CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Well,” Chance said to Jake, “whadaya think of that?”
“I think they’ll be back,” Jake said. “That man is too arrogant not to come back with his ‘raiders.’”
He turned as the other men gathered around.
“So what do we do now, jefe?” Taco asked as Carlito got down from his wagon and joined them.
“We get under way,” Jake said, “and we stay ready, because they’re gonna come back.”
“You do not think they will go away?” Carlito asked hopefully.
“No,” Jake said, shaking his head definitively. “That kind of man doesn’t give up.”
“What kind of man?” Curly asked.
“Arrogant,” Jake said, again. “An arrogant man has to get his way, and won’t give up until he does. Or until somebody stops him.”
“So who’s gonna stop ’im?” Dundee asked.
“We are,” Jake said. “Or I am. This is my herd. If any of you want to turn back, or just ride away from this, do it now. I’ll understand.”
“I won’t!” Chance said. “We’re sure as hell not gonna let Jake face twelve men alone . . . are we?”
“I am not,” Taco said. “I am with you, amigo.”
“As am I, jefe,” Desi said.
Chance looked at Dundee and Curly.
“Well,” Dundee said, “sure, why not? We’ve come this far.”
“Yeah, I’m in,” Curly said. “Where else would I go, anyway?”
They all looked at Carlito.
“I still have a lot of cooking to do,” he said.
“Okay, then,” Jake said, “let’s get this herd movin’. Dundee, you take drag—”
“I’ll take drag,” Chance said. “If they decide to shoot somebody in the back, I don’t want it to be one of these fine young men.”
“Okay,” Jake said. “Desi and Taco, right flank, Curly and Dundee left. Tie the remuda to the back of Carlito’s wagon.” He turned to Carlito. “Don’t ride too far up ahead of us. I want to keep you close, and safe.”
“Sí, patrón.”
“Right,” Curly said.
They all mounted up and started the herd moving.
The twelve riders rode back up and over the ridge, out of sight of the drovers down below. Then Seaforth and Garfield separated themselves.
“What’d you think of him?” Seaforth asked.
“Stubborn old buzzard,” Garfield said.
“Do you think he was bluffing about the rifle?”
“No,” Garfield said, “I think he was dead serious.”
“As do I.”
“So,” Garfield asked, “when do we hit them?”
“I haven’t decided,” Seaforth said. “I might want to make the old buzzard stew a bit. Did you form any opinions about the other men?”
“Yes,” Gar said. “The partner is also a stubborn old buzzard. The two young white hands were nervous. The Mexicans weren’t.”
“That’s good,” Seaforth said. “It’ll work to our advantage if two of them are scared.”
“I didn’t say they were scared,” Garfield said. “I said they were nervous. There’s a difference.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Seaforth said.
He turned in his saddle to look at his own men.
“What about our boys?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Are they scared? Nervous?”
“Some of them are scared, some nervous,” Garfield said.
“Are they reliable?”
“Most of them are.”
“And the ones who aren’t?”
“They’ll be the first to get killed,” Garfield told him.
“As long as we take that herd,” Seaforth said, popping a piece of licorice into his mouth. “What about you?”
“I’m not nervous,” Gar said, “or scared.”
“That’s good,” Seaforth said. “Neither am I. I guess if we’d felt this way during the war we would’ve made names for ourselves.”
“We were kids,” Gar said.
“We were smart then, and we’re smart now,” Seaforth said.
Garfield didn’t know how smart it was to go after this herd, not when Big Jake Motley had so much invested in it. A man was never so dangerous as when he was on his last legs. But there was no way he could tell Seaforth that.
“Yeah, well . . .” was all Gar said.
“Just make sure nobody overreacts,” Seaforth said. “Make sure they key on you and me. I don’t want anybody shooting until we do.”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
As Gar turned his horse to ride over to the others Seaforth yelled, “And don’t call me boss!”
Jake had his men concentrate on the herd while he kept an eye out in front, and Chance stayed alert behind them. On occasion a few cows would wander off, and one man would go after them, so Jake rode back to tell them to make sure they did everything in twos, just in case. He didn’t want any of them going off alone and being bushwhacked.
Jake was wondering if Major Seaforth would decide to hit them before they reached San Antonio, or after they passed the town. That would probably depend on whether or not Major Seaforth wanted to take a chance on having to deal with the law there.
Having considered that, Jake decided to ride back to where Chance was and see if he agreed.
“Between here and San Antonio?” Chance repeated. “That makes sense. If he’s got Three Rivers under his thumb, like you say, he’s not gonna want to go anywhere near San Antonio.”
“All right, then,” Jake said. “That means he’ll move somewhere between now and tomorrow afternoon. I’ll tell the men.”
Chance nodded and waved.
We want to hit them before San Antonio,” Seaforth said to Garfield.
“Obviously,” Gar said. “There’s too much law there. They’ve got a new modern police department, and they still have a sheriff.”
“Twenty miles,” Seaforth said. “Let’s take them twenty miles before San Antonio. That’ll be tomorrow afternoon. Then we’ll drive the herd back toward Three Rivers.”
“Then what do we do with them?” Garfield asked.
“We sell them,” Seaforth said.
“To who? He’s probably taking them to Kansas, which makes sense. What the hell are we going to do with them in Texas?”
“Look,” Seaforth said as they sat around a small fire. “We’ll deal with that when the time comes. First I want to take them.”
Garfield dumped the remnants of his coffee into the fire.
“Then we better move,” he said, “we’re letting them get too far ahead.”
“They’re moving slow,” Seaforth pointed out.
“Then I suggest if you want to hit them before San Antonio, we get ahead of them.”
“Between them and San Antone,” Seaforth said, standing. “Good idea. Get the men ready. We’ll circle around them so they don’t see us. Let them keep wondering.”
Garfield said, “Yeah, good idea,” glad that he’d gotten Seaforth to go along while thinking it was his idea.
Jake had to circle the entire herd in order to tell Taco and Desi, then Dundee and Curly, what he and Chance had decided. That done, he rode up to Carlito to inform the cook, who had his rifle next to him on his seat.
“Sí, jefe,” Carlito said, “I will be alert.”
“Good man,” Jake said.
“Jefe, there will be killing, no?”
“There will be killin’, yes,” Jake said, “if anybody tries to take my herd.”
“Señor,” Carlito said, “I have never killed a man before.”
“Then you’re gonna have to make a decision, Carlito,” Jake said. “Fire that rifle, or hide in your wagon.”
“Sí, señor.”
“Just remember,” Jake said, “if they take the herd, and they find you in the wagon, they’ll probably kill you . . . or . . .”
“Or, señor?”
Jake shrugged.
“They might just make you cook for them.”