Troubled range (2 page)

"What's eating you?" she asked, deciding to start the horses moving again and to hell with him, but not doing it until she had asked the question.

"Leave us not drop the back wheel into the hole," the Texan answered dryly. "Where in hell did you learn to handle a wagon?—from Wild Bill?"

"You wnit, mister. You just wait!" Calamity said, but she said it under her breath for she was writhing with shame at having forgotten something the rawest cook's louse in a freighting outfit would have remembered. Being Calamity, she blamed the Texan's attitude for causing her to forget the important detail of ensuring the rear wheel did not follow its leader into the hole, miss the log and bog the wagon down again.

Stamping her feet down angrily, Calamity stormed towards the wagon and studied the hole. The Texan's warning had come just in time. Another second and the wheel would have sunk down into the hole.

Taking the second log, Calamity packed it into the hole alongside the first. Grubbing some earth from the sides, she piled it over the logs, then stood up.

"That do it?" she asked.

"Reckon it might. Give her a whirl."

The Texan's cool, relaxed attitude almost pushed Calamity to the bursting point. Turning on her heel, she threw herself at her horses' heads and gripped the nearest reins. Common sense returned the moment she touched the reins. Instead of giving the word and making the horses jerk,

she eased them forward inch by inch. The wagon advanced steadily, its wheel rolling on to the logs, with Calamity Jane holding her breath, leaning to one side so she could watch it roll on to the logs.

"Keep it going easy, gal," the Texan said, also watching the wheel.

At the edge of the hole, the wheel stuck for an instant, then lifted and passed over on to solid ground. Calamity was clear of the stoppage which had delayed her. Bringing the team to a halt, she walked towards the big stranger.

"Thanks, feller," she said.

"Think nothing of it," he replied. "That coffee smells good."

"Tastes the same way. Set and rest up a spell while I unhitch my team. Then I'll cook us up a mess of vittles."

"Never could stand by and watch a lady work. So I'll just tend to my horse while you're unhitching and cooking."

While she worked, Calamity threw interested glances at her rescuer, trying to decide who he might be. One prominent Texas name fitted his appearance and stength, way other Tejanos boasted about it, only that one wore his guns butt forwards for a cross-draw, or so she heard tell. This big feller's matched Army Colts were real fine weapons, with the deep blue sheen of the Hartford factory's Best Citizens' Finish; they rode in contoured holsters which hungjust right, but those holsters had never been designed for cross-draw work.

After tending to his horse, the Texan walked back to the fire and laid his saddle carefully on its side. No cowhand worth his salt ever chanced damaging his rig by resting it on its skirts. Without a saddle he could do no cattle work. He set down his saddle so the butt of the Winchester Model 1866 rifle in the boot remained on top and ready for a hurried withdrawal should one be necessary.

With this done, the Texan walked across and started to help Calamity unhitch her horses. Her first inclination was to tell him she didn't need his help even though she could use it. Only she knew if she did he was likely to take her at her word and leave her to it.

"Going to say something?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied, then to hide her confusion. "I told you my name."

"Yep."

"Yep!"

"And now you're wanting to know mine?"

"Me! Hen!" snorted Calamity, tossing her head back in an entirely feminine manner which brought no reaction from the man. "All right then, I want to know."

"Name's Counter, my pards call me Mark."

Calamity cut down her whistle of surprise. Mark Counter. That figured, happen a half-smart lil range gal came to think about it.

Although his father ran a big spread down in the Texas Big Bend country, and Mark himself had a fair-sized fortune left him by an eccentric maiden aunt in her will, he still rode as a hand for Ole Devil Hardin's O.D. Connected ranch. More than that, he belonged to the elite of the ranch crew, the floating outfit, and was the side-kick and right bower* of the spread's segundo, the Rio Hondo gun wizard Dusty Fog. When debating to herself who'Mark might be, Calamity had thought of Dusty Fog—only if Dusty Fog was bigger and stronger than Mark, it would make him a tolerable big and strong man.

