CHAPTER 37
The next day he was back at work figuring out how to cross-fence this ranch in a way to manage it the best. He had lots of trips to make, to draw the water sources on his maps. Someone rode up hard in front of his office.
Jan came through from the house area to join him.
A hatless teen boy, out of breath, stood in the doorway waving a yellow wire. “Mr. O’Malley?”
“Yes. What do you have, young man?”
“An important wire for you, sir.”
His heart stopped; they had a wreck on the cattle drive. Oh, dear God . . .
The paper straight, he began to read.
Long, I had no one else to call on. We had a bloody raid on the CKH Ranch. Hoot was shot and two cowboys are dead.
Three more are wounded. I am strapped. Everyone is north and cannot be reached.
You are my last hope to lead a force to stop them. I am gathering the men now. Many will follow you.
Your father, Hiram.
“I wonder if Hoot is all right,” Jan asked.
Carter was there. “I heard most of it. What will you do?”
“I have worried about something like this—we’re spread out too thin.”
“What will you do?”
“I need to answer him, Jan, then line up a team and go down there to stop them.”
His wife closed her eyes. “I expected you to do it, but you must be careful.”
He hugged her. “How many men can you spare, Carter?”
“How many do you want?”
“At least four.”
“I am thinking since we seem to have no armed threats here, I can get you six.”
“I want them armed with good rifles and pistols. Ammunition enough for a war, camping and cooking equipment. Load the packhorses. We can get fresh horses down there. We leave at six a.m., and I have no idea when we will be back, but we will settle this matter.”
“I can hire some day workers until you get back.”
“Thanks.”
Workers had watered the exhausted boy and his horse.
Long told one of the men, “Take that young man to the mess hall. Sam will feed him, and have some boys cool down his horse so he’s ready when he wants to go home.”
The worker and boy left.
“I am wiring my father that the Three Star Ranch is sending a team to help and for him to get his men ready to ride.”
Jan and Carter stayed in the office with Long.
“Ira, Collie, Harry. That makes three right?” his foreman asked.
“Yes.”
“Allan Jules?”
“Freckled-faced strapping guy?”
“Yes. Reed Walls?”
“He’s the older short man?”
Carter nodded. “Guy Holt?”
“He should work.”
Long might not have taken Holt, but Carter knew the man better than he did. If he had his reasons, Long felt sure it would work. The thing he hated the most was how his father would be feeling—that he had failed to stop the raid. Whoever they were, Long would find them and punish them for what they did.
Jan packed some clothing into his bedroll. It was now hot Texas summertime, so he’d not need a jacket. That job wrapped up and tied, she turned and asked him where he would start.
“The H Bar H to learn how many men Dad has lined up to ride with us. I will get all the information I can. I hope the raiders have not shot any more of our men.”
“Lots to do.”
“I will need some men who know the lay of the land. I also have to find out who is leading the raiders, and hopefully find out where they are hiding out. Then close in on them.”
“You just remember Carter and I need you. This baby in my belly needs you, too.”
He hugged her tightly. “You know I can handle myself. No one else can help my dad. They are up in the Indian Territory. That’s why they raided—to test our strength—and I aim to shock them.”
“I wish I could go along and help you.”
“Number one is the child. I fear I can’t protect you there. Stay here. Work on the house plans and I will return.”
He gave her his kerchief to cry into. That cut him to his heart. He had grown so close to this cowgirl. Loved her and enjoyed her efforts to make life better for both of them more and more.
He and his crew left in a long trot in the pinking dawn. His plans were to be there in two days. They pushed hard, taking short breaks. A horse went cripple but he stopped at a ranch, bought a fresh one, and they rode on.
The men were in good spirits and laughed most of the day. At sundown they camped by a stream. The crew cooked the meal and turned in. The night was short. Day two was a hard push, but they reached the home ranch by dark.
His mom, and the wives alongside of her, fixed them a big meal. Hiram’s stable help rubbed down their horses and promised him fresh ones in the morning.
He answered his mother’s questions about his wife and her pregnancy. Yes, she was, all seemed good, and they were planning a Texas ranch house of her own design.
Quietly he told her a little about the money and gold in the bank. Her eyes opened wide and, holding her hand to her chest, asked him, “Really?”
“Really. I will tell you the whole story when we get time in private.”
She swallowed, hugged him, and kissed his forehead. “Will this help you realize all your successes with Harp?”
“It seems that things are falling into place, and we were there to use it.”
“I lived in a log cabin in western Arkansas. If we saw fifty dollars in one year we were thinking we were rich.”
“Times change. I need to talk to Dad about what we can do. How is Hoot?”
