Jim Kane - J P S Brown (16 page)

"We believe it would be to your advantage to
sell," the Lion said.

"No. I have no necessity to sell. I don't need
money at present."

"We pay good money for these cattle."

"
What could they be worth? All my cattle are
thin right now. What price do you give?"

"
This depends on the cattle. We must see the
cattle," Kane said.

"
More or less. Don't think my cattle are very
bad. My cattle are of a better class. More or less what price do you
have?"

"
How much do you want?"

"
Like I say, I have no need to sell right now
but if you have a good price I might let you buy a few. Three or
four."

"
We have been paying four hundred pesos, even
four hundred fifty pesos a head." `

"
Ah no!" the patriarch said, emphatically
shaking his head. "Don't think my cattle are bad cattle. Manuel
Padilla told me you paid him five hundred pesos for his cattle. How
am I going to sell you my cattle which are very much better for four
hundred fifty pesos. Manuel Padilla has very bad cattle. No, no! I
won't sell at that price. I have no necessity to sell now anyway. You
want very cheap cattle."

"
We paid Manuel Padilla four hundred and four
hundred fifty."

"
No. You paid live hundred?

"
Well, let's do this," Kane said. "We'll
come and look at your cattle and if they are worth five hundred pesos
we will pay it. "

"
I have to think about it. Right now it is hard
to gather the cattle. All my people are occupied. When are you going
to be coming back this way? In case I resolve myself to sell."

"
We don't know. When could you have something
for us to see?"

"
Maybe next week if it is possible to get people
to work."

"
What day more or less?" Kane asked.

"
Wednesday or Thursday," the old man said.

"If we come Thursday would you have the cattle
in?"

The patriarch looked around at his sons and brothers.

"You think that by Thursday you can have three
or four of the
toretes
up?"

"
I have to go to Rio Alamos Wednesday," one
said.

"Thursday is the feast day of my sister, your
daughter," another said.

"
Better Tuesday. I will be unoccupied until
Wednesday," another said.

"
Why not Friday?" another asked. "We
will all be unoccupied Friday."

"
Yes, Friday. I think Friday will be best,"
the patriarch said. "Can you come on Friday?"

"
Yes, we can."

"
Well then, we'll agree to that. We will see
what we can have for you here on Friday. And we will see if by then
you have resolved yourselves to give us your best price."

"
We only buy merchantable cattle," Kane
said. "We don't want blind cattle, swaybacks, cripples,
bobtails, broken horns, crooked horns, cow-horns, or cattle so thin
they can't be shipped."

"
Very good," the patriarch said, no longer
listening.

Of course the old man knew the buyers had been in the
country and knew that Manuel Padilla had recommended him to them. He
could have gathered the cattle himself and sent word to the Lion at
Teresita's that he had the cattle to sell and in that case he would
have been reasonably sure to sell the cattle on the first day Kane
and the Lion came to the ranch. But that would have eliminated the
formal procedure of the buyers wooing of him, the absolutely
essential formal preliminary to any trade in that region.

When Kane and the Lion returned on Friday with a
truck, the cattle were in the corral. Kane and the Lion were led
straight to the corral. The
trancas
,
the poles that were slid through holes in thick gate posts, were
untied and the buyers went into the corral with the rancher.

"
They are all bulls?" Kane asked.

"
Yes. In this county we do not castrate,"
the rancher said.

"
Why is that? We could give more money for
steers," Kane said, hoping to make clear that he didn't like to
buy bulls, a trading point that might bring the rancher's price down.

"
You would be buying inferior cattle for more
money in that case," the rancher said.

"
It has been proven in my country that steers do
better than bulls. Their meat is better, they grow better. The
castration changes their minds from love to grass."

"That is funny and may be true in your country
but we have never had that custom in this country. A bull grows
better, fills out better, and resists the hardships of this country
better. Bull meat is more favored here. It is stronger and more
nourishing. The flavor is much better than the meat of the fat steer
and is much preferred. Also here we do not have facilities against
the screw worm. This is another reason we do not castrate. If an
animal gets wormy it goes crazy and hides. This brush makes the care
and curing of such an animal very difficult." `

This settled, Kane and the Lion inspected the cattle.
The black bull was tied by his horns to a snubbing post in the middle
of the corral. The post had been worn and burned by a thousand
reatas. The bull was lean and shrunk from his ordeal in the sun. As
the men approached him he drove off quick, thin, hind legs, his tail
wringing, his lean flanks quivering, the corners of his eyes showing
white half-moons.

"
What do you think of him?" the patriarch
asked.

"
He's very thin," Kane said, looking at the
shrunken sides of the black, at the tick enclustered cods swinging
between his weak hind legs.

"
He looks thin because he has been tied that way
since Wednesday. He is very
bronco
.
If we had let him run loose in the corral he would have jumped the
trancas
and got away.
He got away twice that way. He will fill up and be back to his normal
hair as soon as he is released and fed. All we have been able to feed
him here is a little
tasol
,
cornstalks. Feed is very scarce this time of the year, particularly
this year. Alfalfa from the Rio Alamos valley is very expensive."

"
Yes, alfalfa is expensive,
y
no dado
, and not given, it is even more
expensive," the Lion grumbled.