During the War Between The States, Mark rode as a second lieutenant in old Bushrod Sheldon's regiment where his ideas of uniform were much copied by the bloods of the Confederate Cavalry. Now Mark's taste in clothes dictated cowhand fashions in the range country, for he was an acknowledged master of the trade. His strength and ability in a rough-house brawl were spoken of with awe by all who saw him in action. Having just seen an example of that strength, Calamity reckoned for once the Texans were not exaggerating even a little mite as they talked of this particular son of the Lone Star State. Men said Mark could handle his guns well. The few who knew claimed him to be second only to the man they called the fastest gun in Texas, Dusty Fog himself, in both speed and accurate placing of his shots.

♦Right Bower, originally a Euchre term for the highest trump card.

"Glad to know you," she said, not wishing him to guess that she felt impressed by being in the presence of a man Wild Bill Hickok studiously avoided meeting when the O.D. Connected brought a trail herd into Hays.

Actually Wild Bill had left town on a buffalo hunt the day before the O.D. Connected herd arrived—he said. Calamity had taken his word for it, content to bask in Hickok's reflected glory. Only now she came to think about it, there had been no buffalo herds seen around Hays at that time. Even the professional hunters had commented on the lack of the shaggy critters on the range.

No matter that she was hot-headed, Calamity could cook up a meal fit to set a man's mouth to watering. One of the few things the nuns at the St. Louis convent—where Calamity's mother left her children before disappearing into the unknown—had managed to teach the girl was how to cook.

They ate their meal without much talk. Then, after cleaning up the dishes, Calamity walked to where her guest stood. She reckoned it was high time they had a show-down and learned who was boss around the camp-fire.

"You sure cook good, Calamity," he said, grinning down at her. "Don't tell me Wild Bill taught youT'

"I'm Wild Bill's gal," she replied and whipped the flat of her hand across his cheek with all her strength.

It was a good slap, Calamity admitted to herself, maybe even a little harder than she ought—

Mark's hands shot out, clamping on her shoulders and jerking her forward. He bent his head and his lips crushed down on hers. With a muffled gasp, Calamity tried to twist her head away. Her hard little fists beat at his shoulders, but Mark ignored them. Twisting his body, he took her knee on his thigh as it drove up. Then he released her, shoving her backwards. For a moment Calamity stood gasping for breath. Then she came forward with another slap and a repetition of the fiction that she was Wild Bill's girl.

Again Mark caught her, hauled her to him and crushed a kiss on her lips. She struggled, though not as hard as before. On being released, she staggered a pace or so to the rear and stood gasping for breath.

"I'm Wild Bill's gal!" she said, her breasts heaving, and she

lashed out another slap, only it did not have the power of the first two.

On the fourth, fifth and sixth kisses and slaps Calamity's struggles grew weaker. The slaps became more feeble and on the sixth time she found herself starting to kiss back.

"I—I'm st—still W—Wild Bill's g—gal!" she gasped after the seventh kiss, staggering on wobbly legs and landed a slap which barely touched his cheek.

Once more Mark scooped her into his arms. This time her lips sought his, hungrily answering the kiss. Her tongue crept through his lips. Her arms, no longer flailing, crept around him. Clinging to Mark, her fingers digging into the hard muscles of his back, Calamity threw all she had into her kiss.

The night was dark. The stars shone brightly in trie heavens. Only the range noises broke the silence; the stamping of Mark's big stallion as it heard the distant scream of a cougar; the thrashing as one of Calamity's team horses rolled in the grass; the squeaking of insects.

Under the wagon a large black mound separated into two smaller black mounds. A masculine voice spoke from the larger of the mounds.

"What do you think of Wild Bill Hickok now?' it asked.

A feminine voice, dreamy, satisfied and contented came from the smaller.

"Wild Bill Hickok," it said. "Who is Wild Bill Hickok?'

The sun crept up and peeped over the horizon. A cold grey light of dawn began to creep out into the blackness of the night sky.

Beneath Calamity's wagon, Mark Counter opened his eyes and lifted his head from the pillow he always carried in his bedroll. Beside him, the girl stirred sleepily, her bare arm around his equally bare shoulders. Putting up his hand, Mark felt at the oval lump on the right side of his neck. Well, the bandana would hide it and he reckoned he was big enough to handle any adverse comments on his honourable wounds.

