Blue (Ben Blue Book 2) Read online

As I went left, I spun into a crouch and went right into them at full force. Now I didn’t know a lot about fighting, and I’d never been trained in the art of such, but I was big and I was strong, I was mad, and I was just scared enough to hurt someone. Yes, I was scared because it was dark and I was attacked by more than one man. So someone was gonna get hurt.

  I hit them like a freight train ramming a snow bank. One went down under me and the other one went sprawling. The one under me was getting pounded, and the other one was whacking away at me with his fists. I guess he didn’t want to risk hitting his partner in the dark with a club, so he was smacking me in the shoulders and head with his hands. He finally got a hold of my neckerchief and was pulling me backwards, or at least he was trying.

  By that time, the one under me was out cold, and I reached back and grabbed the hand that was trying to choke me with that neckerchief. I’d been straddling the other one on my knees, so I took a firm grip on that hand and flung myself forward. The shoulder smacker didn’t have any alternative but to follow his hand… which he did. As I lunged I rolled to my right, and he went back pockets over Stetson beyond me.

  I was up all mighty quick because I wasn’t scared anymore, and I wasn’t going to give him a chance to get scared enough to do something stupid like pulling a gun. I had both hands full of shirt and was pulling him up. He was flailing away with both hands, but he was swinging on the outside of my arms and wasn’t getting any of the good parts. When I got him to his feet, I held him at arm’s length with my left and busted his nose and some other stuff with a straight right.

  While my attackers lay in the dust and gravel, I went back to the barn door and got the lantern and used it to find their horses. They weren’t far away. I just dumped the fallen warriors across their saddles, not caring if I had the right warrior on the right horse, and led them toward the Noah Count Saloon. When I got there I walked the horses up on the boardwalk and looked through the door. Tom was gone and so was his horse, but Rank was still at the bar.

  “Hey Rank!” I yelled through the door. “You want to come and take these two schoolboys home and put them to bed? They may need some nursing, and they might have a little trouble chewing, but they’ll live. And don’t send boys after a man, no matter how big a clubs you give ‘em. They just ain’t up to it.”

  The whole crowd was looking at him, but he only stared at the back bar. Then I said, “Oh, yeah.. I’ll see you boys in about two weeks.”

  I tied those horses to the hitch rail and walked back to the hotel. I figured that Peter and his no name brother would be alright where they were as long as they didn’t wake up.

  At breakfast the next morning, I was just finishing my second stack of flap jacks when the sheriff came in and sat down across from me. “Blue, I can’t say I’m happy to see you go because you’re so damned entertaining, but if you hang around much longer, there won’t be a Williams boy fit for anything.”

  “Aw, sheriff, they’re just frisky youngsters. They’re just trying to see how good they are. I thought about draggin’ them over to the jail and havin’ them locked up for assault, but I didn’t want to add insult to injury. You know, sheriff, it’s just a good thing they tried it on me instead of some really tough hombre. Why, they could a got bad hurt.”

  He was looking down at his cup, but raised his eyes and asked, “You mean like Hickory Jack?”

  I looked him in the eye and said, “Yeah… there was a time when we were coming west that he was all mighty sudden, but he mellowed as he got grown. Even in his mellowest of times, Tom would be the only Williams boy left standing. Rank would have been the first to go, and the other two wouldn’t have lasted out the next day when that stolen rifle showed up… What’s that second youngest boy’s name anyhow? I can’t keep calling him the other brother.”

  He chuckled and said, “Oh, that’s Carver. Him and Peter are pretty much a matched set, but Peter does the thinking for both of em.”

  “Say?” he started, and I knew what was coming, “Is it true that Dan Coleman was buck nekked when he got it?”

  I told him, “Except for his boots, hat, and gun belt… he left this world as bare as he came into it.

  “I’ll be forever damned!” was all he said.

