Jailbreak (4 page)

I said, “Now, Nora honey, it ain’t all that easy to get out of a Mexican jail when you’re on the inside. You need somebody working for you on the outside.”

“Then send him a lawyer.”

I was squirming. It was going much harder than I’d reckoned. I said, “Well, thing is, there’s some delicate matters that a lawyer can’t exactly handle as well as a member of the family.”

“You mean like bribes?”

“Money talks in Mexico,” I admitted. “But first off I don’t know what they got him in jail for. I got to get on the scene so I can figure out how best to act.”

“Can’t Ben do that? He’s not getting married in nine days.”

“Nora, be reasonable. Ben’s good at a lot of things, but delicacy ain’t one of them. And this is likely to be a delicate situation.”

“Or a shooting situation,” she said with a pretty good trace of hardness in her voice.

I said, “Now don’t go to thinking that. That is the last thing I expect.”

“Then how come you’re taking Ben? And Hays?”

Damn the woman. She read me too easy. I said, “Well, for backup. I’m going into a situation where I don’t know what to expect. I’m trying to cover all the gates. Besides, I’m mainly taking Ben for learning. It’ll be a good education for him. After we’re married I want him to take over more and more of the running of the ranch. So I won’t be so busy.”

I thought the last would mollify her a little, making it sound like I’d have more time for she and me. But she just said, “Oh, Justa, you’re such a liar. You’re taking your two best gun hands. You must think I’m awful silly.”

What was awful about that was that I wasn’t really expecting any shooting. I was taking Ben for the experience and to make sure I had a member of the family for a backup. And I was taking Hays because he was handy at doing a lot of things and had had considerable experience along the border. For once I was telling nearly the straight truth and getting called a liar in the bargain.

I got up. I stood there and said, a little stiffly, “Well, you can believe me or not. But I’m doing what I think has to be done. For everybody’s benefit. I can’t let my brother stay in jail. And if I was to send Ben down there, more than likely he’d try some hotheaded kind of play and get hisself jugged. Then I’d have two brothers in jail and then I would have to go. And then there shore as hell wouldn’t be time enough for me to get back here for the wedding.”

She stood up and put both her hands flat on my chest and looked up in my face. She said, “Oh, Justa, I’m sorry. I know you have to go. It’s just that I’ve had so many disappointments and I’ve just been waiting for something like this to come up. Sick cattle. Cattle rustlers. Floods, famine.” She laughed without any humor in it. “Something. Anything.”

I leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. “I’m sorry, Nora. I wouldn’t have had it happen for the world. And believe me, if I get Norris out of that jail, he’s liable to wish he was back in by the time I get through with him.”

She said, “Well, you go along now. You can’t miss that train.”

She walked me to my horse. I said, “Now you understand what I told Harley. They’ll send for you soon’s that building contractor gets back. Harley has strict orders to make sure he does things the way you want them.”

“All right,” she said. “I’ll manage. But I’ll still wish it was you there giving the orders.”

“Nora, it’s going to be all right. I promise you. Your dad can check on the furniture and I’ll be back before you know it.”

“How long do you think?”

That was kind of a hard question to answer, not having any idea what Norris was charged with. But I lied and said, “Four days. No more.”

“Starting tomorrow?”

“Starting tomorrow.”

I kissed her hard then and swung aboard my horse. Shading her eyes against the sun, she said, “You had better be careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“Justa, I mean it. Don’t you make no grass widow out of me. You watch out for yourself.”

“I will. Now quit fretting and get on out of this sun. I’ll see you quick’s I can.”

Then I turned my horse and spurred for the railroad depot. In the distance I could hear the sound of the incoming train.

It was a long, wearisome trip, but we finally got into Laredo about ten that night. I figured it was too late to look for Jack Cole so we got our horses dismounted from the train and rode over to the Hamilton Hotel. It was a big, elegant old place that I always made my headquarters when bad luck caused me to be in Laredo. A boy took our horses to the stable and we clumped in to the lobby, our spurs going chink-chink-chink on the marble floor. I wanted us all together so I took a big suite with plenty of beds and we went up and got settled in. Even though it was late, the kitchen managed to fix us a good supper of enchiladas and rice and beans. We’d gotten a couple of bottles of whiskey from the bar and were pretty well set for the night.

