The O'Malleys of Texas Read online

  “Naw. He’ll want more.”

  The others laughed.

  “What now, boss man?” Katy asked, brushing the dust off her shirt.

  “Ira will be serving lunch. Chaw, round up the boys. Was that rider who went down all right?”

  “Yeah, he’s riding in double with Darvon. They had to shoot the horse and are going back for his saddle.”

  When he and Katy got to camp, one of the men took both their horses. Harp saw the buckboard and team hitched nearby. Who was that?

  Then he saw his banker, Jim Yale, hatless with a coffee cup in his hand. Ira pointed Harp out to the man.

  “Well, let me wash up and then you can tell me what brings you out here,” Harp said.

  “Miss Katy, good to see you. Harper, I came to talk some business if you have time. I thought it was an earthquake coming. How many head did you bring in?”

  “Couple hundred, maybe. We ain’t counted them yet.”

  “Wow.” Jim walked along to where they washed up. “You taking them back to Missouri?”

  “At eighty dollars a head I damn sure would . . . if I could.” He dried his hands and face on a flour sack towel.

  “I came to let you know the bank will accept your cash offer on that place with the cattle thrown in. Come in next week and sign the papers. We’d like to be your bank, too.”

  “We can shift an account over to your bank; however, I need to talk to Long before I say for sure.”

  “I understand,” Jim said. “Where is he? With the men coming in?”

  “No. We gave him the day off to take the widow Greg to dinner and dance.”

  Jim shot him a questioning look.

  “Don’t ask me. He’s showing her around. I have no idea. Katy and I like her.”

  “I just wondered.”

  “Let’s eat. We can talk more then.”

  “Ira has a table for us he said.”

  Katy laughed. “He knew you were important.”

  Jim looked a little embarrassed by her words. “Nice of him.”

  The poor man was not used to being teased Harp noticed. The bashful guy would have a lot to learn, especially that some folks could and would gouge him.

  Katy told them to sit and she’d get their food.

  When she was out of hearing he asked Harp where he met her.

  “Lee’s Creek, Arkansas.”

  “You found her?”

  “More like she found me. Her previous man was going to be hung and she asked if we could get acquainted.”

  “He did what?”

  “Killed a man.”

  “Was she married to him?”

  “No, but we now have plans.”

  “She’s an unusual neat lady. Good luck.”

  Katy brought them each a plate. “Ira said this is a special treat. He found some real good beef in town and bought it for all the crew to feast on and celebrate.”

  Jim said, “Heavens, Miss Kate, you’ve put half a cow on my plate.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “Ain’t that much.”

  Harp laughed. She’d got the banker again.

  They ate well, and Jim even had room for apple cobbler.

  There was enough water in the corral from a spring-fed stream for the cattle. They’d need to work them quickly because there was no feed for them when they ate up the grass. His crew’d get it done, but they’d be tired by sundown next day, if they even had all of them done by then.

  One ranch bought and things going on. They had lots of cattle to work and he even wondered how Long got along with his widow.

  They had one squeeze chute. One of the men restrung a new pull rope on the squeeze portion. The head catch was in good shape, and the longhorns had lots of clearance to fit their rack in it before it was locked shut. Experienced hands told him it would work well and they’d not have to head-and heel-rope the cattle.

  The men looked sleepy eyed at breakfast, but a few rode horseback to fill the pen that fed the cattle into the chute. Lots of jackknifes were re-sharpened to put the Hiram’s ear notch on the right ear, the H Bar H brand on the left. One cowboy had started the fire to heat the irons red-hot.

  Harp finished his coffee standing.

  “You can stay and help us today,” he said to his banker.

  “I would but I hardly came dressed for it.”

  “I understand. Long and I will be in and close that ranch deal next week.”

  “I want to thank Ira for the great food and you, too, missy.”

  “Come back any time. These two will find something for you to do.”

  All three laughed.

  There was a sharp smell in the smoke from a branding iron burning through the hair of a cow’s hide.

  The men knew that branders had to have that iron red-hot and to press hard to get that right effect. The animal needed to be held down or held tight for the brand not to be smeared from the iron moving.

  Keeping the irons red-hot was a full-time job for one of the men, while the man working as head catcher had to jerk the stanchion-like holder shut at a precise moment so it caught the neck and not farther back on the animal to be worked on. If they missed the head catch the animal had to be manually caught, laid on the ground, and tied for it to be worked. The strength to do that on mature stock was demandingly tough and even got arms and legs broken in the struggle. All the men were aware, and watchful.

  Don’t miss was the advice given the head gate man.

  They castrated all the bulls standing. The mountain oysters were a treasured product recovered during the surgery and kept in clean buckets for Ira to fry at the next meal. Harp remembered, at smaller roundups, them being thrown in the iron fire. When they popped out from the heat, they were chased down, speared on a pocketknife, brushed off, and eaten right there. That was manna from heaven to a real cowboy.

  They worked on bulls, yearlings to five years old in that chute. With young calves, they opened the chute, flanked them on the ground, and two men stretched them out and did the same thing to them. It was nonstop work.

