.44 Caliber Man by J.T. Edson Page B

on our hands right now without Kenny having to
wet-nurse that Scotch feller, Ma,’ she said.
    ‘ He saved you,’ Ma replied. ‘We’re beholden to him for
that.’
    ‘ The Kid saved me as well, comes to that,’ Jeanie protested,
wanting to keep the conversation going long enough for her mother
to forget the irritation of the corsets. ‘Aren’t we beholden to him
too?’
    ‘ If the Ysabel Kid don’t know how to look out for his-self by
now, he’s been living on luck since he was ten,’ Ma answered. ‘The
Kid knows Mexicans like your pappy knew mustanging. That Scotch boy
doesn’t know ’em, so I figure we owe him some help.’
    As she
mentioned her husband, Ma turned her eyes towards the fireplace.
Following the direction of her mother’s gaze, Jeanie knew what
attracted Ma’s attention. Hung in a place of honor on the wall
above the fireplace was an ivory handled Dragoon Colt. It had been
her father’s gun and looking at it reminded Jeanie afresh of her
family’s financial situation.
    Times were hard
in Texas. Although not a slave-owning State, except on a very
limited scale, its pre-War Administration had elected to secede
from the Union. The South lost the War and Texans worked to rebuild
their State. In one way they might have counted themselves lucky.
Texas’ vast distances and small Negro population prevented the
heavy hand of Reconstruction falling on any but the more civilized
eastern and northern areas. In the south and west life went on much
as before the War, but defeat brought problems in its wake.
    Produced to
replace the Union’s monetary system, the currency of the
Confederate States became valueless paper with the North’s victory.
Which meant that the people of Texas had to start almost from
scratch if they hoped to re-establish their shattered economy. The
State had no conventional industries capable of competing for
business on a nation-wide level, but it possessed a rich natural
wealth that might possibly be developed.
    Chief source of
natural wealth was cattle. Left all but un-tended through the years
of the War, the herds of longhorns had multiplied practically
unchecked. They offered a potential way to solvency which a few
far-seeing men could understand. However, the way back to financial
stability would not be easy. Two major problems needed solving.
Where to sell the stock and how to handle the half-wild cattle on
the great, unfenced Texas range country.
    The second
problem was of most interest to the Schell family. To work cattle,
men needed horses. During the War, the Confederate States Army drew
remounts in plenty from the Texas ranchers. To tend and round up
their cattle, they had to rebuild their remudas. That was where
mustangers like the Schell family came in. Mustangs roamed in great
numbers in certain sections of the range country, untamed but
offering the answer to the ranchers’ needs. Under the rugged,
merciless laws of nature only the fittest horses survived; animals
used to fending for themselves and able to keep in good health on
what they could forage. So the wild horses became a vital necessity
to the recovery of Texas.
    Gathering
mustangs was not so easy as the uninitiated might believe. Men like
Trader Schell had long made it their profession. They knew where to
look for the greatest concentrations, developing techniques to
catch and hold together large numbers of wild horses. With their
superior skill, the professional mustangers could supply a
rancher’s needs in less time and cheaper than he might using his
own men.
    Although there
was a steady demand for horses, Trader Schell had not grown rich.
Only a few ranchers, those who had been wise enough to convert some
of their money into gold during the War, could pay cash for the
stock. The rest traded property to fill their needs, or gave
notes-of-hand for cattle in exchange for the horses. Despite cattle
still having little more than hide-and-tallow value, knowing the
ranchers’ desperate position. Trader