Deadly Is the Night by Dusty Richards Page A

horses. “Ah, a good wife. We are lucky we both have great ones.”
    â€œYou are a much different man than I expected to meet. I have heard about the big ranches you own and how tough you are. I don’t doubt you could be tough, but you didn’t come up here and insult me, push me away, or swagger around like Weeks always did.”
    â€œWhy do that? If I take on a business I want it to make money—fair enough?”
    â€œI see that. You listened to my wife. Most men would have scoffed at her words. You turned your ears up to hear her part. But you knew women many times will make their men do what they want. The present ranch headquarters looks like a place in Sonora you’d find in the desert. This looks like Fort Huachuca.”
    Chet nodded. “The cottonwoods and with a large two-story house with sleeping porches.”
    â€œWhat will you do now?” Frisco asked.
    â€œTell Nye to spend some money. Build a headquarters to show people and buy three hundred mother cows to stock it along with a dozen good bulls. Cull the barren cows. In two years he can sell this place for a fortune to a real rancher.”
    â€œIf you believe that, then why not buy it yourself and I’ll do the rest for you here.”
    â€œWhere will you get the cows?” Chet asked.
    â€œSocorro, New Mexico. I can buy half to three quarter Hereford and Shorthorn cows up there next fall. Cost twenty-five dollars apiece. None over five years old and bred to a good bull. Now, the road will cost you five hundred dollars or less. How big a house?”
    â€œSix bedrooms.”
    â€œI can get some good carpenters up here from Mexico. Cheap but I really would need a gringo to buy the material. If I tried, they would rob me. Do you have one like that works for you?”
    Chet nodded. “We can talk to Spencer. He could do it and knows building. Tonight we will ask him.”
    Frisco grinned. “ Gracias . I came here because I love this ranch. My family has run this ranch for many years. I would like to run it when it is stocked and a real ranch.”
    â€œIf I buy it, you will have that chance to make it work.”
    â€œGracias.” They shook hands to seal the deal.
    That evening he spoke to Spencer and Jesus. “Frisco wants to run the ranch if I buy it. But I would need a construction supervisor for about a year to build the headquarters over at Apache Springs. Frisco is afraid they would cheat him buying material and the like. He can get all the help we need from Mexico.”
    â€œWho will ride with you?” Spencer asked.
    â€œJesus and I will pick up a hand if we need one. Get the house up and you can come back to us. What about Rebecca?”
    â€œShe can marry me and be my wife or go her own way. What was this springs place like?”
    â€œA cottonwood tree canyon with maybe an acre or more of natural lake in the center, spring fed, and has a hundred-foot-long watering trough below it someone built years ago. It is a place where the headquarters should have been built.”
    â€œCan I go home and ask her first?”
    â€œWe have time. I can get a construction man if you don’t want it. We can ride by and see the springs place on the way going back.”
    â€œI damn sure want to see it. And Frisco wants to be the foreman here I bet?”
    Chet nodded. “I don’t figure you want to sit up here and simply be the boss.”
    Spencer chuckled. “You know me too well now.”
    â€œIf I can make a deal with Nye when we get back to Tucson, then you decide after we get home. I think this ranch can be a really damn good one.”
    â€œThose cows that I have seen are all old. That is no problem. We will buy three hundred cows in the fall over at Socorro, New Mexico. Frisco knows how and when. Meanwhile you put up the headquarters building and we can sell it if we want, or keep it and make it bigger.”
    â€œIt is damn sure a real grassy