  By mid-afternoon, Harp’s clerk and lady had recorded over three hundred head in the pocket-size logbook and made a duplicate on a Chief tablet to back up the count.

  Harp hugged her after the last old cow came out of the chute.

  “Men, I appreciate the job we did here. Help load up the wagons before you leave. You wranglers can pen the horses overnight here since we don’t need the pens. But I want them driven back to the place where we’re staying tomorrow. I am issuing a check to Chaw to cash in town. You’ll each get ten bucks of your wages for the month there. Be ready Monday morning; we’ll have another site to do this at next week.”

  He took the tablet she handed him and continued, “We rounded up three hundred forty-two head that belong to us now. That might be a Texas record for great cowboys in that short a time. Thank you.”

  Excited she squeezed and kissed him. “What will Long say?”

  “Aw hell, I bet you missed a hundred head.”

  Kate and Chaw laughed at the statement.

  Ira served them mountain oysters, fresh-baked bread, and brown beans. He had the largest Dutch oven full of peach cobbler. Harp wasn’t certain the cowboys would even be back to celebrate later on. He knew, somehow, they’d be renewed enough to raise hell and help the town’s economy before sundown.

  “I bet if you do this kind of catching cattle very often, that you are going to make some people mad,” she said, riding beside him.

  He looked at her riding beside him. “Free country. They can do it as well as we can.”

  “No. I bet there is not another outfit in this part of Texas that has the number of good hands as you two have to do this work. I am just warning you there will be some hotheads after it comes out what you did here today.”

  “You can’t build a ranch catching a half dozen cattle a day.”

  “I know that. But you watch my words.”

  “Ah hell. Let’s find a water hole and swim some. It’s warm
today. I know some secret ones.”

  “Teach me how?”

  “If I can find a deep enough one.”

  They set their ponies into a trot. He was so damn lucky to have Kate. He doubted Anna Greg would even consider skinny-dipping with his brother. But that was his business. Harp and Kate were going to have some fun.

  CHAPTER 12

  The water was too cold to stay in, but the sun’s heat warmed them quickly as they sat on the blanket.

  “I thought it would be warmer, but I guess it didn’t have time enough to warm. I’m sorry.”

  She sighed. “You are so neat, Harp. I really can’t believe how nice you treat me. Most guys would say, ‘Hurry up; I ain’t got no time for you now.’”

  “I guess I was so wound up about having all those cattle worked and branded; now it’s done, I wanted to show you a good time.”

  “I understand. Let’s go back to our camp and while everyone is gone we can do what we do—at night.”

  “I love you.”

  “Oh, you saved my life.” She kissed him and they dressed, rode to the camp, and entertained each other until someone outside shouted, “You two dressed?”

  “ No.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  They scrambled into their clothes. When Harp was sure that she was covered he untied the flap and invited Long inside.

  Hatless, he ducked in and sat on a cot.

  Harp and Kate sat across from his brother in the shady light of their tent.

  “Well, are you and Anna still talking?” Kate asked him.

  “It is hard to tell you, but Katy, you are my sister. Don’t spread this around, but she is concerned about her children accepting me as their father. She said she is not ready to marry anyone or even become involved with anyone. She apologized if she let me believe anything else. I respect her. I understand her situation, but I am not happy about this.”

  “If we were up near Fort Smith I could find you a good woman, but I don’t know any down here.”

  “Thanks, Katy. I will find someone. I just pinned too much on getting her.”

  Kate jumped up, went over, and hugged him. “There are thousands of good women would give their eye teeth to have you, Long O’Malley.”

  “Katy, that damn brother of mine is just so damn lucky to have you.”

  She put a finger on his nose. “He saved my life. The man I lived with was sentenced to hang. When I went down to the store to get something to eat, I found this tall cowboy leaving the store. The notion that I wanted to know him struck me like lightning from a cloudless sky.

  “I said let’s go eat some canned peaches, I want to meet you. He frowned at me. I guess some doves had propositioned him before that. I really simply wanted to meet him—that was all.”

  Harp laughed. “If she was struck I soon got that way. We went off by ourselves up on Lee’s Creek, sat on a blanket, ate some and then kissed some, ate some more and kissed some more. She said we needed to bathe next. We were naked in a flash and splashing in the water. I never thought about it. She didn’t, either. I later decided that was the way it should be for lovers. Clothes were nothing.

  “Then like we had made love forever, we did so on the blanket. Afterward I took her to the camp and you know we have not been apart since. She promised me earlier she would marry me before we have children.”

  Shaking his head, Long chuckled. “Mom will like that part.”

  “I told her that, too. Jim Yale came by. We have that ranch and cattle we looked at for five thousand. He wants our banking business.”

  “Is that what you want to do? Bank with him?”

  “Only if we can borrow enough money from him for two herds of steers to drive somewhere north where we can unload them.”

  “Good idea. We might need two banks. I saw that you have about three hundred head of branded cattle.”

  She said, “Three hundred and forty-two to be exact.”

  Harp shrugged. “Those were the first. We need to build another corral like that one on Ivy Mountain and have two squeeze chutes to work them through over there.”

  “When are we building it?”

  “Next week.”

  Long elbowed her. “Damn. He is a task maker ain’t he?”

