Chapter 10

The loot from the bank was in the saddle bags on the dead horses. The banker was happy, the town was happy, and we were happy. What more could one ask for?

I found that I really enjoyed being a deputy marshal. There was enough excitement that there was rarely time to get too bored, but we didn't have to travel all over the country to find our excitement. I was plain tired of traveling and ready to settle in one place. Eagle Pass was a good place to put down roots, so I was very happy here.

Bob did get kind of agitated on occasion as he wanted to travel; however, something always came up that made him forget about that. We had been working in Eagle Pass for seven months, now, and were really becoming a part of the community.

I did find that my monthlies returned to a regular schedule. It seemed that all of that riding around on horseback had messed up my rhythm, but a few months off that damned horse had fixed me back to normal. The monthlies were a damned nuisance, but I did feel better overall.

That is, until I started getting sick every morning. Shit, this sort of thing never happened to me before, so I was kind of worried. I mentioned the problem to one of my women friends who happened to be a midwife. She laughed and said, "Honey, you must be knocked up. Did you ever think of that?"

I don't know why that never occurred to me. I do know what causes it, and Bob and I have been right regular with our loving, so I should not have been surprised. I guess I was so old, 24, that I had given up on the idea of having a baby, but my prayers were answered, after all.

Bob knew about my morning sickness—how could he help knowing? But, being a man, he didn't connect it to anything important. I waited a couple of weeks before I told him, because I was afraid that it was a false alarm. Eventually, I just couldn't hold in the good news any longer and spilled the beans.

Bob reacted by wanting me to quit my deputy job for fear that the baby and I would by hurt by some galoot. I insisted that I could go on for a few more months until I started to show too much, but he should start looking for a replacement deputy pretty soon. Once I had to quit, I would be out of action for at least a year and a half until I could wean the baby and get somebody to take care of it while I worked with him. Bob said that he would start looking, but he might have a problem finding somebody.

Well, as expected, I did get over the morning sickness and was back to full capabilities again. We did swear the mayor to secrecy before telling him what was going on, and he was back to wringing his hands again. That man was a worry wart if I ever saw one.

Bob wrote a letter to the Ranger office in Austin offering the job to a retiring Ranger. They were usually the best peace officers that could be found, and they were dedicated to the job if they had been a Ranger long enough to retire as one.

He got a letter back that there were four Rangers who soon would be retiring, and the information about them was enclosed with the letter. Bob shouted for joy when he got to the list of retirees, because he knew and liked one of them. Omar Trent was an old friend from Bob's Ranger days, so he was the one Bob selected to go after.

Well, $40 per month was sure more than Trent could expect from any other job he could get at his age, so he grabbed hold with a death grip. Trent's boss was real accommodating, and he transferred Trent to a sub-office near us just before Omar retired. That way, he showed up at the Marshal's office in Eagle Pass only two days after he was free of the Rangers.

I found that Omar Trent was a real nice man, though he did like to cuss a little more than I was used to. Omar promised to tone down his language, and I thanked him, though I was sure that he would forget his promise the first time something annoyed him. Oh, well, it was a minor thing, so I decided to ignore it.

We started out making the rounds together so that everybody could get to know Omar and him to know them. It was funny the way Omar moved into one of the empty cells and ate his meals with us. He said that he was in no hurry to find his own place because he appreciated the home-cooked food. I have to admit to being a bit flattered by that compliment.

It was about three months until my due date when I started bulging so much that I had to quit being an active deputy. My belly was starting to interfere with me wearing a gun and being able to draw it. I gave in and switched to a dress. This was the first time the citizens of Eagle Pass had seen me in anything but men's clothes so that most didn't recognize me. I had fun with that for a few days, but it did get old pretty fast. I did decide that I was going back to trousers as soon as I could, since they were more convenient than a skirt for the things I wanted to do.

I have to say that I was jealous whenever I was told over the supper table of some adventure the two men had during that day. Mostly, it was breaking up fights between drunks, but occasionally bullets did fly. Nevertheless, it was excitement which I truly missed. So, when a bounty hunter delivered a wanted man to Bob for a receipt, I was kind of glad to see one of our cells occupied by somebody who was sober.

The town was still paying me my $40 per month; I think it was because the mayor was afraid that Bob would quit if they didn't. Therefore, I was the one responsible for "guarding" the prisoner. At least, he was somebody to talk to, and neither one of us wanted to be bored.

As it happened, the prisoner was a notorious bank robber who headed a gang that had broken him out of jails, before. Therefore, I did start back to carrying a gun on a lanyard over my shoulder. I couldn't quick-draw the pistol, but that did not affect my shooting.

The prisoner was wanted for robbing an Army payroll, so he was due to be picked up by a federal deputy marshal in about a week. If his gang was going to bust him out of jail, now was the time to do it. I'm sure that they expected to have an easy time of it because a woman was guarding him.

It happened around mid-morning. I had just finished up the housework in the apartment and was fixing a pot of coffee to share with the prisoner when four men came tromping with their dirty boots into my nice clean jail. Now, that roused my ire immediately. I demanded, "What do you galoots want?"

One of them said, "We're here ta bust our friend out of yer jail. Now, just step aside an' ya' won't git hurt."

As it happened, I was standing in the doorway between the apartment and the rest of the jail, so I was able to find shelter by dodging behind the edge of the door. As I said, I wasn't fast with drawing that gun hanging on the lanyard, but the thugs didn't expect any resistance from me at all. None of them had guns drawn, probably figuring that their mere maleness was enough to intimidate a pregnant woman.

Well, I had my gun in my hand and was covering them before they fully realized what a hornet's nest they had stepped into. I said, "Y'all are under arrest. Drop yer guns an' put up yer hands."

I swear that one of the galoots started to laugh! I was getting a little pissed off, so I said, "I meant what I said. Y'all have got 5 seconds to comply with my order."

This latter statement appeared to wake up one of the gang members, because he started to draw his gun. That was all I needed to trigger an immediate reaction. I think that it did not occur to any of the men that I might be holding a double action revolver, so the sight of the uncocked hammer made them overconfident. I pulled the trigger and put a bullet square into the middle of his breast bone. I am sure that he was dead before he hit the floor. That .44-40 bullet did pack a wallop! It also packed a big noise, because it was loud enough to attract attention up and down the street.

Bob and Omar heard it and didn't hesitate to head in my direction. However, they were still a minute or more away, and I had three desperate crooks to deal with. Another of the crooks made the stupid and fatal mistake of reflexively trying to draw against me, even though my gun was already pointing in his general direction. I squeezed off a second shot, and he, too, fell dead on the floor.