Goodnight's Dream (A Floating Outfit Western Book 4) by J.T. Edson Page B

with the Texans, or scare the cattle so that
they ran and were lost.’
    ‘ Maybe something stopped him from doing
it,’ Wednesbury said.
    Only the word should have been
‘somebody’, not ‘something’. In return for their part in giving him
a booster for arrival to Fort Sumner, Major Lane had told his
sergeant major to make sure the Texans received fair treatment and
were not troubled by the local inhabitants. Not only did the
non-com attend to the former condition, he took steps to insure
against the latter. When Crutch had left the saloon, he was
followed by ‘Gypsy’ Smith of the Mountain Artillery Battery. At
first the soldier had thought that Crutch intended to go home. When
the man left town on foot, Smith followed and wondered what was
taking him in the direction of the bedded-down cattle. Maybe Smith
had never been a cowhand, but he knew enough about animals to figure what
would happen if somebody started firing off a revolver close to the
sleeping longhorns. Seeing Crutch draw his weapon, Smith had moved
fast. Instead of making use of his Army Colt, the soldier had slid
out his knife.
    Feeling the clip-point of a Green River blade
prodding at his back, Crutch forgot his idea of stampeding the herd
and laying the blame on a drunken Texas cowhand working off spite
against the Yankees. He was aware, even without Smith’s comments on
the matter, of his fate if news of the attempt became public. Being
a realist, he knew his social standing to be low around Fort
Sumner. Several people would be only too pleased to see him run
out, if nothing worse. So, on being dismissed by the soldier, he
had wasted no time in gathering his few belongings and taking his
departure. He went without visiting the two men who had made him
such tempting offers for his assistance in stirring feelings
against the Texans.
    ‘ Comes morning we’ll head for
Throckmorton,’ Hayden decided after a brief discussion. ‘We’ll be
there in time to decide our next move.’
    ‘ What’s it likely to be?’ Wednesbury
wanted to know.
    ‘ Something better organized than
anything we tried here,’ Hayden promised. ‘We’ll make damned sure
that he never gets here with that herd of cattle.’

Chapter Five
You’ve Got Some Of My Cattle In That
Herd
     
     
    ‘ Now you’re quite sure that you can
manage all right, Charlie?’ Mrs. Loving asked as she sat in the
stagecoach waiting to leave the town of Graham, county seat of
Young County, Texas. ‘If you can’t, I’ll—’
    ‘ I’ve all I need,’ Goodnight replied
hurriedly. ‘I only wish that there was more I could do for
you.’
    ‘ You’ve done too much for me already,’
the woman smiled. ‘With forty thousand dollars, I can live
comfortably in Austin.’
    The forty thousand dollars represented
Loving’s full share of the partnership’s money. Under different
conditions, much of the profits would have gone to help with the
fulfillment of Goodnight’s dream. Knowing the precarious nature of
his scheme, the rancher could not ask Mrs. Loving to risk losing
everything by sharing in it. Sure she would have agreed willingly,
but Goodnight wanted to see her settled comfortably and with
sufficient funds to maintain her family. With that in mind, he had
turned over the money and planned to stake everything he owned to
make his dream come true. If he failed, he had no dependants and
could easily start again.
    With further assurances that he could manage
and final condolences, Goodnight stood back and allowed the stage
to move off. Watching its departure, he felt a touch of
satisfaction at having done the right thing.
    After the coach had passed out of sight,
Goodnight turned. The past was over and done with. Down in front of
the Demon Rum saloon stood the future.
    Tall, heavily set, bald, John Chisum leaned
against the hitching rail of the saloon and watched Goodnight walk
towards him. It would be several years before Chisum attained his
title of ‘The Cattle King’ but he dressed at