"Russ, you"re the nervous type." The Henry swung back on Brady- "Go on!"-then raised slightly as Brady stepped into the saddle, and the younger man said, "Don"t he cut a fine figure, Russ?" He stood grinning, looking up at Brady, then moved toward him and yelled, "Kick him! Go on, run run!"
As Brady started off, the man called Russ went back into the trees for the horses. When he came out, Brady was halfway across the meadow and the younger man was going through Brady"s pockets.
"How much?" Russ asked.
"Ten dollars plus and some papers."
"What kind of papers?"
"How"d I know?"
"Bring them along, for Ed to look over."
"You can have them," the younger man said. He began unbuckling his gun belt and Russ frowned. "Where"re you going?"
"Steppin" out, with my new suit on."
"Listen, you know what Ed said-"
"Russ, I don"t care what old Ed thinks or says." He winked, grinning, kicking off his boots. "That"s a fine-looking girl down there."
AS JOE MAUREN had described it, the Glennan place was almost hidden in deep tree shadow: a stand of aspen bordering the front yard, pinyon close behind the house and beyond, on higher ground, there were tall ponderosa pines. The house was a one-story log structure with a shingle roof but an addition to it, built out from the side and back to form an L, was of adobe brick. A stable shed, also adobe and joined to the addition by twenty feet of fence, stood empty, its doors open.
Brady pa.s.sed through the aspen, noticing the empty shed, then moved his gaze to the house, expecting the door to open, but thinking: Unless everybody"s gone.
You"re doing fine your first day.
Straight out from the door of the log house he reined in, waited a moment then started to dismount.
"Stay up!"
Over his shoulder Brady caught a glimpse of the girl standing at the corner of the house. She was holding a shotgun.
"You don"t have to turn around, either!"
Brady shook his head faintly. He didn"t move. Twice in one day.
The girl said, "You"re a friend of Albie"s, aren"t you?"
"I never heard of him." Brady started to turn.
The shotgun barrel came up. "Keep your eyes straight!"
Brady shrugged. "I know what you look like anyway."
"Fine, then you don"t have to be gawking around."
"Your head"d come up to about my nose," Brady said. "You look more boy than girl, but you got a pretty face with nice blond hair and dark eyes and eyebrows that don"t match your hair."
"Albie told you that," the girl said. "You talk just like him."
"Miss Glennan, I"ll take an oath I don"t know any Albie." He cleared his throat before saying, "My name"s Stephen J. Brady of the Hatch and Hodges Company come here to see your dad with the agreement-"
"You don"t have any clothes on!"
Brady turned in the saddle to look at her and this time she said nothing to stop him. Her lips were parted and her eyes held him with open astonishment. He had time to take in details-the dark eyes that looked almost black, and her face and arms warm brown against the whiteness of her blouse and her hair that was pale yellow and combed back and tied with a black ribbon-seeing all this before the shotgun tightened on him again.
Brady said, "You"ve seen men"s underwear before. What"re you looking so shocked for?"
"Not with you in them," the girl said.
"I thought maybe I could borrow a pair of your brother"s pants-"
"How"d you know I had a brother?"
"You got two. The little one, Mike, is in school down in Bisbee. The big one, Paul, whose pants I want to borrow till I get up to Rock of Ages and buy my own, is in the Army. Farrier Sergeant Paul J. Glennan, with the Tenth down to Fort Huachuca."
The girl"s eyes narrowed as she studied him. "You know a lot about my family."
"More"n Albie could"ve told me?"
The girl said nothing.
"I told you I was with Hatch and Hodges," Brady said. "A while back a man took my clothes, guns, and papers, and that"s why I"m sitting here like this. But I can still prove I"m from Hatch and Hodges, and here to see your father."
"How?"
"All right," Brady said. "Your father"s name is John Michael Glennan, born in Jackson, Michigan, in . . . 1837. Same town your mother"s from. Your dad served with the late George Custer and was wounded in the Rock Creek fight at Gettysburg. Your brother Paul was born in "62. You came along in "65; then six years later your dad brought the family out here. You first settled up north near Cabezas, but there weren"t enough trees there to suit him, so you came down here and been here ever since.
