Conagher (1969) (8 page)

I hunted around for a rock, hit at th e shoe a couple of times, then threw i t down and picked up another, droppe d it, and stepped over to the side of the trail , as if I was hunting a bigger rock. Then I ducked into the brush and sneaked up o n 'em.

Just about the time I got close the y began to wonder what had become of me , so one of them craned his neck up out o f the brush for a better look and he saw me.

He was surprised, but I wasn't. He wasn'
t any more than thirty feet off, but when I commenced shooting I dusted the brus h all around him and two Indians brok e from cover, one of them dragging a wounded leg .

So you nailed him , one of th e cowhands said.

No, I figured I had him, all right, so I let drive at the other one and dropped him.

When I looked around for the wounde d one, he was gone .

Did you hunt him down ?

Conagher gave the cowhand a glance*

Mister, nobody but a fool goes into th e rocks after a wounded Apache .

How'd you get the rifles, then ?

Well, I laid there a piece, and then I got over into the brush where I'd killed th e first one, and I latched onto his rifle an d ammunition. No use leaving it for som e other Indian to kill with. Then I edge d around until I could see the last Indian I shot, and with a long stick I pulled his rifl e to me. Then I went back to my horse an d lit a shuck out of there .

I'll swap
, the storekeeper said , an d I'll add a box of -44's for them you used u p in the fight. Most of the Apaches aroun d here are good people, and the Zunis nort h of us are no trouble makers, but it's the m south-of-the-border 'Paches who kee p raiding up here that give us trouble. The y attacked the stage station down the lin e where that womanTeale's her nam e runs it .

Conn Conagher looked up sharply.

They didn't kill her ?

She made a fight of it, she and the m youngsters. Then the stage came in, al l bloodied up, but amongst them the y fought 'em off .

Conagher tried on a sheepskin coat , then another. Satisfied, he put the boxes o f shells in the pockets and picked up th e gloves and the jeans.

Might as well set and have coffee , th e storekeeper said .
You ain't goin' fa r tonight .

Thanks. I'll move on .

The man in buckskin followed hi m outside, leaning on the hitching rail whil e Conagher tightened the cinch .
Wher e was you in the Mogollons ?
he asked.

I'm a-headed up thataway .

My guess would be you knew the m pretty well , Conagher said .
What is i t you want to know ?

The man in buckskin glanced over hi s shoulder .
I got me a little stand over o n the Negrito. I was wonderin' if you'd bee n around thataway, and if you'd seen an y Injun sign .

I came down through Sheep Basin , Conagher said , and I saw no India n sign .
He straightened up and rested hi s hands on the saddle. His eyes smiled a little, and he said , I did see some othe r sign over on Beaverdam .

The man in buckskin flushed a little , then grinned .
Like I figured, you've go t savvy , he said .
Those two in there ... I don't cotton to 'em. I'd as soon they didn'
t know where I hole up .

I'll do no talkin'. Ain't none of m y affair .
He held out a hand .
Name'
s Conagher. I'm ridin' the grub line whils t huntin' a job .

If you don't find anything come o n back to Beaverdam. There's wolves u p there, bear oncet in a while, and a fe w beaver. A man can make out on deer if h e likes venison. I live off the country, mak e up a few furs to bring out. My name i s Chip Huston .

He came around the horses .
Watc h yourself with those two in there. Tha t whole Ladder Five is a salty crowd an d they don't care whose stock they brand .

Who are they
?

Hi Jackson and Pete Casuse. The y drifted in here from the Neuces country .

Likely I'll never see them again. I'
m driftin'
.

But when he looked back from a distance of about half a mile, he saw th e two men standing in front of the store , staring after him.

Three days later, after swinging in a long circuit. Conn Conagher found a job.

Seaborn Tay was forty years old whe n he decided to make his stand. He rode int o the country alone, scouted a piece o f country he liked, and although everybod y warned him it was Apache country and h e wouldn't last a month, he moved in, buil t an outfit, and by the time Conn Conaghe r rode up to the bunk house rustlin g a job, Tay had been running cattle o n that range four years and he still had hi s hair.

Conagher swung down from his hors e and looked across the yard at the man wh o stood on the steps.

You ridin' the grub line, or huntin'
a job ?

A job if I can get it. A meal if I can't .

Have you got sand ?
Tay cam e walking down toward him .
I'll hav e nobody riding for me who is going to ru n for town the first time he sees a pon y track .

Conagher took off the sheepskin coat.

Nice coat, ain't it? Warm, too. Well, I just swapped for it. I swapped two rifles taken off two dead Apaches. The third on e got off, but he was packin' lead. Does tha t answer your question ?

Supper will be on the table in abou t half an hour. You got time to wash u p and stow your gear. On this job I furnis h the horses and the ammunition.

I'll have no fighting among my crew.

Any time you can't stand up to the wor k I'll give you two days' grub and a hea d start .

Conagher stripped his rigging from th e dun and turned it into the corral, then h e packed his blanket roll and Winchester t o the bunk house.

It was like every other bunk house.

Maybe it was a little stronger and tighte r than most southern bunk houses, mor e like they had in Montana or Colorado. H
e chose an empty bunk near the stove, an d threw his gear into it.

There were three hands on the job. H
e made a fourth. There were bunks fo r twelve, but only those near the stove wer e occupied. He checked the fire, added a couple of sticks, and unrolled his bed. H
e took his spare six-shooter and tucked i t under his blanket, then sat down an d cleaned his rifle.

By the time he had finished he heard th e triangle ringing for supper, and when h e went out one of the hands was just ridin g in. It was Kris Mahler.

Look what the cat dragged in , Mahle r said .
Did the Old Man hire you ?