After we’d eaten and got a couple of drinks down, Ben wanted to go out looking for Jack Cole. I shook my head. “It’s too late. We’d have to look in every saloon and all we’d find would be a bunch of drunks looking for a fight. No, we’ll get some rest tonight. We might be on our way to Monterrey in the morning.”

But no sooner had I said it then there came a knock at our door. Hays answered it. It was Jack Cole, or Black Jack Cole as he was called. Jack was a small, middle-aged man who’d been a friend of our family for years. Word was he’d rode the owl-hoot trail, but, so far as I knew, he’d never done no serious jail time. Now it was my understanding that he made his living smuggling Mexican gold into the States. I don’t reckon it paid much, but them as didn’t need much were said to be content with it.

I got up and we shook hands all around and then got Jack seated and a drink in his hand. He was called Black Jack because he was so swarthy. On the border he could easy pass for a Mexican, but his coloring didn’t come from any Spanish blood, but Cherokee Indian.

When he’d got his drink down and Hays had poured him another I said, “Well, Jack . . . what’s it all about?”

He had a pleasant face and creased and crinkled skin around his eyes. He gave a half laugh and said, “Well, I don’t know if I can explain it or not. It started out purty simple, but it jest kep’ a-goin’ and a-goin’. Best I can say is you know Norris and how he can git.”

“Yes,” I said dryly. “Only too well. Tell me what you can.”

He said, “Wahl, we went out and taken a look at that land and, shore enough, he finds they is a rough bunch of hombres staked out there. See, the Rio Grande had done took a shift here a while back where it kind of throwed your land downhill from the river. Well, some smart
compesinos
figured it out and they dug ’em a drainage ditch right down the middle of that patch of land and damned if they didn’t get some grass growin’. So they’ve turned a bunch of scrawny Mexican cattle in there and is fattenin’ ’em up at a right smart rate.”

Ben said, “I bet that set right good with Norris.”

Jack laughed. “Oh, he got a little hot about it. ’Fore I talked him out of it he was all for ridin’ in thar and clearin’ out the bunch of ’em. We finally went into the courthouse in Laredo. He’d seen the sheriff, but they discovered the deed was clouded by something that had happened a hunnert years ago. I never really got the straight of it. But they told him he’d have to go over to Mexico, on account of it being a Spanish land grant. You know how them goes. So we went over there an’ he got another lawyer, a Mex lawyer. Upshot was he didn’t git no satisfaction from the authorities in Nuevo Laredo. They told him he’d have to go to the capital, to Monterrey, where they had complete records.”

Ben said, “Oh, shit.”

Jack looked at him and smiled a little. “Yeah, that’s about the size of it. By then ol’ Norris was gettin’ his back up higher’n his head. So we goes down there to Monterrey, only this time he ain’t gonna git no lawyer. Says he’s tired of payin’ out to clear his own land. ’Course I went along as kind of an interpreter since ol’ Norris don’t speak that much Spanish.” He stopped and shook his head and looked at me. He said, “Justa, the whole damn matter could have been cleared up for a hunnert dollar bill. But—”

I nodded. “But Norris had his back up.”

Jack said, “Yeah. We taken this here official out to git a drink to some cantina and the ol’ boy just let it slide that a little fee of a hunnert dollars would get Norris a clear title. A title he could have taken back down to Laredo and had the sheriff run them hombres off the land with maybe. But then Norris got stiff-necked. He said he happened to know for a fact that a title search didn’t cost but ten pesos and he was damned if he was going to pay ninety-nine dollars for something that was already his. Got right angry about it, too. Right there in that cantina.”

“I can see it,” Ben said.

“Then what?” I asked.

“Wahl, Norris announced to that official that he was gonna report him for askin’ for a bribe, which me and you know is about as good as pissin’ in the alley down here. But what it done was make that official damn mad. So he ups and tells the police that Norris has done threatened his life.”

“Oh, shit!” I said. It was looking worse and worse.

Jack said, “It might have still been all right. They sent a captain of police and a couple of
federales
around to the hotel. I happened to be in the room when they come in and I tried to grease the captain on the sly, but Norris wasn’t having any of it. He said he was a United States citizen trying to protect his property from a bunch of goddam thieves and he was damned if he’d be arrested for something he hadn’t done.”

