Conagher (1969) (18 page)

I don't know. Anyway, it's got the m all stirred up. If she keeps it up, all th e cow outfits in the country will be shorthanded .

Conagher traced circles on the table to p with his beer glass. He was annoyed.

Couldn't a man even have a dream il l by himself? But he should have guesse d there would be others who found thos e notes.

How far north have they found them ?
h e asked.

I don't know. All across the country, I guess. I've only talked to them along th e stage lines .

A tumbleweed can roll a mighty lon g way. Hell, that woman may be marrie d and have two kids since she wrote thos e notes. How you going to tell how old th e notes are ?

Conagher signaled for a refill .
Speakin'
o f a woman with two kids , he said, . how's that Mrs. Teale gettin' along ?

Had a hard winter, I guess. I haven't j seen or talked to her in three, four weeks.

I've seen them around when the stage r oll s by ... they always wave .

Wonder what ever happened to he r husband ?

McCloud shrugged .
He was carryin g money. Four hundred in gold, she told me. Now, yo u know a man can't just carr y money like that unless he's careful. But , there's a lot coul d have happened. How many men have you known who rode of f and just disappeared?

A few years ago , he went on , w e found an empty stage out on the plain s with nobody aboard, the horses feedin g along the road, the driver and the tw o passengers gone. We never did figure ou t what happened. Maybe they all got out t o look at something, or to walk up a stee p grade, and something scared the team an d they ran off ... there's a lot could hav e happened. You know about how long a man can last in this country without a horse and without water .

In the morning Conagher rode eas t riding slow, checking the tumbleweeds a s he went. They were old tumbleweeds, lef t over from the previous year, and on th e one paper he found, the message had bee n erased by snow and rain.

After four days he saw to the north a thin column of smoke rising that he kne w was on the Teale place, and he swung hi s horse and rode in that direction.

He had gone no more than fifty yard s when he saw the trail of at least a doze n riders, going east. The grass was only no w springing back into place; they must hav e gone by within the hour. Off the trail an d keeping to low ground, as low as you coul d find in this almost flat plains country, h e went on. Because of the grass, he coul d find no distinctive prints, but they seeme d to be unshod horses.

Well, boy
, he said to the horse , I reckon you better build a fire under you r heels. We got some travelin' to do !

He lifted the horse into a gallop , standing in the stirrups from time to tim e to get a better view of the country. H
e was close to the Teale place now, an d all was quiet there. He could see th e boy in the yard cutting wood; he coul d see him swing the axe, see it fall . . .
a nd then an instant later he heard th e sound.

He closed in at a hard gallop, swung int o the yard and wheeled his horse .
Laban , where's your ma and sister ?

Hi, Mr. Conagher! They went up th e draw to pick greens. What's the matter ?

Get in the cabin and stand by for a fight. There are Indians around. I'll ge t the womenfolks !

He slicked his Winchester from th e scabbard, saw the boy dart for the cabin , and then he went up the draw at a pounding run.

Evie and Ruthie were corning back, an d he wheeled around .
Quick! Get a foot in a stirrup, one on each! Hurry !

What's wrong
?
Evie asked.

Paches
, he said shortly, and too k them back down the draw and wheeled u p to the cabin .
Get in, fast , he said.

He turned the horse and trotted it to th e gate, then swung down, swung the gat e open, and led the dun into the shed. H
e was hurrying toward the cabin when h e heard the Indians coming. It was too lat e to make the cabin, though he saw two gu n muzzles showing from loop holes, an d knew the Apaches would see them, too.

They had swung around to the east an d approached the cabin walking their horses.

He counted eleven, all braves. He ha d stopped near the door, but out of line wit h the loop holes.

One of the warriors he knew by name, a t least three of them by sight. Benactiny , often called Benito, was a great warrior , and a fighting man with more than usua l wisdom.

Hello, Benito
, Conagher said casually .
You boys are pretty far north, aren'
t you ?

These mountains?
Benactiny swep t his hand toward the Mogollons wer e Apache medicine ground. This is ou r place .

This is a time of change , Conaghe r said conversationally .
I heard you wer e livin' in the Sierra Madres, in Mexico .

I live there
, the Indian replie d sullenly .
Too many white soldie r come .

Soldiers never worried Benito , Conaghe r said .
Nobody could drive Benactin y and his warriors. Benactiny wen t because he wished to go. He went to th e lonely mountains where there was runnin g water and many trees. He has been happ y there .

Benactiny's expression did not change.

He was a proud man, as Conagher knew.

You are right
, the Apache said.

Nobody could drive Benactiny, but thi s is my land, too .

Once it was your land , Conaghe r admitted, and then slyly, his expressio n innocent, he added , Once it wa s Mimbres land .

We took it from the Mimbres , Benactiny replied proudly.

And then you went away and the whit e man has come. There are many whit e men, and they still come. They are a s many as blades of grass upon the Plains o f St. Augustine, and for everyone who dies , five will rise in his place.

I hope not many die , Conaghe r added , for I like the country as it is, wit h not too many people .

Benactiny changed the subject .
Yo u are the man here? There was only a woman and two young ones .

They are my friends. I watch ove r them. Their friends are my friends, thei r enemies are my enemies. It is good tha t you come in peace, for I would like t o believe Benactiny is their friend as well a s mine .

Benactiny studied him, the faintes t shadow of a smile in his eyes, for befor e this the two men had barely spoken i n passing, although each knew much abou t the other.