Somebody has to do the work , Conagher said .
Now I can see why h e was so anxious to get a good man .

Mahler stepped down from the saddl e and commenced building a smoke .
Anythin g strike you peculiar about thi s setup ?

What's peculiar ?

Hirin' men this time of year. Usuall y the old hands stay on for the winte r months. Why should Tay be hirin' so lat e in the season? What happened to hi s regular hands ?

Don't get a burr under your saddle.

You'll find out soon enough. Where's th e others ?

Riding the line. It's a long two-da y trip. One goes north and one south, an d they swing around and pass each other.

There are two line cabins, and if you tim e it right you can sleep inside. Mainly it's t o keep stock from drifting, checking rang e and water holes, and keeping your eye s open for rustlers .

They walked up to the ranch hous e together.

The grub's good , Mahler said .
Yo u never ate such grub. The Old Man foun d him a chef who got throwed out of som e ho-tel back east .

There were just four of them at th e table, and the food was good. Conn ate a second helping, then filled his cup agai n and leaned back.

He talked little, listened a lot. Mahle r had always been a good talker, an easygoin g man, and a good hand. He had a wa y of talking on any subject, to anyone. Con n envied him, while he listened.

There was one old hand, a man name d Leggett who had come from southeas t Texas to this place, riding as segundo t o Tay, who was his own foreman. The othe r hand, as Conn might have guessed, wa s Johnny McGivern. Like himself, Mahle r and McGivern had ridden in hunting a jo b and they had been hired.

Suddenly Tay turned to Conagher.

Mahler will be telling you, anyway, s o you might as well know. Two of my hand s up and quit just before Mahler an d McGivern rode in, and another one'
s missing .

Missing
?

Martinez. He came from Texas wit h me, too. He rode out, taking the sout h swing. Mahler saw him over east of her e the next day. They talked, smoked a cigarette, and rode on. Nobody has see n Martinez since .

A lot of things can happen , Conaghe r said .
This here's a rough country .

Kris Mahler tilted back in his chair an d sipped coffee.

The thought came to Conagher suddenly , and he voiced it without thinking.

Do you share any range with Ladde r Five ?

Mahler looked up sharply, then glance d at Tay. The rancher pushed back slightl y from the table and studied Conn carefully.

What do you know about Ladder Five ?

Well, I saw a couple of their hand s over to Horse Springs. They had prett y good outfits, the both of them. I'd say the y were gents who could use a brand just lik e they've got .

We've had no trouble with them , Ta y said .
We've no reason to expect trouble .

Conagher shrugged .
Well, I never sa w them before and never expect to again. I just came here hunting a riding job .

Later, when they were outside, Mahle r commented , I wouldn't say any mor e about the Five, if I was you. No nee d letting the Old Man get the wind up .

None of my affair , Conagher said .
I wanted a place to sit out the winter, and a s long as nobody bothers me, I'll bothe r nobody .

And then Mahler said the wrong thing.

A man out there on a horse . . . he's al l alone. He's a settin' duck for any man wit h a rifle. A man would be foolish to risk tha t now, wouldn't he ?

Conn Conagher, who never liked bein g pushed, felt his old cantankerous moo d coming on. He'd be damned if he wa s going to ride scared for anybody . . . an y time. But he said nothing. This, h e decided, was a time to listen.

The following day Leggett rode in.

He was a tall man with a long face and a dry-as-dust manner, but Conn pegge d him right away as an honest man, as wel l as no fool.

Conn listened to him discuss condition s on the range, where he had seen cattle , where the water holes were, what steer s were trouble makers.

Conn saddled up and tightened th e cinch. He got out his Winchester and sli d it into the scabbard .
You won't nee d that , Mahler said .
We ain't seen a n Injun around in some time .

I feel better with it , Conn replied.

Seaborn Tay walked out on the porc h and called to him .
First time out , h e said , you just get acquainted with th e country .
Briefly he explained the layou t of the range claimed by the ST, and the n he added, in a somewhat lower voice , I got nothing but respect for an hones t cowhand .

Conn Conagher stepped into the saddl e and gathered his reins .
Mr. Tay , h e said , I've covered a lot of country in m y time, but when I take a man's money I rid e for the brand .

CONAGHER covered four miles i n his first hour. The range lay belo w six thousand feet at this point, wit h much open country. There were cottonwood s along the stream beds, wit h scrub oak, pinon, juniper, and occasiona l mountain mahogany on the slopes.

The range condition was fair t o middling. He saw a few head of steers an d several cows, all wearing the ST brand.

Where they were too close to what Ta y considered his line, Conagher turned the m back, then rode on.

The stock was in good shape for col d weather, and there was sufficient range fo r the number of cattle he saw. On this firs t trip he was only going to get a rough ide a of the country and the problems, bu t already he had seen a few areas wher e larkspur and horse bush were plentiful. . .
a good idea would be to move all stock ou t of this area, come spring. Cattle wouldn'
t eat most poisonous plants if there wa s other forage. The trouble was that man y dangerous plants were the first things t o turn green in the spring. He took out hi s tally book and made a note of the area an d its probable limits.

Just before noon he turned up a slope , found a trickle of water coming dow n through a grove of alders, and steppe d down from the saddle. He loosened th e cinch, let his horse have a little water, the n picketed it on a pocket of grass and settle d down to chewing on a piece of jerky.

From where he sat he could see over a far stretch of country. Getting his fiel d glasses from his saddlebag, he began t o study the country. He spotted severa l bunches of cattle, a few scattered ones, an d a bunch of deer. He was getting up t o return the field glasses to the saddlebag , but took one longer look. Further out , beyond the limits of ST range, he sa w another bunch of cattle.