CHAPTER 31
Long talked to Jan about surveying the place, so the next time he was in Junction he spoke to several people and got some names and addresses. She would write and ask them to bid on surveying the perimeter of the ranch.
Things were shaping up fast for the drive. His two head drovers were getting more confident about the operation.
Cooks were hired. Steers were still being found and driven in. Having that holding pasture next year bore on his mind. The bids came in explaining in order to survey his ranch perimeter they had to start the survey, and they estimated it was twenty-two miles in the northeast corner of the ranch. The estimates ran from fifty thousand down to twelve thousand if they had no troubles.
“What troubles are they talking about in this lowest bid, Jan?”
“How would I know? You choosing them?”
“I don’t want add-on charges. That is enough money to survey the whole of Texas.”
“I don’t understand the point to start?” Jan shook her head.
“They have to have a known place to start a survey from and then to get to where our northeast corner is. Then they go from there to the next point and so on.”
“Twenty-two miles?”
“Yes. Ask them to list what they call troubles.”
“Anything we do is lots of trouble isn’t it?”
“Not everything we do.”
She shook her head. “I will write. You are a devil at times, you know.”
“I know that.”
“How is Simon coming with making wire?”
“It was harder than he first thought, but he is making progress. For a man who can’t read or write he is a craftsman and how you can do that without those skills impresses me.”
“I don’t think Juanita is happy up there in that big house. She thinks, now, there are wolves going to attack her. Rogers said they were coyotes and he would try to move them off or shoot them.”
His wife shook her head. “You need to move that widow off the ranch. She is a pain in the you-know-what. They have to boil all the water she uses, even her bathwater.”
“You and the new wives are getting along?” he asked her.
“Oh, yes. We’re sewing clothing for all the workers’ girls every other afternoon.”
“That’s great. I saw you taking one or the other, in turn, each time you go to town.”
“I want them to think they are wanted around here.”
“Good. Things are shaping up better all the time. It looks like we will have more than four thousand head to ship in three weeks.”
“How many?”
“They are estimating close to five. Those men can handle twenty-five hundred each. This is another good thing coming our way.”
“So five thousand at sixty dollars is three hundred thousand dollars, and that is what you paid for the ranch,” she said.
“Hey, your math is getting better.”
“I have a good teacher.”
He hugged and kissed her. “This is all so surprising. But my conscience bites me at times that I am not helping Harp more. I hate it.”
“You can’t be two places seventy miles apart. I think you are doing a superb job here.”
“New word, huh?”
“You betch’em.”
He hugged her tight. “Jan, things are going good for us up here.”
“I bet your brother is getting it all done without you. He has lots of great hands.”
“The only thing we still need to do is form two businesses. One for ranching and one cattle driving. We will be using all our foremen to make the drive, and that makes us too thin at all the ranches.”
“He never mentioned any problems he was having.”
“No, but there are more people hate us down there for just being ourselves.”
“You may be right.”
“I’m going down to the blacksmith shop and see how progress is going. Meet you at lunch.”
In the shop that reeked of burning coal he and Simon squatted down and talked.
“That wire you done got us has flaws in it. Places thicker than I need and places so thin it breaks.”
“I savvy. Poor quality. I will have the store people buy us better wire.”
“I have made two twisters. They are getting better. Last trip into Junction, Jonsie told me his secret. I am building one like his.” He turned up his calloused palms. “All I can do.”
Long clapped him on the shoulder. “I understand. You are doing good work. We will whip this business.”
“Amen, boss man.” He smiled at his boss’s confidence in his project.
“Thanks. We’ll get it done.”
* * *
Long had things all ready to go north. The weather warmed. The rains had been generous and new grass blades waved in the wind. They had a final send-off for his two men and their crews. Boone went first with his bunch. He and Rob both had good lead steers, probably one of the most expensive parts of the drive. They made river crossings and herding go much smoother. Their bell ringing summoned all the steers that it was time to get up and move. They cost four hundred apiece, but they were leaders. Boone had a red roan-hided longhorn. Rob’s was blue colored.
Rob left two days later. Long rode out on the first day with both of the herds.
After parting with Rob earlier, he told Jan that night in bed, “Things went too damn smooth.”
“Good,” she said, and hugged him hard. “You deserved it.”