"Your dad"s raised stock, but it never paid him much. Twice he wintered poorly and another year the market was down; so now he"d like to just raise horses and on the side, for steady money, run a stage line stop. Paul"ll be out of the Army in six months; Mike out of school in a year.
Your name"s Catherine Mary Glennan and every word my Uncle Joe Mauren said about you is true."
"If it"s a trick, it"s a good one," the girl said. "You knowing all that."
"Sister, I"m trying to do my job, but I can"t do it without my pants or my papers. Add to that your dad"s not here anyway."
"How do you know that?"
"The stable door"s open and your team and wagon"s gone."
"They"ll be back soon," the girl said quickly.
"Then I"ll wait to talk to him."
"But I don"t know when."
"You just said soon. soon." Brady watched her. "Look, if you"re worried about being alone with me I"ll move along; but all I got to say is your dad must not want this franchise very much, else he"d be here."
"He does does want it!" The girl moved toward him. "He had to drive my mother over near Laurel. There"s a lady there about to deliver and Ma"d promised to help. But my dad said if you came, to explain it to you so there"d be no misunderstanding, because he does want to have that . . . whatever you call it." want it!" The girl moved toward him. "He had to drive my mother over near Laurel. There"s a lady there about to deliver and Ma"d promised to help. But my dad said if you came, to explain it to you so there"d be no misunderstanding, because he does want to have that . . . whatever you call it."
"So you don"t know when he"ll be home."
"Probably tomorrow."
"Why didn"t you tell me that before?" Brady said. " "Stead of this business about he"ll be back soon."
"Because I didn"t know who you were," the girl said angrily. "In fact, I still don"t. All I"m sure of is you"re a man sitting there in your underwear and not much of a man at that to let somebody take your clothes right off you."
"He had a gun," Brady said.
"So did you!"
"But he had his first." Brady"s hand went to the side of his face. "And he laid it across me early in the proceedings."
"Oh-"
"That"s all right. Just leave me have the pants."
"And something to eat?" She was calm again and her eyes opened inquiringly. "You can ride around back, water your horse and yourself, and come in the back door."
"So the neighbors won"t see me?" Brady said.
Chapter Three.
Fine-Looking Girl SHE SMILED at him and after that-while she looked for her brother"s pants; while Brady came out of the bedroom pulling up the faded green suspenders and asking her how he looked and she saying like a man who"d already been married twenty years; while they ate pancakes and drank coffee; while they just sat talking about everything in general and asking harmless-sounding questions about one another-they were at ease with each other and both seemed to enjoy it.
He explained how he had been robbed and told to ride on. How he had crossed the meadow then stopped, thinking about going back. But, one, it was good country to hide in; how would he find them? Two, even if he did, he had no gun. And three, which was part of two, they could even be laying for him, waiting to shoot him out of the saddle if he came back.
It was just poor luck, Brady said. But you had to expect so much of that in life; and if it happens the first day of a new job, maybe it"s just the Almighty warning you not to be too c.o.c.ky or full of yourself, else He"ll whittle you down to size in one minute"s time.
Catherine Mary said she"d never thought of that before, though she knew G.o.d moved in mysterious ways. Maybe He even sent Albie here as a warning, she said. A way of telling her to be cautious of the men she met until the right one came along. Albie was easy to see through. He smiled a lot and said nice things, but it was all on the surface.
And where had he come from? Two weeks ago, the first time he came by with another man. Her father was home and they"d stayed only long enough to water their horses, saying they were on their way to a job. Then a few days later, when just her mother and she were at the house, the younger one came back.
That was when he told his name and said he liked this part of the country very much and maybe he"d just stay around. But the way he looked at you and the sweet way he talked, you knew he was thinking something else. The third time he came, there wasn"t any doubt about that.
