He leaned forward, head hanging, hands on his knees. “Sam … ?”
Butler touched his shoulder. “Sam?” Sam Hall turned over into the sand. Frank looked down at him, then commented, “Wherever he’s gone, Butt, it ain’t Ohio. I’d bet you on that.”
Twelve
The tall gray-haired man accepted the drink and dropped into the big hide-bound chair. “It was several days ago,” he said, “in Victoria. But it bothered me, so I rode over. I had an idea you ought to know.”
“Three of them, you say?”
“Right. The only name I got was of the man I spoke of. He told them his name was Major Mac Traven, and he said it like he expected it to mean something.
“Tall man, tall as you, I’d say, and broad in the shoulder. Very cool. Neatest thing I ever saw the way he dropped those sacks. No way the man could avoid falling, and when he looked up, Traven was holding a gun.
“My impression was that although he was not looking for trouble he was a man who could handle it. He gave them a warning and then left town.”
Martin Connery strode across the room and dropped into a similar chair. He tasted the rum and lemon in his glass. “Thirty men, you say? Renegades, probably. And this man Traven, he said they had captive women? I wonder what Traven’s interest was?”
“My hunch was that some of them were kin to him. I don’t recall whether he said as much or not, but that was my impression. And they were headed south.”
The gray-haired man looked into his glass. “Captain, I don’t like to say this, but you know as well as I do that when there’s trouble down here, people look to you. I mean, they believe you’re involved.”
“I’m not involved in this.”
“The man said his name was Traven.”
“Hell, Nick, I’m not responsible for everybody. I don’t know of any Traven.”
He paused. “Come to think of it I do have some kinfolk somewhere north and west of here. I met them but once or twice and then stayed clear of them. They didn’t like me, and I just didn’t want any kinfolk around. I’ve had troubles enough.”
They sat silent. A big grandfather’s clock ticked loudly. “You’ve got to understand. The Connerys always regarded me as the black sheep of the family. They were solid, church-going folk, hard-working and pioneering most of the time. Every time one of them seems to get to where he could have a decent living he picks up and goes further west.
“As for the Travens, we’ve no connection I know of except that I heard one of the Connery girls was sweet on a Traven. I don’t know how I came to mention it to you. It wasn’t that important, actually.” He paused, sipped his drink, and said, “You’ve a good memory, Nick. That must have been years ago.”
“It’s an unusual name.” Nick got out a cigar. “Captain, we’ve been friends for years now, but aside from that, you represent a lot of my business. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you, and that’s a tough lot of men.”
Martin Connery gave him a thin smile. “I’ve some tough men, too.”
“But you were unwarned, unaware. Now you are alerted.” Nick got to his feet. “I’ve business in Refugio, and then I’ll be riding back to Victoria.”
He paused. “Captain? Give it some thought. Why would such an outfit be coming down here? If they were escaping over the border, as some of the Confederates have been doing, there are more direct routes. I believe the answer can be but one of two things. Raiding or meeting a ship.”
“I’ve been thinking of that.”
“Slavers used to land contraband slaves on Copano Bay. You know that, and I do. Many a time when Lafitte couldn’t get them to New Orleans through the bayous they were landed here. In fact, he used this for a rendezvous after he was driven off Galveston Island.”
“It was one of his men who piloted me in here the first time,” Connery said.
“Captain? Those kinfolk of yours up north? There were young women in the lot, right?”
Connery took his glass from his mouth. He swore suddenly, bitterly. “Of course there were! She was a little girl then, but by now she’d be a young woman. There might be others. I don’t know. Still, that’s highly unlikely that something like you describe could happen. They were conservative people and I imagine would be fairly well off.”
“It can happen to anyone. Think of it. If the women were in the way and this renegade outfit was riding through?”
After Nick Chandler had gone, Captain Martin Connery walked to the side-board and placed the glasses there.
A slender Chinese came in. “Anything else, sir?”
“Yes, there is. Ask Ephraim to step in, will you?” He walked back and dropped into his chair. It was unlikely, but Nick was right when he thought such a group could spell trouble. They would be living off the country, but they were not going to live off his cattle nor steal his horses. If they wanted to go to Mexico they could keep right on going. He wanted no trouble. Ephraim Calder was a man almost as wide as he was tall, but he carried no fat. He was broad, thick, and powerfully muscled, and he had served with Connery for twenty years.
“Eph, I want you to have three men scout the country north of here. Send some men who can keep out of sight and out of trouble. I want to know what is going on.”
Quickly, he sketched in what had happened and what he believed.
“Captain, one of our men who was riding along the north side of the bay heard a shot. Two shots he believed, close together. He was several miles out from the bay, hunting strays.”
“All right, sentries and scouts, armed and ready. We don’t know what may happen.”
“Yes, sir.” Ephraim stopped at the door and turning, smiled at Connery. “Almost like the old days, eh Cap’n?”
When Ephraim had gone, Martin Connery walked to his desk and took out a pistol, a Remington Navy. He balanced it in his hands for a moment, liking the feel of it, then thrust it behind his belt and out of sight behind the short jacket he wore.
From another drawer he took a carefully drawn map of the shore-line covering the area from Tres Paglacios Bay to Corpus Christi, studying it with care. It was an area he had ridden over countless times, and he had sailed along the coast almost as often. Yet he wanted a refreshing glimpse of it. Seeing a situation on a map was much different from being over the ground in person. Neither should exclude the other.
The map gave one perspective, the over-all view, while being on the ground itself gave one an immediate knowledge of terrain, plant life, obstructions, and whatever else might be encountered.
He added a bit more lemon to his rum and returned to his chair. That niece of his … what was her name?
Kate … that was it. Katherine, of course, but they had called her Kate, a feisty little thing with big eyes.
That fellow now? Colonel Ashford, was it? What would he be wanting? To meet a ship, no doubt some gunrunner or slave-ship. A lot of the old illicit slave traders had haunted this harbor in years gone by. He would have no part of that. Had he been active in the days when it was legal, he still would have taken no part in dealing with slaves. And the importation of slaves into the United States had ended, legally, in 1808.
To meet a ship, perhaps, but primarily he would be looking for loot. Lonely ranches close to the sea had always been vulnerable. He himself had often sailed in close and dropped his hook long enough to steal a few head of cattle or sheep for food aboard ship.
Thirty men? He had half that many, but Connery knew what he had and was not worried.
He was at breakfast on the terrace at dawn when a rider rode in and talked to Ephraim Calder. Then both approached him. He sliced a bit from his melon and listened.
Two wagons were drawn up on the sand this side of Copano Creek. There had been some shooting, and through a spy-glass his man had seen them burying a man.
“One less,” he commented.
“But now ten of them are approaching. They left camp shortly before daybreak and should be here by noon-time. There is one woman among them. She rides beside he who is their leader.”
“Very well. When they arrive you may bring four of them to me, including the woman if she is one who wishes to come. Seat the others under the shed near the granary and have them covered by ten good riflemen from the bunkhouse. They are not to know they are watched. If there is any evidence of hostility, shoot them all. Do not hesitate.”