  I settled up my bill, and asked Kate if working was interfering with her going to school. She said that there wasn’t a school in Tierra Amirilla, but her ma was making sure they kept reading and learning their numbers. “That’s the biggest thing I miss here. Bud and I used to straddle the old mare and ride into town every day and home again. It’s about the only way ranch kids get to know each other.” I wished her and the others well and left for Taos.

  Chapter 9

  It took two full days to reach the MB connected. I got there in time to help Rafe with supper, which he allowed against his better judgment. Now, I always considered myself a fair to middlin cook, but I have to admit that Rafe had it all over me in that department. So he allowed me to peel spuds. I guess there wasn’t much I could hurt besides my thumb, and he wasn’t much concerned about that as long as I didn’t get blood on the potatoes.

  It was a good meal despite my help. I filled him in on what had taken place in Rio Arriba County. He in turn, filled me in on what had gone on here at the home place. I asked him if he had ever built a house… not a cabin or a barn but a real house. He said that he hadn’t and didn’t plan on being a party to building one.

  “Fine.” I said, “I’ll just build it myself, and if it falls down it’ll be your fault.” He just grunted. I was beginning to like Rafe more and more, and I was sure glad I didn’t have to shoot him that day he tried to bring those cattle onto my range. But I was double glad he didn’t shoot me when I was runnin’ a bluff on him in the Silver Dollar.

  Rafe Baker was a smallish man. I doubt that he was five ten and a hundred and fifty pounds, but he was a worker. Men who worked cattle were rarely big. It only made sense from a horse’s point of view to have a lighter man in the saddle. He was nearing thirty, and he didn’t have any plans other than to stay here until he finally got fed up with me and had to shoot me. That just suited me fine because I wasn’t going to give him any reason for it.

  As we were cleaning up the dishes he said, “Oh… that crazy old Rubio came by the other day and said he’d killed a cat down in the canyons. He wanted to know if you’d give him another bullet. I gave him a handful and told him next time bring me the ears… He laughed and said, ‘White mans is crazy… ears no good… cat dead… can’t hear.”

  That sounded like Rubio, the old pirate, but as long as he was keeping the varmints out of those canyons, it was worth a hand full of .44s now and then.

  I told Rafe that I was going to go into town in the morning to report what I’d found out to the sheriff. I’d let him make the plans… him and the new deputy that I hoped Jasper was sending. I planned to be on hand for the delivery of the cattle, and that would be about it for me.

  I was in the Sheriff’s Office the next morning bright and early. I told him what had transpired and that they were pretty open about their operation. There was at least one more member of the set up named Russell, who I wasn’t able to get a line on. I told him that the sheriff never came out and said he knew the boys were rustling, but he did allude to being their protector and counselor. There was at least one killing of a rancher in the county, Bernardo Vega, and it looked like Peter Williams had done that. I asked Nelson if he would send a message to Stewart asking for another warrant arresting Person or Persons, unknown for the murder of Vega.

  It looked like Jim Duncan had been killed by John Kelley the sniper who tried to shoot me. That score was settled, so there was no warrant needed there.

  I told Nelson where and when we were to meet them to take delivery of the cattle, and asked if he would make arrangements to have a posse waiting. I’d need about six or seven men to pose as drovers. The rest of them would need to be under cover until the time was right. He agreed and said he’d make all those arrangements. />
  Nelson reached into his file cabinet and pulled out an envelope. He handed it to me and said it was from Marshal Stewart. It was addressed to me in care of Sheriff Nelson, Taos, New Mexico. I opened it and pulled out a single sheet of paper that read:

  Ben,

  I will be dispatching Deputy US Marshal, Ethan Claybrook to officially take over the responsibility of the investigation of rustling and murder in the Taos and Rio Arriba Counties. He, like you, will have powers to pursue and make arrests in this matter. I would hope that you will remain active on the case, and help any way you can.

  (Off the record)

  Deputy Claybrook comes with several years experience and some very fine recommendations. Unfortunately, his experience has been mostly in the Philadelphia and Baltimore area. He is in fine physical condition and is adept in the use of fire arms. His knowledge of the way things are done in this part of the country is limited to what the Eastern newspapers have said. He’s likely to choke when he sees your express gun.