  She gave him a sure nod. “But because he is, you two own three hundred and forty-two head of branded cattle now.”

  “Not only is she cute but accurate, huh?”

  Harp agreed. “She thinks we will soon be in a pushing and shoving match with the big ranchers for catching these unbranded cattle now that we put a price on them.”

  “Katy, do you believe that?” Long asked.

  “It makes sense. You two did the impossible. Taking all those steers to Missouri and selling them for such a high price. Over here you caught all those cattle and branded them before they even got out of bed. Yes, at this rate, I can see you two will be, in their opinion, keeping them from getting rich. That to them will be stealing.”

  “Then we better do a lot more before they really catch on,” Long said.

  “Christmas is around the corner. And we’ll have some cold weather and I hope rain. We need that corral built over on Ivy Mountain in a hurry.”

  “You think that is better than rounding them up and roping them?” Long asked.

  “We took the whole crew, surrounded them in a circle, and charged them off the mountain and into that pen. Then we worked them all in six hours. If we’d had another squeeze chute we could’ve done it in four hours.”

  “We have a great crew, but we’ll need more good horses for next year. Those boys aren’t going to quit us if we pay them all winter.”

  Harp agreed. “We will keep them working. They are too experienced to lose.”

  “First, why not buy a hundred and sixty acres where there is water, and build the chutes and corrals on our own land? Then they can’t use it and they will have to build their own facilities to work cattle or do it in the open.”

  “That might be a better idea. I bet that you and a hand can find some deeded land and get us a place to do that,” Harp said.

  “What is that other lawyer’s name who sells land in Kerrville?”

  “Sandy Van Hook.”

  Long nodded his head. “I will be in his office bright and early Monday.”

  “Obviously money talks, so use it,” Harp said.

  “Boy, don’t it? Seven months ago they considered us boys. Today, hell, we’re businessmen.”

  “And going to be bigger.”

  “I’m going to get some sleep. Harp, you did something real neat, sending them boys to town with a little money. They were having a helluva time. And, little lady, thanks to you for making a place for my brother in your life. I’d never have thought about buying two cans of peaches and sharing them with some gal. I bet that was a neat deal. I’d rather eat a can of sweet peaches than drink whiskey.”

  “It was a ball. You see Van Hook. The men can grease the wagons, look over the harnesses, and check the horses. They’ll have work. We’ll need about three hands up there at the new place in the future.”

  “What will we call that place?” Long asked.

  “Not Kate’s place. I like it for a ranch but not for me. I don’t want to dry up over there.”

  “Well, scratch that name.” Long laughed. Then with a see yeah, he took his hat and went off.

  When he was gone, Katy tackled him onto the cot and more tickling, kissing, and wrestling went on between them. Damn, he was glad he found such a fun-loving girl. Shame that Long and Anna didn’t make it together. His brother would find someone.

  * * *

  Morning came and Harp had his list of things for the men to do, and he and Kate took the buckboard and team to the Mexican village St. Frances on the south banks of the Portales River.

  He found some men on the bench in front of the cantina while she went off to look at the handmade goods some women had for sale under the cottonwood trees.

  He asked them about who he could hire to
plow some ground on his new ranch purchase at Grass Valley. Among the men he found three takers. They would plow with their own oxen for two dollars a day. He acted pained at the price, so they agreed to do it for one dollar a day and he would buy the frijoles they would eat. He knew they would take their wives and children, so it would cost a little more.

  They asked when they could start.

  “Oh, move up there after church on Sunday?”

  “Si. What will you sow, señor?”

  “Oats. I will meet you up there and show you the field.”

  They agreed they could plow, and for the same money per day broadcast and harrow in the seed. He shook hands with them over the deal and advanced them three dollars apiece. Next he must order the seed from Frank Skyler at the mercantile. His dad told him it wasn’t too late to get oats up and ready for a spring hay crop. That was good.

  He also got names of two men who could cut posts on his land and build corrals. They needed work, too. Van Hook better find that place for Long fast. Ranch building would be expensive, but some day they’d be large area ranchers.

  Among the women, Kate found a leather vest that fit him and he liked it. The sun was warm but not warm enough to go swimming. Back in town, he had his first face-to-face with Katy’s forewarned opposition. He tied the team off and started up the stairs to the porch. A man of medium height with gray temples stopped him.

  “You one of those two damn O’Malleys?”

  His wife, standing next to him with two armloads of groceries, tried to stop him. “Now, Earl, that boy—”

  “Shut up, woman. I can handle this. If you are, you better stay out of that country—sneaking in on a Saturday, working all those maverick cattle is damn close to stealing them from the ranchers around there like me. You ain’t got no claim on those critters.”

  “What’s your name?” Harp demanded.

  “Earl Carson, and I can tell you right now you do that trick again, I’ll blow your head off.”

  “Mine’s Harper O’Malley, and you have any cattle aren’t branded up there I will brand them, because under Texas law I have that right.”

  “No you don’t.”

  “Then try to stop me.”

  “Earl Carson, get your hand off that gun,” his wife demanded, and pushed at him, with both sacks of grocery, enough to move him.