“He’s going to be all right. He’s still laid up at the doctor’s office, but he is showing signs he will live.”
“Good news.”
Long and Hiram went outside onto the porch to be alone and talk. The night bugs were loud, and the day’s heat finally showed signs of falling.
“There are rumors that Newman and Jennings are the source of these raids, but they also know how to keep hidden. Sheriff Coker sent ten deputies out there, and they found nothing. We have a camp of those black foot soldiers set up south of town, and they just marched around and quizzed the innocent folks. Several men said they’d join a posse if you led it.”
“We must locate the men and get one of them to spill his guts.”
“Friday and Saturday night let’s get our best cowboys into town buying drinks. Hopefully someone will be drunk enough and talk, and that way, I think, they will find us a lead.”
“Maybe? What else?”
“I am taking three good men and do some scouting. If any of us, or the boys in town, can find a lead I bet we can buy or force information out of one of them. There is someone hiding them, and it can’t be that big a secret. If we find the right person, we can learn their whereabouts.”
Long divided his men up. Two pairs of his Three Star men went with the best two men selected by Hiram. He wanted them to circle around the sites of the attack. On the ranch maps he gave them areas to examine closely. He selected an area in the far corner for his own team.
Long, Ira, and Collie, along with one packhorse and some food, went the back way and were far down in the ranch acreage by noontime. There was no activity on Horse Creek. They circled Oscar’s ranch and by late afternoon found the eight-acre lake Clyde Nelson spoke to him about buying while in Abilene.
Before they came over a hill to see it, they heard voices. Long waved his men back immediately. He hoped the ones down there at the lake hadn’t heard or seen them. They hitched their horses back down the hill. Long grabbed his saddlebag.
Ira shook his head. “We find them?”
“Either that or some hell-raisers. I hope they were so busy they missed us.”
Things had quieted down by the time they, on foot, had climbed back up the hill to see.
“They did not hear us,” Long said.
At the top of the hill, he brought his field glasses out of the saddlebag and crawled, hatless, on his belly and began to search through the trees and down to the lake. Were those men swimming and wading in the lake the raiders?
He hoped so. They all looked under thirty. He counted seven of them.
“You think that’s them?”
“Yes. We need to get back to the horses and quietly circle this valley and come in from the west. We don’t need to be discovered. I want them alive and so we can get information out of them.”
“It will be dark by then.”
“Yes, Ira, but while I don’t know the terrain, I think we can still sneak up on them.”
“You don’t own this section?”
“No, Collie. It is so isolated no one wanted it. It was claimed by the Nelson family. His grandfather lived up here, but after he died, no woman in his family would live this far out.”
Collie shook his head.
The men chuckled, remounting.
Long felt success might be coming as the sun set, and under cover of the darkness, they’d reached the heights west of the place. Guided by the campfire below that the men must have cooked on, Long and his men eased their way down the steep slope with only starlight and the fire’s flames guiding them. Ira lost his footing, his butt hit the ground, and he slid about ten feet down the steep slope.
They regrouped almost snickering.
“You hurt?”
“My pride.”
They moved on slower until they were at last on the flatter ground behind the house. Long eased up to sneak a peek at the men around the fire and listen to them.
“Yeah, Newman promised us some Mexican women. I ain’t seen one of them yet.”
“Hell, I bet he brings some tomorrow.”
“He coming—”
Long counted eight of them, the same number that earlier were wading in the lake.
He gave his men a head toss.
With Ira and Collie, their guns drawn, the three stepped out and he ordered the men to put their hands in the air or be shot. One of them jumped up. Ira shot him and he went facedown. The rest obeyed as the gun smoke drifted away. One by one they were disarmed and told to lie facedown on the ground.
Ira went and found some rope.
None of his crew answered the question the men on the ground kept asking. “Who are you?”
The prisoners secured, Long told Ira to build up the fire.
“I know you men ride for Newman. A week ago you killed two of my cowboys and shot my foreman and left him and two more wounded men on the ground. I want the name of the man heading this up.”
No one spoke.
“Men, take one of these outlaws down to the lake and keep his head under water until he names their leader and where to find him. If he dies, leave him for the fish and come back and get another.”
They picked up an outlaw and he screamed, “I’ll tell you. I don’t want to be drowned.”
“Talk.”
His name is Albert Newman. He lives with a ranch widow and he works for Fargo Jennings who lives in Dallas. They have a big boss pays them that they won’t name.”
“Is Newman really coming tomorrow?”
“Huh?”
“I heard someone say he was bringing women tomorrow.”
“He promised us some.”
“Did he say when?”
One said, “We don’t know to tell you.”
They lowered their prisoner back down on the ground.
Long waved his two men over.
