CHAPTER SIX

When Alex rode into camp at last, only an hour was left before it was time to change the night riders. As tired as he was from the long ride to the ranch and back, he knew he couldn’t sleep. One of the other men might as well get some rest. He exchanged Red for another horse from the remuda and trotted to the holding pens, where he met Nevada in the starlight.

“Turn in if you want. I’ll take over.”

“You’re early,” Nevada said.

“I was awake anyhow. Figured I might as well be out here.”

“What did Porter say?”

“No change.”

Nevada peered at him in the moonlight. “So you’re really going to strike with us?”

“I’m thinking about it seriously.”

“It’s all I think about now,” Nevada said.

Alex looked out over the quiet herd milling in the pens. “I never thought it was right to do something like that. To go against the man who’s fed us and taken care of us for years.”

“What he’s doing isn’t right. He betrayed us.”

“I understand your feelings.”

“Do you? We’ve been friends a long time, Alex. I always liked it here, and I like the people I work with. But I was earning a living. Now I’m not.”

Alex blew out a long breath. “Go and get some shut-eye.”

“Sure. But you know that if you don’t walk with us, the boys are going to think you’re as bad as Porter.”

“If I don’t side with you, it will be because I think God would have me stick with my employer.”

“Oh, we’re bringing God into this?”

Alex studied him in the moonlight. “How can you not?”

Nevada shrugged. “I figure God put us here on this earth to work. Porter’s not letting us do that. He’s wrong. Period.”

“So God is on your side.”

“That’s the way I see it.”

Nevada rode off toward the camp, and Alex watched him go. Would God really pick sides in this? More likely, He expected them to settle the matter peacefully. Neither side was going to budge, so far as Alex could see, and he was caught in the middle.

He rode slowly along the fence outside the holding pen. All was quiet tonight. He wished he’d brought his Bible out here, but he’d left it in his bedroll. Probably wasn’t enough light to read by, anyway. He tried to remember the verses in Paul’s letters about working for your master and doing what he said. Was he talking to slaves? Or to regular working men? Alex knew there were verses about working and not being lazy and providing for your family. But was it wrong to strike when the boss wouldn’t pay you a decent wage? And was he, as foreman, wrong to sympathize with the men?

He figured he knew where Maggie stood in all this. As Porter’s daughter, she’d come down on his side, no matter what. She’d lost her mother, and Martin Porter was all the family she had left. Alex didn’t know as he blamed her.

She was a very smart woman. At least, she’d been a smart girl. She’d said she could have convinced her father to listen to them. Did that mean she was advocating for the men? Maybe he should have listened. If he and Maggie had joined forces, they could have done something together.

Well, it was too late to go that route now.

He rode along, paying no mind to his horse or the cattle, slouching in the saddle. He met up with Tommy and exchanged laconic greetings. After a bit, Early rode out to take Tommy’s place.

“Howdy,” Alex said, and rode off toward the far end of the fence so he wouldn’t have to talk to the older man.

When their relief came four hours later, Alex and Early rode back to the camp for breakfast. They were met by Nevada and the rest of the men. Alex could feel their unrest as he handed his mount over to Joe.

“We’re done here, Alex,” Nevada said.

Alex eyed him carefully and decided there was no changing his mind. He looked around at the others. “Does that go for all of you?”

“It sure does,” Harry Jensen said.

Several of the others added their assent. A couple of them hung back and seemed to watch the others for cues. Bronc Tracey, the tall, dark-skinned cowboy was one, as was Stewie, their cook.

Alex shook his head. “I’d hate to see you do it. Boys, we agreed to do this job. You ought to at least finish the roundup. Don’t leave it half done.”

“We’re going,” Nevada said. “And as much as I like you, Alex, if you don’t go with us, we won’t let you stop us.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said. “We’ll be sorry, but we’ve made up our minds. We’re going, and that’s that.”

“In fact,” Nevada said, “if you don’t side with us, we’re agreed—we need to tie you up while we do what we’re going to do.”

“What are you going to do?” Alex’s pulse pounded, and dread flashed through him. Some of these men came from rough backgrounds.

“We figure we’ll let the cattle loose,” Harry said.

