Chapter 15

McBride regained consciousness just before the undertaker arrived, so Caleb asked, "Look here, McBride, there ain't no way ya'll live much longer, so why don't ya tell me who ya been working with in them Mexican whore houses? It don't seem fair that he gits away with it, an' ya don't."

McBride struggled to talk, "Right, it shore don't! ... It were Jesus Rodriguez in ... San Elmo what did the buyin' ... I ain't got no idee who ... else was in it with 'im. Ya got a shot of whiskey ... on ya?"

"'Fraid not. Looks like ya'll jus' have ta tough it out. Here comes the buckboard ta pick ya up."

"Is it the doctor?"

"Naw, it's the undertaker. We didn't think it wuz worth wakin' up the doctor fer the short time ya had left."

"Fuck ya, ya bastard!"

Caleb walked over the the now stopped buckboard, and Witty said, "Caleb, say howdy ta Sam Ingles, the undertaker."

"Howdy, Sam. Pleased ta meet ya, particularly under these circumstances. McBride ain't quite dead, yet. Ya wanna take 'im now, or do ya wanna let 'im die first."

"Howdy, Caleb. It don't make no never mind ta me. I guess that now I'm here, I might as well load 'im on the buckboard an' take 'im back ta my parlor. He kin die there as easy as he kin here. I'd be much obliged ifen ya'd give me a hand gittin' 'im loaded in."

"Shore thing, y'all grab his hands, an' I'll take his feet. Even though he's conscious, his backbone was cut by a bullet, soz he's gonna be pretty limp. But I don't care ifen we hurt him a might, the bastard deserves it."

They had something of a struggle, but finally got McBride loaded into the bed of the buckboard. He had fainted, again, from the pain while he was being moved, so he didn't feel the bumps as the buckboard was driven the short distance back to the funeral parlor. They were none too gentle getting McBride through the back door of the building, but it didn't make any difference—he was dead by then.

That closed this part of the case as far as Caleb was concerned, so he wrote his report for Judge Hughes and mailed it the next day. As an addendum to his report, he suggested that he be sent after Jesus Rodriguez in hopes of making a permanent end to his white slavery operation. Caleb said that he would wait at home for the Judge's reply.

Caleb headed home at his best speed; he wanted to be there when their first child was born. He barely made it. Caleb got home about noon, and Susan delivered the baby about midnight. It was a "beautiful" boy, whom they named Ezra after Caleb's father. Susan came through fine and was able to function as any normal mother should and would right away. Caleb was so proud, a stranger would have thought that he had done the whole thing by himself!

A little over a week later, Caleb heard from Judge Hughes in regard to going after Jesus Rodriguez. The judge said that he thought it would be a good idea for Caleb to go to Laredo to see what he could discover about Rodriguez, but he was absolutely to stay out of Mexico. This was the kind of thing that could set off another war with Mexico, and the country was in no condition to fight a war with anybody at the present time. The judge emphasized to Caleb that he could touch Rodriguez only if both of them were on this side of the Rio Grande.

Caleb discussed the situation with Susan, and she told him to go ahead to Laredo. There was nothing he could do around the ranch at that time with her or Ezra, so he might as well keep busy chasing Rodriguez. Susan never would have said anything to Caleb about it, but he was driving her crazy the way he was hovering over her and Ezra practically all of the time. She would be glad to have him out of the house for a while so that she could get some rest. Her mother was there and was doing a good job of looking after things.

Caleb gathered up his kit and took the stage for Laredo the next day. In Laredo, Caleb found a hotel room and checked in with the local federal judge to give him the gist of Judge Hughes' instructions. Rodriguez was going to be hard to find since Caleb only had his name, with no description to go with it. Well, he had to start somewhere, so that evening Caleb started making the rounds of the cantinas and saloons that catered to the Latino population.

He wasn't making much progress, since the bartenders in these places were not very helpful to gringos who were asking about Latinos. He just didn't have any other ideas, so he stuck with it. He had been in Laredo for nearly a week without making any headway when he finally made a contact of sorts. Caleb was walking past an alley one night when he heard a grunt of pain issue from it. His instincts immediately overcame his good sense, and he went into the alley to investigate.

He found three men beating an older Latino who was not able to protect himself. Caleb drew his gun and fired a shot at the man doing most of the pounding on the victim. The bullet hit the man in the leg where Caleb had been aiming, and he collapsed to the ground. The other two men started to run away, but stopped at Caleb's command. He ordered the two men to carry the wounded man to the sidewalk while he helped the elderly victim to follow along behind.

Once they reached the street, Caleb directed the whole group into the nearest cantina where he could get some assistance for the wounded man. The man was laid out on a table while a doctor was summoned. The situation was explained to the bartender who immediately detailed two of the cantina's regular customers to keep an eye on the two friends of the wounded man. Meanwhile, the victim of the mugging was treated with the utmost courtesy and concern.

It turned out that the victim was a very prominent and respected member of the Latino community, and Caleb suddenly jumped very high in local esteem as a result of his rescue of the man. Word spread quickly throughout the community of Caleb's rescue, and he no longer had trouble getting the bartenders to talk to him. Within 3 days, he had a complete description of Jesus Rodriguez and a good idea of where the man might be found the next time he came to Laredo. Not only that, he was assured that he would be informed the moment Rodriguez showed himself in town; all Caleb had to do was wait patiently until he was contacted.

Fortunately, Caleb's Spanish was excellent. In fact, he spoke without the strong accent he had when speaking English, so that he sounded like an educated man of the upper class. This gained him even more respect, so Caleb had a very pleasant week in various cantinas while he waited for word on Rodriguez. Furthermore, Caleb developed a taste for the excellent quality Mexican beer served in the cantinas; it was much better than the American beer he had always drunk before.

Caleb got so friendly with some of the locals in the cantinas that he told them why he was looking for Rodriguez. Most of these men had visited brothels at one time or another, but none had encountered the young slaves that Rodriguez procured. They were truly horrified that such a thing could happen and vowed to help any way they could in the capture of this vile Rodriguez. He was known to be a scoundrel, but none had known of his participation in the capture of young girls. Suddenly, Caleb had a fair number of willing allies, which was something quite unexpected.

One day, Caleb was surprised to receive a visit from the nearby Catholic priest. He told Caleb that he had heard of Caleb's mission, and he was going to put the resources of the Church behind the search for Rodriguez. Come next Sunday, the priest planned to instruct his parishioners to cooperate in the search for Rodriguez. This news really surprised Caleb; now he knew that there was no way that Rodriguez could escape!

On Tuesday, Caleb was met by a delegation of three men who said that they knew where to find Rodriguez, and they could take Caleb directly to him. Caleb left with the men, and they marched to a rear stall in a livery stable. There he found a much-battered man tied to a post supporting the roof. Around the bruises on his face, Caleb was able to recognize that it was, indeed, Rodriguez. Caleb profusely thanked the men for capturing Rodriguez for him, and he asked how Rodriguez had gotten bruised.