Prarie Fire Part 23

On day fifty, Devlin and the Double Deuce drovers reached the Arkansas River. They forded the clear water without having to swim. The water was shallow, making the six-hundred-yard width easier to cross. They rode on past the village of Wichita. It was a growing place on the site of an Indian camp. Jesse Chisholm had built a trading post at the mouth of the river and little by little, the village grew. Wichita had a few stores, a saloon, blacksmith, and saddle shops. There couldn't have been more than twenty or thirty families there, but Devlin was mistrustful enough to steer clear of the village.

After crossing the Arkansas, there was a change in the drovers surrounding the herd. Devlin felt it herself. For the first time since they had started out, she allowed herself to believe they might make it. They crossed flat prairies grown high with mesquite gra.s.s and more Osage orange trees, laden with hard green fruits.

On day fifty-three, they reached Elm Springs. The cool springs joined the Smoky Hill River and flowed past Abilene. They were now twenty-seven miles south of their destination. They had shelter, firewood, and water in the area surrounding Elm Springs. Devlin ordered the herds to find some good campground and settle in for a day or two. She and a few others would have to complete the task of selling the herd.

This last bit would be the easiest of the drive. Although Devlin didn't relish the thought of dealing with the men who sold beef to the railways, at least she wouldn't have to haggle. The price had been set and Sarah had telegrammed Abilene before the drive left the territory.

Devlin brought Hank and two other men from her herd along with her into Abilene. She didn't want the drovers too close to town yet, at least not until they'd moved the herds into the stockyards. It didn't take long to settle with the men of the Kansas Pacific Railway, and a day later, she and her party were on their way back to the herd.

The following morning, on day fifty-eight, they drove the herds to camp on the Smoky Hill River. They were two and a half miles from Abilene. The men who ran the railway market had told Devlin it might take a thousand cars to s.h.i.+p all the beef, so she had agreed to bring in two herds a day. Most would be s.h.i.+pped east to the slaughterhouses. There had been a shortage of livestock in the west, so a number of each herd would go in that direction as farm stock. The remudas, minus the drovers' personal mounts, were also sold to go west. Seven days later, Devlin rode into Abilene with the last of the herd. She accepted bank drafts from the three railway companies and headed toward the town's bank.

Devlin dreaded this part. Hank and Matt came along as moral support. Actually, it had seemed more like an order to them. They prepared to be in the bank for most of the day as they counted and separated each ranch's take for the drive. Devlin's bonuses and shares that belonged to her for leading the drive had to be parceled out from each rancher's share. Lastly, there was the pay for the men. While Devlin handled all the other monies using bank drafts and wires, she paid the men in cash. She realized that, unfortunately, by the time they left Abilene, most of the drovers would have spent their hard-earned wages on food, drink, and entertainment, usually of the female variety.

The trio sat inside the cramped offices of Malcolm E. Sanders, a bank officer. He wore wire-framed lenses and spoke in a rapid clip. Devlin thought that was mostly because the bookish gentleman kept glancing at the six-guns she and Hank wore.

Matt, sucking on a hard candy he'd bought at the general store, leaned over Malcolm's desk and watched the man add columns of figures. Malcolm kept looking up as though he wanted to request that Matt move back a bit, but then he would look at Devlin and Hank and get back to work adding numbers. He repeated each figure aloud as he read it from the book in which Devlin had detailed all the herd numbers. As Malcolm added the sums on a piece of ledger paper, Matt watched him write and Devlin tapped her fingers together.

When Malcolm revealed the total figure, Devlin arched an eyebrow. "You're off by five hundred sixty-three dollars and thirty-seven cents."

"Well, I-I certainly don't know how...I mean, I-" Malcolm stammered. He was usually accurate in his sums, but this group unnerved him. He wondered how a woman like this had ama.s.sed so much wealth and most of all, how she knew so quickly his figures were off. Her expression looked like one of amus.e.m.e.nt rather than anger, but Malcolm was disturbed nonetheless.

"You have to carry the two here." Matt pointed to the man's ledger and smiled amiably. His teeth were tinged pink by the candy he'd been eating.

"Uh, yes...I see. Honestly, I wasn't trying to-"

"Calm down, Malcolm." Devlin removed her hat and ran her fingers through her hair. "We don't shoot people for bad math. Well, not the first time anyway." She winked at Matt. "Just relax and do your job."

