Chapter 9

Caleb ordered Lubbock's body tossed into the back of the buckboard, and they covered it with a sheet. Caleb's only reason for taking the body back to town was to let anybody who wanted to, to verify for himself that Lubbock was dead and no longer a threat to Colter County. They dropped off the body at the undertaker and stopped by the newspaper office to announce Lubbock's demise. That was enough work for one day, so the Three Musketeers decided that it was time to have supper and relax with a few beers.

The next day, they returned to their home ranches and waited for further orders from Judge Hughes in Austin. Caleb had sent the Judge a full written report which took all of two pages! He had not started out to be so verbose, but he felt that the long text was justified by the scope of the operation. He spent his time waiting for further orders from the judge by doing the many chores that were needed to keep a working ranch a going concern.

Susan was making a quick recovery, it appeared that the upcoming marriage to Caleb was extra incentive for her body to repair itself. She and her mother were busy planning the wedding which was to take place at her family's ranch; Susan and Caleb would return to the Circle J immediately after the wedding. Even as hard as they were working on it, they were going to need 2 months to get everything ready. They planned to treat the wedding as if it were Susan's first, as if the wedding to Jethro Peevy had never happened. Caleb didn't care, so the plans were progressing smoothly.

Susan's father had sent Hank Smith to be the temporary foreman at the Circle J. Hank was his assistant foreman, and her father knew Hank to be reliable and a hard worker, so Caleb was happy to have him around to manage the ranch when Caleb was away on the business of being a Federal Marshal. Hank and Caleb soon became good friends, and they quickly established a very cordial working relationship. This was good, because only the minimum time passed before Caleb received new orders from Judge Hughes.

The judge wanted Caleb to look into problems reported in Henderson County. There were reports that some ex-Union Army soldiers were trying to take over and set up their own little kingdom in the county. This was not illegal, except that the interlopers were ignoring lawful orders sent to them from Austin. For one thing, they appeared to be trying to institute a kind of serfdom for the Negro population to get around the anti-slavery laws. Caleb was ordered to look into this situation without delay.

A week later, Caleb rode into Ardmore, the county seat of Henderson County, and registered at the local hotel. He ate supper in the hotel restaurant and visited the attached saloon for a beer and the local news.

Caleb ambled up to the bar and ordered a beer. Business was a little slow at that moment, so Caleb introduced himself as a stranger passing through town and asked the bartender for the latest local news. The bartender was as loquacious as his kind usually were, so Caleb was soon caught up on all the local gossip.

The bartender didn't know what Caleb was particularly interested in hearing, so he threw in a lot of extraneous and useless information, but one useful gem was that Jeremiah Higgins, the local cattle baron, was hiring gunslingers. It seems that Higgins had arrived in Ardmore from New Jersey in July of 1865 with nothing but a carpetbag and the clothes on his back. However, he had parlayed a considerable skill at poker into becoming the largest land owner in Henderson County and had combined his winnings into the Rocking H ranch, which accounted for over half the land in the county.

Henderson County had an unusually large Negro ex-slave population who were on the edge of starvation because there was no one to feed them once they were freed. None of the locals had any money to hire them, so the Negroes were barely existing on what they could scrounge and steal. Higgins had instituted a large farming operation by chopping a section of his holdings up into small farms and hiring the Negroes to work them for "shares" of the produce.

Higgins had his share-croppers sign a contract which said that they could buy what they needed from the store on the ranch on credit, and this credit would be figured against their share of the crops they raised. So far, so good. However, the catch was that the Negroes could not leave their assigned farm as long as any debt was still owed to Higgins. The store on the ranch had no prices posted, so the unsuspecting customers did not realize that they were being price gouged on every item they "bought" at the store. Since none of them had yet harvested a crop, none of the stores in Ardmore would extend credit, so the store on the ranch was the only place they could buy necessities. The upshot was that the Negroes went heavily into debt very quickly and would never be able to escape domination by Higgins. Higgins now had a bunch of share-cropping Negroes who were slaves in everything but name. This was what Caleb had been sent to investigate.

Caleb could see what Higgins was up to with his ranch and farm operations, but he couldn't understand why Higgins would need gunslingers. The bartender was no help in solving this riddle, so Caleb figured that the best way to find out what was going on was to get himself hired as one of the gunslingers.

The next day, Caleb checked out of the hotel, loaded his trappings onto his horse, and rode out to the Rocking H ranch house to try to get hired as a new hand. By this time, Caleb had enough practice with his Remington .44 that he was an excellent shot and a reasonably fast draw in getting off that all-important first shot. Sure, there were other people faster than Caleb, but none who could combine the speed of their draw and the accuracy of their first shot well enough to beat him. Caleb was confident that he could hold his own in any standoff, so he had no qualms as he made his way toward the ranch.

As Caleb approached the ranch house, he was seen by two guards who approached him and demanded that he state his business.

"I'm looking fer a job. I lost my job in the Army when the war ended, and I ain't had much luck since then. I heard that Mr. Higgins wuz lookin' fer men what wuz good with a gun, soz I thought I might as well give it a try."

"Ifen ya kin live up ta yer brag, ya'll git a job, all right, but ya'll have ta prove yer talk. Come on with me, an' we'll find Jim Lucy, the foreman."

They rode toward a large corral where some men were gathered, talking and smoking cigars. The guard shouted, "Hey, Jim. We got some fresh meat."

They rode up to the bunch of men, and one stuck out his hand and said, "Howdy, I'm Jim Lucy, the foreman of the Rockin' H, an' I've heard all the jokes 'bout my last name that I want to hear."

Caleb grinned and shook Lucy's hand. "Howdy, I'm Caleb Jackson, an' I 'spect that ya have heard more than enough. Well, I won't say any that might come to mind."

Lucy said, "Fine! Git ofen yer hoss and let's talk a while." Caleb dismounted, and the guard returned to his post. They walked away from the rest of the men, and Lucy said, "See that post about 20 yards over there? Shoot it!"

Caleb drew his cross-draw Remington .44 and put a bullet into the post, all in one motion. Lucy whistled and said, "That weren't the fastest draw I ever seen, but it shore were the best shot! Ya're hired!"

Caleb took the time to reload, and asked while doing so, "Bully! But how much ya payin' an' what do I have ta do?"

"Ya gits $30 a month an' found (food and a place to sleep). Yer job depends on yer qualifications. What did ya do in the Army?"

"I was a captain and company commander in the Texas cavalry. I spent the last few months of the war in a Yankee POW camp in New England. Man, I hated that winter!"

"Welcome back ta Texas! I know what ya mean 'bout that there cold weather. I hate it, too. I'll talk to Mr. Higgins 'bout yer work assignment; I know he'll be impressed an' will want ta see a sample of yer shootin'. By the way, call me Jim, but always call him Mr. Higgins."

"Shore thing, Jim. I know how ta treat the big brass."

Lucy laughed at that and assigned a man to help Caleb find a place in the bunk house while he went to talk to Higgins. Joe showed Caleb the available bunks, and Caleb selected one as far from the other occupied bunks as he could. When he was asked why he selected that particular bunk, Caleb answered, "I may move closer after I find out who farts the most in his sleep."