Chapter 88

The trail was bone dry and dusty, the early morning air was already hot with no wind stirring as the thundering herd ran at a long, ground-eating lope. Two of the vaqueros kept them moving through the thick clouds of dust, cracking their braided leather whips over the heads of the stragglers at the back of the herd.

Jubal rode lead, with Jeno and one of the vaqueros riding near the front on either side to keep the line of cattle from spreading.

Jeno whistled loudly, then pointed to the west when Jubal looked back. They saw Eli and the others coming toward them at an angle. Clouds of dust were flying up from their horses’ hooves as they raced to catch them.

When they met, they slowed their horses, yet kept the cattle moving until they began to weary after the long hard run from the border.

“Turn them to the west, and we’ll take them over to the Rio Grande so they can get water. Then we’ll follow the river up to Las Cruces,” Eli yelled to them as they helped turn the herd.

“Did you men have any trouble getting the herd across the river?” Eli asked as he rode over to where Jubal and Jeno were letting their horses drink.

“Marshal, all we did was what the Mexicans told us. Those vaqueros sure know how to handle a big herd of cattle,” Jeno told him.

“Marshal, I wasn’t a bit scared of that big ol’ bull when the vaquero first lassoed him and threw his lariat to me. But when that herd came out of the river and started running on dry ground, it sounded like I was tangled up in the middle of a Kansas cyclone, it was so loud. I think that big ol’ boy was like me, he was scared and just trying to outrun them, instead of lead them,” Jubal said, laughing about it now that they’d stopped.

“You men did a good job,” Eli told them, then turned to ride toward Albert and Martinez who still had the women riding double with them.

“Albert, you and Martinez bring the women over here toward the river. I’ll get one of my buckskin shirts out and Moses can get one of his out for them to wear. They need to be covered better than that,” Eli said as he saw the young women with the blankets slipping from their shoulders.

“Si, Marshal. We thank you again and again so many times for saving Rosa and her friend. That was a noble thing you did,” Martinez told him as they rode next to one another.

“You and the rest of them did it, Martinez. It wasn’t just me.

“Stop over here here by these bushes and get the women covered,” Eli told him then stopped his horse.

He pulled his bedroll from his saddle and rolled it out. Taking a buckskin shirt out, he held it out to the tall slender, Mexican girl who stood naked nearby, smiling down at him.

“Gracias, Marshal Eli,” she spoke in near perfect English.

“How did you know my name?” he asked as she stretched her arms over her head and let the buckskin shirt slowly slide down past her shoulders and over her large breasts. She was shaking her body as the shirt settled to just below her brown bottom.

She smiled at Eli when she saw him watching her.

“Martinez has already told me all about you and Alberto as we rode. He said you saved him and his family and now you have come to rescue Rosa and me. I am so grateful to you, Marshal,” she told him, smiling as she held out her arms and walked toward him.

“What’s your name?” Eli asked as she pressed her warm body against him and held him tightly. He felt her sobbing and pulled her closer.

“I am Analisa Estela Vasquez,” she told him, still holding onto him as she cried.

“How old are you, Analisa?”

“I am twenty one, same as Rosa. I am so happy you brought me with you. They made us walk naked in front of the guards and the household help when the Patron was not there. His wicked son is the one who wanted Rosa to marry him and he also wanted me to share his bed.”

“How did you come to be at that place, Analisa?”

“My Papâ worked for the Patron all his life. I was very young when he died and I was all alone, and they made me stay with them. Patron paid for me to attend the private university to be schooled and that was when I met Rosa. When I became older the Patron wanted me to be his woman and sleep in his bed. I told him never, that I wanted a young man and have a family.

“I tried to slip away many, many times but they always came after me.

“When they brought Rosa there to stay, she told me she had been kidnapped and her brother, Martinez would come rescue her one day and I could leave with her. Rosa and I tried to run away so many times, they made us chew the buttons of the pêyotê cactus and drink the bad tea. Only for maybe one hour or two hours out of a day were we able to talk with reason.”

“Did they rape either of you?”

“No Marshal! They never raped Rosa nor me. Patron told his son that we had to give permission for him to have our bodies or he would kill him.”

“You’ll be alright now, Analisa. We have a big family back where we live and they’ll help you forget the bad days at that place.”

“Martinez told me you were a good man. He told me that I owed you my life. Thank you again, Marshal. Will you let me stay close to you? I am still so afraid they will come after us even now.”

“You can ride your horse next to me, Analisa, but you need to stay close to Rosa and help her too,” Eli told her as he tried to push her back.

She clung to him tighter as Eli looked around at the others.

Rosa was stretching her arms overhead, then struggling to pull Moses’ shirt over her large breasts as she looked at Albert and smiled. When she had herself covered, she opened her arms and rushed the big man.

“We need to keep the cattle moving or they’ll spread out. Lets head them out again, we need to make as many miles as we can today. We’ll be in Las Cruces day after tomorrow in plenty of time to start loading if we’re lucky,” Eli said as Analisa held onto him with her arms around his waist. Finally he was able to lead her to one of the other horses and help her mount.