“You can’t do that.”

“Why can’t we? If the boss won’t listen to us, he’ll pay.”

“Yeah,” Nevada said. “He’ll be sorry he didn’t give us what we asked for.”

“Hold it.” Alex held up his hands. Nevada was usually a reasonable man, but he sounded uncharacteristically childish now. “Isn’t leaving him in the lurch bad enough? If you take off today, he’ll be in a difficult situation. He’ll have to get someone else to come in fast and finish the roundup. That won’t be easy. Then he’s got to hire a crew to get these critters to Fort Worth.”

“Look, we know you want to be loyal to Porter,” Nevada said. “But we have a better chance of making him listen if we leave him right when it hurts him the most.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said. “We’ll hurt him in the pocketbook.”

“And we need to ride to other ranches,” Joe said. “We have to get to them before Porter does and get some support from the other cowhands.”

“That’s right,” Early said. “If we don’t get there first, Porter will hire cowboys away from his neighbors to do our jobs.”

Nevada leveled his gaze at Alex. “So are you coming with us, or not?”

“Aren’t you even going to eat breakfast first?”

“Half of us have eaten already.” Nevada shouted to the cook, “Stewie, get a plate for Alex.” When he turned back to Alex, his face was grim. “I’m warning you, we’ll be watching you. Don’t get any ideas about running off to tell Porter. Either you’re one of us now, or we’ll leave you here tied up good.”

“You’d really do that?” Alex stared at him. He’d always considered Nevada a friend he could count on. Suddenly he was an outcast, and men he had trusted planned to harm him.

The other men looked a little gray, but no one spoke up until Early said uneasily, “He could die if we do that.”

Alex eyed Nevada askance, but even this man—the one he’d considered rock solid in supporting him when it came to bossing the men—didn’t bat an eyelash.

Joe called out, “Rider coming!”

They all swung around toward the trail from the main ranch. A single horse cantered toward them. As the rider came closer, they all stood in silence. Before anyone spoke, Alex recognized the horse—and the expert horsewoman in the saddle.

Maggie.

She hadn’t ought to be so far from the home ranch by herself. Did she think she could talk these men out of their plans? He had the feeling she wasn’t here for the fun of it.

She pulled up a few yards from them in a puff of dust and bounced lightly to the ground. Like a born Texan, she dropped Duchess’s reins and ambled toward them. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes jumped from Alex to the other men, weighing their demeanor.

“Morning, boys,” she said.

Harry whipped off his hat. “Miss Maggie. Nice to have you home.”

Several of the other men threw him rather disgusted glances.

Alex stepped forward. “Hello, Maggie. What brings you out here?”

“May I talk to you for a minute, Alex? Or are you busy?” She looked again at the knot of men, not one of whom looked remotely as if he’d done a lick of work that morning.

“Sure.” Alex turned and caught Nevada’s eye. “You fellas put things in order. We’ll finish our discussion in a little bit.”

Maggie said nothing about his unusual instruction. Alex wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to her, but he surely didn’t want her talking to the rest of the men. They were so riled up already, things could get ugly if she said the wrong thing. Even as pretty as she was, she represented the boss as far as they were concerned, and short of her father, Maggie was the worst person who could have entered the camp.

A dozen yards beyond the chuck wagon, Alex turned and faced her, making sure he could see what the men were doing. Several of them had headed toward the remuda, and a few filled their plates for a belated breakfast. But at least half a dozen just stood where he’d left them, gawking.

“What is it?”

Maggie frowned. She was standing so close, she had to tip her head back a little to look up at him. He could see the darker blue flecks in her eyes. Her creamy white skin reminded him of the differences between them, and how removed she’d been from ranch life for the last two years. She’d pulled back her hair, but a lock showed under the rim of her Stetson.

Alex cleared his throat and edged away just a bit. He hadn’t been this close to a woman—not even Dolores—since he’d left his parents’ place.

“You’re going to strike today, aren’t you?”

“We—uh—” He looked away. Should he consider her the enemy? Because she surely wasn’t on the men’s side. But if he took her father’s part and decided to ride off with Maggie, what would they do? The disturbing image of him and Maggie tied up together all day in the blazing sun made his stomach sour. The boys wouldn’t lay a hand on her, would they? He wasn’t sure—they’d seemed mighty determined to keep him away from Mr. Porter while they carried out their plans.