"Yes, ma'am."

Malcolm finished the rest of the figures and filled out the information necessary to wire the monies to the appropriate people. Cordelia had been right. The cattle drive made them all rich, that much was certain. Devlin had never had so much money in her life.

"And this one, Miss Brown?" Malcolm indicated Devlin's money.

"Wire it into the same account as Sarah Tolliver's." Devlin couldn't think of much use for the money beyond her new family, so she figured it might as well go into the same pot. "Wait a minute. I reckon I'll have fifty dollars in cash."

Malcolm smiled. It was the first time that day. The soft-spoken Devlin, who didn't seem to put much stock in the enormous wealth she now controlled, genuinely affected him. "Will you need to hire guards to pay your men?" It seemed a ridiculous question given Devlin's gleaming pistols, but it was his duty.

Devlin grinned. "I don't think we'll find anyone foolish enough to try to take it away from us, do you?"

"No, ma'am." Malcolm returned the pleasant smile.

"What about me, Dev?" Matt asked as he looked at the cash Devlin tucked into her pocket.

"You're the hired help, son. You get paid when the men get paid." Devlin laughed at the anxious boy. "Malcolm, it was a pleasure doin' business with you."

The next day, Devlin gave the men their pay and bonuses. Out of nearly fifty thousand head of cattle, they'd lost fewer than four hundred. The men who planned to return to the Double Deuce as riders allowed Devlin to bank their bonuses. Most of them realized that if they had the money in their pockets in a town like Abilene, it wouldn't stay there long.

The order for pay was riders first, then the cooks and finally, the nighthawks and wranglers. When Matt stepped forward for his pay, Hank looked at Devlin.

"You made thirty dollars for the drive. Plus, you get a bonus like everyone else. Your total wages are a hundred and thirty dollars. Give him ten in cash," Devlin told Hank.

"Aw, Dev," Matt complained. The others who had stayed around camp laughed at Matt's disappointment since they all knew what kind of a taskmaster the trail boss could be.

Devlin considered it and gave Matt a smirk. "Okay, twenty, but I best see you in new clothes when we get on that train day after tomorrow."

"You got it, boss."

When the metal cash box was empty, Hank closed it with an air of finality. "Looks like you did it, Dev. Sarah's gonna be awful happy with ya. You done good, my friend. Real good."

Devlin smiled a genuine smile. She knew Hank was one of the few people to realize what an accomplishment the drive had been for her. He also realized how much she had been missing Sarah.

"You think there's any way to get home in a day?" Devlin asked.

Hank laughed at his friend's lovesick expression. "If there was, I know you'd be the one to find it."

Devlin went to town early the next morning. She promised Matt that she would come back to camp and take him into town for a spell. In all honesty, she had wanted a bit of time to herself. First thing she did was to send a wire back home in hopes that it would reach Sarah at the Chahta village. Then she headed over to the store and bought a new set of clothes-not everyday clothes, but a real dressy suit. She decked herself out all in black except for a gold brocade vest and a white s.h.i.+rt. She also bought a pair of black boots. She felt like one of the poker-playing gamblers who hung around the saloon's gaming tables. Once she had her new clothes tucked under her arm, she made her way for the first place that offered a hot bath in private. Once she arrived back in camp, her good humor faded fast.

"What do you mean he went to town? Alone?" Devlin raged at the men left in camp. She had been looking for Matt for an hour before someone told her where he was.

"Well, no, boss. He went with Sparks and Jimmy One-eye."

"He went with those two mutton-heads. What for?" Devlin looked around at the men who suddenly found the dirt at their feet filled with interest. "I said what for?" She was shouting now and saw one or two of them flinch.

"Well, ya know, he's a guy and he has...guy kinda needs." Buster had ridden drag for Devlin's herd and now she knew why it was the only position he could handle.

"Tell me you didn't," she said, taking a step closer to the man. "Tell me you didn't send my son to get laid in a wh.o.r.ehouse in Abilene!"

Buster swallowed and tried to muster up some nerve. He looked around, but he didn't find any support from the other riders. The men hoped that Devlin wouldn't single out any of them to vent her wrath upon.

"Well, I figured...I mean, he's a guy and-"

"He's a boy!"

"I did it when I was his age," Buster made the mistake of saying.

"That's because you're an idiot!" Devlin shouted as she mounted her horse. "You better hope I find him in time."