In a low voice, he said, “We may waste a day hanging around here, but I’d like to have him.”
“So would we.”
“Tie their feet. We will share the guard shifts tonight. Put them in the house and wait to see if he shows up.”
“We’re willing.”
“This guy they mentioned was in Dallas, you knew about him?”
“I didn’t know where he went, but I knew Jennings was in this mess. That leaves the big man in Dallas who pays them. We get Newman, we’ll get who their real boss is out of him.”
“We can do that easy,” Ira said, rubbing his hip, obviously hurting from his earlier slide.
“If Newman doesn’t come tomorrow we’ll ride back.”
Both men agreed, and the prisoners were allowed to relieve themselves and then their feet were tied. They knew that any effort to escape meant their death. He felt they were awed enough not to try. His men then brought their horses and packhorse down to the corral.
Not much sleep for him and his men. The shot outlaw died in the night. Long wasn’t concerned about that.
Two of their prisoners buried him the next day. Then the seven were held tied up in the nearly fallen-in barn. The day ticked away slowly. Long paced across the bare dirt floor in the living room. Collie guarded the prisoners. Ira had been scouting from the hillside using Long’s glasses. Long turned when his man quietly slipped into the house from the back door.
Long knew he had found something from the grin. “They’re riding in from the south. There is a cocky-acting guy leading them in. Three guys and some putas riding mules.”
“If he breaks shoot him. That is Newman.”
“Got’cha. I didn’t tell Collie. But he will hear them.” The sound of the mules braying made Long smile and nod. That miserable killer Newman was only seconds away from being taken or shot.
He and Ira were ready when Newman shouted, “Your women are here like I promised. Where the hell are you at?”
“Right here . . . get your hands in the air or die.” He and Ira had them covered. Gun in hand, Collie stepped out of the barn to back them.
Long went down the porch stairs, rifle raised ready to shoot him. When Long reached Newman’s horse, he jerked him out of the saddle and facedown onto the ground. Then he stepped on his arm and disarmed him. His six-gun in his waistband he stepped back, lowering his rifle but still at the ready. “Didn’t Fargo come?”
“I don’t know any Fargo. Who are you?”
“Long O’Malley.”
“Son of a bitch how did I not kill you?”
“Who pays you and Fargo?”
“No one.”
Long asked him, “You see that lake? You can tell me who he is or drown in it.”
“I ain’t telling you anything.”
“Then you will become fish food. Tie those three up.”
The three Mexican girls huddled defensively, holding the reins of their mules.
Long walked over there to them. “We won’t hurt you, ladies. These banditos have seen the last of their days. I will pay you and you can go home.”
They nodded woodenly.
He walked back and put his rifle muzzle to Newman’s head. “Undo that money belt and don’t try one move.”
“How?”
“Get on your knees. Know my hammer is cocked.”
He tore open his shirt and snaked the heavy belt out.
“Drop it.”
“They’re tied up,” Ira said. “Let me and Collie get that information out of him.”
“I want to know where Fargo is and who the man footing the bill is and where he lives.”
One on each of his arms, Ira and Colie hauled Newman to the lake. They dunked him, once, twice, and then him sputtering, they pulled him up by his hair and he couldn’t get the words out fast enough.
“Fargo is up at Mason on the Burgess Ranch,” he gasped, and vomited.
“Who is the man furnished the money?”
“This will get me killed.”
“Tell me. He may miss but I won’t stop short of drowning you.”
“His name is—John Q. Blaine.”
“He wanted this ranch. Why?”
“Years ago he was on a deer-hunting trip and saw the lake and tried to buy it, but the state wanted too much money. He kept trying to buy it, but your agent struck a deal with the carpetbaggers to buy all the land around it. The lake area was empty.”
“And?”
“Fargo said we could run your asses off the land first, then take the lake.”
“Newman, we are the O’Malley brothers, and you should never have messed with us.”
“I agree.”
“Tie him up. I may strangle him barehanded.”
Long grabbed up the money belt. He took out several twenty-dollar bills and gave it to the girls. “Go home. Say nothing. Those mules are yours.”
One crossed her forehead and bowed. The other two threw him kisses. Then they climbed on their mules and galloped away.
“I seen prettier ones,” Ira said.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, I did not want any one of them.”
Long laughed. “We have Newman and his men. Before the word gets out, we need to arrest Fargo up at Mason, then ride to Dallas and get that Blaine fellow. I need to talk to a prosecutor about swearing out a warrant for him.”
Still holding the money belt, Long turned to Ira. “I don’t know how much money is in this belt. Split it with Collie. You guys have taken all the chances to catch them.” He handed the money belt to his man.
“Well thanks. You don’t have to do this.”