“I bet that impressed the hell out of them,” I said.

Jack smiled. “Naw, they got impressed when the captain laid hands on Norris. Norris busted him square in the mouth. Knocked the shit out of him.”

Ben laughed, but Hays and I sort of groaned. I said, “What’s the rest of it?”

Jack shook his head. “I dunno. When I left Monterrey they hadn’t made no formal charges, but last I seen of him, he was still giving them trouble. Justa, I’m sorry, wadn’t a damn thing I could do.”

“I know,” I said.

“Fact of the business was, it cost me fifty dollars not to git arrested myself. I figured the best thing I could do was get on back to Laredo and git off a wire and wait for help.”

“You done right,” I said. “And you won’t be the loser for it. What’s the earliest train we can get out on in the morning?”

“Eight.”

“What you reckon it’s going to cost to square matters?”

Jack shook his head. “I ain’t got no idea, Justa. Them Mexican police don’t take too kindly to havin’ no gringo punch ’em. I ain’t even sure it can be squared with money.”

“You’ll go with us? I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Oh, sure. An’ you ain’t got to pay me. Yore family has done me more than one favor I ain’t forgot.”

I got up. “It’s past midnight. I reckon we ought to all get some rest. Jack, we’ll be taking our horses. How about you?”

That sort of raised his eyebrows. But he said, “Well, long’s you is gonna go ahead and pay fer a horse box, I might as well take my old nag along.”

I said, “We’ll see you at the depot a little after seven. And I’m much obliged to you.”

He shrugged. “Nothin’ you wouldn’t have done fer me.”

Before we went to bed, Ben took occasion to lift my spirits by saying, “I reckon you’re pretty relieved Nora don’t know how much trouble you got on your hands or how long it’s going to take to fix it.”

I looked at him. I said, “Ben, one of these days that mouth of yours is going to get filled up. With my fist.”

He laughed. “Big brother is worried. Listen, I’ll protect you from Nora.”

“Oh, shut up. We got work ahead.”

We loaded up on the Texas side of the river. The train wasn’t too crowded until we got into the station in Nuevo Laredo. Then it got swarmed on and over and in by so many peons carrying crates of chickens and leading goats that we all elected to go back and ride in the horse car we’d paid for.

It was about a hundred miles to Monterrey, but because we would stop at every village along the way, the trip would take at least four hours. The train was so overloaded that they had to put sand on the rails so the locomotive wheels could take a grip. Sitting, waiting, it seemed to be even hotter than it had been back in our part of the country. But once the train got moving, the breeze blowing through the opened side doors was a welcome relief. I’d got the hotel kitchen to put us up some roast beef and cheese and bread, and about midmorning we brought out the grub and had a feed. Jack had a bottle of tequila and we had the remains of the two bottles we’d bought the night before.

Jack finally said, “Justa, how come you’re bringing horses? You figuring you might need to leave in a hurry?”

I said, chewing on some beef, “Jack, I ain’t figuring on anything. I’m just trying not to leave anything I might need later.”

He hesitated and then said, “Only reason I’m pryin’ is that I figure I ought to tell you I ain’t much of a gun hand anymore. That is if it comes down to it.”

I looked at him in some surprise. I said, “Jack, I’d never involve you in our scraps. But I’m kind of took up to hear you lost your touch. You always impressed me as a man could handle himself.”

He said, “The spirit’s still there. But—” He held out his right hand. It was visibly shaking.

I said, “What the hell, Jack?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Age, I reckon. I’m near fifty. Too damn much whiskey. Too many scares. Started about a year ago when a bunch of
rurales
caught me brangin’ some gold up from the interior. Fer a joke they acted like they was gonna hang me. ’Cept they didn’t let me in on the joke until my heart had nearly stopped beatin’. Ain’t really been the same since.”

Rurales
were Mexican rural police. Or at least that was what they were supposed to be. They was also supposed to suppress the outlaw bands that roamed the countryside. But from what I’d heard, most folks would rather fall in amongst the outlaws than the
rurales.
I said, “Yeah, them boys got a hell of a sense of humor.”