In less than two seconds, her expression went from apprehensive to furious. “How could you do this to Papa?”

“I haven’t done anything except try to talk these fellas down. But you might as well know it’s not an easy job.”

“They’ve decided, then?”

“Pretty much.” Alex adjusted his hat so that it shaded his face more. Maybe the men couldn’t read him the way he was trying to read Maggie.

“Well, you’ve got to call it off.”

“Me? You think I have that power?”

“The men will listen to you.”

“They’re tired of listening to the boss and the boss’s man. They’re not giving me much of a choice in the matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I go against them …” He sighed and lowered his chin. “Maggie, I think you should take Duchess and ride home. Now.”

“What are you saying? Alex …” She reached out and grasped his forearm. He looked down at her hand, then at her face. Color flooded her cheeks. She let go and lowered her gaze. “Please, Alex. You need to help us. You’re the only person the men will listen to. I know you’re right, and they won’t talk to Papa anymore. But it’s not how they think it is.”

“How is it, exactly?”

Her cheeks were scarlet now. She hesitated. “Do you need to know every detail?”

“If you expect me to try to turn the herd for you, yes.”

He glanced toward the men by the campfire. Diego and Harry were drinking coffee. Nevada, Tommy, and Joe were still watching them. What would they think, with Maggie holding on to him like she had and blushing? Tommy stared with disbelief, and Nevada’s gaze held sheer contempt.

Alex backed up a step. “Maggie, these men are determined. I don’t think they’ll listen to me, unless I can go back to them and tell them your father has changed his mind. Has he done that?”

“Not … exactly.” She looked up at him again, and now her eyes pleaded. “He made me promise not to tell you certain things. Alex, please. We need you. You and the men. Don’t leave us now.”

“I told you, I don’t have a lot of choice. And if they walk, what good am I to your father?”

Tears glistened in her eyes. “I tried to get him to change his mind about Leo.”

“What about Leo?” Alex glared at her. The injustice Porter had done the injured man went down hard with the men, him included.

“I was going to help Dolores take care of the little boys while Leo’s at the doctor’s office in town.”

“You told me. Your pa wouldn’t have it, and he sent them into town.”

She nodded. “Dr. Vargas is keeping Leo there for at least two weeks. Sela needs to stay in town and help tend to him. The doctor’s gone a lot, helping his other patients. After that, if things are going well, the doctor says they might be able to move Leo home.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

“He’ll be laid up a long time. Sela will still need help, but they’ll probably have to board in town. It would have been easier with them in their cabin, but …”

“He won’t let them go back there?”

Maggie didn’t look at him. “We’ll have to see what happens when Leo’s ready to go home. But in the meantime, I found a woman near the doctor’s office who’ll keep the boys for a week or so. If they behave, maybe she’ll keep them until the doctor lets Leo go. And she’ll let Sela sleep there if she wants to. But …”

“Did you see Leo?”

“No, but I talked to Sela.” Maggie swiped a tear away. “Alex, this is really hard for her. The doctor says Leo may not ever be able to ride a horse again. She’s worried about how he’ll make a living after this.”

Alex had considered Leo one of his best friends since he came to the Rocking P. He didn’t like the idea that the cheerful man might not be able to earn money to support his family.

“I wish you’d told me last night.”

“I … Papa …” She shook her head.

“I wish we could do something to help them,” Alex said.

Maggie lowered her voice. “I gave her some money for food and incidentals. Papa wouldn’t advance Leo’s pay for her. I feel so bad. Alex, I’ve never seen him like this before. I have to believe he’ll come around. What I gave Sela won’t last long.”

“Is your pa paying the doctor?”

“I don’t think so. At least he hasn’t agreed to yet. He was put out with me for helping them.”

“That’s cruel. It’s … it’s downright criminal.” Maggie cringed. “Please don’t.”

“What do you want me to say?”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I don’t know. I—I paid the woman for a week’s board for Sela and the boys. She can go over there and eat if she feels she can leave Leo long enough.”

