Cowgirl Trail Page 4

  Early was cautiously feeling all of Leo’s limbs. When he got to the bent leg, he touched Leo’s knee, and Leo let out a vehement stream of Spanish.

  “What’d he say?” Bronc asked.

  “Best you don’t know,” Alex said.

  “Yeah, your wife won’t want you learning to swear in Spanish, too.” Early didn’t look up as he spoke, but continued to gently prod Leo’s leg.

  “Leave me alone,” Leo screamed.

  Early jumped back. “Man! Did you have to yell in my ear?”

  Sweat poured off Leo’s brow, trickling down his temples. “Yes! I had to. You touch me again and I’ll knock you clear to the Rio Grande.”

  “Sorry,” Early said. “We’ve got to move you, though.”

  Leo heaved out a deep breath and clenched his teeth, closing his eyes. “I know.”

  “Did Sela teach you that kind of language?” Tommy asked.

  “I sure hope not,” Early muttered.

  “Sela wouldn’t mouth off like that,” Alex said.

  “Oh, yeah?” Leo glared up at him. “She would if she hurt as bad as I do right now.” He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes.

  Alex spotted the cowboy’s dusty hat over near his horse and ambled over to collect it. He was glad Early was along. He and Stewie probably had more experience with injuries than the rest of the crew put together. Between the two of them, the older men could decide how best to position Leo. They’d get him onto the blankets, and then they’d all help lift him.

  “Here comes the wagon,” Tommy called.

  Alex stood by while the Early and Stewie debated what to do. Finally Stewie gave Leo a couple of swallows from a whiskey bottle, and they moved him over to the bedroll. Leo screamed and slumped unconscious on the blankets. Early used the opportunity to straighten the broken limb.

  Alex’s stomach churned as he watched. When Early looked up at him and nodded, four of them took hold of the blanket and carried Leo to the back of the chuck wagon. There was barely enough room to lay him in there among the supplies.

  “You’ll get him back to the ranch all right?” he asked Stewie.

  “Sure. Send one of the boys to ride ahead and let Sela and Mr. Porter know. I’ll try to get back here in time to fix supper for you, but I left a crate of canned beans yonder just in case.”

  “All right,” Alex said. Maybe he should go and report to Mr. Porter. He’d planned not to go in tonight, but to wait until tomorrow, when they’d drive another bunch of cattle into the pasture closer to the house.

  He decided he’d serve the boss better if he stayed out here and kept the roundup on track. Without Leo, the whole process would take longer, and he’d be without another man for the rest of the day as well, with Early going along to help deliver the patient.

  He glanced around. “Early, if the boss wants you to go for the doc, do it.”

  Early nodded and mounted his horse. Stewie climbed to the driver’s seat on the chuck wagon.

  “Should we put another man back there with Leo?” Alex called.

  “No room,” Stewie said.

  Alex clenched his jaw. He was glad he wouldn’t lose more manpower, but he hoped Leo wouldn’t jounce around too badly and wind up with pots and canned goods falling on him. Stewie always battened things down pretty snugly, though. He waved his assent and walked over to where his red gelding waited.

  CHAPTER THREE

  When she returned from her long ride on Duchess, Maggie let the mare walk the last mile. Duchess was getting old. As much as she loved her childhood mount, it was time to think about riding a different horse—one that could carry her for hours without puffing and gasping.

  A sweet palomino filly danced in the corral next to the barn. Maggie had spotted her the morning after she’d come home. When she went out to saddle Duchess, she’d seen the golden horse prancing about, as though she wanted to play. Did Papa have plans for that filly? Maybe she belonged to one of the hired men. When Papa seemed to be in a good mood, she’d ask.

  Duchess perked up her ears as they approached the ranch buildings. Maggie peered around and spotted the ranch’s buckboard in the distance, headed toward Brady. It was too far away for her to recognize the driver, but somehow his hat and back didn’t look like Shep’s.

  She put Duchess away, giving her a quick brushing, then hurried across to the ranch house and went in through the kitchen door. To her surprise, the room was full of black-haired, dark-eyed little boys, whom Dolores was trying to persuade to sit down and stay put for a handful of raisins and a biscuit apiece. Sela and Leo Eagleton’s children, no doubt. The littlest one, Pablo, was crying.

