Joe Hinge, Roper, Fuentes and Harley had done some work. Using a wide clearing in some brush, they had fenced in the few openings and had them an easy corral for holding stock, until it could be drifted down to the ranch. It was a rawhide job, but it was all we needed. There were a dozen places the cows might get out if they knew it, but we’d not leave them in there long enough for them to make any discoveries, or even to realize they were penned. Fuentes showed up with some cattle and we bunched them, and got them into the corral. When we had the bars up on the crude gate, I told him about Balch. “Say nothing … not to anybody,” I said. “You’ll see that steer, anyway, and you should know. Something stinks to high heaven, and I want to know what it is.”
He rolled his cigar in his white teeth and gave me an amused look. “You do not think I am a thief, eh? You do not think I steal cows?” “Well,” I said, “I don’t know about that. I’m just bettin’ you wouldn’t steal the cows of a man you worked for.” I grinned. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think you’d steal any cows. And I don’t want you to shoot anybody without reason.”
He looked at the end of his cigar. “I think, amigo, you be careful. I think something happen soon. I think maybe these thieves, I think they find out what you know. They try to kill you.”
“They’ve already tried,” I said.
We rode back to the cabin and stripped our horses of their gear and went to the line-cabin and washed up. I was putting on my shirt when a horse came over the rise, coming fast. It was ridden by Ann.
Fuentes was standing by the doorjamb with a Winchester. She gave him a quick look. “You all forted up? What’s happened?”
“Nothing,” I said. “We just don’t want it to happen to us.”
“Pa wants to see you,” she said to me. “You’re invited for dinner.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’ve got nothing but my range outfit with me.” “That’s all right.” She glanced at Tony. “Sorry, he wants to talk to Milo … confidentially.”
Fuentes shrugged. “Both of us could not be away, but if he goes, keep him all night. He is not strong, senorita. He works, but he is still weak. I see it.” “Who’s weak?” I blustered. “I can down you anytime!” He grinned at me. “Perhaps, amigo. Perhaps. But I think the night air on a long ride, I think it not good for you, eh?”
I knew what he was getting at, and he had a point, But I wasn’t the only one.
“Night air isn’t good for you, either,” I said. “I’m scared to leave you alone.
The boogers might get you.”
“Me?” He looked surprised.
“Even you. Boogers get funny ideas. They might think you know as much about them as I do.”
“Will you two stop the nonsense?” Ann said impatiently. “You talk like a couple of children.”
“He is always the joker, this one.” Fuentes said. “Only sometimes does he make the sense.”
Luckily, I had a clean shirt in the line-cabin. It took me no time to get into it, and I’d just washed and combed my hair, so we lit out. Fortunately, she wanted to get to the ranch and she was in a hurry. We rode fast and I liked that, because a fast-riding man makes a poor target. What I’d expected I was not sure, but what I found was certainly unexpected. The major’s house was big, white and elegant, with white columns across the front, four of them, and a balcony between the two on each side of the door. There was a porch swing and some chairs, a table, and three steps up to the porch. For a moment, I hesitated. “Are you sure he wants me in there? And not out at the bunkhouse?”
“I am sure.”
We walked in, and the major looked around from the big chair in which he sat, removing his glasses as he did so.
“Come in, come in, son!” He got to his feet. “Sorry I had to send Ann for you, but she had a horse saddled.”
“It was a pleasure, sir.”
He looked at me again, a puzzled measuring look. He gestured toward a chair opposite his. “Something to drink? A whiskey, perhaps?” “Sherry, sir. I’d prefer it … unless you have Madeira.” He looked at me again, then spoke to the elderly Chinese who came in at that moment. “Fong, brandy for me, and Maderia for this gentleman.” He glanced at me again. “Any particular kind?”
“Boal or Rainwater … either will do.”
Major Timberly knocked the ashes from his dead pipe and sucked on it thoughtfully. Several times he glanced at me from under his thick brows. Then he began to pack his pipe with tobacco. “I don’t quite place you, young man.” “No?”
“You are working cattle for a neighbor, and from what I hear you are known as a man who is good with a gun. Yet you have the manners of a gentleman.” I smiled at him. “Sir, manners do not care who wears them, no more than clothes.
Manners can be acquired, clothes can be bought.” “Yes, yes, of course. But there is a certain style, sir, a certain style. One knows a gentleman, sir.”
“I’ve not noticed that it matters to the cattle, sir, if a man has a good horse and knows how to swing a rope. I don’t believe they have any preference as to whether a man is a gentleman or not … And in these days all manner of men come west.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” Major Timberly lit his pipe. “I understand you’ve been shot at?”
“More than that, sir. I’ve been hit.”
“And you’ve no idea who did it?”
“Not at present, sir.”
“Talon, I need men. Especially, I need a man who is good with a gun. It looks to me like this country is headed for a war … I don’t know why, or how, or when … I don’t know who will begin it, but I want to win.” He puffed strongly on the pipe. “Furthermore, I intend to win.”
“What do you hope to gain, sir?”
“Peace … Security. For a little while, at least.”
“Of course, sir. They are things we never have for long, do we, sir?” I paused. “If you are wanting to hire me as a warrior, don’t waste your time. I am a cowhand, that’s all.”
“Is that why Rossiter hired you?” the major spoke sharply, his irritation showing.
“I suspect I was hired because Joe Hinge said he needed a hand. They had no idea I could use a gun. I do not advertise the fact. Furthermore, I see no need for trouble here. I believe nothing is at stake that you, Balch, Saddler and Henry Rossiter cannot arrange between you. If you go to war, you’ll play right into the hands of whoever is stirring this up.”
He was very quiet. For a moment he smoked, and then he asked, very gently, “And who might that be?”
“I do not know.”
“And who could it be but one of us three? We are all there is.” The Maderia was good. I put my glass down and said, without really believing it, “Suppose it was an outsider? Someone safely away, who causes certain things to happen that arouse your suspicions?”
I waved my hand at the surroundings. “Several hundred thousand acres of range are at stake, Major.” Suddenly, I changed the subject. “How is your gather progressing?”
He threw me a quick look. “So, so … Yours?”
“The same.” I paused ever so briefly. “And your young stuff?” He put his glass down hard. “Now what do you mean by that, young man? What do you know about my cattle?”
“Nothing at all, but I’ve a suspicion you are losing stock. I’ve a suspicion that you aren’t finding much that is three years old or less.” He glared at me. “You’re right, damn it! Now how did you know that?” “Because it is the same with us, and the same with Balch and Saddler.” I took up my glass. “We’ve found very little under four years old.” He put his glass down and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “It’s damnable! Damnable, I say!” He gestured around him. “I live well, young man. I like to live well. But it costs money, damn it. It costs a lot of money, and I need every head of stock I can get. Believe me, young man, I’d say this to nobody else but you, but you’re a gentleman, sir. I don’t care what your job is, you’re a gentleman, and you’ll hold what I say in confidence.” He paused. “I need that breeding stock! I owe money. A lot of money. Folks believe me to be a rich man, and if the cattle I should have are out there, I am. But if they are not, and they do not seem to be, I’ll lose all this. Every bit of it. And if you fail me and say I said that, I’ll call you a liar, sir, and I’ll call you out, gunfighter or no.”