Jim Kane - J P S Brown (48 page)

Kane went next door to a telegraph office and wired
Terry Garrett in El Paso telling him to send $10,000 in cash in
Mexican pesos by airplane to Chinipas. When Graf was ready to go,
Kane mounted Pajaro and waited in the street. Men and boys loitered
there watching Kane and admiring his horse and gear. Graf came down
the narrow alley from behind his store riding a brown mare mule. The
mule skimmed over the cobblestones in a running walk. Graf rode a
well-made
vaquero
saddle
with new
armas
. His
hat, a stiff, plastic, imitation straw, perched high on top of his
head above his long forehead.

The street became a trail at the edge of town. The
two men rode along an old, narrow-gauge railroad. They passed a large
mill in good repair. The mill had served the Palmarejo mine, a rich
mine that had been run by a British firm. They crossed the Otero
River, shallow that time of the year, and came to a small green
pasture on the edge of the river. A short, swarthy Indian wearing a
high-crowned palm hat was waiting for them at the pasture gate.

"
You are very late," the man said
petulantly. "I was about to release the cattle."

"
Here is the man, the buyer," Graf said,
not bothering to explain his tardiness.

"
How much for my cattle?" the swarthy man,
whose name was Felizardo Trigueno, said.

"
How do I know? I haven't seen them yet,"
Kane said.

The man took a long look at Kane. He was dissatisfied
with Kane.

"
They are in the pasture. You would have to ride
through the pasture," Felizardo said.

"That is what we are here for, to ride across
the pasture and see the cattle," Kane said.

Felizardo the Swarthy still did not budge from the
gate. '"The cattle are loose in the pasture. They are not
together," he said.

"
We aren't afoot," Kane said. "We'll
ride around the pasture and look at them."

"
But I am afoot," Felizardo said.

"
You don't need to accompany us, Felizardo, "
Graf said. "I can show Señor Kane the cattle. I know which ones
you wish to sell."

"He doesn't need to see the cattle. They are all
good cattle. I'll tell him what they are worth and he will see the
cattle when I bring them to Chinipas and he pays me for
them."

"
If you thought I didn't need to see the cattle
why did you wait here for us?" Kane asked impatiently. The trail
had been long that day and he was short-tempered. "I didn't ride
over here on a tired horse to buy cattle I couldn't see or to talk
nonsense with you when I could have stayed in Chinipas having a drink
and feeding and resting my horse. I'll have to see the cattle if I am
to buy them and that is my last, bad-acting word."

Felizardo untied the rawhide on the gate and slid the
poles out of the holes on one side and let the ends down on the
ground. Graf and Kane stepped their horses over the poles and entered
the pasture.

"
Wait until I close the gate and I will
accompany you as best I can," Felizardo said. He closed and tied
the gate and followed them. He kept pace with them very well in his
huaraches
. Kane
thought he could probably outwalk Pajaro on a day the horse was
fresh. They walked over a rise. The cattle were grazing in an open
meadow that had been out of sight of the gate."

 "
Are these the cattle?" Kane asked
Graf.

"
Yes," Graf said. He turned to Felizardo.
"I thought you said the cattle were not together?" he said.

"
Of course they are together," Felizardo
said.

Kane counted the bulls. "Are these eighteen the
cattle you have for sale?" he asked Felizardo.

"You see eighteen
toretes
,
don't you? Do you see more? Do you see less?"

"
Señor, I have never been here before in my
life," Kane said. "I don't know how large this pasture is
or how many cattle you might be running in it besides these. Kindly
tell me how many cattle you have for sale."

"
Don"t you see? Eighteen head. Look at
them. You came to look, did you not? Look at them and satisfy
yourself."

Kane rode around the cattle. Three head were line
bulls like those of Don Marcos Aguilera. Twelve head were cattle in
thin condition, but strong enough for Kane's purposes and they had
good horns. Three head would not work for Kane in any way. One of
these was a short yearling with little, spike horns. One was a
good-horned, red, four-year-old, but he was thin, dead-haired, and
hollow-eyed. One was cow-horned and bob-tailed. Kane rode back to
Graf and Felizardo the Swarthy.

"
I'll buy fifteen head of them if your price is
right," he said to Felizardo.

"
Which ones don't you like?" Felizardo
asked.

"Which do you think? Which ones do not fit on
the rest?"

"The three big bulls?"

"
No. The three big bulls are the best of the
lot. I don't want, the yearling, the cow-horned bobtail, or the thin
red one.

"
Why not the bobtail?"

"
His horns are not long enough and he has no
tail."

"
Why does he need a tail? He will fatten without
a tail."

"
He needs a tail for my purposes."

"
He does not need a tail."

Kane looked at the man and shook his head. "He
will not serve me," he said. "The yearling has no horns. He
is too young. The skinny red bull would never survive the long
drive.‘I don't want those three. I'll not buy them."

"
You sent word to Ezequiel that you were buying
corriente
,"
Felizardo said.

"I did."

"
These are
corriente
."
‘

"
These three have no place in my market. They
are not
ganado
. They
are not the kind of stock I need."

"
You said you would buy the cattle if you saw
them first.

Now you are seeing them and you are saying you will
not buy them. I don't understand your way of doing business."

"
I'll buy the fifteen head of "sound young
bulls if you put a just price on them."

Felizardo shook his head and turned away from Kane.
He looked across the pasture at his cattle.

"
I will take five hundred fifty pesos per head
for my cattle, but all eighteen head must go, not just fifteen head,"
he said.

"
Ezequiel, did you tell this man what I was
offering for this type of cattle?" Kane asked.

"
Yes, I did," Ezequiel said.