  “Well now, what’s this?” she asked.

  Dolores turned to her with a harassed look. “Oh, Miss Maggie, these poor little fellows! They want their mamacita.”

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s gone to take their papa to the doctor.”

  “What happened?” Maggie asked. “And is that who I just saw heading to town in the buckboard?”

  “I expect it was,” Dolores said. “Poor Sela. She’s got to drive the wagon and mind the baby, too. Leo was hurt on the roundup. Stewie brought him here in the chuck wagon. One of the cowboys who came along offered to ride to town for the doctor, but Mr. Porter wouldn’t let him.”

  Maggie stared at her. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. Shep was off on an errand for your father, and the boss told Sela that if she wanted to get Leo to the doctor before nightfall, she’d best take him herself. Of course she had to take little Angelina with her.”

  The baby was only a few weeks old, so that was understandable. “And you offered to watch the boys,” Maggie said.

  “Yes. I don’t mind doing it, but I’m wondering how I’ll manage.” As she spoke, Dolores stooped and picked up Pablo. She cradled him against her shoulder and rocked back and forth. “I need to get supper ready soon.”

  “Let me go and change my clothes,” Maggie said. “I’ll come back and take the boys out to play catch for a while.”

  “Gracias. That would help so very much.” Dolores turned to answer the oldest boy’s plea for more raisins.

  Although Dolores fed the Eagleton boys their supper in the kitchen, Papa complained all through the meal about the noise he could hear them making. Maggie grew tired of attempting to cajole him into a better mood. After supper, she helped Dolores clean up and wash the dishes. Then they took the three boys to Sela and Leo’s cabin and after much wrangling tucked them into bed.

  “I will stay out here tonight,” Dolores said. “Will you sit with them until I fetch my nightclothes?”

  “Of course.” Maggie took a seat in Sela’s rocker, but in less than three minutes she heard Pablo weeping. When Dolores returned, she was holding him in her lap and singing the few Spanish songs she knew. Pablo’s sobs were just beginning to subside.

  “Are you sure you’ll be all right out here with them?” Maggie asked as she passed him over to Dolores. “Oh, yes, we will be fine.”

  With some misgiving, Maggie left them. Dolores and the boys should be safe out here, although all the men were away but Shep. He was in the bunkhouse, and would be the closest one for Dolores to call if she had an emergency. Maggie doubted their cook-maid would get a lot of sleep. Maybe tomorrow night she’d come out here to stay with the boys and give Dolores some respite.

  She considered trying to reason with her father again, but when she got to the house, he wasn’t in his office or the parlor. His bedroom door was closed. Maggie lifted her hand to knock, but thought better of it. Perhaps it was better to leave him alone and tackle the subject in the morning.

  Alex pushed the men hard all afternoon. They brought in hundreds more cattle and sorted them into the holding pens. The ones they wouldn’t take on the drive to Fort Worth were let loose. The cattle belonging to other ranches were placed in a separate pen from Porter’s. They swapped off at the branding fires. Nobody liked to work that duty very long.

 
; As the sun dipped in the west, Alex rode into camp weary, covered with sweat and caked dust. From a quarter mile away he could see that the chuck wagon hadn’t returned.

  “I’m heating some of them beans,” Joe called from the fireside as Alex slid from the saddle.

  “Thanks. Have we got coffee?”

  “Uh-huh. One pot full for all of us.”

  The other men straggled in.

  “That all we got?” Nevada kicked the end of a log sticking out of the fire, causing the spider full of beans to wobble precariously.

  “Watch it!” Joe glared at him. “If you want to spill your supper, fine, but don’t ruin ours, too.”

  “All right, boys, take it easy,” Alex said.

  Stewie had left cups and spoons, but had forgotten to leave the tin plates, so they ladled beans into their cups and sat around the fire in disgruntled silence, eating them without any liquid handy. When they’d eaten, they had to rinse out their cups so they’d have something to drink their coffee from.

