CHAPTER 19
The beef-shipping capital of America was a sleepy cow town called Abilene, Kansas. A town was full of saloons, pickpockets, con men, people looking for a way to swindle away a fortune, wanted criminals, ex-cons, and prostitutes that ran the gambit of fifty-cent Indian squaws, ex-female slaves, Orientals, teenagers, and very fancy expensive beautiful women of the trade.
Whiskey and beer flowed like a river every night in the bars, and one person said it was bright as daylight at midnight because the cowboys shot so many holes in the sky every night. Card games went on for days, and the smoke in those places could be cubed and resold to smokers. Horse races down Main Street happened as often as the scheduled ones at the county fairgrounds.
Gun fighting and bareknuckle fights broke out among the cowboys quite often. Give a sixteen-year-old boy a six-gun in Texas, and by the time he gets the herd to Kansas he thinks he is the toughest hombre on a stallion, and on earth. All that adds up to is that he is a target for the lecherous criminal men and women on the lookout for his pay.
Long made sure he talked to the men with the herd before they reached Abilene. “Men, Abilene is a pirate nation. They cheat at cards. Don’t play. They will take your money. Most of the whores are diseased. That means if you climb into their bed you will be infected and may die from it. They will get you drunk and then roll you for everything down to your underwear, and they may steal that.”
The crew laughed.
“It is not funny. It is the truth. To take your money home, let Harp keep it for you. Stay out of fights. These are not like the fights you have fought in Texas at a dance. They will cut you to pieces or their friend will hit you over the head while you are fighting the other. Go in pairs or more, and cover each other’s backs.”
“It don’t sound like fun,” Rooster Gilbert complained.
“I have been here and seen it all. You boys have a life ahead of you. Don’t ruin it in Abilene for some small thrills.”
“Yeah, but you and Harp got lucky and made it rich.”
“We also didn’t let some damn thief rob us or some woman of the night poison us, either.”
“How am I going to do that on cowboy wages?”
“Get off your ass and put a drive together yourself. We took eight hundred head to Sedalia through the Yankee defenses.”
He saw the men had begun talking to each other. Maybe, just maybe, he had reached them. Damn he hoped so.
Harp and two hands rode for Abilene the next day. They only moved the herd five miles to better water.
Harp returned after dark and met with them.
“Cattle prices are ten dollars per head lower than last year. I was offered seventy dollars a head. They know what kind of cattle we bring. I can sell three herds. They want to see how the market holds—I sold the first three and hope we can make a similar sale on the last three. I think it is the best we can do.”
“That is over four hundred twenty thousand dollars,” Long said.
“How did you do that? Figure the amount?” Jan asked him privately.
“Six thousand steers times seventy dollars per steer comes to that amount.”
“I would need a pencil and paper to ever get that figured.” She shook her head and squeezed his arm.
Long asked Harp, “What will the markets do before we can sell the others? You get any information?”
Harp shrugged. “Maybe another ten dollars down. No one is sure. There is some resistance at this price. I sold ours today so we had that money and let them grumble. We topped last year’s prices because some of the outfits wanted to resist them. We will have this bunch sold. Half the job and they will work to get the rest in when they have a price. These guys have to make a living, too. They know we bring sound cattle.”
“You did good, brother.”
Harp nodded, but Long knew his brother would be worried about the last of all the sales until he had them. They were the Diamond’s second herd and the rest of the consigned cattle. Lots of people depended on them, and Harp carried a strong conscience for the people who gave them their cattle to sell. If the market broke some more, Long knew Harp would feel the effect. He had no answer. They needed to sell these cattle but were at the whims of the market.
They did lots of work to have six herds and to reach Abilene before many even crossed the Red River.
“It still is iffy isn’t it?” Jan asked him in their bedroll.
“Harp wants to do the best he can. Yes, it is shaky. But we will be fine and can buy more ranchland and fix the ones we have.”
“You two are what do they call them—Die-coons.”
“The word is Tycoons. Means big businessmen.”
“Yes.” She laughed quietly. “Exactly. Did Easter teach you all that?”
“She did.”
Jan snuggled against him. “Can we go see the Rockies after we load the cattle?”
He tickled her until she made him stop.
“Hell, no. Why do you need to know about how they look?”
“Nothing, silly.”