CHAPTER 30
He and Doug talked into the night about him taking the foreman job at the Diamond Ranch.
“I’ll really have to polish up my Spanish,” Doug said, sounding concerned. “Those workers are all Hispanic.”
“They do things Hispanic, but they need to be brought up into this century. They’re hardworking, loyal, and they will support you. You can do it. You took some green cowboys to Kansas and made it.”
“Yeah, I want the job. Say, you said we needed to see those parents of the four men we lost. You dreading that as much as I am?”
“Oh, yes. And Saturday we pay the ranchers who sent their cattle north with us. That will make up, somewhat, for those sad visits to see those parents. Get back to the topic, does the language bother you that much about this new job?”
“Oh, no. Hell, Harp, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. I’m older than you by near ten years, but being a cowboy is not the opportunity for a man having enough of a job to support a wife and family, if I can ever find someone to marry me. I can do that working the foreman job. Have kids and feed them. I can overcome any problems like talking to my help. You and Long have treated me like I was kin since going to Sedalia. Having this job, in these terrible economic times people are having in Texas, is a thank-God-every-day issue for me. After Sedalia I wondered, but what you did in Abilene shocked all of us. Every guy on that team saw in Abilene that the O’Malley brothers’ deal was going to bring all of us working for you two out of these depressing times.”
“Well, the Diamond Ranch is a good start for you.”
“And I am truly grateful.”
“Now, ride with me tomorrow. We have four families to see. I will need some help along, to have the courage for the job.”
* * *
The following morning, Harp and Doug began the sad task of visiting the families who had lost their loved ones. The first one they went to see was the widow. She lived on a small place outside of Kerrville. They drove the team into town and got the boy’s money in twenty-dollar bills. He and Long had decided to pay each family who lost a son or husband, four hundred dollars.
“Mrs. Green, I wrote you a letter from Kansas about Johnny’s death. I know money won’t replace your son, but my brother and I want you to have four hundred dollars, for his pay. He was a gallant, brave young man and it hurt us all he was killed in a horse wreck doing his job keeping the cattle moving. So thank you very much, and if I can ever help you, feel free to call on me.” He gave her the money in a cloth sack.
“Thank you, Mr. O’Malley; he was so proud you chose him. I know he worked hard. That was his way.”
He hugged her and excused himself. It would be a damn tough day. Doug drove the buckboard and he sat beside him on the spring seat.
The two boys that worked for Doug that got killed were the next two stops. Pete Yates shot himself cleaning a pistol. This father was on the porch when they drove up. Doug climbed down and introduced himself. “Pete was a good man and we are sad he didn’t come home. The men gave him a Christian funeral, and we want you to have the money he earned for the trip.”
The man swallowed hard. “My wife couldn’t face you. We don’t blame you or Mr. O’Malley, but when you raise a boy to that age and his life is snuffed out miles away from here it is real damn hard—thanks for the money. I’m sorry—” He walked off crying.
A teenage girl answered the door at the next place. Said she was A. J. Henry’s sister and she accepted the money politely. Just stood there sad faced and nodded. She had no words. There was nothing to say.
Harp was beside himself by then. The last hand died of pneumonia. Clarence Fowler’s heir was an older brother and his wife who accepted the money gratefully. She ended up head down weeping. “My man can use the money but he could have used Rupert more. They were close and he hasn’t been himself since we got the kind letter you wrote us.” Sniff. “Thank you is all I can manage.”
Then she ran into the house.
Harper climbed back onto the buckboard seat. “Let’s go home, Doug. I see why folks drink. If I drank I’d go drown in it. Better get home. My Katy will cheer me up. Thanks for coming along. This must have been the worst day of my life. Son of a bitch.”