“I know what I have to do. You two earned it.”
“You know, I bet that big man in Dallas will have some high-priced lawyers.”
“Even in occupied Texas, the law is upheld.”
“Maybe,” Ira said.
“Oh, it will be.”
“Tomorrow we’ll take these prisoners to the ranch. Then we need to go find Fargo before he runs off. So we really have to move. We should be proud. Three cowboys have caught a gang of killers and found the guy behind it.”
“Damn good deal,” Collie said. “That belt I mean.”
“You two have any women you might want to marry if I raised you both up to foreman wages when we get home?”
Ira blinked at Collie. “By damn, Long, we can find someone.”
“Find yourselves one.”
Collie threw his Stetson in the air and howled. “We damn sure can do that, boss man.”
The trip back to the main ranch the next day was slower than he wanted, but right after noon the other posse members found them on the road and took over the prisoners. Everyone was excited and had to know how they were found.
“Boys, have any of you seen that lake down in the southwest corner on the border of our ranch?”
Some had.
“A real rich man saw it deer hunting some time back and decided he wanted it. Someone else owned it, but I met the man who owned it and he wanted my brother and I to buy it. We were starting to talk about it. The man who wanted the land thought we already owned it, so he hired Newman and Fargo to make trouble so we would sell it. We have Newman and his men. Fargo is next, and we need to be at the house where he is hiding by morning and we still have to park all these prisoners at the ranch, then ride all night to Mason.”
The man in charge of the second group said, “We’ll get fresh horses at the ranch for you. We wondered why you didn’t come in, and we’ve been out looking for you.”
“I know. We stayed out overnight because, once we caught the original gang, we overheard them say Newman was coming the next day. He showed up and we arrested him and three more of his men. He told us, after some dunking, where Fargo is staying over at Mason. I want him, too. So we will hold these prisoners at the ranch until we get Fargo into the Kerrville jail, then we’ll bring these guys in, too.”
“Who is this big rich man hired them?” the cowboy called Carlos asked.
“John Q. Blaine. He lives in Dallas.”
“Will these men talk?”
“Some of them will. They are facing murder charges for killing two of the ranch hands, but I will need a sworn statement from Newman or Fargo to go up and arrest Blaine. I think we’ll get it. And congratulations to everyone. This should stop the problems of the raids on our ranches.”
They hurried on toward the ranch as the sun was setting.
When they arrived several hands and the armed guards swarmed them to learn about the tied-up outlaws.
“Six of us need fresh horses. Carlos, pick two more men to ride with us three. We need to go up to Mason and arrest the other leader before daybreak. Anyone know where the Burgess Ranch is up there?”
“Sir, it’s on the road goes north out of town. It’s a big brick house on the right on the first hill after you leave town. What did they do?”
“They are hiding an outlaw named Jennings.”
He watched as the prisoners were taken off their horses. One of the hands said they had a tight place to jail them.
“Take any knives or objects off them and take their boots off so they can’t run away,” Long said. “I want them held for the law.”
“The cook has some apple pie for us to eat. The men are changing your gear to fresh horses. They will feed the rest in a while, but pie is all he had right now,” Carlos said.
Long nodded. All was going well.
The cook and his helper fed each of them two pieces of pie and apologized.
Collie laughed. “Hell, I’d rather eat your pie.”
Long agreed. When they finished and mounted up, Carlos told him Ted knew the ranch’s location. They set out in the dark for Mason. Long decided the stars would shed enough light until the moon rose in an hour to help them navigate. They made good time and rode through the empty streets of Mason, waking a few dogs, well after midnight.
The big brick two-story house looked stark under the tall pecan trees. Long’s mounted riders surrounded the house.
Two rifles were shot in the air to break the night. Long stood in the saddle and shouted, “Come out, hands in the air, and you won’t get shot. But if there is any resistance we will shoot everyone and burn the house down.”
One woman opened a second-story window. “Give us time to dress.”
“You can save that. Tell Fargo to get out here.”
“He isn’t here.”
“He better not be or you all will go to jail for harboring a criminal.”
“Cut the talking,” a hatless man said, coming out the front door pulling up his suspenders.”
Long set down in the saddle smiling. “Gentlemen. Meet Fargo Jennings.”
Two of his men dismounted quickly and brought him to Long’s horse.
“What are you doing here?” Jennings asked. “They told me you were up north of Junction.”
“I came home to stop the murdering that you and Newman have been involved in.”
“You don’t have any witnesses. How can you do anything?”
“I have about a dozen cowboys facing being hung that will testify against both you and Newman, for better sentences.”
“I’ll have lawyers that’ll talk rings around any prosecutor you have.”
