Part 38 (1/2)

”You claim it but you ain't,” Lorena said. ”You're going all the way to Nebraska for a woman. I'm a woman, and I'm right here. You could have the pokes, if that's all it is.”

”By G.o.d, I got you talking anyway,” Augustus said. ”I never thought I'd be that lucky.”

Lorena felt her little anger die, the old discouragement take its place. Once again she found herself alone in a hot place, dependent on men who had other things on their mind. It seemed life would never change. The discouragement went so deep in her that she began to cry. It softened Gus. He put an arm around her and wiped the tears off her cheeks with his finger.

”Well, I guess you do want to get to California,” he said. ”I'll strike a deal. If we both make it to Denver I'll buy you a train ticket.”

”I'll never make no Denver,” Lorena said. ”I'll never make it out of this Texas.”

”Why, we're half out already,” Augustus said. ”Texas don't last much north of Fort Worth. You're young, besides. That's the big difference in us. You're young and I ain't.” He got up and put on his clothes.

”Dern, I wonder where that greasy bandit was going,” he said. ”I've heard of him killing in Galveston; maybe that's where he's going. I wish now I'd have shot him while he was drinking.”

He tried again to get Lorena to come over to the cow camp, but Lorena just shook her head. She wasn't going anywhere, and what's more, she was through talking. It did no good, never had.

”This is a worrisome situation,” Augustus said. ”I probably ought to track that man or send Deets to do it. Deets is a better tracker than me. Jake ain't back and I ain't got your faith in him. I best send one of the hands to guard you until we know where that bandit's headed.”

”Don't send Dish,” Lorena said. ”I don't want Dish coming around.”

Augustus chuckled. ”You gals are sure hard on the boys that love you,” he said. ”Dish Boggett's got a truer heart than Jake Spoon, although neither one of them has much sense.”

”Send me the black man,” she said. ”I don't want none of them others.”

”I might,” Augustus said. ”Or I might come back myself. How would that suit you?”

Lorena didn't answer. She felt the anger coming back. Because of some woman named Clara she wasn't getting to San Francisco, when otherwise Gus would have taken her. She sat silently on the rock.

”Lorie, you're a sight,” he said. ”I guess I bungled this opportunity. You'd think I'd get smoother, experienced as I am.”

She kept silent. Gus was nearly out of sight before she looked up. She still felt the anger.

46.

”NEWT, YOU LOOK like you just wiggled out of a flour sack,” Pea Eye said. He had taken to making the remark almost every evening. It seemed to surprise him that Newt and the Rainey boys came riding in from the drags white with dust, and he always had the same thing to say about it. It was beginning to annoy Newt, but before he could get too annoyed, Mr. Gus surprised him out of his wits by telling him to lope over to Jake's camp and keep watch for Lorena until Jake got back.

”I wish I could clean up first,” Newt said, acutely conscious of how dirty he was.

”He ain't sending you to marry her,” Dish Boggett said, very annoyed that Gus had chosen Newt for the a.s.signment. The thought that Jake Spoon had gone off and left Lorena unattended was irritation enough.

”I doubt Newt can even find her,” he added to Gus, after the boy left.

”She's barely a mile from here,” Augustus said. ”He can find her.”

”I would have been glad to take on the ch.o.r.e,” Dish pointed out.

”I've no doubt you would,” Augustus said. ”Then Jake would have showed up and you two would have a gunfight. I doubt you could hit one another, but you might hit a horse or something. Anyway, we can't spare a top hand like you,” he added, thinking the compliment might soothe Dish's feelings. It didn't. He immediately walked off in a sulk.

Captain Call rode in just as Newt was leaving.

”So where's the new cook?” Augustus asked.

”He'll be along tomorrow,” Call said. ”Why are you sending the boy off?”

Newt heard the question and felt unhappy for a moment. Almost everybody called him Newt, but the Captain still called him ”the boy.”

”Lorie can't be left by herself tonight,” Augustus said. ”I don't reckon you seen Jake.”

”I never hit the right saloon,” Call said. ”I was after a cook. He's there, though. I heard his name mentioned several times.”

”Hear anyone mention Blue Duck?” Augustus asked.

Call was unsaddling the mare. At the mention of the Comanchero he stopped.

”No, why would I?” he asked.

”He stopped and introduced himself,” Augustus said. ”Over at Jake's camp.”

Call could hardly credit the information. He looked at Gus closely to see if it was some kind of joke. Blue Duck stole white children and gave them to the Comanches for presents. He took scalps, abused women, cut up men. What he didn't steal he burned, always fleeing west onto the waterless reaches of the llano estacado llano estacado, to unscouted country where neither Rangers nor soldiers were eager to follow. When he and Call quit the Rangers, Blue Duck had been a job left undone. Stories of his crimes trickled as far down as Lonesome Dove.

”You seen him?” Call asked. In all these years he himself had never actually seen Blue Duck.

”Yep,” Augustus said.

”Maybe it wasn't him,” Call said. ”Maybe it was somebody claiming to be him. This ain't his country.”

”It was him,” Augustus said.

”Then why didn't you kill him?” Call asked. ”Why didn't you bring the woman into camp? He'll butcher her and the boy too if he comes back.”

”That's two questions,” Augustus said. ”He didn't introduce himself at first, and once he did, he was ready. It would have been touch and go who got kilt. I might have got him or at least wounded him, but I'd have probably got wounded in the process and I don't feel like traveling with no wound.”

”Why'd you leave the woman?”

”She didn't want to come and I don't think he's after her,” Augustus said. ”I think he's after horses. I sent Deets to track him-he won't get Lorie with Deets on his trail, and if he's circling and means to make a play for our horses, Deets will figure it out.”

”Maybe,” Call said. ”Maybe that killer will figure it out first and lay for Deets. I'd hate to lose Deets.”

Pea Eye, who had been standing around waiting for the Irishman to cook the evening's meat, suddenly felt his appet.i.te going. Blue Duck sounded just like the big Indian of his dreams, the one who was always in the process of knifing him when he woke up.

Call turned the h.e.l.l b.i.t.c.h loose in the remuda and came back to the cook wagon. Augustus was eating a beefsteak and a big plate of beans.

”Is this cook you hired a Mexican?” Augustus asked.

Call nodded. ”I don't like sending that boy off to sit up with a wh.o.r.e,” he said.

”He's young and innocent,” Augustus said. ”That's why I picked him. He'll just moon over her a little. If I'd sent one of the full-grown rowdies, Jake might have come back and shot him. I doubt he'd shoot Newt.”