She was alone in the stable when he walked in and right away started talking about how quiet and nice it was and wasn"t she lonely never seeing a young man for weeks at a time? Then he tried to kiss her, so sure of himself that she almost had to laugh; but it wasn"t funny when he put his arms around her and gave her one of those awful wet kisses. Then he let go and stepped back as if to say there, now you"ve been kissed you won"t fight it anymore.
She didn"t fight. She ran and got the shotgun and Albie rode out fast yelling back something about letting her cool off a while.
But what was he doing around here? That was the question. Where had he been living for the past two weeks?
Brady and the girl heard the horse at the same time and both looked at each other across the table, both taken by surprise and thinking no, it couldn"t be. For a moment there was no sound. Then, "Kitty!"
She stood up quickly, looking at Brady. "It"s him."
Brady said, "Boy, that"s something, isn"t it?" He was a few steps behind her going to the door, but close to her as she reached it raising the latch. He pulled the door open, stepping outside after her, and the first thing he saw was his new suit.
ALBIE WAS WEARING it. Albie glancing at the doorway as he swung his right leg over the horse, as the girl stepped out into the sunlight saying, "We were just talking about you." And as Albie"s foot touched the ground and he started to turn, Brady reached him.
"But no need for talk now," Brady said. He saw the puzzled frown on Albie"s face, his mouth slightly open and his eyes asking a question in the shadow of the curled, forward-tilted hat brim. His expression changed suddenly to recognition and at that moment Brady hit him, his right fist jerking up, slamming into the changing, tightening expression.
Albie stumbled against his horse, half turning to catch himself with both palms slapping against the saddle, but his horse side-stepped nervously and in the moment that Albie hung off balance Brady"s left fist drove into his ribs, c.o.c.ked again as his right hand pulled Albie around, then hooked solidly into his jaw. Albie stumbled back off balance and this time he went down. He rolled to his side as he struck the ground, his right hand going to his hip, pulling back the coat, then hesitated.
Brady stood over him. "Try it, I"ll stomp you right into the ground."
Albie looked up, squinting and rubbing the side of his jaw. "You her brother?"
"I got one thing to say to you," Brady answered. "Take my suit off."
"If you"re not a kin of hers," Albie said, "you better be careful how you talk."
"Just take it off," Brady said.
He looked up, glancing again at the girl as she called, "There"s somebody coming."
He was aware of the faint hoofbeat sound then, far off, but clear in the open stillness; and already halfway across the meadow, coming toward them from the pinyon slope that was perhaps four hundred yards away but seemed closer, he saw two riders. Directly behind them in the distance, the wagon trail was a thin sand-colored line coming down out of the dark ma.s.s of pinyon. They had descended that road, Brady judged, the same way he had come not an hour before.
Albie was on his elbow, turned now and watched them approach. Brady saw the grin forming on his mouth as they drew closer and again he glanced at the girl. "Who are they?"
She stood motionless, one hand shading her eyes from the sun glare. A breeze moved the fullness of her skirt and her hand dropped to hold the bleached cotton material against her leg.
"I"m not sure," she answered.
"He knows them," Brady said.
She studied them intently before her expression changed. "Yes . . . the one on the left, he was with Albie the first time."
"Russ," Albie said, pushing himself up to a sitting position. "Russ is my ma and the other one"s my pa." He laughed then and called out, "Hey, Ma, this boy"s pickin" on me!" He came to one knee as the riders came out of the aspen stand, reining their horses to a walk.
The one called Russ, slouched easily in the saddle but with a Winchester across his lap said, "Albie, you"re never going to learn."
Albie came to his feet, brushing the seat of his pants. He was grinning and said, "Learn what, Ma?"
"That boy"s about to take his suit back."
"Like h.e.l.l he is," Albie said.
Brady stepped toward him as he spoke and as Albie glanced around, Brady"s left hand slammed into his face. Brady was on him as he went down, pressing his knee into his stomach, and when he rose he was holding the Colt Albie had been wearing. He saw that it was his own.