Turning my horse, I taken a good hold on that rope, let out a wild Comanche yell, and slapped spurs to that palouse.
Those spurs surprised him. He taken out like a scared rabbit. Ripping down those guy ropes and collapsing the other tents, I lit out. When I'd done what I could that way, I rode back through between the tents at a dead run. As I came through, a gang of men rushed up and caught themselves in a loop of rope.
It tumbled the lot of them, and dragged some. I let go the rope and, leaning from the saddle, I wrenched loose a length of tent stake. I rode up on that bunch and rapped a skull here and there.
A man on the stoop of the store building grabbed his pistol. I tossed that stake at his face and said, "Catch!"
He jumped back, fell over the last step and half inside the door.
Riding by, I drew up in the shadow. I'd sure enough played hob. Two small tents had collapsed and folks were struggling under them. The big tent was leaning away over. There was a lot of shouting, and somebody yelled, "No, you don't! Drop that money!" A shot was fired.
I remembered Pa's advice then, and taken time to contemplate. Setting my horse there in the shadows, I watched that mess-up and enjoyed it.
There was swelling under those tents, everybody arguing and swearing. Nobody was making any kind of sense.
One tent flattened down as the men struggled from under it. I decided they needed light, so I taken a flaming stick from the outside fire and tossed it at that flattened-out tent.
Somebody saw me and yelled. I turned sharp and trotted my horse away just as he let go with a shotgun. Then that tent burst into flame and I had to move back further.
They wanted to settle on my town site without paying, did they? They wanted to shoot up my camp?
I happened to notice their corral on the edge of the wash. A couple of saddles, a rope . . . Shaking out a loop, I caught a comer post of the corral with my rope and rode off, pulling it down. Horses streamed by me.
Surely does beat all what a man can do when he sets his mind to being destructive.
One leg hooked around my saddlehorn, I spoke gentle to my horse to warn him of trouble to come, and then I turned my head to the sky.
"When I walked out on the streets of Laredo, when I--"
A bullet cut wind near me, and I taken off. Seemed like nobody liked my singing.
Chapter XI
"There was a faint lemon color edging the gray of the clouds when trolled out of my blankets. Joe Rugger had teased the fire into flame and put water on for coffee. Sticking my feet into my boots, stomped them into place and slung my gun belt around my hips. Expecting trouble, that was all I had taken off, except for my vest. I put on my vest and tucked another gun behind toy belt and then walked out to the edge of the woods. Oh, sure, I had my hat on--first thing a cow-boy does when he crawls out of bed in the morning is to put his hat on.
Looked to me like somebody was leaving over yonder.
Ange was up, her hair combed as pretty as might be, and sunlight catching the gold of it through a rift in the clouds. She brought me a cup of coffee.
"I suppose you're satisfied with what you've done," she said. Thank you, ma'am. . . . Satisfied? Well, now. Takes a lot to satisfy a man, takes a lot to please him if he's any account. But what I did, I did well ... yes, ma'am, I'm pleased."
"I thought you were a good man."
"Glad to hear you say so. It's an appearance I favor. Not that I've ever been sure what it was made a good man. Mostly I'd say a good man is one you can rely on, one who does his job and stands by what he believes."
"Do you believe in killing people?"
"No, ma'am, not as a practice. Trouble is, if a body gets trouble out here he can't call the sheriff . . . there isn't any sheriff. He can't have his case judged by the law, because there aren't any judges. He can't appeal to anybody or anything except his own sense of what's just and right.
"There's folks around believe they can do anything they're big enough to do, no matter how it tromples on other folks' rights. That I don't favor.
"Some people you can arbitrate with . . . you can reason a thing out and settle it fair and square. There's others will understand nothing but force.
"Joe Rugger now, there's a good man. Cap Rountree is another. They are trying to build something. Those others, they figure to profit by what other people do, and I don't aim to stand by in silence."
"You have no authority for such actions."
"Yes, ma'am, I do. The ideas I have are principles that men have had for many a year. I've been reading about that. When a man enters into society --that's living with other folks--he agrees to abide by the rules of that society, and when he crosses those rules he becomes liable to judgment, and if he continues to cross them, then he becomes an outlaw.
In wild country like this a man has no appeal but to that consideration, and when he fights against force and brutality, he must use the weapons he has.
"Take Joe Rugger now. He rode in here with a lot of mighty mean, shiftless folks. He broke with them and came over to us when we were short-handed. He knew when he made that choice that it might be the death of him.
"Ma'am, I'm not an educated man, but I'm trying to make up for it. Thing is, when folks started to live together, a long time ago, they worked out certain laws, like respecting the rights of others, giving folks the benefit of the doubt, sharing the work of the community ... that sort of thing. ' "Cap and me figured to start a town, and we wanted it to be a good town where there would someday be women-folks walking the streets to and where youngsters could play. And you know something? We've got our first citizen. We've got Joe Rugger."
"I never thought of it that way." She said it grudgingly, and she riled me.
No, ma'am, folks don't," I said with considerable "People who live in comfortable, settled towns with law-abiding citizens and a government to protect them, they never think of the men who came first, the ones who went through hell to build something.
"I tell you, ma'am, when my time comes to ride out, I want to see a school over there with a bell in the tower, and a church, and I want to see families dressed up of a Sunday, and a flag flying over there. And if I have to do it with a pistol, I will.
This time I riled her. She walked away stiff-like, and I could see that I'd said the wrong thing.
When I finished my coffee Joe came out to stand guard, and I went back and ate some venison and some sour-dough bread dipped in sorghum molasses.
Cap looked a sight better. His eyes were brighter, and there was color in his faded cheeks. 'Well, Cap," I said, "I never had any doubt. You're too mean and ornery to die like this. Way I figure, you'll die in a corner just snapping and grabbing and cutting around you. You'll die with your teeth in somebody if I know you right.
"Now you hurry up and get out of there. Joe and me are getting almighty tired of you laying up while we do all the work." "How are things?"
"Sober. Looks to me like those folks have started to settle down to think things out. Time I went over and had a talk with them. Time to make a little medicine." "You be careful."
"I'm a careful man. Time comes to run, I ain't afraid to run. When I ride down there this morning, I'm going for a showdown." "Wish I could go along."
"You set tight ... I think they'll stand for reasoning now. I plan to get them to sit down and contemplate. And if they can't cut the mustard that way, they'll get their walking papers." "All of them?"
"Shucks, there ain't no more than forty."
With my Winchester across my saddle, I rode down. They saw me coming, but I was walking
my horse in plain sight and they waited for me.
With the exception of that fat man who had come with Kitch to our camp, I saw nobody I knew until Ab Warren came outside. He was not wearing a gun.