"
Ha, ha, ha, the patriarch said.

A big red star was lying complacently in one corner.
He was what the Mexicans call a "legitimate steer," having
been castrated as a young calf before the bull characteristics could
appear. He was by far the best animal in the corral. A
brown-and-white bull and a brown bull were standing with their heads
together in another corner. They kept their tails to the men.

The black-and-white bull had small, weak, cowlike
horns that pointed toward each other. His horns were no good for
rodeo. He had the sunken eye that blinked when the other did but did
not see. He was so swaybacked his hind end seemed disconnected from
his front end. When he walked his hind legs were pulled along
aimlessly by the front legs. The hind legs headed first one way and
then another like an old-fashioned child's cart that had a hinge in
the middle and rear wheels that would not roll.

"
We cannot use the black-and-white," Kane
said.

"
Why not? He is a good animal," the
patriarch said.

"
He is blind in the left eye."

"
He will look better when you have fattened him.
You said you bought black-and-whites."

"
We said we bought black-and-whites with good
horns. We said we did not buy cow-horns, which he has, blind cattle,
which he is, and swaybacks which he also certainly is."

"
What will you give for him?"

"
Nothing. We won't buy him. We are interested
only in the merchantable cattle."

"
What are you going to give me for the other
four head?"

"
We will give four hundred pesos for the
cattle."

"No, no, no! You said you were going to give
five hundred pesos per head for all of them and now you say you only
give four hundred pesos and you are turning down one of them, to
finish me off."

"
I'm sorry you misunderstood me. I told you we
would come and look and if the cattle were worth five hundred pesos
we would give it. These cattle are not worth five hundred. We are
offering what they are worth," Kane said.

"
They are worth more," the old man said.

"
How much do you think they are worth?"

"
You said five hundred pesos."

"No," Kane said.

"
Give me six hundred for the red steer and five
hundred for the rest and you don't have to take the black-and-white."

"
We can't do it. Besides, you said you didn't
believe steers were as good as bulls. How can you ask more money for
the steer?"

The patriarch only looked at Kane. He knew the value
of his steer as well as Kane did. The truth was that he had more
bulls to sell than steers. He ignored Kane's question. He was not
going to allow any reason but his own to enter into the trade.

"
Well, as I told you, I have no necessity to
sell. I can wait until after the rains when the cattle will be worth
more. What is your ultimate price?"

"
We'll give you four hundred twenty-five for the
three head and five hundred for the red-steer."`

"Give me four hundred seventy-five for all four
and take them."

"
We cannot do that. Five hundred pesos and four
hundred twenty-five, you asked for our ultimate price."

"
I won't sell for that price. Give me four
hundred fifty pesos for four head, take the black-and-white too, and
I will keep the red steer. "

"
We will not take the black-and-white at any
price. If the red steer doesn't go we won't trade. He is the one that
is making the price on the other three cattle. We'll give four
hundred fifty pesos for the four good cattle and leave the
black-and-white," the Lion said.

"
No. Give me six hundred for the red steer and
four hundred seventy-five for the three and four hundred fifty for
the black-and-white."

"
Let's go, Lion," Kane said and turned and
walked out of the corral.

"
I guess we don't trade," the Lion said to
the rancher.

"
You evidently have no need to sell."

"
I don't have the necessity to sell. I will do
better if I wait after the rains as is my custom."

"
You will at that," the Lion said. He
joined Kane by the truck. He winked. "He'll fall," he
whispered to Kane;

"
The
mierda
,"
Kane said.

"
Wait a minute. Just a minute. Those cattle are
not all his. His brand is only on the red steer. The others belong to
the relatives," the Lion said.

The patriarch was discussing the trade with his
brothers, sons, grandsons, and nephews. He would probably get his six
hundred pesos for his red steer but he would have to give them less
money for the other three cattle to do it.

At last he came to Kane and the Lion. He walked with
straight, serious dignity. He turned and spoke an order to his sons,
brothers, grandsons, and nephews. The brothers and sons in turn spoke
orders to the grandsons and nephews and put
reatas
into their hands. The grandsons and nephews went into
the corral and roped cattle. The black was untied and held. The
trancas
were lowered
and the black-and-white ambled out into the brush in search of a
meal.

"
You said four hundred fifty pesos a head?"
the old man asked the Lion. "Is that your ultimate price?"

"It was a minute ago. Now it is four hundred
pesos," the Lion said and winked at Kane and showed his broken
teeth.

"
Now stop flogging me, Lion!" the old man
said, smiling good-naturedly.

"
Yes, we'll give the four hundred fifty,"
Kane said.

"
Who pays the inspection papers?" the
rancher asked.

"
You do. The seller pays," the Lion said.

‘
'I think you should pay it. It is only six pesos a
head," the rancher said.

"Listen," the Lion said. "We are
giving you more money than the cattle should cost. The cattle are not
worth anything here on this ranch. We are paying for them here. We
put a value, a price, on your cattle for you. Your cattle are going
to market at no expense to you. You will be standing here with the
money in your hand when we leave. We are taking all the risks you
would ordinarily have to take if you had to take your cattle to
market. All this is costing you nothing. The least you can do is pay
your own tax and expenses on the cattle."

"
Who do I make the guías, the brand inspection
passes, to."