"Well, what if he's already done it, boss?"

"Then I'm comin' back and breakin' both your legs," Devlin yelled back as she rode off in the direction of town.

Devlin now found herself in the part of town south of the railroad known as Texas Abilene. She went to every bar and dance hall she could find in search of the two half-witted riders and Matthew. She looked in the Bull's Head, the Elkhorn, the Pearl, the Old Fruit, and finally Tom Downey's. She was growing worried as she entered the Alamo.

The Alamo was one long room with a forty-foot front on Cedar Street, facing west. The bar had an entrance on each end. The front had three double gla.s.s doors, which always remained open. A bar with sparkling bra.s.s fixtures and rails ran the length of the back wall, and behind that were large mirrors. Large paintings of nude women hung on the side walls. Devlin searched the s.p.a.cious floor area, but even though they had an orchestra playing, the floor was taken up mostly by gaming tables.

Devlin looked through the gla.s.s doors out onto Cedar Street. There, across the street, stood Matthew. He looked up at one of the many two-story buildings, but he didn't move. Devlin didn't have to be told what the building housed. She left the Alamo and came up behind the unwitting youngster.

Just as Matthew rubbed his sweaty palms along his new pants and took a step forward, his momentum was stopped by a hand around his collar. He knew he would recognize that steely grip anywhere.

"Aw, Dev!"

"Just what in h.e.l.lfire are you doin', boy?" Devlin didn't have the heart to say anything more.

Matt stood there with his hands thrust deep in his pockets and his cheeks tinged pink. "Don't matter. I was too afraid to go in anyway," he mumbled.

Devlin put an arm around the boy's shoulder and directed him out of the street. She remembered how terrified she'd been her first time. "I learned a little something about fear the last couple of months, Matt. You wanna hear what it is?"

Matt shrugged as they walked. Devlin still had her hand on his back when she noticed something she hadn't before. The top of his head came up past her shoulder. Sarah stood shoulder high to Devlin, and the last time Devlin had seen mother and son together, Sarah had been a bit taller than Matt.

Devlin paused and leaned against the wooden railing in front of one of the many stores in town. "Sometimes fear is our brain tellin' us that we're doin' somethin' mighty stupid."

"Yeah, but I thought you said that sometimes you have to just go ahead and be afraid, that sometimes you have to push yourself."

"Sometimes you do. You're right, Matt. However, you have to take the time to look at each side, to decide if what you're doin' is gonna help in the long run or if it's just gonna hurt or, even worse, get you killed. A smart man makes decisions after thinking about the consequences of his actions."

Matt stood there, apparently processing the information. This was one of the many reasons she took pride in Matt. He seemed to listen to her and take her words to heart. Whether he believed them or not was another matter.

"You ever been to places like that, Dev?"

Devlin sighed. She didn't understand all the specifics of how men felt about this particular rite of pa.s.sage, but she'd lived closer to men than most women ever would. She lived in their world as an equal. She saw them in ways many of their wives never would. "Matt, I grew up different than you. Different rules applied back then. Yeah, I visited places like that one, but you got a chance to live your life better than I did. Do you know what I regret most about givin' it up to calico queens in sportin' houses like that one?"

Matt shook his head, wondering if he should be embarra.s.sed about having this conversation with the woman he had begun to think of as another mother. He liked that she talked to him like an adult. Most of all, he knew she had always been honest with him. He questioned whether Devlin understood all that he felt.

"I missed out on something very special, like meeting a girl in school or at a picnic. I missed growin' up together and planning for a future. Meetin' a woman like your mother when I was younger might have changed the direction of my life. I'm awful glad I met her when I did. I'm happy with my life right where I'm at, but I sure wasted a whole lot of time gettin' here."

The brim of Matt's hat hid his eyes. He lowered his head before he spoke. "I guess I felt like I was...like I should, ya know? Besides, well, I kinda wanted to know, you know...how it felt." Matt's voice trailed off.

"Yeah, I know. I really do." Devlin stood up to her full height and placed her hands on each side of Matt's face. "Your day will come. Just don't be in such an all-fire hurry, okay? You'll grow up into the man your father wanted you to be if you think more with this," she poked a finger against Matt's forehead, "instead of that." She ended by pointing in the direction of his belt.