When the others were mounted once too, they began to move the cattle out of the river and back onto the trail. The cows were slow to leave the water and even slower to join the others as they started a fast walk north.

“Martinez, you have some fine cattle. They’re fat and they don’t have many ticks. Are you sure you only had about ten thousand? This sure is a lot of cattle we got there,” Eli told him as they rode next to each other with Analisa between them.

“Si. We have plenty of fine grass on our lands for our big herd before the Federâles come to take them. They put too many cattle and sheep on the land and soon there was no grass for any of them. They have forever taken the cattle from the landowners, and all the sheep too.”

“You know the Federâles as well as anyone here, will they come after the women and the cattle?” Eli asked.

“Only if the Minister of the Governor pays them, they will. If they come, there will be many and they will surround us, killing cattle, horses, and all of us. That was his youngest son you shot when he came into the garden alone. But they may not come now that he is dead.”

“Then we’ll set up guards tonight and watch for them. If we can make it as far as Las Cruces, they’ll not go that far,” Eli told him.

“How many days will it take to load the cattle, Marshal?” Martinez asked.

“If we can get them loaded like we were able to back home, we can load four trainloads a day at seven hundred and fifty head a trainload.”

“Then you will load all of them in only four days?” Analisa asked.

He looked at her and smiled. Eli liked a woman who could figure fast in her head like that.

“Yes, if they can switch the loaded cars and get them pulled out from down here as fast as we load.

“You’re very good with numbers, Analisa.”

“Yes, I was in the university with Rosa for three years until I graduated last year.

“It was when she visited me at the Patron’s hacienda that she met the Patron’s evil son.

“Then when he kidnapped her and brought her there, both of us lived like prisoners until you rescued us this morning,” she said, smiling at him.

“We have a lot of businesses back in Tulsa. We could use someone like you with a head for numbers. That is if you have a mind to travel back there.”

“You live in Tulsa?”

“Yes, with my wife, and my family and friends.”

“You would really let me work for you? Where would I live if I traveled that far to have a job?”

“You would live with us. We have plenty of room and my boys and girls are about grown. They’ll be getting married and moving out in a few years.”

“What would your wife say if I lived there?” she asked and smiled when he looked at her with a strange look.

“You’ll get to meet her and my sister and the other women who live there, when we get back to the ranch in Indian Territory where we left Martinez’ family.”

“Your wife and sister and family will accept me? They know nothing of me.”

“Just smile and show them how smart and pretty you are, they’ll welcome you to to the family and to Tulsa,” Eli told her and felt his face warm up when she smiled at him.

“You think I am pretty, Marshal?”

“Analisa, I think you know full well that you’re a pretty woman. You smile and you flash your dark eyes and you know the ways a woman can be pretty without trying. No wonder the Patron and his son wanted you.”

“Thank you Marshal. I accept the job offer and the offer to live with you,” Analisa said as she flashed her dark eyes and smiled.

“Analisa, I wasn’t asking you to live with me. I’m not like the Mexicans we just killed while rescuing you. I meant that you would have a place to stay at my house.”

“I know what you meant, Marshal. I was being flirty. I have not had many chances to do so since I graduated from the university. I like seeing you smile too, Marshal. I hope your wife and family do like me. I will be a lady in front of them and I will control my flirts with you.”

“You’d better or they’ll tear you apart,” Eli said, poking his horse to ride on ahead of them.

As he slowed his horse, Analisa, Rosa, and Martinez rode up beside him. They were all smiling.

“Analisa, you and Rosa ride lead with Albert. Martinez and I have some cattle to drive to Las Cruces,” Eli told them and watched as both women rode ahead to join Albert.

“Martinez, you didn’t tell me Rosa and Analisa were schoolmates at the university.”

“I forgot that one little thing, Marshal. They are both smart and pretty women. No?”

“Yes, they are.

“Now lets get as many miles as we can today. We got a good jump this morning, and I figure we’ve already made a good eight to ten miles by running the herd to begin with. We should make well over twenty miles before dark if we don’t run into trouble.”

The long line of cattle strung out for close to five miles from the lead bull back to the stragglers. The thirteen men rode back and forth along both sides, not prodding the cattle, but keeping them moving and keeping them in line.

At mid-day, the men stopped one at a time to saddle another horse. They knew they’d need fresh horses just to keep up with a herd this big if they spooked and broke into an all out stampede.

As the sun began to settle toward the horizon, they came to a wide plain with a boundary of large boulders on the east side of the river. There would barely be enough grass for one day with this big herd. They turned the cattle toward the river to let them drink, then as the lead cattle began moving toward the grassy plain, they let them move out on their own. By nightfall the cattle had walked into the Rio Grande, watered and moved out to find grass.

There was no wind stirring and the heat was all but unbearable. The men could see flashes of heat lightning in the night skies all around them and it worried them.

“We need to keep riding a line back and forth out here between the river and the cattle tonight. Rest in your saddles, but stay on your horses. If we get a lightning strike close by or a loud clap of thunder, we’ll lose half the herd when they stampede across that river,” Eli told them as they gathered at the river to water their horses.