“He’s here? Good, good, show him in, would you please, Benjamin?”
“Who is Matt Jensen?” Clara asked as Benjamin left.
“He is someone that I hope I can convince to do some work for me,” Frewen replied.
When Matt was led into the drawing room, he saw as handsome a couple as he had ever seen. The woman was blond and beautiful, the man tall and handsome, with a well-groomed mustache. Both were elegantly dressed.
“Mr. Jensen, thank you so much for coming,” Frewen said.
“I must confess, Mr. Frewen, that your invitation was quite compelling,” Matt said. “In fact, I would say that it provided me with five thousand reasons to come.”
Frewen chuckled. “I hoped that would get your attention. I’ve read a great deal about you, Mr. Jensen. I knew that if I had any hope of getting your attention, I would have to do something dramatic.”
“You got my attention,” Matt said.
“Good.” Frewen turned toward Clara. “Clara, would you excuse us, please, my dear? Mr. Jensen and I are going to talk some business and I fear that some of it might not be suitable for a lady’s ears.”
“Very well,” Clara replied without protesting. She flashed a big smile toward Matt. “If you would excuse me, Mr. Jensen?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Matt replied with a slight nod of the head.
Frewen waited until after Clara was gone before he resumed the conversation.
“I hear that there was some unpleasantness last night in the pub.”
For a second, Matt had to think about what Frewen was talking about. Then he realized the pub Frewen was talking about was The Lion and The Crown Saloon.
“Yes, I’m afraid there was,” Matt said. “The man I shot, Kyle Houston, said that he had been hired to kill me.”
“So I heard.”
“Do you have any idea who might have hired him?” Matt asked.
“My foreman and I were discussing that same subject,” Frewen said. “And we have come up with the idea that it may have been Sam Logan.”
“Sam Logan?”
“Have you ever heard of him?”
“Only that you mentioned him in your letter.”
“Yes, well, he is an outlaw, though I have heard that at one time he was a peace officer. I do find that hard to believe, though. I mean, why would a former peace officer become an outlaw?”
“It’s really not all that hard to believe,” Matt said. “The West is full of outlaws who have gone straight and started wearing a badge, as well as peace officers who have crossed the line to become outlaws.”
“Then perhaps the rumors are true. Whatever his background, he is affiliated with a very active gang of cattle rustlers who are operating here in Johnson County with absolute impunity. They call themselves the Yellow Kerchief Gang because they all wear a yellow kerchief, as if it is a point of great personal pride. And, I am sorry to say, they have already killed six of my men, to say nothing of the cattle they have stolen.”
“Thank you for the way you put that,” Matt said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“When you said that they were causing you trouble, you put the lives of your men above the loss of your cattle. Not all ranchers would do that.”
“I assure you, Mr. Jensen, I feel the loss of each life most intensely.”
“Did you tell anyone you were contacting me?” Matt asked.
“I did, actually,” Frewen replied. “I hoped that just the knowledge that you might be working with me would cause Mr. Logan to have second thoughts about stealing cattle from me.”
“How does Logan work?”
“Well, as I said, he is the head of the Yellow Kerchief Gang, and they have gotten very bold, because now they are quite large. They succeed by overwhelming numbers. And Logan seems to understand military tactics. He knows where he will be able to enjoy numerical superiority, and he will ride in, bold as you please, with a group of ten or twelve men against two or three, four at the most, and proceed to cut out cattle. On one such raid, he took over fifteen hundred cattle.”
“So, what, exactly, do you want from me, Mr. Frewen?”
“I want you to protect me and mine,” Frewen replied.
“For how long?”
“At least until we are able to take our cattle to market.”
“All right,” Matt agreed.
“Oh, and there is one more thing,” Frewen said.”
“What would that be?”
“My sister-in-law and her young son Winnie are coming to America for an extended visit. They will arrive by train in Medicine Bow on Friday. From there, they will have to travel by stagecoach until they reach Sussex. If you would, I would like for you to be there to meet them, then ride in the coach with them back here to the ranch. I know that may sound a bit odd to you, but I’m more than just a little concerned about their safety.”
“All right, I’ll do that,” Matt agreed. “But tell me, do you have any specific reason to be worried? Is there something I should know?”
“I have no specific reason to be worried,” Frewen admitted. “It is just a feeling I have. I’m sure it’s foolish.”
“Not foolish at all,” Matt said. “I stay alive by paying attention to such feelings.”
Chapter Twelve
Two days later, Teasdale left Thistledown and rode out to Nine Mile Creek, again going through the ritual of displaying a yellow flag tied to the barrel of his rifle. There were half a dozen horses tied up out front, and when Teasdale dismounted and tied his own horse off, Sam Logan stepped out onto the front porch.
Logan was holding a cup of coffee, and he had a yellow kerchief at his neck.
“Hello, Bill,” Logan said.
Teasdale winced. “You don’t have to call me Sir William, as I know that there is no regard for titles in this country. But I would prefer it if you would call me Mr. Teasdale.”
“All right, if that’s what you want. I just thought that, what with us bein’ friends and all, that we would be callin’ each other by our Christian names.”
“We are not friends, and there is certainly nothing Christian about our relationship,” Teasdale said. “We have a mutually beneficial working partnership, and that is all.”
“Well, Mr. Teasdale, if you ain’t too good to drink coffee with us, come on in and have a cup,” Logan invited.
“I’ll do that,” Teasdale replied.
There were five others inside the shack who, like Logan, were all wearing yellow kerchiefs.
“I am sure you have heard by now what happened to Kyle Houston,” Teasdale said.
“I’ve heard.”
“I thought you said he would be able to take care of this man, Jensen,” Teasdale challenged.
“I thought he would,” Logan said. “You don’t think I would send my own cousin out to be killed, do you?”
“Well, he was killed, and this puts us back to where we started.”
“Not quite where we started,” Logan replied with a big smile. “I’ve got another hundred and fifty cows for you,” Logan said. “That will be another seven hundred fifty dollars.”
“Where did you get them?” Teasdale asked.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters. You know damn well it matters. I told you, I will support you and your people only so long as you continue to conduct all of your operations against the Powder River Cattle Company, Limited.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, I’ll tell you that we did take these cows from the Englishman,” Logan said. “And I’ve already got my men changing the brands.”
“Good,” Teasdale said. “But that doesn’t solve the problem of Matt Jensen, does it?”
“You don’t have to worry about Matt Jensen. I’ll find a way to take care of him.”
“You are going to take care of him?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you said you didn’t want to deal with him.”
“I don’t want to deal with him alone, and I won’t. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be dealt with.”