Duster (9781310020889) (31 page)

A little while later, Josiah fetched us some
breakfast. Two steaks and a pan of biscuits made with real wheat
flour instead of corn meal, the likes of which I hadn't had but
maybe once or twice in my whole life. I could have eat twice as
much, I was that hungry, but I wasn't complaining about it. What
they had brought was too good to complain about.

"These fellas ain't lacking for the easy
life, are they," Jesus said around a mouthful of biscuit after we
were locked in and Josiah had gone.

"That's for darn sure. I don't know what a
barrel of white flour costs, but I bet it's a pretty penny."

"They got enough of it to waste, too, if
they're givin' it away to the likes of us."

"I wonder if this here's a last meal for the
condemned."

Jesus grinned. "If it is I
want a last request. I'm gonna
refuse to
go 'til they give me a mess of fresh-picked wild strawberries,
eh?"

He knew as well as me that those wild
berries had already disappeared for this year.

"You don't mind if I borry that idea from
you, do ya?"

Jesus was about to say something back when
we heard the door being opened, and we both shut up. I was feeling
pretty good after getting some rest and having a bite to eat, but
when I heard that door opening I laid down real quick and made
believe I was still feeling real poor.

"Come on out of there, you two." It was
Josiah's voice. He looked in and saw me laying on the floor and
added, "Ben, you'd best drag your little buddy out fer some fresh
air. He looks like he ain't feeling so good for some reason."

I remembered just then what Josiah had said
about people being so scared of Ben after he'd beat on them, so
when he came close I rolled my eyes and tossed my head a little and
cringed away from him. He seemed real satisfied by the playacting I
done. In truth, I was too plain downright mad to have time for
being scared of that big lout for a second time. There wasn't much
that I wanted worse than to get back at Josiah and especially at
Ben for what they done to me. When I seen Ben again I just got mad
clear through, and if pretending I was cowed for fear I'd get
another licking from him would maybe help me get loose, why I was
all ready to give it a whirl. If they thought I was scared stiff
and sicker than I was, it might come in handy—for me and for Jesus
too, maybe.

Ben took hold of my
shoulders and lifted me up off the floor like I weighed no more
than a sack of shucks, then he
hauled me
outside and set me down on my feet in the hard-packed dirt of the
ranch yard.

I spent the first few seconds blinking and
squinting against the bright morning sun in my eyes, but once I got
over that and took to looking around I could see right off why we'd
been brought all this way and put to so much trouble. The man
standing in front of us was the same standoffish dude we had seen
down on the road to Fort Ewell, the one we'd seen right after we
left Estrada's men in the brush.

I tried not to let on that I recognized him
and so did Jesus, but it wasn't any use. He remembered us real
well.

"You boys have greatly changed since I first
saw you," he said in a polite, conversational tone of voice that
sounded nice and easy though his eyes stayed hard.

He walked around us some, examining each of
us in turn. "You," he said, pointing to Jesus, "were on the
grizzled mule. And you, you had on a hat made of straw," he said to
me. "I mention these little details only so you do not think you
can fool me into thinking I have the wrong two boys here. Any such
lying, weaseling attempt would only waste my time and cause me to
become impatient with you." He smiled at us...but he didn't mean
it.

I couldn't remember what Jesus had said his
name was, but I remembered that he was a horse trader from San
Antonio. No wonder he made out so good at it. He got his stock free
after it was stole down in Mexico, giving fresh stolen Texas stuff
in exchange.

He hadn't changed much
since we saw him a month before. He was wearing another suit, black
this time instead of gray, with a bright yellow vest, stiff pointy
collar, and a wide tie
that was done up in
a fancy knot under his chin. He was wearing what looked to be the
same dove's-belly color hat with a narrow brim.

"This one does not look well," the man said
to Josiah, hooking a thumb in my direction. "Does the greaser speak
English?"

"Passable well. If he tries to pretend he
don't understand, old Ben'll make him savvy real quick."