“No, Jennings. You better start praying a lot. If you walk out of that courtroom free, I will gun you down in the street for killing my men, and that’s not a threat. That is a promise.
“Boys, put a lariat around his neck. We’re riding, him running behind. If he tries anything or falls down along the way, drag him till he’s dead.”
“You can’t do that—”
Long moved his horse closer. “You better know how to run, because we will be trotting our horses all the way back to Kerrville.”
“No!”
Ira dandled the reata that was around Jennings’s neck, then around the horn of his saddle and started out. His action jerked Jennings into the dust.
Long rode over as the man gagged and tried to loosen the rawhide-braided rope.
“Jennings, you better listen or you won’t live to make it back to Mason. Now start jogging . . . we’re heading out.”
“I-I—”
“All you have to do is jog and not fall down. Go ahead, Ira.”
He made it the short distance back to Mason. They gave him a short breather, and Collie went to rent a horse from the livery. Obviously, on purpose, Collie chose a horse with a high backbone for him to sit on bareback. It would be a rough ride.
“I paid five bucks for the horse,” Collie said, riding by Long. “Didn’t have time to dicker.”
“I’ll reimburse you.”
“No, he’s my gift. Now we can trot and I, maybe, with all this done, can find that gal you talked about.”
“Which one?”
“The one you told me to marry.”
“Good.” Long laughed.
The Bexar County jailhouse in Kerrville was the Texas arm of the law in that widespread county. The only other county west of Bexar was Mason. They had to have enough citizens to set up a county. For the rest, they didn’t have enough people so they did county business at some outside posts of Bexar or went to San Antonio as the headquarters. The jail accepted Jennings as charged with two murders and armed assault.
The deputy said he didn’t have the funds to ship him to San Antonio or feed the rest of them when Long would bring them in.
“How many leg irons you got?”
“A dozen.”
They had ten men, and Newman, as prisoners at the ranch. Jennings made the twelfth.
Worn out, he told the men that one of them needed to take the leg irons to the blacksmith and have leg irons welded on each one four feet apart. Then he wanted extra rivets to lock them on their legs.
Exhausted, he finally sat down.
“Long?” Ira said. “Let’s lock this smart-talking bastard in the jail. We’ll figure out who takes the leg irons to the ranch. He’ll put them prisoners in leg irons and bring them back in a wagon while the rest of us sleep. Add Jennings to the chained ones and then we can haul them to San Antonio.”
“That is good planning. I agree . . . who will take the legs irons?”
“I’ll take them and then I won’t be back. Someone else can drive the wagon back. I’m going to sleep two days.”
“A driver and an armed guard to bring them back? That works. The rest of us will be sleeping at the livery. Tell them to wake us up when they get back with the ranch prisoners.”
“I sure will. And I’ll send fresh horses for all of you.”
“We will need them. Thanks.”
They stuck Jennings in the hoosegow, then Long and his bunch went to the first café they came to, ate steaks, and then wandered back to bunk in the livery. No one had to rock Long to sleep, and when they woke him it was dark. He had not slept for long enough, but he wanted this job over.
* * *
On fresh horses the ranch crew brought, the wagon was loaded with the dozen in irons, and they set out under the stars. At dawn, they found a roadside café and a good-looking blond woman waited on them. He ordered oatmeal for the prisoners.
She asked him if he wanted raisins, sugar, and cream.
“None of the above. They are prisoners. Oatmeal in a bowl and a spoon.”
He and the somewhat refreshed six-man team had ham, scrambled eggs, syrup, and pancakes with coffee.
At dark the next day, they were close to fifteen miles from their goal. Ira, scouting ahead, found a woman living on the side of the road who agreed to cook a big pot of beans with ham in it and a Dutch oven peach cobbler for twelve dollars. He told Long that he paid her twenty.
“Is she good looking?”
“Not that good.”
“Just asking?”
They both laughed.
The poor woman ran out of bowls and pots, so some ate their food from coffee cups, but they all bragged on her. Long decided that was because they didn’t have to cook it. But her peach cobbler was wonderful, and there was lots of it.
Collie told him if she started a café she’d be busy when folks found her.
However, Long could see his men didn’t consider her bride material.
They camped there for the night, and she cooked oatmeal for them at sunup. They all thanked her. She told them to stop anytime and thanked them for their generosity.
Mid-afternoon they set the brake on the wagon in front of the courthouse. Long and Ira went ahead to find the sheriff and the jail.
“May I help you?” a desk officer asked.
“I have a dozen prisoners that committed murders, raids on innocent people, and other crimes.”
“You a deputy?”
“No. I am a private citizen from up by Kerrville and I have these killers in irons out in a wagon. The sheriff sent ten men up there, but they never found them. Us private citizens did and we brought them here.”