  Claybrook is due to arrive in Santa Fe any day now. I will try to brief him as best I can in the short period of time I’ll have with him before I send him to Taos. Hopefully, he will be there within two weeks.

  Best of luck to you, Ben

  Jasper

  I folded the sheet of paper and handed it to Nelson. “Green horn!” was all I said.

  Nelson read the letter and shook his head. “What are you gonna do, Ben? Takin a tenderfoot out there can be worse than doin it your ownself. Why, you’ll be so busy trying to keep him alive, you’ll wind up getting yourself killed.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.” I told him. “I’m not too worried about the delivery at Tres Piedra; that should go smooth enough as long as nobody gets stupid and starts shooting…. But if we have to go back and root any of them out of their rat holes then things could get a little warm.”

  “I’m hoping to swoop up the herd, the drovers, and the leaders all in one move. I suspect that will net us Tom, Peter, and Carver Williams, as well as the hired hands Barney and Ely and maybe a few more. But if Rank and Russell aren’t with the herd, then we’ll have to grill the ones we have, and hope they give the others up.”

  “It’s a long shot,” Nelson said, “but if we can put a stop to this rustling and get some justice for Jim Duncan, then we’ll settle for that.”

  “Oh, we’ll do all that, but there’s more to do. We’ve got to cut the head off this snake so that the rest of it can die… I still don’t know if Milo Rafferty is part of it or just someone who is covering for his kin. I think there’s enough of his covering up to make a good case of corruption if nothing else.”

  When I left the Sheriff’s Office I rode on up to the mercantile to pick up some things that Rafe said we needed and to get my mail. As I walked in the front door, noted that someone had put up a large display of hats and sombreros just inside the entrance. I was so taken by the display and the magnificent array of headgear going almost to the ceiling that I bumped into a table, tripped over my own feet, and almost stumbled right into… Patty.

  Catching myself, just in time, I came up short of bowling her and a lady’s fixins counter over. We stared at each other for an eternity of about a second or two. I didn’t know what to say or do, but Patty never had that kind of problem. She looked up into my eyes with a tad bit of pain and doubt showing in hers and said, “Same old Ben, a regular Toro in a glass factory.” Then she smiled and followed up with, “I’ve really missed you, Ben Blue, you big red headed goober.”

  “Oh, Patty, you don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to just swing by the Esses for a little coffee or conversation.” I said just a little too loud. I heard a few titters and chuckles from some of the other customers.

  She took me by the sleeve and lead me right past that giant hat rack and out onto the boardwalk and up the street. We walked for about a half a block and I asked, “How’s Sam? I’ve sure missed him too.”

  “He asks me the same question every day, “Girl, when you gonna come to your senses and make up with that boy?” And every day I tell him the same thing, “Grampa, there’s no making up to do… we didn’t have a fight. I just have some thinking to do, and I can’t think straight around him.”

  “I have the same problem when I’m around you.” I told her. “But I like it!” She admitted that she did too. “Well?” I was almost afraid to ask, “Have you come to any conclusions?”

  There was a four or five step pause that seemed like twenty miles then she said, “No… I haven’t… But I’m not going to make myself miserable all day and awake half the night tryin not to think about it.”

  “Do you know what I was doing in the Mercantile when you nearly knocked me over?... I was getting some coins out of my purse for postage. I was going to pay the post office to drop a letter into your box. It was an invitation to come to supper. I was debating whether or not Rufus would spread that news all over Taos County…. Of course, we just gave them plenty to talk about, didn’t we?”

  I chuckled and said, “I reckon we did. Those gals will be busy wagging those tongues for a while.”

  “Ben,” she got suddenly serious, “we both know that we’re neither one of us ready to start making plans for the long run, and we may fizzle out like a wet firecracker. We don’t know… I don’t know. I just know I’m miserable when you don’t show up now and then. And it’s worse when I know you’re not going to show up because I’ve told you not to.