The dude strutted over in front of Jesus. He
puffed his cheeks out until his side whiskers fairly bristled from
his self-importance. "Well, greaser?"

"Si, senor. What ees you wan' of me?
Anytheeng, senor, anytheeng you wan' I weel do eet, si?" Jesus was
just a-babbling away, and the dude was lapping it up.

"I can make things quite difficult for you,
greaser. You know that, don't you?"

"Ah, si, senor. But I do nawthing to make
you onhappy weeth me. Nawthing, senor."

"That's good, greaser, because if you tell
me what I want to know I could also make things very, very pleasant
for you. In fact, you could come out of this with quite a lot of
hard money in your pockets. You understand that all right, don't
you?"

"Oh, si. I onnerstand thees."

"Good. Now all you have to do is tell me how
many people you and this boy here told about seeing me near
Estrada's camp. That is simple enough."

"Mos' certainly, senor. But I mus' theenk
back. Eet has been so many weeks ago, yes?"

That should have been a pretty simple
question and Jesus couldn't stall him for long. He needed time to
think if he was going to come up with some way out, because even I
could see that any answer at all would mean they hadn't any more
use for us. Once this rich thief knew if he was safe or not he
could get rid of us and know he was safer than he had been.

I did the only thing I could think of to
take their attention off of Jesus. I went limp and collapsed
against Ben like I had passed out.

Ben, he let loose of me and I slid down him
all the way to the ground.

"Now, what is the matter with..." The
dude started to say something, and I guess he was watching me at
the time.

The next thing I heard was a loud and clear
shout from Jesus. "Now, Duster, now," and I heard boots moving off
at a mighty good clip across the yard.

The dude and Josiah and Ben all started
toward Jesus naturally enough, and I didn't wait for any
invitation. I was off and running my own self then.

"HOW'RE YOU FEELING, Jesus?"

He mumbled something and took a sip of water
from the tin cup I was holding for him.

Jesus was quite a sight. He had a tooth
busted clean out of his mouth in the front, and his right eye was
closed. The left was puffed up pretty bad too. He looked terrible
and must of felt worse.

We was right back in the storeroom where
we'd spent the night. The chase had been fast and furious for a
little while there, but it had ended with Josiah dragging me back
and with Ben hauling Jesus in after first taking time to pound on
him some. I had been caught quick, and from a distance I watched
Jesus snatch up a stick and lay a good one on Ben's head before he
went down. It had laid Ben's scalp open, and I guess that's why Ben
hurt him so bad.

Jesus waved a couple fingers at me to get my
attention and croaked out, "D' I hurt 'im?"

"You sure did, partner. He was bloody from
one end to the next. You might not of got but one lick in, but that
was a good 'un. I just wisht I could of done as good with Josiah,
or better yet with that rico dude."

From the way his mouth twisted it looked
like Jesus was trying to smile. I had to respect him for that. I
knew about what he had gone through, and it took a whole lot of
guts for him to be smiling right then.

We had been locked back up for over an hour,
I suppose while they figured out what to do with us. As for me, I
wasn't feeling any too good, but Josiah hadn't hurt me real bad
when he thumped me around. He just put a few more sore spots on top
of my leftover sore spots and let it go at that.

One of the thieves, a stranger to us,
unlatched the door and stood there staring at us for a second. Then
he growled for us to "git outside but quick."

I got mad again. "You tell that high an'
mighty boss of yours, whoever he is, that my friend here's been
hurt too bad to come at his beck an' call. If'n he wants to see us
he can just come here to do it 'cause we ain't going to him this
time."

The fancy-dressed fellow stepped into the
doorway just then. He must of been standing off to one side where
he couldn't be seen. He give me an odd little smile and shook his
head. "Just think of it. All this trouble wasted. All this time and
effort for nothing at all because I thought you boys recognized me.
And you still don't even know who I am." He shook his head
again.