Matt had a hard time keeping the grin off his face. Maybe Devlin did know how he felt.

"Hey, you hungry?" Devlin asked.

"I could eat."

"Good 'cause I'm half starved and parched like the devil. Since we're all duded up, I might as well buy you dinner. You ever sleep in a hotel bed?"

"Nope."

"Then we're treatin' ourselves tonight. Come on."

"But, Dev, the Merchant's Hotel is that way," Matt said when he realized Devlin had pulled him toward the north side of town.

"That's where the riders go. This," Devlin took off her hat and directed Matt's eyes to the gold-painted sign that read Drover's Cottage, "is where the trail bosses and the cattle buyers come."

Matt looked through the gla.s.s windows at the men in fancy suits and ladies in long dresses. "But, Dev," Matt whispered. "I ain't no boss."

"No, but I am and you're my son. I don't reckon folks will complain to me, do you? Besides," Devlin opened the front door and pushed Matt inside, "I know the owner."

"I need two rooms," Devlin said to the desk clerk's back.

The man spun around with a smile on his face. "Why, yes, sir...I mean...uh, madam." He went from sn.o.bbishly confident to fl.u.s.tered once he turned and saw Devlin at the desk.

"Two of your best rooms, next to each other. I want a private bath, too."

"Uh, yes, ma'am. If you'll just...make your mark here."

Devlin arched an eyebrow at the nervous fellow and signed her full name in her precise, angular script. He turned the ledger and read her name aloud. "Devlin Brown."

Devlin was sure she heard a few conversations stop in the lobby around her. She didn't let it bother her; she'd become used to it over the years. She pulled a few bills from her pocket and placed them on the polished hotel desk. Only a heartbeat pa.s.sed before a large hand slapped over the money, trapping Devlin's hand underneath.

"Your money's no good here, Brown."

Matt took a step back and watched the stranger confronting Devlin. He was a large man, even taller than Hank. He had a bigger gut than Hank did, but this man's arms looked like tree trunks.

"Devlin Brown, you whiskey-drinkin', gunfightin' dally welter!" the man growled.

"Well, if it ain't J.B. Carpenter, you no-good, whorin', sorry excuse for a horse thief," Devlin hissed back.

"I told you I'd kill ya if I ever saw you again, Brown."

"And I recall sayin' you'd die tryin'."

The two stared each other down, and with each pa.s.sing tick of the clock on the wall, the people in the lobby waited to see what drama would unfold. Suddenly, Devlin burst into laughter. The man then engulfed her in a bone-crus.h.i.+ng bear hug.

"I knew you'd crack first." The man laughed as he spoke.

"That's only 'cause the idea of you tryin' to kick my a.s.s is so d.a.m.n funny!"

"How the h.e.l.l are ya, Dev? Hank said in his last letter that you went to work for a woman."

"I'm real good, and trust me, Hank didn't tell ya the half of it." Devlin looked over her shoulder to see Matt with a confused expression on his face. "It's okay, son, come 'ere. Matt, I'd like you to meet the owner of this rat trap," she said with a wink. "This is J.B. Carpenter, the worst drover that ever rode the trail, but one of the smartest businessmen you'll ever hope to meet. J.B. is Hank's little brother, and I use the word little kinda loosely."

Matt grinned from ear to ear once Devlin let him in on the joke. He shook hands with J.B. and stepped back once more.

"You're startin' out these drovers a bit young, ain't ya, Dev?"

"Matt's my son," Devlin said without hesitation.

J.B. didn't think the boy's smile could get much larger. He'd never seen Devlin looking so relaxed. Obviously, Hank had saved the best part of her story for their family reunion that evening.

"Like I said, Dev, your money's no good around here. James, see that my friends get the best we have to offer," J.B. said to the desk clerk. "How about dinner, you two?"

"Well, if you're crazy enough to part with your money, I sure ain't fool enough to turn you down. A good meal is just what I'd like about now," Devlin said. "How about you, Matt? Think you could eat enough to run up a big bill on this dandy?"

"Yes, ma'am," Matt said enthusiastically.

True to his word, J.B. showed the two to the best table in the house. Devlin and Matt placed their hats on the empty chairs beside them. Matt seemed unsure of all the crystal and silver set on the table. Devlin had been there before but still tended to feel overwhelmed at the amount of cutlery. She placed the cloth napkin in her lap and Matt repeated her actions.