Chapter 3

Al was gathering up the food to take it into the cabin to be eaten when a man rode around the corner of the cabin. His hands were full with trying to control a woman who was sitting across the saddle in front of him. He didn't see Al and Jed at first, but the woman did. She suddenly bit down on the man's hand hard enough to draw blood. He let out a scream of pain and tried to get his hand out of her mouth.

In the process of all of this to do, Al recognized the man as Joe Hudson, the man they were chasing. "THAT'S HIM, JED!" he shouted as he tried to draw his gun, but his hands were full. Meanwhile, the woman had managed to break loose from Hudson and jump, maybe tumble is a better word, from the saddle. Hudson reacted in fright at Al's shout and tried to draw his gun with the hand that had just been bitten.

Jed, on the other hand, was not encumbered, so he was able to draw his gun from his shoulder holster with his usual lightning speed. Jed, excited by the sudden appearance of the fugitive, shouted, "HANDS UP, HUDSON, OR I'LL BLOW YA TA HELL!" Hudson didn't hesitate before raising his hands in the air. "Git off the hoss, real slow like."

The woman who had been in the saddle with him ran to Al and began to tremble. Al calmed the woman for a moment, set the food down, and went over to cuff Hudson's hands behind his back. About this time, Cindy Hogg, wearing the blanket again, stuck her head out the door, saw Hudson, and screamed before running back into the cabin.

They all went into the cabin, again with Al carrying the food. He put the plates on the table and was about to call everybody over to eat when Cindy Hogg calmly walked up to Hudson. She had her arms crossed under the blanket, so her hands were concealed. She got so close to him that she bumped into Hudson's belly. "Take that, you bastard!" Suddenly, Hudson let out a scream of pain and fell back away from her. Cindy had slit his belly open with a knife she had found in the cabin. She had done an amazingly good job with the knife: she had cut so well that a lot of Hudson's intestines dropped out onto the floor as he fell.

Al and Jed ran to Hudson and saw immediately that there was nothing that could be done for him. He was still alive, but he could not last much more than a few hours. He was bleeding all over the floor so Jed and Al each grabbed a foot and dragged him outside.

Cindy had dropped the knife, and the other woman was holding Cindy in her arms. Cindy never said anything, or cried, or showed any other reaction. Al asked her to sit down at the table and motioned the other woman to join them. Al turned to Cindy and said, "Ma'am, that was a brave act of self defense ifen I ever seen one. Now, eat yer supper an' we'll talk about this later."

Fortunately, there was another plate and enough food for the other woman, Mary Woods. They all had plenty to eat, and there was enough coffee to go around. It was Al's turn to wash up after supper, so he did that while Jed went to check up on Joe Hudson, who was lying in the yard. Jed noted that he was still alive and groaning in pain, so he let the man lie there while he took care of the horses, which he hobbled where they could get plenty of grass and water. He looked at Hudson and noted that he was still alive and conscious before returning to the cabin interior. Between being handcuffed and cut like that, there was no place Hudson was going, so it was safe to leave him where he was for the night.

Nobody wanted to sleep in that bed, so they found enough blankets by scrounging up horse blankets for all of them to sleep on the floor. The next morning, Al cut a hole in a blanket for Cindy to wear, and he cut a section of rope for her to use as a sash. It was not elegant attire, but it did cover the essentials.

Hudson was dead, so Al and Jed stuffed his guts back inside and bandaged him with his shirt. They tied him across the pack mule for transportation back to Laredo.

Cindy and Mary wanted to go home, so they looped by the proper ranches to drop them off. The Rangers were greeted with open arms and a big feed was put on to welcome each woman back to the fold. Al and Jed were very pleased to see the reception Cindy got, because it was so obvious that Hudson had raped her, but her husband had no qualms about taking her back, and they soon were acting like newlyweds. Mary, Al, and Jed left before it got embarrassing.

When the Rangers got back to Laredo with Joe Hudson's body, they wrote up in the report that Cindy Hogg had killed Joe Hudson in self defense, and nobody questioned them on it. Everybody was just relieved that he was no longer running around threatening women.

Al said to Jed, "Ya're a smart man, ya ought ta learn ta read an' write. Ya could be an important man in the Rangers, but ya'd have ta read an' write ta do that. Ifen I wuz ya, I'd talk ta the capt'n 'bout it. He might have some good idees on the subject."

Jed said, with a grin, "Hell, Al, Ya're jus' tired of writin' them reports an' want somebody else ta do if fer ya. OK, OK, I'll talk ta the capt'n—jus' don't git yer bowels in an uproar."

Two days later, the opportunity presented itself. "Capt'n? Al said I should talk ta ya 'bout learnin' ta read an' write. He said that ya might be able ta steer me in the right direction."

"Yeah, Son, I'm right proud of ya fer wantin' to do that much work. Readin' an' writin' ain't easy ta learn after ya're growed up. There is a woman, a widder, in town what takes on special students like ya. She graduated from normal school an' was a teacher fer a few years afore she got married ta a Ranger what was killed 'bout two years ago. She charges a dollar a lesson, which is steep, but she gits results. I reckon that ya couldn't do better than have Mz. Andrews fer a teacher. Here's her address. Why don't ya go see her this afternoon. Ain't nothing important goin' on right now, soz it's a good time."

"Much obliged, Capt'n. I'll go by right away." Jed picked up a horse and rode across town to Mrs. Andrews' home. It was a nice little wooden house surrounded by a white picket fence. There were a couple of pecan shade trees in the yard, and a small barn to the rear. The front yard was a formal floral garden, such as are found at the homes of the highest class of society. Mrs. Andrews was obviously a classy woman, so Jed was prepared to be on his best behavior.

He tied his horse to the hitching post and knocked on the front door. An elderly woman, why, she must have been at least 40 years old, answered the door. "Yes, what may I do for you, young man?"

"How do, Ma'am? I'm lookin' fer Mz. Andrews. Capt'n Jones, the Ranger capt'n, sent me ta see ifen she wuz interested in teachin' me ta read an' write. He said that she could do the job, ifen anybody could."

The woman smiled and said, "I am Mrs. Andrews. Yes, I am looking for new students, and I would certainly be interested in teaching you what I know. I charge $1 per lesson, payable at the beginning of each lesson. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes, Ma'am, that's fine with me. My name's Jed Snodgrass. Since I'm a Ranger, I ain't sure just how often I can come in fer a lesson, since I could be sent away on a case at most any time."

"Very well, Mr. Snodgrass, when do you wish to start your lessons? My schedule is very flexible at the moment, and I could work your lessons in at almost any time."

"I'd be pleased to start today, ifen that's OK with you, Mz. Andrews. Oh, please call me Jed, I ain't used ta bein' called Mr. Snodgrass."

"Very well, Jed, and you may call me Anna. It's been a long time since anybody called me that, and I would be pleased to hear it again. Please come in so that we may begin."

Jed entered her parlor and took the offered seat. Anna asked, "Just how much do you need me to teach you, Jed? How much time have you spent in school?"

"I 'spect that ya kin tell from my speech that I ain't never spent a day in school. My folks didn't think that it was important an' couldn't afford it, anyway. I kin sign my name, an' I kin recognize it when I see it, but I can't do nothin' else. I want to be promoted up the ranks in the Rangers, but there ain't no way I kin manage without readin' an' writin'. Oh, here's my pay fer the first lesson."