Chapter 19

Caulder was persuasive. By the time the meal was finished, Jess and Mac had agreed to go with him to a large ranch nearby, the King Bartlett spread, to work for the wealthy man who owned it, to protect his ranch and herd.

Caulder introduced them to the men in the bunkhouse, about twenty in all. They reached the last row of bunks, and Caulder pointed out where Jess and Mac would bed down.

"And these last two yahoos here are Will Tibbs and Vern Cowan. Tibbs, Cowan, this is Jess Harper and John MacLaine."

'Howdys' were exchanged. Jess got the impression Will Tibbs was a decent enough guy. But he would trust Cowan about as far as he could pick him up, horse and all, and throw him.

Jess and Mac settled their bedrolls on their bunks. And Jess sank down onto his, feeling the long day of riding.

Another man, Kett Darby, a few feet away sauntered over. "Jess Harper, huh? Yeah, I remember you."

Jess immediately tensed, expecting to be challenged. Maybe he had been wrong. Maybe his reputation had already spread outside Texas.

"Yeah, it was over in Abilene, right about the time the war started." Darby smiled. "You were running with a mighty rough bunch, Harper. I remember when you got hauled in on a robbery."

Jess felt relief that Darby knew of him from a long time ago, even if it meant one of his arrests was brought up. But at least it meant this guy wasn't remembering him from the past few months of gunfights, wasn't planning to call him out for one. Still, the mention of his record made him defensive. He came to his feet.

"I was cleared a' that charge, mister."

"How about the one in Fort Worth? I suppose you were blameless there too, huh? And Emporia?" Darby laughed. "Yeah, sure, Harper. We're all innocent little lambs here."

Jess gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Mac noticed a punch might be about to be thrown, and he stepped slightly in front of Jess.

"Now, Kett, there ain't no reason to be bringin' up things that happened in a man's early wanderin' days. Ain't we all been a little wild when we was kids?"

Darby saw the anger flaring in Jess. "Whoa, Harper, I didn't mean anything by it. Don't be so dang edgy."

Jess drew a deep breath, and relaxed his hands. "All right. I guess no harm done."

Kett Darby nodded and went back to his own bunk.

Mac jostled Jess back to his bunk. "Amigo, you gotta learn to relax when ya can. We ain't in any ruckus yet."

Jess sank down onto his bed and tried to calm himself. It was true that right after the fire, when he was full of rage and had just begun his search for the Bannisters, he had fallen in with a bunch of low level criminals, more ruffian than outlaw. And they had raised some havoc in a few towns. He had been arrested a few times and tossed in a jail cell with his comrades until they all settled down. For the most part, their antics were misdemeanors. Fines were paid, and they were out riding again. But as time went by, the crimes some members of the crew were committing were no longer so minor.

One day, a few of them held up a couple of stores and then immediately robbed a stagecoach, wounding the shotgun rider. Jess wasn't involved in those crimes at all, had in fact already left any association with the bunch behind. He was in another town when both the stores and stage incidents happened, and he wasn't aware of anything about those plans. But the local law knew him to have been running with what had turned into a gang. The marshal wired nearby towns to be on the watch for a man fitting the description he included. It didn't take long before a sheriff hauled Jess in, since he wasn't running or even trying to hide. Until then, he hadn't even known he was wanted or that a crime was committed by some of the guys he used to ride with. So he had been arrested and kept in jail along with the others awaiting trial. It took a while, and a truthful alibi provided by a respectable young lady from the other town, a doctor's daughter, swearing that Jess was helping her with her lame horse at the time of the robbery, to get everything sorted out. The whole incident, being unjustly tossed into jail, had left him with a chip on his shoulder that was finally smoothed off some when he met Dixie Howard. From then on, Dixie's guidance had settled Jess down a bit and taught him how to control his wildness and temper some.

"Don't let Darby get to ya, Jess. He's all talk." A friendlier man, Stede Rhodes, handed Jess a cup of coffee. "We'll see his true colors when the lead starts flyin'."

When the lead starts flying. Jess suddenly felt like he was back in the Confederate Army, preparing for battle. War again. Range war this time. He was glad for the coffee. It always had a soothing affect on him.

He turned to ask Caulder a question and saw the man open an envelope and remove a paper, a frown on his face quickly changing to a mysterious smile.

"Love letter, Caulder?" Jess joshed.

"Nope. Just my instructions for my next job." Caulder replaced the paper in the envelope. "This paper tells me what town to head to. When I get there, I'll receive a letter by general delivery that tells me what my target is."

"Target?" Jess frowned, uneasy with the various definitions that word could possibly have.

"Just a figure of speech, Jess. Easier doing business this way, not knowing much about my duties ahead of time. I'll be leaving shortly. This job is in a town not too far away, so I'll see you fellas in about two weeks."

"Now wait a minute." Jess came to his feet again. "You just bring us in here and then take off b'fore teachin' us the ropes for this job? You said the rancher and his cattle here are in danger and need protection. But if this job ain't good 'nuff for you to stick around, why should we?"

"This is a good job here, Jess. It's just never been mine. My purpose here was to recruit workers for my friend Bartlett. That's all he's paid me for. 'Cause he knows that's as far as my involvement in range wars goes." He waved the envelope. "I've got other fish to fry." He stuck the envelope in his pocket. "But you'll make more money in a couple of weeks riding for the Bartlett brand than you'd make in a year doing cowhand work anywhere else."

"Woo boy, amigo! That sounds mighty good!" Mac slapped Jess on the back.

"Besides, Jess, the foreman will show you the areas where you'll be riding guard. Beyond that, you won't need anybody to show you the ropes," Caulder continued. "All you need to know is how to make that friend of yours talk when the time comes." He pointed at Jess' Colt and laughed. "And we all know what an expert you are at that."