday school teachers here; we’re talkin’ about a pair of cow thieves.” His frown returned. “Speakin’ of thieves, don’t you think you were too lenient with Pearcy and Vernon?”
“I got what I wanted from them. They’re not much more than a couple of kids.”
“They’ve already set the pattern. They’ll wind up decoratin’ a rope or bleedin’ to death through holes the Lord didn’t put there. In the long run, you haven’t spared them much.”
“At least I’ve given them a chance. Maybe they’ll decide to go straight.”
“And maybe coyotes will quit stealin’ chickens.” Daggett stopped and pointed down the street. “You trot to the wagon yard and get our horses. I’m goin’ over to the hotel and accidentally let the word slip that we’re goin’ after Burns and Granger. I’m bettin’ that all we’ll have to do then is to follow that clerk.”
Andy saw the logic. “You’ve got the mind of a Comanche.”
“I take that as a compliment.”