  We walked up the block and down the other side, and then we did it again and again. Finally, we took pity on poor Pete Turner, one of the newer hands, who was smoking his third cigarette sitting in the buckboard all loaded and waiting for Patty.

  “Sorry, Pete,” I said, even though I really wasn’t, “we didn’t mean to keep you sittin out here in the sun so long.” He brushed off the apology with a wave of his hand.

  I helped Patty up into the seat and she said, “We’re all set then? You’ll be over for supper tomorrow? I expect that Rosa will want to do some showing off.”

  “Just let someone try to keep me away.”

  The next day, I was a human dynamo, a regular whirling dervish, whatever that was. Rafe told me that he didn’t remember me ever workin that hard and doing so many different things at once. Poor Rafe wasn’t going to let me get the better of him, so he did all he could to try to keep up. I was just burning up time keeping busy till it was time to get ready. The one thing I took my time with was staking out where I wanted to put the house.

  I paced it off about fifty yards due east of the existing house, so that it would be between the house and the barn but facing that big white mountain. It made a perfect triangle with the barn and the house, which would become the bunkhouse. My plot was probably a bit over ambitious in scale, but I figured a carpenter would set me straight on what would work and what was pure foolishness. I sometimes had a knack for pure foolishness.

  I had visions of sitting on that wide front porch of an evening and watching the setting sun paint the Sangre de Cristos, or waking up to the sun climbing around the northern flank of that mountain in the summer. Or watching it work a little harder and slower trying to show itself over the southern flank in the winter.

  I told Rafe that he might as well come along, I was sure that Rosa would add a little to the pot. He’d known most of the hands there for some time, so it wouldn’t be like having supper with strangers. In fact I told him that Patty had extended an invitation to him.

  “Naa… I reckon I’ll just stay close to home tonight… You bout wore me out today. Besides, you might get all cow eyed and make a fool of yourself… and I don’t wanna be there to see that. I gotta keep some respect for you… But thank her kindly.”

  After a bath in the creek, and some fresh duds, I saddled Bob and rode over to the S-S and I smiled the whole way.

  Chapter 10

  Rosa certainly had outdone herself. She had fixed a Spanish dish of chicken, rice, and some all mighty wonderful peppers. Patty rounded it
off with deep dished apple pies. Those were probably the last of the apples until fall, but they gave their all for a fine cause. The boys from the bunkhouse said they were sure grateful for me coming to supper. Both Patty and Rosa were beaming at the compliments.

  Sam and I sat on the front porch after the meal just relishing in what we had just partaken of. “Ben,” he said, “I sure hope little Pitty Patty has finally come to her senses… she knows you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to her… But gals just get notional now and then. Her grandma could sure yank some knots in my tail, and I had no idea what it was all about. Best I could do was go along and stay out of range of flyin fryin pans or rollin pens. She’d get it all straightened out in her head, and everything would be fine.”

  “I don’t know if Patty has it all figured out yet, or if she’s still working on it, but I’m going to take advantage of any good graces I may be in.”

  “I’m afraid she’s got good reason to be concerned. Until this country gets itself grown up, there’s going to be a need for men like me… citizen law.”

  “Even when Andy and me were hunting them that killed his family, I didn’t look for trouble, I just wanted it to be over… I couldn’t back away; I owed that much to Aunt Alice and Uncle Joe… and to Andy.”

  Directly, Patty came out with a pot of coffee and three cups. Sam was sitting in a wooden rocker, and I as on the porch swing. She filled the cups and distributed them, and then she sat next to me on the swing.

  We settled into swinging and rocking, and I told them about the wild horses up in those high canyons north west of here. I tried to describe that young buckskin stallion I’d seen running with the herd. “If I could get a rope on that one and get me a few blooded mares, I’d probably have to get out of the cattle business because I’d be makin too much money.” We all got a good chuckle out of that. But I told them seriously that he was the most magnificent horse I’d ever seen.