Once a Ranger by Dusty Richards Page B

guys.”
    â€œWhat were their names?” Guthrey forced the roan with his reins to confront the man.
    â€œWyllis Saddler and Guy Quinn.”
    â€œWhere did they go?”
    â€œNew Mexico, I reckon.”
    â€œWhere over there?”
    â€œLordsburg, hell, I don’t know.”
    Guthrey reined the roan away from him. “You put up any more stolen horses and you will find yourself busting rocks in Yuma. You hear me?”
    â€œYeah.” The man swallowed hard. “Who in the hell are you anyway?”
    â€œMy name’s Phillip Guthrey. What’s yours?”
    â€œNorm Logan.”
    â€œJust remember, Norm Logan, where you’ll be if you hide outlaws and stolen property.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œLet’s ride,” Guthrey said to the others.
    When they were headed back east, Dan rode in close to him, being certain they were out of the man’s hearing. “We going to Lordsburg?”
    Guthrey shook his head. “Too far and by now they ain’t there either.” He twisted in the saddle. “I’m sorry, Thayer, we tried.”
    â€œI understand. You’ve done all you could do. I sure appreciate you two as well.”
    â€œNo.” Guthrey shook his head disappointed. “But it will have to do.”
    They headed back toward home. Late the next day they parted with Thayer, rode the stagecoach road to Steward’s Crossing, and got home past midnight.
    Sleepy eyed and swinging a candle lantern, Cally welcomed them and said she had food if they wanted some. They gratefully accepted her offer. Guthrey hugged and kissed her as they went inside.
    â€œI’d drop dead right here,” he told her.
    â€œI know you three must have gone to the ends of the earth. Did you get them?”
    â€œNo, they were gone to New Mexico.”
    The men ate cold brown beans and leftover corn bread, then Dan and Noble staggered off to the bunkhouse. Guthrey took a towel and soap to the shower. The water and air was cool by then and his shower was brief, but afterward he felt clean enough to share the bed with his lovely wife.
    In their bed, he hugged and kissed her and then fell asleep.
    She let him sleep in the next morning while she did her chores. About ten she made breakfast and rang the triangle. Dan and the old man stumbled in from the bunkhouse and Guthrey put on fresh clothes to join them.
    â€œWhat next?” Dan asked.
    â€œYou two better check stock. I’m headed for the office and will try to be back here tonight.”
    With her slender butt against the dry sink, Cally went to pouring coffee. “You boys have some good meals on the road?”
    â€œNo,” Dan said and they laughed.
    Dan shook his head. “We never had time for anything but to ride and search. We invited people we met to come to the dance and so did your husband.”
    â€œWe invited all of them to come up for the dance,” Guthrey said. “Thayer’s wife, Nell, was kidnapped in an Apache raid, married one, and when he got killed, she left them and walked back up here from way down in Mexico. He has a dandy story about courting her.”
    â€œYou’d like her,” Dan said. “I bet they come to the dance one Saturday night.”
    Guthrey and Noble agreed.
    â€œThat sounds neat,” Cally said.
    Guthrey said, “She’s some gal. He said she got bucked off a horse in her wedding dress and was mad because she’d never been thrown before.” He turned to Noble. “Do you know Mark Peters’s wife?”
    â€œNaw, I never knew her. They haven’t been married for long. Why?”
    â€œWell, she looks like someone I once met or knew. I can’t recall the meeting except she looked real familiar. Some people have mirror images. Maybe she does.”
    â€œHe met her in Tucson, didn’t he?” Cally said. “I’d heard of her.”
    â€œYes, she said she was a widow. I never heard anyone say where she