Houser smiled. “I’m glad you brought that up. Stand up, Paul,” he said.

  Shamrock remained seated.

  “Paul?” Houser said again, staring directly at Shamrock.

  “Me?”

  “Yes, Paul, you,” Houser said.

  “Oh.” Shamrock stood.

  “Gentlemen, this is Paul Harris. And as I stated, he holds a direct commission from Governor Morgan, as captain of the territorial law enforcement deputies. And whereas my commission is administrative, Captain Harris’s commission is operative. He will be responsible for carrying out any actual investigation and law enforcement. By the way, in as far as the cattle rustling problem is concerned, Captain Harris’s authority supersedes that of Sheriff Sharpie’s, or any other lawman in the territory. He and his deputies will end our rustling problem.”

  “You have said that the constabulary is yet to be formed. Will you assemble them from among out own county citizens?” Dakota asked.

  “No, they will not be local. Captain Harris needs men who have experience in dealing with law enforcement, and such men cannot be found here.”

  “I have a question,” Duff said.

  “All right.”

  “You have recently added three new men who work for you, but who are not cowhands. Their names, I believe, are Knox, Malcolm, and Dobbins. Do they also hold a commission from the governor?”

  “No, they do not.”

  “If they are nae deputies nor hands, would ye be for tellin’ us their purpose?”

  “I will tell you as I told my men. Misters Knox, Malcolm, and Dobbins are supernumeraries to the operation of the ranch, and they will remain as such to the territorial deputies as well.”

  “You still haven’t answered Mr. MacCallister’s question,” Burt Rowe said. “What is the purpose of these three men?”

  “Gentlemen, and lady,” Houser said, with a pointed reference to Meagan’s presence, “if you look around you, you would see that every one of you are wearing pistols. I don’t cite you for that—too often the continued existence of men who live here is dependent upon both their ability, and their willingness, to use a firearm. I do not wear a pistol, because I have neither the willingness, nor the ability, to do so. I also have an abhorrence to violence, especially as it may pertain to me.”

  Houser forced a smile.

  “Therefore I have hired Mr. Knox, Mr. Morgan, and Mr. Dobbins to perform the service of personal bodyguards to me. And as such, they will have nothing to do with the deputies. The reason I have hired them should be obvious to all of you. Now that I have initiated this effort to rid our valley of the pervasive lawlessness, I do not fool myself with the false hope that I will not become a target of those whose rustling operations will be curtailed. As long as none of you take it upon yourselves to attack me, and I’m sure none of you are harboring such intentions”—again Houser forced a smile—“none of you need concern yourselves about the presence, or the activities of my Pontificia Cohors Helvetica.”

  “I am aware of some of the activities of these three men, Mr. Houser, and I would hardly call them the Swiss Papal Guard,” Duff said.

  Houser clapped his hands softly. “Oh, very good, Captain MacCallister, you recognize my Latin. You are right, of course, they are hardly up to the task of guarding the Pope. I do hope you will forgive me my little private joke.”

  “Yes, well, getting back to these deputies, how are we going to know who they are? I mean, will they be wearin’ badges or anything?” Barnes said.

  “I will provide them with badges, which will give them all the authority they need to carry out their mission. Mark this day on your calendar, gentlemen. This is the day the war against the cattle rustlers of the Valley of the Chug began.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “I don’t trust Houser any farther than I can throw him,” Biff said. Meagan had returned to her dress shop, and Biff rejoined Duff and Elmer at his private table in Fiddler’s Green.

  “He sure talks fit ’n proper, I’ll say that for him,” Elmer said.

  “That’s because he was a barrister before he came here,” Duff said.

  “He was a barrister?” Elmer asked. “You mean he was a bartender? Hell, I thought the son of a bitch was a lawyer.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have said lawyer,” Duff said without further explanation.

  “Wait. Barrister, is that one of them Scottish words for lawyer?”

  “Aye.”

  “Yeah, he was a lawyer, all right,” Biff said. “Only what I heard was that he got in some kind of legal trouble down in Texas, ’n he was told he couldn’t be a lawyer anymore.”

  “You mean he has been disbarred?” Duff asked.

  “Yes, he was disbarred. That’s what it is, I just couldn’t think of the word.”

  “Why was he disbarred? Do you have any idea?”

  “I’ve never heard why, I just heard that he was disbarred. He must have done pretty well as a lawyer while he was at it, though, because when he came up here and bought the ranch from Cliff Prescott’s widow, he paid cash for it.”

  “Would ye be knowing how he came by the money he used to start his ranch?”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea. All I know is he put eighty thousand dollars in the Bank of Chugwater the very first day he got here,” Biff said.