Alex swallowed hard. Maggie was doing a lot more than he’d realized, and he felt he’d been too hard on her. “That’s—that’s good of you.”

She shook her head. “That and the little cash I gave Sela was all I had. It was my own pocket money, left over from my trip. I can’t do any more for her, and I feel so terrible.”

“I’ll take up a collection among the men. And your pa had better give me Leo’s wages on payday. I’ll take them to him.”

“But—”

“What?” It came out gruffer than he’d meant, but Alex couldn’t contain the rage he felt toward her father and the tenderness for Maggie. Together, they made him feel as though he’d been caught on foot in the middle of a stampeding herd of longhorns.

“I was just thinking,” she said. “You might not have a next payday if you strike.”

“You think he’d withhold our pay? He owes us for half a month now.”

“I hope he wouldn’t. But he’s very upset that you would do this to him. All of you men, but especially you, Alex.”

Alex sighed and pulled his hat off. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and put the hat back on. “I don’t know what to say, Maggie.”

“He told me …” She hesitated, as though she wondered whether she ought to tell him the truth. “There are things I can’t talk about—personal things. But Papa told me that if you all strike, he’ll ride over to the Herrera ranch and ask Juan and his men to help him finish the roundup and go in with him on the cattle drive.”

Alex stomach sank. Mr. Porter was already planning what to do. He had no intention of meeting their demands. And he’d come to the conclusion that Alex would walk with the men.

“I’m sorry, Maggie. I didn’t want it this way.” She nodded. “I’m afraid he’ll fire you all if you strike, and not take you back, no matter what. Then we’ll have twenty men without jobs. And Sela and the kids—what will happen to them? Leo isn’t striking. It’s not fair for him to be caught in this.” Her lips quivered and she wiped her hand across her cheek again, smearing the tears. “Can’t you stop this, Alex? Please!”

“I don’t have that power, Maggie.”

She sobbed, and his heart wrenched. It was bad enough feeling torn in half between the men and his employer. Something had to be wrong with the boss. Something awful. Otherwise he wouldn’t act this way.

“Don’t cry, Maggie.”

She sniffed and tugged at the bandana around her neck. She took it off and mopped her face.

“That’s better,” Alex said. “Look, I’ll ask the men one more time. You wait here.”

She nodded.

Alex walked over to the campfire. More than anything he wanted to be able to give her some good news.

“Gather around, boys. I need to talk to you.”

The men who hadn’t scattered came over, eyeing him suspiciously.

“What’s up?” Nevada asked.

“I’m going to ask you all one more time, and after this I’m done talking about it. Can we make a gesture of good faith and ask Mr. Porter one more time to work with us?”

“Not me,” Early said.

“Me neither.” Diego spat in the dust. “I’ve had it up to here, Alex.” He made a chopping motion near his throat.

“I think it’s gone too far,” Bronc said, almost apologetically, looking past Alex toward Maggie.

Nevada gazed at Alex with hard, dark eyes. “Is Porter asking us to stay?”

“No.”

“Then what more is there to talk about?”

“That’s right,” Tommy said. “We’re striking, no matter what your girlfriend wants.”

Alex lunged toward him, and Nevada grabbed his arm and held him back.

“Take it easy, Alex.”

“I won’t let anyone talk about Miss Maggie that way.”

“It’s not exactly an insult, is it—saying you’re sweet on her?”

Alex gritted his teeth. “She might think it was.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Nevada said. “Just climb down off that overgrown sense of chivalry.”

Alex stood still, fuming. All of the men would make fun of him now, and he probably deserved it. But Maggie hadn’t earned humiliation. He hoped she hadn’t heard their remarks, but she’d certainly seen him jump on Tommy.

He pulled in a big breath. “You fellas be polite to Miss Maggie. She’s not against us. She’s only here to try to help her father, when he’s too stubborn to help himself. That’s kind of noble, don’t you think? She could’ve stayed home.”

Tommy’s lip curled. “Yeah, well, maybe she should’ve.”

