Chapter 89

“What can I do for you, Mister? You look to be part Indian. Are you?” The man behind the window at the train station said as Eli walked up to the window to send a telegraph message back to Little Tree.

“I need to send a message over to Little Tree, Texas. Can you do that for me?” Eli said, ignoring the man’s remark.

“I sure can. Who is it for and what name do you want on it?”

“Put my name on it, Marshal Eli Crow. Send it to Hoke at the livery. Tell him I need him to get word to my folks at Pecan Ridge that we’ll be there in three days and for him to keep the herd of cattle in his pens. Make it a lot plainer than I just told you though. I’m not gonna pay you for all of those words.”

“How’s this?” the man said, after scribbling out his message, then reading it back.

Hoke’s Livery Little Tree

Send word to Pecan Ridge

Eli Crow arrive Little Tree

three days

keep cattle in pens

“Sounds good to me. Is there any way I can be sure that Hoke gets the message?”

“Sure it is, Marshal. I’ll tell the operator on the other end that we need confirmation. It may take an hour or even half a day, never know when you send a message if they can find the recipient right off.”

“They can find him easy enough, just send it like you said and I’ll stop back by later today, just to make sure he got it,” Eli told the man, then paid him.

Eli rode south at a slow gallop, not in a big hurry, but still wanting to get back to make sure all was well with the herd and his friends.

He had ridden for well over an hour when he topped a rise with a clear view that overlooked the Rio Grande Valley below. What he saw made a big lump come to his throat as he looked down at the long line of Longhorn cattle that stretched out as far as he could see to the south.

Taking his spotting scope out, he looked down at them. He felt relieved when he’d counted fourteen riders.

Even from here, he could make out Rosa and Analisa riding side by side, talking and waving their hands at each other. He could tell they were happy as they rode out ahead of the herd. He could see their buckskin shirts stretched to the limit over their young bodies as they sat straight and proud in the saddle.

He swung his scope once more to look behind the two women where Jubal rode point with the oversize Longhorn bull walking right alongside him, without a lead rope on him. Looking further back, he spotted Martinez and Albert, then he saw Jeno and Amos on either side of the long line of cattle. The four of them were riding back and forth to keep the cattle moving and in line. He spotted Willis and Moses even further back, as they too rode back and forth slowly, keeping the cattle moving in a straight line.

He couldn’t make out who was riding at the back of the herd, though he could see five more riders back there with two riding drag and knew this was the four vaqueros and Roy Curtis.

Eli sat on his horse for half an hour, just watching the sight below, wishing all the while that Jon David was here with one of the big cameras to get a picture of this. He knew he’d never forget the sight of this many Longhorns strung out up and down the Rio Grande Valley.

As he looked down at the cattle, Eli knew for certain now, they have way more than ten thousand head in this big herd. Maybe as many as fifteen thousand!

He raised his scope to have one more look before riding down to join the cattle drive. When he focused his spotting scope to the rear of the herd this time, he saw another cloud of dust.

This one was still a good ways back of the herd. He wasn’t sure from this distance, but it looked like at least a dozen riders coming up hard behind the herd.

Shoving his spotting scope down into his saddlebag, he turned his horse to ride the ridge trail south as hard as he could. He knew this could only mean one thing.

The Federâles were coming!

He rode south, his horse stretching out for all she was worth with Eli urging her on. Now and then he could catch a glimpse of the trail and the river below. He knew he had ridden for more than a mile by the time he came to another place where he could easily view the valley below.

As he stood beside his saddle, he pulled his .50 caliber Sharps out of his scabbard and a grabbed a handful of cartridges out of his saddlebag. Stepping quickly over between two boulders, he leaned out against one of the big rocks. With his spotting scope, he scanned the line of cattle once more. He saw the two vaqueros riding drag, but didn’t see Roy Curtis anywhere.

Raising his scope just a little, he could now make out the riders coming toward the herd even faster. He was right, it was the Mexican Federâles and they were pushing their horses even harder to catch the herd.

He was worried about Roy, and looking once more through his spotting scope, he saw him stand up from behind some mesquite bushes and pull his pants up. He watched as Roy mounted and rode toward the two Mexican vaqueros riding drag.

Eli felt his heart give an extra thump in relief, now that he knew Roy was safe. So far anyway. Now it was up to him to take care of the danger stalking the the men and the herd.

He figured it was close to two hundred yards from where he was, down to the trail. Then another quarter of a mile back to the first four riders in the Federâles troop.

Raising his rifle, he looked through his scope and focused on the riders. He clicked his elevation up six clicks. Eli could see the one he wanted first. This one’s chest was covered in medals, gold braids and brass buttons, and he wore a long shiny sword on his side.