I think you speak of peace , Benactin y said .
Is it that you are afraid ?

You speak in jest .
Conagher used th e word he had heard an Army officer use t o an Apache .
I have no need to fear. I hav e no enemies .

No enemies
?

I had enemies, but I have buried m y enemies upon many hills. A man need s enemies to keep him wary and strong, bu t I would not have Benactiny for an enemy.

I have spoken to all the white men of wha t a great warrior he is, but what a fin e chieftain also. It is one thing to be fierce i n battle, but it is important, also, to be wis e in council .

Benactiny swung his pony .
We wil l ride on .

Wait
!
Conagher lifted a hand .
M
y friend Benactiny rides far. I would no t have him ride without tobacco .

With his left hand Conagher delved int o his saddlebag and came up with severa l sacks of Bull Durham. One he gave t o Benactiny, and half a dozen others to th e other warriors .
Divide them , he said , and when you smoke, remember Conagher , your friend .

Deliberately then, he turned his bac k and stepped up to the door. It opene d before him and he stepped in, reaching u p with his left hand to take the saddlebag s from his left shoulder. Then he went to a loop hole to peer out. The Apaches wer e riding away.

They would have attacked us , Evi e said.

I think so
.

What did you say to them ?

He shrugged
.
They're reasonabl e enough. I've fought Indians. I've fough t the Sioux, the Cheyennes, the Apaches , the Comanches and the Kiowas, but I'v e shared meat with them, swapped horse s with them, and found them reasonabl e men. They respect courage. You can'
t yield to an Indian. He will kill you out o f contempt as much as for any other reason , but he respects courage, and he respects a good argument .

He knew you
.

Let's say he recognized me. I ain'
t much, Mrs. Teale, but I'm too dumb t o know when I'm whipped. He knew I'
d fight just as I knew he would. W
e recognized that much in each other .

Will you stay for supper? We were jus t gathering some greens .

Well, I'll stay if you'll let m e contribute. I've just come from the Plaza , a few days back, and I've got some bacon , a package of raisins, and a couple o f pounds of prunes you might use. And I'v e got coffee .

Thank you, Mr. Conagher. I wil l accept them. As a matter of fact, we ar e just out of coffee .

Fry up some of that bacon , h e suggested .
I'll go see to my horse .

She had said they were out of coffee, bu t Conagher had a hunch they were out of a lot of other things as well. All of the m looked gaunt . . . they might not hav e missed meals, but the meals they'd ha d must have been pretty skimpy. How Evi e Teale kept going without a man he coul d not guess.

He rubbed his horse down, forked som e hay into the corner of the corral, the n carried his saddle under the shed. H
e took his rifle, rope and blanket roll to th e cabin.

There was a lot of work around here tha t needed a man to do. The boy wasn't up t o it yet. Conagher stopped up a leak in th e water trough, and fixed a place on the roo f where the wind had worried a corne r loose, and when it was close to sundown h e got his rifle.

I'll be an hour , he said .
If I haven'
t got a deer by then it'll be no use waitin g longer. They've not been hunted, and the y should be feeding down toward wate r about now .

He remembered the country fro m before. A western man habitually note d water holes and animal sign as he travele d through the country, and Conagher ha d crossed that ridge before. He got up on it , about thirty yards from the water hol e with the wind in his face, and he lay dow n in the brush and waited.

Sure enough, scarcely half an hour ha d passed before he saw a deer, then tw o more. He chose a big buck, settled dow n with his aim on a neck shot. At that rang e he could not miss. He killed the buck , skinned it, and then loaded the meat in th e hide and carried it back to the cabin.

He could smell the coffee, and the baco n was frying.

When he brought the meat into th e cabin the first thing he noticed wa s Laban's slicked-down hair. Ruthie ha d tidied herself up, and so had Evie Teale.

The table had a red and white checkere d cloth on it, and it was all set and proper.

Suddenly he was self-conscious.

He was unshaven for days, and he ha d been sleeping out wherever he could find a place. He had not paid much attention t o anything more than combing his hair an d washing up a mite.

I'll wash up
, he said .
Excuse me .

He stripped off his coat and shirt, rolle d up his sleeves and washed, combed hi s hair by guess work in the piece of flawe d mirror alongside the kitchen door, the n shook out his shirt, put it on, and cam e back in.

Sorry, ma'am
, he said , it's too dar k to shave .

That's quite all right, Mr. Conagher.

Please sit down .

After his own cooking, any food taste d good, but this was excellent. There wer e two slices of bread on the table and he wa s eating the second before he suddenl y realized there was none for anyone else.

He ate the piece in silence, cursing himsel f for being a fool.

You've got a nice place here , h e commented .
I see you have some calves .

She explained about the cattle .
Bette r let me brand them for you, Mrs. Teale.

There will be other herds coming through , and unbranded cattle surely have a way o f coming up missing .

I'd be pleased, Mr. Conagher .

When he got up to walk outside afte r supper, Evie glanced around at him. H
e was certainly a fine figure of a man whe n you really looked at him. He was tall, wit h wide shoulders, and he had an easy way o f moving that was more like a woodsma n than a rider. And he seemed sure o f himself without in any way appearin g bold.

There had always been the shadow o f worry under Jacob's seeming assurance , and she was sure that Jacob, deep inside , had never really believed in himself. H
e was prepared for failure despite the fac t that he was so stern, so hard-working, an d so demanding of dignity.