"
I want only the fifteen head and I can only
give you four hundred fifty pesos," Kane said to Felizardo.
"That is my only offer. My last word."

"
No. I want six hundred fifty pesos if you take
only fifteen head and that is my last word," Felizardo said.

"I guess it is time to go and have our drink and
rest and feed my horse," Kane said to Graf.

They rode back toward the gate. Felizardo the Swarthy
stayed near his cattle.

"
I knew he wouldn't trade with you,"
Ezequiel said. "He is impossible when he trades with outsiders.
He believes outsiders should pay more."

"
Why didn't you buy his cattle, Ezequiel?"
Kane asked.

"
He was also too high on them for me. Besides
that, he has owed me quite a lot of money for several years. He
wouldn't sell to me because I would hold out what he owes me.

"
Didn't you receive any cattle in payment for
credit you extended in your store?"

"
Yes, I did. Most of these people are happy to
see a buyer come in and they take the opportunity to get a good price
for their cattle and pay me what they owe. I can't pay what a buyer
from outside pays. I always have to hold the cattle myself and wait
for a buyer to come to Chinipas or I have to take the cattle to Rio
Alamos. When I get to Rio Alamos after a weeks drive across the
mountains and have paid vaquero wages and trucking, I have to sell.
Who do I sell to? The butchers are the only ready buyers. They never
have any money and always want to take the cattle on credit. My
cattle, after a weeks drive, are shrunken and footsore and
poor-looking. The butchers have me where they want me. I'm lucky if I
hold my money together."

"
You couldn't make it buying cattle for the kind
of prices Felizardo wants and I couldn't either," Kane said,
dismounting and opening the gate.

"
I never make anything on cattle I take from
that man. He always makes sure of that," Ezequiel said, riding
his mule through the gate. Felizardo came over the hill in a hurry as
Kane led Pajaro through the gate.

"
I'Il close the gate for you," he said.

"
Thank you," Kane said and got on his
horse.

"If I resolve myself to sell shall I bring my
cattle in?" Felizardo asked.

"
Yes," Kane said.

"
When shall I bring them in? That is, if I
resolve myself. "

"
Early tomorrow," Kane said.

"
That is impossible. I won't have time to bring
them in tomorrow."

"Suit yourself," Kane said. "If they
are not in town early tomorrow I will be unable to receive them."

"
I'll see what I'll do."

"
I am also interested in seeing what you do,"
Kane said.

Salvador Arce was with Vogel at the store when Kane
and Ezequiel arrived after dark. Kane unsaddled Pajaro in the
courtyard behind the store and fed him. They were drinking beer. Kane
took off his chaps and spurs and drank a beer with them. Ezequiel
brought them a liter of
lechuguilla
.

"
I thought perhaps you had decided to ride that
horse all night," Juan Vogel said. "That is why I started
drinking beer with Arce before you returned.
¿
Qué
tal? Did you buy Felizardo the Surly's cattle?"

"
I don't think so. He is resolving himself,"
Kane said.

"
Don't believe it. He resolved himself the day
he heard you were coming. You are not the first trader he has dealt
with. Just wait. He is lining you up for the screwing. But he has to
like you in order to screw you. Be careful when he smiles at you."
Juan Vogel laughed. The beer was making him feel good. "Well,
here is Salvador," he said. "Here with his cattle. Notice
he is smiling at you. He is here to contribute to your salvation."

"
¡Ah, qué Juanito!
There
is no remedy for you," Salvador Arce said in good humor.

"
How many cattle did you arrive here with,
Salvador?"

Kane asked him.

"
I brought fifty-one head. You traded for only
fifty, I know, but I brought one as a gift for you in case you don't
want to pay for him."

Vogel was laughing at Arce.

"
How's that?" Kane asked Arce..

"
I brought you one phenomenon. Maybe you can
sell him to a circus," Arce said. "He is a four-year-old
bull with horns as wide as my arms."

"
What color is he?" Kane asked.

"Red-and-white paint, " Arce said.

Kane pictured a bull with beautiful, wide, long
horns. His horns would be too long for rodeo, but Kane would take him
anyway. There must be a demand for big, longhorn, spotted steers.

"
We'll see in the morning," Kane said.

Graf came and invited them to supper. The supper was
meager and clean. Kane was seldom hungry in the Sierra even though
the meals he was given were short. He never got hungry on the trail.
Vogel was always stopping at a camp or a ranch where the people
insisted on feeding them. Graf bedded Kane and Vogel and Arce down in
clean sheets and thick blankets in a bedroom.

Kane went to the Chinipas corral in the morning. He
looked the cattle over for a few minutes and then began to cut out
those he could not use. All the work was done afoot. The cattle were
gentle and six men from the town got in the corral with their
reatas
to help.

Kane would separate an animal that he did not want
and the man who owned him would step up to argue the few merits the
animal might have. Kane would not relent. The owner would then ask
for more money for the three or four head that he still owned in the
herd. These cattle would then be separated and held by the men
helping in the corral and Kane would look the cattle over again and
make a whole new trade with the owner. When Kane and the owner had
come to terms, the bulls would be roped and branded with a trail
brand and their horns would be painted red for easy identification on
the trail. Kane used Juan Vogel's branding iron and only singed the
hair so that it would grow back in a few weeks and leave no scar.

By noon Kane had finished cutting and branding. He
hired five men to herd the cattle. He counted the cattle as they
streamed out the gate into the street. He had bought 94 head , of
good-horned, strong cattle. Kane, Arce, Vogel, and Graf followed the
cattle down to the river where they were put in with Arce's cattle to
graze. The herd was as fine and even a bunch of rodeos as Kane had
ever seen. Arce had painted the horns of his cattle green for his
drive to Chinipas and that was the only difference between his cattle
and the rest.