Two arms closed around his neck and a hot little mouth crushed against his, worked across his cheek and to his ear.

"Mark!" Calamity breathed into his ear.

"It's time we was up and on our way," he replied.

"Please—pretty please."

Like the man said, a feller's sins always bounced right back on to his fool head happen he stayed around long enough after committing them; and Mark had taken a firm stand on the subject of politeness bringing its own reward when he first met Calamity.

Half an hour later Mark sat drawing on his boots and at his side, smiling contentedly, Calamity buttoned her shirt after tucking it into her pants.

"Yes sir," she sighed, rising to make the fire. "World's sure a happier place happen we all ask each other polite."

There had been a time, back the first time it happened, when Calamity would have expected the man to ma- rj her and spend the rest of his days in a haze of devotion to her.

Only he had not. The feller had been a handsome young freighter and Calamity a naive sixteen-year-old girl fresh out in the harsh, cruel world. When she woke the morning after it happened, she found him gone and felt that her heart would break. It did not. Fact being Calamity had discovered her heart could stand plenty of jolting around without showing any signs of fracture. From the first time, she built up the belief that no man was so much better than the rest that he was worth busting a gut over when he pulled up his stakes and left. There would be another feller come along, so she went her own way, enjoying life to the full in good times and bad. Only she no longer grew starry-eyed when a man showed appreciation of her feminine charms.

Sure, last night had been swell, but that did not make her a potential Mrs. Mark Counter. Likely they would part in Elkhorn City and never meet again. Although she had never heard the word, would not have understood it if she did, or know how to phrase it, Calamity figured their destinies lay in different directions. While last night had been an enjoyable experience, and one she would not soon forget, nothing serious could come of it.

So Calamity cooked breakfast, while Mark used some of the contents of her water-butt for his wash and shave. They ate their food with a good appetite and prepared to move on. After saddling his bloodbay, Mark helped Calamity to hitch

up her team to the wagon. When all was done Mark mounted his horse and Calamity swung up on to the box of her wagon, taking up the blacksnake whip.

"Giddap!" Calamity yelled, swinging her whip and making it pop like a gunshot in the morning air.

The two horses put their shoulders to the harness and moved forward, starting the wagon rolling. Side by side Calamity and Mark headed across the range, following the faint wheel ruts which marked the way to their respective business affairs in Elkhorn City.

"How come Cap'n Fog's not along with you, Mark?" she asked.

"Had some business to attend to in town and couldn't leave. Then he got this telegraph wire from a feller up in Elkhorn wanting to pay off some money he owed Ole Devil. Sent me along to collect it."

"I'd sure admire to have met Cap'n Fog. How come he took his herd to Newton, not Hays, this year?"

"Saved two days driving, brought in the first drive of the year. Happen the railroad keeps pointing the way it is, we'll likely be delivering to somewheres around Fort Dodge next summer. You figure Wild Bill scared us off?"

"Like I said last night. Who's Wild Bill?' she grinned. "Sure would like to see Cap'n Fog though. Is all I hear about him true?"

"Such as?"

"How he stands taller'n you, is stronger, faster with his guns."

"Would you believe me if I told you Dusty Fog stands only about five foot at most?"

"Nope—Hey, you're not jobbing me. You're serious, aren't you?"

Mark nodded his head. When he said Dusty Fog stood only five foot six, he told the simple truth—but to Mark's way of thinking, and to many others with whom he came in contact, Dusty Fog could not be measured in mere feet and inches, he stood the tallest of them all.

"I alius heard—!" Calamity began.

"Sure," Mark interrupted. "I've heard it too."

For a time they travelled on discussing Dusty Fog, the

Ysabel Kid and the other well-known members of the O.D. Connected. Then Calamity swung the conversation to an item of news which had been the main topic in Newton during Mark's visit.

"Did you hear anything new about the bank hold-up that Belle Starr's gang pulled in Newton?" she asked.

"Belle Starr's gang!" Mark snorted. "Just 'cause some old biddy who had been swigging corn-toddy reckoned she saw a woman holding the gang's horses, everybody's howling about Belle Starr."

"You reckon it wasn't her then?"

"No more her than Big and Lil Harpe and they've been dead for over a hundred years."