  No one wanted to sit up and tell stories. They all headed for their bedrolls early. Alex was reaching for his blankets when he heard the creaking wheels of the chuck wagon.

  “Stewie’s back,” Tommy yelled.

  A couple of minutes later, Early rode up.

  “What took you so long?” Nevada asked.

  “Had to stop and fix the harness on the way back.” Early slid wearily from the saddle.

  Stewie brought the chuck wagon in and positioned it in the usual spot. “You boys hungry?”

  “We et the beans,” Nevada said. “What else ya got?”

  “I’ll fix you some pan bread real quick, and Dolores set about making gingerbread as soon as she heard what happened. By the time we were ready to come back, she had a triple batch cooked. I’ll let you all have one piece while I get the rest ready. Come on, Bronc. Help me set up my kitchen again.”

  The men cheered and settled down with slabs of the gingerbread while Stewie opened up the back of the chuck wagon and set about fixing the rest of their meal.

  “All right, Early,” Alex said. “Did the doctor come?”

  “Nope. Not when we’d left. Mr. Porter wouldn’t let us ride for the doc or take Leo into town.”

  “You’re joshing,” Alex said.

  “No, I’m not. Instead, he told Sela she could take the buckboard and drive Leo into town herself.”

  Alex stared at him. How could the boss be so unfeeling? Sela had three small children and a newborn, and now her husband was injured so badly he wouldn’t be able to work for weeks, maybe months. “That’s not like Mr. Porter at all.”

  “I’m telling you, Alex, we gotta strike,” Nevada said.

  Alex frowned. “Quit talking that way. We’ve got work to do out here.”

  Nevada tossed the dregs of his coffee into the fire. “It makes me sick, what happened to Leo. If the boss won’t take care of his own men, he doesn’t deserve our respect. I don’t want to work for him anymore.”

  “Me either,” Tommy said.

  “Hold on, boys.” Alex stood. “Listen to me. I’ll send someone tomorrow to find out how Leo’s doing and take his gear to Sela. Let’s not get all het up about this until we have more information, all right?”

  No one said anything audible, but a few of the men muttered to their buddies. Alex poured himself another cup of coffee. “Stewie, you got more gingerbread?”

  “Sure do.”

  Alex walked to the back of the chuck wagon to get it. “I heard Miss Porter’s home.” Stewie laid a large slab on Alex’s plate.

  “Yeah, I saw her last night.”

  “You did?” The older man frowned. “You didn’t tell us.”

  Alex shrugged. “Was she there when you took Leo in?”

  “Naw, didn’t see her. Dolores told me. I’ll bet if Miss Maggie had been around, she would have made her pa send for the doctor, not make Sela drive poor Leo all the way into town. He was in bad shape by the time we got to the ranch.”

  Alex sighed. “I don’t know what we can do about all this, Stewie. I’m upset too, but it seems to me that if we up and strike, we’ll all be without jobs. That won’t help anyone.”

  Stewie nodded. “Reckon you’re right. It was hard, though. Downright mean of him. Sela had to take the baby with her in the buckboard. Dolores told her she’d keep the three little boys, but she couldn’t handle the baby and watch them and do her work too. That ain’t right. The boss shouldn’t have made Sela go.”

  He was right, but Alex still held back. If he started bad-mouthing the boss, there’d be no turning back. Right now he was walking a tightrope. If he took one false step either way, the men would cut loose. But Mr. Porter was dead wrong.

  After breakfast the next morning, Maggie took the Eagleton boys out to the corral and gave them rides on Duchess. Leo Junior, the oldest, was already quite a good rider at the age of six. Manuel and Pablo had to be lifted into the saddle. Maggie put them both on the horse at once and led them around the corral while little Leo watched from the top fence rail.

  Maggie had always found it amusing that after his first son was properly named for him, Leo had allowed Sela to give the rest of the children Spanish names. That seemed to be the way of things with the cowboy and his bride. Leo had the first word, and Sela had the last. They’d always seemed very happy together. But now Leo was gravely injured. How would Sela cope with the family and their precarious finances? From what Dolores had told her, Maggie surmised that Leo might be laid up for a very long time.