  “I wonder if Mr. Blanton would be knowing anything about it,” Duff asked. “If he has been disbarred from somewhere, ’twould likely have been a story about it. And all the newspapers share their stories.”

  “Could be,” Biff replied. “Like you said, he gets all these stories sent to him from all over the country, so if it made the newspaper anywhere, Charley more ’n likely has it, even if he didn’t print it in his own newspaper.”

  “What do you say, Elmer, that we pay a visit to Mr. Blanton? I would like to know a little more about the gentleman who has just hired his own private army.”

  “His own private army?” Elmer replied.

  “Aye, for what else would you call these deputies who are responsible only to Mr. Houser?”

  “I’ll be damn,” Biff said. “You know, I hadn’t thought of it in that way before, but you are right. Houser does have his own army.”

  “Yeah,” Elmer said. “Not only that, the slick-talkin’ son of a bitch managed to get all the other cattle ranchers to pay for it.”

  * * *

  “Oh yes,” Charley Blanton said as he searched through his morgue. “Here it is, reprinted from a Fort Worth newspaper. I didn’t print it when the story came in, because Mr. Houser is obviously trying to make a new life for himself up here, and I saw no reason for my newspaper to place a burden upon any of our citizens.”

  “Aye, ’tis not asking you to print the story, only to let me read it,” Duff said. “I think it would be a good thing to know a bit more about our newest rancher.”

  Duff examined the newspaper article.

  Lawyer Disbarred

  Brad Houser, a Sulphur Springs lawyer, has been removed from the Texas Bar for an act of dishonesty and corruption, committed in the course of his performance as an attorney-at-law.

  It has been alleged that Mr. Houser lied to opposing counsel and to the court. Rather than face trial and possible incarceration, Mr. Houser pled guilty to the charge and accepted disbarment as the only assessed penalty. Houser has since left Texas and his current whereabouts is unknown.

  “There is no doubt in my mind, but that this is the same man,” Charley said. “How many lawyers could there be with that same name?”

  “I don’t trust nobody that talks like he does. All them highfalutin words Houser spits out, he don’t sound nothin’ a-tall like no one I’ve never heard before,” Elmer said.

  Charley Blanton laughed. “Being as you’re from Missouri, it seems highly unlikely that you have ever heard anyone use proper English.”

  “Are you sayin’ I don’t talk good?”

  “No, Elmer. You talk just real good,” Charley teased, mimicking Elmer’s Missouri twang and idiom.

  “Tell me, Duff,” Charley continued. “Why are you so interested in Brad Houser?”

  “We had a meeting of the Laramie Cattlemen’s Association today,” Duff replied. “Only, it was nae for all the ranchers, just for the larger ranchers. Houser let it be known that he is planning on going to war against all the wee ranchers of the valley.”

  “What? Why would he do such a thing? Some of the smaller ranchers are our best citizens. He’ll never get the other ranchers to go along with him,” Blanton said.

  “He’s already got ’em,” Elmer said.

  “He does?”

  “Aye. He claims to hold a commission from the governor to raise a private army to go to war against the smaller ranchers. He’s calling his army ‘territorial deputies.’”

  “Why in heavens name would he want to do that?”

  “He’s a-sayin’ that all the little ranchers is stealin’ cattle from the larger ranchers,” Elmer said, answering Charley’s question.

  “You know what I’m thinkin’, Duff? I think he just a-sayin’ that the little ranchers is stealin’ cattle so he can use that to sort of cover somethin’ else he might have in mind,” Elmer said. “Like maybe he don’t like ’em usin’ the open range.”

  “You may have a point there, Elmer,” Charley said. “Tell me, Duff, would you mind if I did a little checking up, to see if the governor actually has given him such authority?”

  “I don’t mind at all. In fact, I think it would be a fine idea for you to do so.”

  “Then I shall get right on it,” Blanton promised.

  * * *

  “I’m pretty sure that if Houser claims he has the governor behind him, he probably does,” Biff said after Duff and Elmer returned to Fiddler’s Green to give him a report on what they found out. “I mean, him bein’ a lawyer ’n all, I would expect him to make certain everything is on the up-and-up.”

  “Aye, but it doesn’t hurt to check up on him,” Duff said.

  “Well, would you look at what the cat drug in,” Elmer said.

  Elmer’s comment caused both Duff and Biff to look toward the door, where they saw Percy Gaines.

  At first Duff thought something might be wrong, but the broad smile on Percy’s face told him otherwise.

  “Percy, would ye be for joinin’ us now?”

  “All right, but I can only stay for a short while, because I’ve got a train to catch.”

  “Where are you goin’ on the train?” Elmer asked.

