CHAPTER FOUR
The bells of the mission Nuestra Señora de Limpia Concepción de Los Piros de San Pedro del SurâOur Lady of the Immaculate Conception of the Piros of Saint Peter of the Southârang loudly that morning until the friar pulling the rope spotted the riders entering the village. As the ringing died the friar ran out in front of the whitewashed building, urging an elderly woman and her daughter inside, slamming the heavy wooden door shut behind them.
A dog barked once, before scurrying underneath an ox cart.
The streets were empty.
A shutter on a window facing the street quickly closed.
Captain Hec Savage and Juan Lo Grande led the column of riders down the quiet streets, stopping at the cantina. Lo Grande nodded at one of the riders, a thin man wearing the bullet-riddled, bloodstained uniform he had torn off a corpse on the RÃo Grande. The
bandido
pounded the butt of his battered musket on the door until a gaunt man still in his nightshirt opened the door. Shoving the man out of the way, he beckoned at the mounted horsemen and barged through the doorway.
“You must try the
mole de guajalote
,” Lo Grande said casually as he swung down from his white horse.
“For breakfast?” Savage shook his head.
“Amigo.” Lo Grande wrapped the reins around the hitching rail in front of the cantina. “We will be here much longer than for breakfast.
¿No es verdad?
”
“We'll see.” Savage dismounted and found the makings for a smoke.
To the captain's surprise, more than half of Lo Grande's men headed for the mission instead of the cantina. Most of the Rangers led their horses to the livery across the street. That didn't surprise Savage. He should have done the same thing, but after he had lit a cigarette, he followed Lo Grande into the adobe building.
Lo Grande took a seat at a table facing the doorway, his back to the wall. The Mexican outlaw gestured to the opposite chair, but Savage grabbed another, and sat directly beside Lo Grande. Both men drew their revolvers and laid them on the rough tabletop. The man in the nightshirt immediately brought them a bottle of tequila, and filled two tumblers.
Lo Grande lifted his.
“A su salud, mi capitán.”
Their glasses clinked. Lo Grande downed his in an instant. Savage took a small sip, then set the glass beside his Merwin Hulbert. He told the man in the nightshirt, “
Café solo negro, por favor. Y agua
.”
“SÃ.”
The man in the nightshirt hurried to the kitchen.
“You speak our language
muy bien
,” Lo Grande said as he refilled his glass.
“Had to.” Savage exhaled, and took another long drag on the cigarette. “You damned greasers living in Texas won't learn our language.”
Lo Grande's head shook. “I am no damned greaser, amigo. And I do not live in your humble state.”
“Texas ain't humble, Lo Grande. And you spend enough time north of the river. Hell, you could probably vote in the next election.”
Leaning his head against the wall, the Mexican let out a boisterous laugh, slammed his glass, empty again, on the table. “
Rinche
, you amuse me.”
“You smile too damned much.”
Lo Grande shrugged. “âOne may smile and smile, and still be a villain.'”
“That's the damned truth.”
Two women, their hair a mess, clothes hurriedly thrown on, came out of the kitchen, and began serving Lo Grande's men who had not gone to Mass. Doc Shaw and two other Rangers hesitated at the doorway, but finally entered the cantina, taking a table near the window. They, too, put their pistols on the table. Savage looked through the window, scanning the low rooftops of the adobe buildings across the street, half-expecting to see a rifle barrel appear. He wouldn't put an ambush past a man like Juan Lo Grande.
The man in the nightshirt returned with Savage's cup of coffee and a glass of water. He set both on the table, then turned, but Lo Grande stopped him, ordering
huevos revueltos con jamón, té
and one
toronja
. With a worried nod, the man returned to the kitchen, glancing at the women as they took orders from Lo Grande's men.
“We should get down to business,” Savage said, pitching his cigarette to the floor, sipping his coffee.
“
Después de desayuno, mi capitán
,” Lo Grande said.
Two of Lo Grande's men began shouting at each other, rising from their seats. Savage shook his head. “Not after breakfast, Lo Grande. Now.” He lowered his left hand below the table, and, taking advantage of the noise the two bandidos made, carefully drew his other ivory-handled .44, leaving it cocked on his lap.
Shaking his head, Lo Grande refilled his tumbler, but did not raise it to his lips.
“¡Cállate!”
he yelled at the two arguing bandits, and the men glanced at him, shut up, and sat down. He turned toward Savage, looked at down at the Ranger's lap, and grinned.
Man's got good ears,
Savage thought.
Heard me cocking that .44 over all that ruction.
“Very well,” Lo Grande said. “The Rurales of San Pedro are now my men. I control northern Chihuahua.”
Savage took another sip of coffee. “What about the Rurales in Ojinaga?”
He crossed himself. “They were killed last week, mi capitán. Without your help.”
“That's interesting.”
“
Es verdad
. So, again, northern Chihuahua is my kingdom, if you will.”
“Till Porfirio DÃaz finds out about it.”
Lo Grande shook his head. “He won't.
Savage made no reply and switched from coffee to water. He drained the glass.
“Can you control Presidio?” Lo Grande asked.
“Northern Chihuahua's your kingdom. West Texas is mine. Has been for better than ten years.”
“Indeed. From the Pecos River to say . . . the Davis Mountains?”
“I'd put it farther west than that.”
“But not El Paso, eh, amigo?”
“I don't get to El Paso much.”
Lo Grande killed his tequila. “Murphyville and Marathon are the keys to our success.”
Towns on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Savage understood that. For an answer, he nodded.
“And what of your
soldados
? The bluecoats, as you call them.” Lo Grande grinned again. “Your
presidios
. Fort Davis, Fort Stockton, Fort Bliss.”
