Buzzard's Bluff. William W. Johnstone

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СКАЧАТЬ taking his second shot, obviously wanting him to shoot one of them. “You can have it all. I just lost my appetite.”

      “Where you goin’?”

      “Somewhere else,” Ben answered and continued loading up his packhorse.

      “You leavin’ me to clean up this mess?” He pointed toward the two bodies.

      “It’s your mess,” Ben answered. “You take care of it any way you see fit.”

      “It’s your responsibility to guide me back to Austin,” Billy protested.

      “You don’t need a guide. Just stay on this wagon road. It goes to Austin.” When he was finished loading up, he climbed on his horse and rode off into the growing darkness, leaving Billy still sitting by the fire. After he was out of sight, he turned and circled back toward Navasota. “Sorry, Cousin,” he told the big dun gelding. “I know I’ve worked you pretty hard today, but I’m hopin’ Lem Wooten ain’t locked up the stable yet. I’ll give you a good rest and a portion of oats when we get there.”

      Back in town, he went straight to the stable and was glad to find Lem Wooten still there. “Good thing you came when you did,” Lem greeted him. “I was fixin’ to go to supper. Where’s your partner?”

      “He went on to Austin,” Ben said. “I decided to stay here tonight. I was hopin’ I’d catch you before you locked up. I wanna leave my horses here tonight. Like to sleep with ’em if it’s all right.”

      “Sure,” Lem said. “Bring ’em on in. You wanna feed ’em?”

      “Yep. I’d like to feed myself, too, but I don’t reckon I’ve got time before you lock up.”

      “Why don’t you go to supper with me?” Lem invited him. “I eat up the street at Mabel’s Table. Can’t get any better chuck in Navasota than Mabel’s. Matter of fact, you can’t get anything that’s fit to eat anywhere else in town. After that, I’ll let you back in the stable for the night. Whaddaya say?”

      “That suits me just fine,” Ben answered and led his horses into the stable. After the horses were watered and fed. He and Lem walked up the street to a small building between the post office and the drygoods store.

      “Evenin’, Lem,” Mabel Rivenbark greeted them when they walked in. “I was startin’ to wonder if you was takin’ supper somewhere else. I was fixin’ to throw the rest of the cornbread out.”

      “If I’da knowed you baked cornbread tonight, I’da been here a lot sooner,” Lem said, and looked at Ben. “Best cornbread in the state of Texas, and every time she bakes it, I ask her to marry me.”

      Mabel threw her head back and laughed. “You do carry on,” she declared. “Who’s this you got with you?”

      “This, here, is Ben Savage, Texas Ranger,” Lem announced. “He came all the way from Austin to arrest me for sellin’ horse meat to you.” She just shook her head, pretending to be out of patience with him. “I told him you cooked the best horse in town.” She looked at Ben, still shaking her head.

      “Ma’am,” Ben said and removed his hat.

      “Well, I’m happy to meet you, Ben Savage,” Mabel said, “in spite of the company you keep. We’re outta horse meat tonight, but we’re servin’ some beef stew that I hope you’ll enjoy.”

      “That sounds a little bit more to my taste,” Ben said.

      “Doris!” Mabel called out. “Bring a couple of cups of coffee for Lem and his friend.” Thinking to check then, she asked Ben, “You do want coffee, don’t you?”

      “Yes, ma’am,” Ben answered.

      The cooking proved to be as good as Lem had claimed. The stew wasn’t skimpy on beef, and the cornbread was as good as he had ever tasted. For a brief while, Ben was able to forget the trouble he had just experienced with Billy Turner. He had never had much exposure to Lem Wooten before, so he was surprised by his sense of humor and his teasing of Mabel Rivenbark. Before the supper was half-finished, however, Lem asked about the two outlaws Ben had enquired about when he first hit town. “Did you find them fellers?” he asked even though he already knew about the arrests made in the Texas Rose. “So your partner went on with your prisoners, huh?”

      “He took responsibility for the two men we arrested and he’s on his way to Austin with ’em,” Ben answered. “I gotta tend to something else tomorrow, so I decided to stay here tonight.”

      “Well, I reckon they weren’t too hard to handle,” Lem said.

      “No, they weren’t too hard to handle. He won’t have any trouble takin’ them to Austin.” The topic was something Ben didn’t want to discuss, and Lem finally sensed it, so the conversation got back to Mabel’s cooking. When they had finished, they walked back to the stable where Lem threw down some fresh hay for Ben’s bed before retiring to his little cabin behind the stable.

      Ben spread his bedroll on the fresh hay Lem had provided, removed his boots, and made himself comfortable. He lay there for a while, listening to Cousin snuffle, unable to rid his mind of the incident earlier with Billy Turner. In his twelve years as a Ranger, he had certainly known there were Rangers who would kill for convenience, but this was the first time he had ever ridden with one. He was still working on it in his mind, whether or not to make a complaint to Captain Mitchell about it, or just let it ride, since Billy wasn’t in his company. He still hadn’t decided by the time he fell asleep.

      CHAPTER 3

      “Didn’t expect to see you back this way so soon,” Wilfred Tuttle said when Ben pulled up at the hitching rail in front of his store. “Did those two you and your partner were lookin’ for give you the slip?” He glanced back toward the path leading down to his store. “Where is your partner? He ain’t with you?”

      “No,” Ben answered. “Billy ain’t with me. We found Kelly and Queen and arrested ’em. Billy’s takin’ ’em back to Austin, so I decided to come back this way, so I could have another one of Rosa’s fine breakfasts and pay you for what those two took.” His answer brought a grin to Tuttle’s face. Ben didn’t volunteer the fact that Billy had shot the prisoners down like a couple of dogs with rabies. “I’ll rest my horses, then start back the way I came yesterday.”

      “I expect Rosa will be tickled to see you,” Tuttle said. “I’ll tell her while you take care of your horses.”

      Ben purposefully took the occasion to enjoy a leisurely breakfast visit with Wilfred and Rosa before starting back to Austin. He needed to get his mind off Billy Turner.

      * * *

      It was past suppertime when he rode into Pritcher’s stable in Austin and left his horses in Fred Pritcher’s care. He had kept Cousin there for several years, since the stable was convenient to the rooming house he lived in. It had been two full days since he left Tuttle’s Store and he figured Billy would have arrived early enough to report in before Captain Mitchell left for the day. Hoping that would be the case, he intended to wait and report the next morning, a meeting he was not looking forward to. Mitchell was going to want a hell of a lot of explaining to account for him and Billy arriving separately. Ben wasn’t sure he could give him a satisfactory explanation. He would have to wait and hear what Billy’s СКАЧАТЬ