Now, if he wanted to think
that, I surely wasn't going to tell him different. Jesus had told
me once what his name was but I didn't remember it. So in a way, I
wasn't being untruthful about it since I really
didn't
remember who he was. And if
he thought we didn't know him then maybe, just maybe...

"Not that it makes any difference now," the
rico said, dashing the hopes I was starting to have. "Now that you
boys have been brought here once, you could always come back. And
you could bring someone else with you. Unfortunate, is it not? Had
I known to begin with, we could have avoided all this trouble—for
you and for me—but now it is too late, and matters shall have to
take their inevitable course."

I knew what he was saying.
He was telling us he was going to have us killed. I know I should
of been scareder even
than when Ben lit
into me, but I wasn't. I guess I would of been if I had thought of
it, but I was already plenty mad and he really set me off, talking
like he did.

"Mister, just where do you
get off, making out to hurt us 'cause of some stupid thing
you
done? It ain't our
fault if you went an' become an outlaw, stealing them animals an'
swapping them off for Mex'can stuff. You got yourself into it, so
you worry about gettin' out of it or taking your medicine for it or
even keepin' on doing it, if you want. But you leave us be, by
golly, 'cause we got no part in it and don't want any. Nor with
you, neither. Jus' leave us be, an' quit beating up on us like we
was the animals around here. You got no right."

"Young man, I will admit to your spunk, and
if pressed, I should have to say that you have a fine argument,
too. You went directly to the heart of the matter and gave an
excellent presentation of your case. However..." He waved his hands
in the air some and ended up with a finger waggling from me to
Jesus and back, "however, you fail to recognize that I very much
enjoy the income my little arrangement produces. I am not willing
to give it up. And given a choice between my interests and yours I
do not hesitate to selfishly choose in favor of my own interests."
He smiled again. "This is hard on you boys, of course, but it is by
far the best thing for me."

He turned to the other man and said,
"George, stay here and watch them while I tell Josiah and Ben what
needs to be done."

Looking back toward Jesus and me, he gave us
a shrug and a final word before he left. "After all, if they ever
hang me for a horse thief they might as well hang me for a murderer
too."

The man named George stood
blocking the doorway,
and he had his hand
resting on the butt of a pistol in his pocket. There just wasn't
any way we could try to get away without getting shot then and
there, not even if we was both feeling prime.

I ignored George as best I could and sat
down on the floor beside Jesus. "I hope I didn't say anything to
make it worse," I told him in a low voice.

"Is all right," Jesus whispered. "Wasn't
nothing you could of said to change it either way, Duster."

"I hope you're right. I'd hate to of done
something to make it worse on you." I peered at him close. "Shoot,
you look bad enough already—you don't need it worse."

He gave me what passed for a grin. "What a
waste of my youth an' good looks, eh?"

"Yeah, and your charm too."

We went on wasting time like that, me doing
most of the talking since Jesus really wasn't up to much, until
Josiah and Ben got there.

"Come on, you," Ben said to us, real
rough.

I glared up at him. "What'll you do if we
don't wanta come along? Beat on us again? You done that once
already."

"You'd be better off to come easy," Josiah
put in. "It ain't no secret what we're gonna do to you, but we got
some riding to do first, and at least you'll be more comfortable
until then if you don't give us any more trouble."

"An' yeah, I'll beat on you again real
good," Ben said.

"He'p me up, Duster," Jesus said in a weak
voice. "We'll go with 'em."

"The greaser's smarter than you are, kid,"
Josiah said. "He's had enough of old Ben an' he wants to stay alive
for as long as he can, don't you, greaser?"

"Yeah, that's right, gringo. I do."

I helped Jesus up, practically had to lift
him to his feet, and supported him while he walked outside.

George was waiting there holding four
saddled horses, and one of them was the grulla Jesus had brought
from our re-muda. Jesus had to be lifted up onto him, and I was
thankful that horse didn't go to working out his kinks just then
for I knew Jesus would of been throwed if he had.