  All of the boys had taken two turns on Duchess when a lone cowboy rode in from the range. When he got to the barnyard, Maggie recognized Joe Moore, the outfit’s wrangler. He had an affinity for horses. On a roundup, each cowpuncher had at least three horses at his disposal, and often more. Joe’s job was to keep them ready to work. He’d been at the Rocking P for a year or so before she went away, but she didn’t know him as well as she did the older cowboys.

  “Good morning, Joe,” she called as he trotted up to the corral.

  “Miss Maggie.” He touched his hat brim and swept a glance over the boys. “Any news about Leo?”

  “No, nothing new. I thought perhaps I’d ride into town later. I have some things Dolores gathered up for Sela and the baby. I understand they left in a hurry yesterday.” Maggie shot a sideways look toward the little boys and hoped Joe wouldn’t go into too much detail about their father’s condition in front of them. If Pablo began to cry again, she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

  “Yeah.” Joe opened his mouth and then closed it. After a moment, he pushed his hat back a little. “I can take a bundle for Sela.”

  “Thank you.” Maggie pulled out a smile and nodded toward the boys. “Let me get these cowpokes down, and I’ll go get it.”

  “Well, uh … I could lead them around another turn if you like, while you fetch the stuff.”

  Maggie hurried to the kitchen. “Dolores, Joe Moore just rode in from the roundup. The men want to know how Leo is doing. Joe says he’ll ride into town and find out—and he’ll take those things we gathered up for Sela.”

  “Oh, good.” Dolores laid down her paring knife. “Can you run to the cabin for them? I left them on the table. I’ll wrap up some food for him to take Sela and Leo.”

  Maggie doubted Leo was eating solid food today, but she dashed out the back door and down the path toward the Eagletons’ cabin. On the table inside, she found the pillowcase Dolores had stuffed with diapers, baby clothes, and a few extra items of Sela and Leo’s. She knotted the opening. When she got back to the house, Dolores was out near the corral holding a couple of wrapped items for Joe to put in his saddlebags. The three little boys sat in a row on the fence, watching them like baby robins waiting for the next worm.

  “Can you carry this, Joe?” Maggie asked, holding out the pillowcase. “It’s mostly clothes.”

  “Sure, I can tie it on behind the saddle.”

  While he arranged the items, Dolores gave him several messages
for Sela, ending with, “And tell her the boys are being good little gentlemen.”

  “I’ll try to remember all that, but I don’t suppose she’ll believe that last one.” Joe swung up into the saddle and touched his hat brim again. “Ladies. Boys.” He nodded to the three solemn children and trotted off toward town.

  “I can handle the boys now, Miss Maggie, if you want to pay that visit you were talking about to Miss Carlotta.”

  “Are you sure?” Maggie looked doubtfully at the boys. Leo Junior had already climbed down from the fence, and Manuel followed. Pablo tried to swing down and hung whimpering from the top rail by his arms. Maggie lifted him and set him on the ground with a pat on the head, and he toddled off after his brothers toward the barn.

  “Here now, young Leo,” Dolores called. “Don’t go far. I have something special for you in the kitchen.”

  That brought all three boys back to swarm Dolores.

  “Are you sure?” Maggie asked.

  “Yes. Go now, before I change my mind.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The half-hour ride eased some of Maggie’s strain. Just being back in familiar territory and riding her beloved horse over the grasslands unchaperoned boosted her spirits. She’d missed this freedom and the raw honesty of the Texas landscape.

  When she cantered up to the low adobe ranch house, a cowboy came from the barn and took her horse.

  “I will put him in the shade for you, señorita,” he said with a pronounced Mexican accent.

  Maggie smiled. “Gracias. I expect to be awhile with Señorita Carlotta.”

  The Herrera house was built around a courtyard, and she found Carlotta and her mother there in the shade, stitching something that could only be a party dress.

  Carlotta jumped up, casting her sewing aside.

  “Maggie, querida! I heard you were back.” The dark-haired beauty ran to her across the stone courtyard. “I am so happy to see you!”