“Your name?”
“My name is Long John O’Malley. I am an owner of several ranches and very tired of these outlaws running over my ranchers. Will you accept them? Decide or I am going to noose them and toss them one at a time out of the wagon and drag them back to Kerrville for burial.”
“Wait. Let me get my boss, Under-Sheriff Cal Newton.”
A man in a suit and a badge emerged from the back office. “Mr. O’Malley, what can I do for you?”
“It’s what I can do for you. Your sheriff sent ten men up to our ranch to find raiders and killers who murdered two of our men and wounded three more. They found no one. We have the two top men that ordered the raids, and ten more of the outlaws that did the deeds. We brought them here for trial, since your deputy in Kerrville had no money to ship them to you.”
“What evidence do you have?”
“I have four men ready to testify to what they did and who their bosses were.”
“This arrest is highly unusual.”
“Go get your boss. He promised my father, Hiram O’Malley, that he would back us if we found the raiders.”
“He’s in Fort Worth this week.”
“Wire him.”
“That is not a policy of this department.”
“That means you are turning me down to accept them.”
“Yes. You have no authority to do what you did.”
“I am going to the state police and tell them you declined to accept felons. I have witnesses who saw they shot and wounded three of my men and killed two on my ranch land.”
“Wait. I will jail them. But you must meet with the prosecuting attorney at nine a.m. here.”
“Good. Accept no bonds. This gang has some rich supporters. Bring them in, Ira.”
“How would they know we are holding them?”
“Word travels fast. People can see them being brought in here.”
“They will still be here in jail in the morning when you come in.”
“Fine. Make me a receipt for delivering them.”
The man turned to his deputy. “Make him a receipt.”
“Ira, bring the prisoners inside.”
“Yes, sir, boss man.”
There was something wrong here, but Long couldn’t put his finger on it. Why would the man refuse a citizen’s arrest of criminals? The sheriff, his boss, told Hiram he’d back him. Why was this first man refusing them?
There were lots of unanswered questions inside this room. He and his men needed a meal and some sleep. What did the prosecutor need? He wished Harp was there. He was the talker in the family.
Outside in the hot night, Ira asked the same question. “Why wouldn’t he accept this bunch of worthless outlaws?”
“I guess if I knew that I could also tell tomorrow’s weather.”
“I would like that. Damn hot again.”
Long laughed. “It might be that in there come morning, too.”
An hour later at a Mexican restaurant, while eating supper, in low voices they all questioned him about the cold-shoulder treatment.
“Tomorrow we will learn more.”
“Is it turn the outlaws loose?”
Long shook his head. “I won’t allow them doing that.”
He didn’t sleep well that night, but they had breakfast at a nice sidewalk café and reached the jail before the time to meet the attorneys.
Long walked into a heated shouting match by three men he considered must be lawyers. They were arguing with a different deskman about posting bail or seeing the judge about some of the prisoners’ release.
“My orders are not to take any bond for the individuals on your list—it’s signed by the under-sheriff.”
“They have not been charged. Who arrested them?”
“You can’t hold them.”
“Excuse me, do any of you gentlemen represent John Q. Blaine?”
“Who in the gawdamn hell are you, cowboy?”
“My name is Long John O’Malley, and I am the citizen who brought in, for trial, these felons you obviously want out of jail.”
“What are the charges?”
“Murder. They killed two of my men. Wounded three more and one or two of them may not live. They are raiders as well.”
“You are all wrong. These men have alibis and witnesses to prove them innocent of all of that.”
“That dog won’t bark.”
“Wait till we confront Judge Arnold. He will allow these family men to go back to their lovely spouses and children while we prove them innocent.”
“I really come from the old legal way. You know, most folks keep the country west of here free of culprits by way of something called Judge Rope. They don’t escape prosecution by phony lawyers like you. And tell the man who hired you, he’d better enlist someone smarter because I am going to try and see him hang, too.”
The senior attorney told the others to shut up, gave a head toss, and they went out the door.
Ira slapped his knee. “You got them with a red hot poker right in the gut.”
Probably raised the bounty on him being dead by a thousand dollars or more, too.
Two prosecutors arrived and they, Long, and Ira went back into a private office. John Hammer and Toby Goodwin were the attorneys for the State of Texas. Gatsby Fellows was their stenographer. Long would have called him their secretary.
Hammer started off, “You have brought in a dozen men accused of murder, raiding, and making a range war?”
“I don’t know all the legal terms, but, yes, these men are guilty of murder. Separate them and they will spill their guts not to be hung. These are the men who raided our ranch and shot Hoot our foreman. He is expected to recover. Two cowboys were killed outright and more wounded.”