With his cheek resting lightly against the smooth walnut stock, Eli took aim and led the rider by a full length of his galloping horse. Holding steady as he swung his rifle, he squeezed the trigger. He was still looking through the scope when the smoke cleared. There were three riders with a riderless horse now in the lead. Wasting no time, he dropped another long brass cartridge into the chamber and snapped it closed.

Less than half a minute after the first shot, Eli killed another of the Federâles. This time, the rest of the troop quickly pulled their horses up, turning them toward the rocks below Eli. Before they could take cover, he killed two more. Then as one stood, waving his arms and shouting to the others, Eli shot him.

Now and then he could catch a glimpse of a boot or an arm as they moved around to hide behind the rocks. They had yet to discover where he was above them. Eli decided to move further along the trail to get a look directly down at where the men were hiding. He ducked and ran back to the trail, then turned south and ran on foot for over a fifty yards before slipping close to the rim to look down once more.

He saw four of them as they huddled next to the big rocks. He shot one in his chest, then another in his back, as he rolled away from the dead man. The others were scrambling to find better cover when Eli shot the next Mexican soldier in his neck.

Eli watched as the last four Federâles ran toward their horses. He decided to let them go, when they turned south.

Just as he stood to watch them leave, he heard two shots ring out from below. He looked toward the four Mexican riders and there were only two left. As they raced south, leaning over the necks of their horses, Eli watched as those two fell to the dust when two more shots rang out from the .50 caliber rifles of Moses and Willis.

Eli saw Moses and Willis mounting up and whistled down to them. Before he stepped out in the open he waved his Sharps rifle above his head.

He saw Moses wave back, then wave for him to come on down.

After Eli had walked out into the trail and whistled for his horse, he found a winding game trail through the rocks that led down the slope to the river, and rode his horse slowly down between the rocks to meet them.

“Eli. It sure was good that you came back when you did. We didn’t even see the Federâles until you started shootin’. I yelled at Willis when I heard that big gun and told him that it was you back here,” Moses said when Eli rode up to where they stood beside their horses.

“Did we get them all, Eli?” Willis asked.

“Yep, all twelve of them. I had already decided to let the last four ride, when I heard you shoot. Then you shot again and I knew the last of them had bit the dust.”

“Damn Eli. I hate we shot them after you were gonna let them ride,” Moses told him.

“Don’t worry about it, Moses. They had no business up here anyway and they would’ve tried to pick all of you off one at a time from the rear if I hadn’t seen them first.”

“I reckon you’re right. I don’t feel so bad about it now,” Moses said, then laughed.

“How far are we from Las Cruces, Eli?” Willis asked.

“The lead cattle are about an hour and a half away by now. We need to take about twenty five hundred in at a time and hold the rest outside of town near the river. The man at the pens said we’d see the wide place where the other drovers held them up.”

“Did all your cattle cars get there yet?” Moses asked as he watched Eli take the long shiny sword and scabbard off the ranking Federâle.

“There’s another hundred on the way, but we got plenty there for today and tomorrow, and there’s four locomotives already there just waiting for a load.

“I sent a telegraph message over to Hoke for him to send a rider to Pecan Ridge and tell them that we’d be in Little Tree in four days. I figure Don and the Bucks will meet us there.”

“Damn, Eli. We need to make another raid on Mexico some day, this was too easy,” Willis said and laughed his big booming laugh when Eli scowled at him.

“I’m proud we got the women out of that place and I’m glad we got this big herd too. I’d hate to ever go back though; we hit it lucky and no one got hurt. I just hope no one down there ever connects me with that raid. I’d lose my commission and may even have to face Judge Parker.”

“Wouldn’t that be a helluva end to all this!” Moses said as they mounted up and rode after the herd.

“Albert, you and Martinez take this money and go get the women a room at the hotel so they can bathe and rest up a bit after all they’ve been through. You may as well take them by a womens shop and get them both a dress to wear, they can’t keep running around with their asses shining,” Eli said as he peeled off a hundred and handed to him.

“I reckon you better get four rooms if they have that many. We’ll all need to get a bath and get some cooked food when we get through out here for the day. It’ll get too dark to load here in a few more hours.”

“Marshal, I see you made it back alright. You sure do have some fine looking Longhorns here,” the man he’d talked to earlier at the loading pens told him.

“Yep, we moved them right along the last two days and made good time. You need us to help you and your men?”

“Just bring another two thousand or so in when I give you the word; we’ll get ‘em loaded for you. The men on the trains wanted us to try and get forty five cars loaded before dark so three of them could head out and run all night.”

“Can you get them loaded that fast?”

“We can load two at a time and we’ll give it a fair try anyway.”

“Jubal, you and Roy stay close to the man here...

“I don’t reckon I got your name earlier,” Eli said looking at the man.

“They call me Spur. The name’s Burl Spurlock.”

“Spur, you just let these men know when you need more cows brought in and they’ll get ‘em here.”