“I'll take care of them.”
“With sixteen men?”
Suddenly, Savage's shoulders sagged. He took another sip of coffee, and sadly shook his head. “When I first come out here, I had seventy-five men. Two lieutenants. Lost a lot of good men”âhis cold eyes locked on Lo Grandeâ“to a lot of murdering vermin like you.”
Lo Grande smiled again, lifted his glass in a mocking salute.
“Austin got tight. Cut back. Hell, they even disbanded some Ranger companies. They think Texas is tame. It's not. Won't ever be.”
“Your story is very interesting, amigo, but you digress. You have sixteen men, no?”
“I got twenty. Left four of them behind. Got to keep the peace.”
“Indeed. Then sixteen men you can trust?”
“We'll see. Haven't told these boys everything. There's a couple I'm not sure of. Yet.” He looked at Doc Shaw and the two Rangers sipping coffee.
“Perhaps you should.”
“I'll do it. But there's another thing we got to work out before I agree to anything with the likes of you. You want this little deal to work, I can't have you or your men raiding north of the river, killing miners in Terlingua, making off with a woman.”
Lo Grande laughed.”Amigo, she was a
puta
.”
“She's still a woman.”
The outlaw leader shook his head. “You want her back?”
“That's why we crossed the border.”
Lo Grande pushed his sombrero back, and scratched his head, then shrugged. “You are a man of principle, mi capitán. I thought you came to Mexico to help us eliminate some Rurales.” He slammed the bottle of tequila on the table, and called out, “Leoncio!”
A black-bearded man wearing the dead lieutenant's uniform rose from a table, crossed the cantina's floor, and stood in front of Lo Grande as the bandido barked out something in Spanish too rapid for Savage to catch. The man's eyebrows arched, and Lo Grande yelled something else.
“SÃ,”
Leoncio mumbled, and hurried outside.
“It is done.” Lo Grande smiled again.
The man in the nightshirt returned with a platter, and served Lo Grande a plate of scrambled eggs, ham, and an old grapefruit, as well as a cup of tea. He also had a fresh cup of coffee for Savage. After depositing the breakfast on the table, he hurried back to the kitchen.
“Before I partake of this
magnifico
breakfast, amigo, I must insist that we reach our truce, and proceed.” Lo Grande gathered knife and fork. “
¿Estamos de acuerdo, no?
”
Savage rose, the Merwin Hulbert in his left hand, which he switched to his right. He left the other revolver beside the coffee cups. “Let me ask my men over yonder.” We'll see if we're in agreement or not.”
He crossed the room and stood at the table where Doc Shaw sat with Rangers Hamp Magruder and Wes Smith. “Lo Grande's man is fetching that whore,” Savage said.
“That's good,” Shaw said nervously.
“We've formed a little alliance.”
Magruder pushed back his porkpie hat. “Figured that, Capt'n. After what happened on the RÃo Grande.”
“You didn't tell us nothing about that, Captain Savage,” Wes Smith said.
“I know it. Maybe I should have. But it's spilt milk.”
Magruder leaned forward. “You can't trust a
bandido
like Lo Grande, Capt'n,” he whispered.
“Reckon I know that, too.” Savage stepped back and looked through the window.
Leoncio was dragging a woman, screaming, fighting, and crying, from the hotel, pulling her by her hair. The Terlingua whore. She fell, but Leoncio never broke stride, dragging her in the dirt. Savage glanced at the livery, saw Demitrio and the others watching, wondering, but staying put. Doc Shaw turned, rose, and cursed, his hand dropping for the long-barreled Colt on the table beside his beer.
“Easy, Doc,” Savage warned. “Let him bring her in.”
Hamp Magruder also muttered a curseâaimed at Savageâbut the Ranger captain ignored it. By that time, Leoncio had entered the saloon, and let go of the woman's brown hair. She fell to the floor sobbing. Slowly lifting her head, her right hand pressed tight against her head, she bit back the pain. Her eyes drilled through the Ranger badge on Savage's chest. Lips trembling, she started to rise.
“Stay put, ma'am,” Savage said. To his surprise, she obeyed.
Savage glanced at the .44 in his hand. “Boys, we've been risking our necks for years now. Nothing to show for it. I kinda figure Texas owes us.”
“Capt'n,” Magruder said, and pointed at the woman. “If this is part of your alliance with Lo Grande, I don't want anything to do with it.”
“You helped kill those Rurales on the river,” Savage said.
“That's true, Capt'n, but shootin' Mezkins is one thing. You're talkin' 'bout something else.”
“We could make a fortune,” Savage said.
“Or a trip to the gallows,” Wes Smith said.
“That why you led us here, Capt'n?” Magruder said. “To forge your bond with that son of a bitch?” He tilted his jaw at Lo Grande. “In blood.”
Savage tilted his head toward the woman. “Figured to get her back, too.”
Slowly Magruder rose. “Capt'n . . .” he began, but Savage had heard enough.
He lifted the Merwin Hulbert and shot the Ranger in the chest. Turning quickly, thumbing back the hammer, he tried to find Wes Smith behind the pungent white smoke, but another shot left his ears ringing before he could line up the young Ranger. Smith slammed over backward, spilling his chair, blood spurting from a purple hole in the center of his forehead as the light slowly left his eyes.
Doc Shaw stood, holding a Colt .45 in his right hand.
The woman on the floor shrieked.
Shaw gave Savage a quick glance before hurrying outside, raising his hands, one holding a smoking revolver. In a calming suggestion he yelled to the Rangers at the livery, “It's all right! Everything's all right!”