“Who planned this?” asked Goodwin.
“We know that John Q. Blaine is the man hired them to make us quit an area he liked in western Bexar County.”
“O’Malley, are you serious?”
“They told us that was the deal. My men and I heard the story that Blaine was on a guided deer hunt for a huge buck and fell in love with the place. My brother and I bought a package of sections. Part still belongs to some other people, but Blaine didn’t know that and thought it was in our package. Most of that land has not been surveyed, so who knows what Blaine thought. They did raids to try to scare us off the land, but we found and caught them. Newman and Jennings must have left to go back for more money to hire more men to force us to sell, or we’d die.”
“Blaine is a very powerful man in the community, even before we lost the war. He will be difficult to convict. But that is not to say we won’t try to. You say split the men up and don’t let them talk together?”
“Exactly.”
“Long, we will separate the prisoners and begin interrogating them. That was a neat way you figured out how to squeeze this out of them,” Goodwin said.
“We can do this with your help. Were you ever in the Confederate Army?” Hammer asked.
“No, I was a Texas Ranger.”
“Would you wear a U.S. Marshal badge?”
“On my shirt?”
“Not necessary. But if we could call on you from time to time to help other lawmen in arrests and investigations?”
Goodwin spoke again. “For instance, if you are on duty, you could hire your man here to be a posse member for a dollar a day. The U.S. Marshal office would pay him. Arrests are ten dollars alive. A dollar a day to feed prisoners. Twenty cents a mile out and back.”
His partner intervened. “Let me tell you we need smart men like you to put down crime or we will never get out of this federal occupation. The congress says we have too much crime in Texas, and until it goes down they won’t even consider us for statehood.”
“Like you, I want Texas free and back to being run by Texans not carpetbaggers,” Long told them.
“I am going to undertake getting you that commission.”
“I would take that commission if you would let me arrest Blaine when you have the evidence.”
Goodwin added, “And if we could prove Blaine crossed a state or territory line planning this raid, we could have him arrested him on federal charges and the sentence would be tougher.”
“That is called an interstate crime.”
“I am liking this better.”
“How soon could you get down here if we needed you?”
“Two to three days. One more thing. I am suspicious of the under-sheriff. He almost didn’t accept them last night. I had to threaten to call the state police. That needs to be looked into.”
“It does.”
“Some lawyers were here trying to get Newman and Jennings bailed out when I first arrived here, and when I asked them if they worked for Blaine they fled the courthouse.”
“What were their names?”
“The desk man will know them.”
“We will check on them.” Goodwin shook his hand. “Be careful. We wish you a safe trip home. We will try to find out about this Blaine and his involvement in all of this.”
Long thanked them and left the room. He met up and shook the hands of the ranch hands from the home operation and gave them meal money to get home with. He and his men from the Three Star Ranch rode north and west, ate in cafés in small towns, and slept under the stars.
On weary horses, they were home in three days. Jan ran out of the office to hug him. Yes, she still was pregnant.
She shouted after the men that she was glad they brought him back. Then she turned back and asked him, “Did you get them?”
“All of them but the guy who hired them. He’s in Dallas.”
“Why not him?”
“It’s still not over.” He told her how the under-sheriff in San Antonio, at first, wouldn’t accept the prisoners.
“The prosecutors want to deputize some people as U.S. Marshals. They say the crime in Texas is too high to allow Texas to come back as a state. And they feel having more smart U.S. Marshals would help suppress crime.”
She nodded and smiled. “Did you raise your right hand?”
“I told them when a warrant to serve Blaine came up I’d take the badge and go arrest him.”
“Do you think they will let you?”
“Yes.”
“The plans for the house came. I changed a few things, but I like it. He wrote back that we should start quarrying and gave me the dimensions they need. He has three contractors to bid on the house. We may have to set up tents for them. Did I do the right thing?”
“Yes. You do not need my approval to do things.”
“It’s better, having you home.”
“So far so good with the baby?”
“Oh, yes. I pray a lot.”
“I will, too.”
“Let’s go eat. Nothing bad happened here.”
“Good. It is so fine to be home. I have elevated Ira and Collie to foreman status. They were fantastic rounding up those outlaws by the big lake.”
“Was it pretty?”
“That’s why Blaine wanted it. I am telling Harp to buy it from that family when he comes home this fall.”
“When they get a road in there I want to camp down there in the spring or fall.”
“We can do that. Where are the well drillers?”
“Carter had started wells to put in windmills and tanks for better grazing.”
“We get that finished, and Harp will have plans to use them down there.”
“Your bare-legged surveyor had a close brush with a diamondback but only got a scratch. He was sick for a few days and now wears leather pants.”