Alex wanted to punch Tommy so badly he could barely keep from charging him again. But Nevada would stop him again. He took another deep breath. Nevada was a good friend. He knew when to act tough, and when that time came, nobody would be tougher. Nevada was a man you wanted at your back. He didn’t want to make things worse between them when the men were like a powder keg waiting for someone to light the match.

“That’s it,” Nevada said softly. “Bide your time, pal.”

Alex nodded. His friend was right. Vengeance was God’s. When this was over—and he hoped, when they all went back to work again—he’d recommend that Tommy not be rehired. In the meantime, if they insisted on striking, it was better to stick together.

Bronc said, “The way I see it, I ain’t going to keep working for this outfit unless Porter promises to raise our pay. Rhonda and I aim to own our own place someday, and it won’t happen at thirty bucks a month.”

Harry nodded. “I hate to do it, Alex, but we can’t get by on what he’s giving us. You know that. Especially the family men.”

“Yeah,” Early said, stroking his long mustache. “We want to see Leo taken care of, if nothing else.”

“I hear you, and I understand. Really I do.” Alex clenched his jaw and looked at Maggie. She stood watching them, her face blotchy from her tears, but her eyes held resolution.

“Look, what if we say forty a month, but he gives Leo half pay?”

“Leo and any others hurt working for this outfit,” Nevada said.

The other men murmured, and after a minute, Harry said, “I’d take it, Alex.”

“Me too,” Early said.

Alex looked over the cluster of men. Hardened, angry—all of them. He wouldn’t dare ride off again and leave them to hash over their discontent without his tempering presence. The others who hadn’t been in on the conversation might disagree when they heard of the offer they were making. That could make them furious, and they might do something destructive.

“Nevada,” he said, “will you ride back with Maggie and present the revised demands to Mr. Porter?”

“What—forty a month, and what else do I tell him?”

“Either forty a month or thirty and we keep our herds, like before, and Leo can draw half pay until he’s in the saddle again. The same for any man injured on the job.”

“All right. But he’ll say no.”

Alex ignored Nevada’s last comment. “If he accepts, we continue working as we were. If not, we’re done tomorrow at sundown.”

“Tomorrow?” Tommy asked. “Why not today?”

“Tomorrow’s Friday, and we’re supposed to take in the cattle we’ve rounded up. We do that, we get our pay, and then we leave.”

“If he pays us,” Nevada muttered.

Alex shot him a warning glance. “It will maybe make him more agreeable if he knows we’ll do that.”

“Suits me,” Early said. He looked relieved.

Harry nodded. “I can live with that.”

“Looks like I don’t count,” Tommy said. “We ought to walk right now.”

“Settle down, Tommy.” Nevada’s stony face was enough to make the younger man close his mouth.

Alex decided he’d be foolish to wait for anyone else to speak.

“I’ll tell Miss Maggie.” He walked slowly toward her. She must have heard some of the men’s remarks, or maybe she could read the outcome in his face. She broke their gaze and looked down at her boots.

“The men insist on some concessions, Maggie. I’m going to send Nevada Hatch back with you to see your pa with our last offer. If he turns us down this time, I can’t hold the men. I’m trying to persuade them to at least bring in the cattle we’ve rounded up before we leave tomorrow, but I can’t promise that will happen.”

“But … you’ll all keep working today?”

“I can’t speak for all of them, but I sure will. And I’ll try to keep the rest of them working, at least until we hear back from your pa.”

Tears glistened in Maggie’s eyes. “Please don’t let them do this, Alex. It could ruin my father.”

Just pulling in the next breath was painful, and he couldn’t look her in the eye. “What do you think this will do to the men? Think of Leo, Maggie. Think of Sela and the kids. Is that how you want your family’s employees to live?”

Nevada trotted his big bay horse over. “I’ll be riding with you, Miss Maggie.”

Maggie glared at Alex. Without another word, she turned and gathered her horse’s reins. She lifted her left foot to the stirrup. Under other circumstances, Alex would have offered to give her a boost, but such an action might get him clobbered about now.

She swung up into the saddle and wheeled Duchess without so much as a glance in his direction. She clucked to the horse and took off at a canter. Nevada’s horse shot off after hers. Alex stood watching until he could see only a puff of dust where they’d disappeared. He reminded himself to breathe. He had cattle to round up.