“We all learn. Sam, how are you?” he asked the cook.
“Better now you are home. This place always better when you here, boss man.”
“Well I sure missed your cooking.”
“I have good steak cooking for you. God bless you, Long O’Malley . . . you and lady make this best ranch in Texas to work at.”
“Good. We’ll just keep it like that, too.”
First sip of his coffee and he smiled at his wife. “Arbuckle’s the only brand made worth drinking.”
“Oh, I forgot the best news. Your brother wired you he sold your five thousand head for eighty bucks a head.”
“I know you figured it out when it came.”
“Four hundred thousand dollars less expenses.”
“That is a shocker. You know that.”
“Not one man lost. Your two outfits are coming home.”
He remembered all his concerns, worrying about them. Hire good men and you get good work. Now, over the winter, he and Harp would have to divide things up. Make those two companies. One for ranching and another cattle marketing.
“Carter’s coming. I know he has some things to tell you.”
“I came on the run. The men told me you caught those killers,” Carter said.
“Have a seat . . . I don’t want everyone to hear. We arrested them in a sweep. Even Newman and Jennings and had to haul them to San Antonio ourselves. The under-sheriff tried to turn us down in taking them. And the big guy behind them had lawyers there demanding they get out on bail in twelve hours. I was preparing to lynch them, but I figured we needed to give the law the chance to handle it.”
“What happened next?”
“Texas prosecutors are now handling it. But I am not too sure the lynch law wouldn’t have been better. Ira and Collie were a great help. I raised them both to foremen status, so you need something, you can confide in them.”
“Less work for me. Johnny Consuela has his crew stringing a fence from the northwest corner to the southwest corner. Now the men are back I will have them search that country west of the survey line and get all our stock back on the ranch. I am fencing some bull pasture. I have those hundred shorthorn bulls coming. Simon said to order him the steel and he can make the frames to attach the windmill guts to it. He has four men making barbed wire now.”
“Supply keeping up with him?”
“That is why he wants steel to make windmills, to keep his men busy.”
“Order it.”
“You heard what the cattle brought?” Carter asked.
“She told me and they did not lose a man. How is the adobe housing stacking up?”
“What for?”
“We now have two more foremen looking for wives and will be wanting houses.”
“I will deal with that. Oh, and the well drill man has almost completely recovered. He is not drunk anymore and is teaching those two cowboys everything he knows about drilling. He is now running that operation.”
When Carter brought up Lance Grey, Jan nudged Long. “The sober driller wants to marry the girl who has been looking after the children. She is willing so I told him we’d buy her a wedding dress. We were waiting until you came back to set the date.”
One of the girls brought him a tray with a large slab of prime rib on it and smiled. “Sam said you needed this to get your strength back.”
“Gracias.”
“Can you believe this?” Long asked, shaking his head at the size of the meat.
“Yes. But all I care about is that my husband is home.”
“Damn glad to be here, too. Let’s pray.”
His wife nodded as he began, “Heavenly father, thank you for our success here on the Three Star Ranch. We’ve had a good year, and we all will have a good life in the palm of your hand. Protect our men coming home, all the ranch help, and workers. Bless this food, Lord, and be in our hearts. Amen.”
Carter stood up. “I am going to let you eat. I’ll get on the house building right away for those new foremen. I bet I have enough adobe bricks for two, but we will need a better one for the driller and the family. Better than they have now.”
“Carter, we get busier all the time. Do it.”
“I tell you there were times I wondered why I stayed here with that crazy woman and Doogan, but I am glad I did. I have had more fun accomplishing things since you came than I ever had in my life.”
Carter left and the men coming in to eat all stopped to thank him for coming back.
“Will you have to go back?” she asked.
“I imagine. To testify at their trials.”
“I am just so glad you are back sound.”
“No more than I am.”
“The man we hired to quarry the limestone for the house is telling me he is having more expenses.”
“He bid it to get the job. If he won’t do it for that he can hit the road. I am not paying him more than what was decided. I’ll handle it.”
“Didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No. This is business.”
“The preacher thinks the church wants the mansion for a boy’s school. There are some officials coming to look at it and to see how it would work for them.”
“Good.”
“I bet you’re tired and your back is stiff.”
“Yes. I need one of those back rubs you give so well.”
“Hard to believe we’ve only been married a little over a year.”
He agreed and stopped Sam going by. “I have eaten all that I can and not spit on it. Someone else can eat the rest.”
“Always hands come back late. I feed to them.” Sam took the tray and left.
Long and Jan walked hand in hand back to the office. It was nice to feel that they were still on their honeymoon. Long smiled at the thought.