  “I’m goin’ to Kansas City.” Percy’s smile got larger. “She’s goin’ to marry me, Mr. Gleason, Mr. MacCallister, Mr. Johnson. I wrote her a letter ’n asked if she would come out here ’n marry me, ’n she wrote back ’n said that she would. Sara Sue Cannedy is goin’ to become Sara Sue Gaines.”

  “Well, now, this calls for a toast!” Biff said, and held his hand up, signaling to one of the girls who worked there. “Annie, drinks all around here, and from my special bottle of Scotch.”

  “Your ‘special’ bottle?” Duff asked. “Here, Biff, ’n are ye for tellin’ me that I don’t get your special bottle?”

  “Of course you do,” Biff replied easily. “And who do you think I keep the special bottle for? I was just givin’ Annie her instructions, is all.”

  “I can’t believe she’s actually goin’ to come out here to marry me,” Percy said.

  “What do you mean you can’t believe it?” Elmer asked. “It’s all you been talkin’ about for the last year.”

  “I know, I know. But I wasn’t ever just really sure, you know. But now, I’ve got me a nice little ranch, ’n it’ll be growin’, too.”

  “I’ll send Keegan over to keep an eye on it while you’re gone,” Duff offered.

  “Well, Mr. MacCallister, that’s very nice of you, sendin’ Keegan over to look after my herd, like that.”

  “That’s what neighbors do for one another,” Duff replied.

  “Yes, sir, it is, ain’t it? ’N we are neighbors, even if your ranch is near a hundred times bigger ’n mine.”

  Annie brought the drinks, and Duff raised his glass to propose the toast. “Percy, m’ lad, may the best you’ve ever seen, be the worst you’ll ever see.”

  The four men drank their toast.

  “Let me ask you something, Percy,” Duff said as he set his glass down. “Have ye lost any cattle to rustlers?”

  “Lost any cattle? No, sir. Fact is, I’ve gained a few cows from some of the other ranches.”

  “What do you mean, you’ve gained a few cows?” Duff asked, curious about Percy’s comment.

  “Well, sir, it wasn’t hard pickin’ ’em out, seein’ as they was Herefords. But, you know, it’s the damnedest thing, just in the last few weeks I’ve had some cattle from Twin Peaks, Pitchfork, and Trail Back that’s showed up on my ranch.”

  “How many?”

  “Ten from Twin Peaks, four from Pitchfork, ’n two from Trail Back. ’N that’s what is so funny about it. I mean, how come it is that all them cows has sort of wandered onto The Queen from all them different ranches at about the same time? I mean, I could see if they all come from one ranch, but from three different ranches?”

  “Did ye take these creatures back?” Duff asked.

  “No, sir, I wanted to, but I had some more brandin’ ’n castratin’ to do so’s I could leave to go pick up Sara Sue. I left ’em back at the ranch, but I’ve got ’em separated out into their own corral, so’s it’ll be easy to take care of it when I get back.”

  “It’s getting about that time. Come along, lad, we’ll walk ye down to the depot,” Duff offered.

  It was a short walk from Fiddler’s Green to the depot, but even before they got there, they heard the whistle of the approaching train.

  “Do you think Sara Sue will like it out here?” Percy asked nervously as they waited for the approach of the train.

  “It’s a little late to be a-worryin’ ’bout that now, ain’t it?” Elmer asked.

  “Oh! Do you think maybe she won’t?” The tone of Percy’s voice indicated a newfound concern.

  “Come on, Percy, I was just a-funnin’ with you,” Elmer said. “What’s there not to like about the Valley of the Chug? Besides which, I’ll ask Vi to go out to your place ’n help Miss Sara Sue get settled in.”

  “Thanks, Elmer. I appreciate that. I appreciate that a lot.”

  By now the train arrived, and it rumbled through the station, the big drive wheels wreathed in ribbons of white steam, black smoke streaming from the stack, the wheels squealing, and couplers banging as the cars slowed against one another.

  Nobody got down from the train, and Percy was the only departing passenger. Duff and Elmer stood on the depot platform until the train departed.

  “There goes one happy man,” Elmer said.

  “Aye,” Duff agreed.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Duff, what do you think about what Percy told us about them cows he found from some of the other ranches?” Elmer asked.

  “I’m givin’ the question some thought, Elmer,” Duff said. “It’s a good question, because having cows from three different ranches show up as they did was, indeed, quite puzzling.

  “I suppose, what with roundup ’n all, that such a thing could happen,” Duff said. “But I wish he had taken them back before he left. I don’t know about this special detective ’n his crew of deputies ’n all, but I’d feel better if the creatures weren’t in a corral on Percy’s place.”

  “How ’bout me ’n Wang takin’ ’em back to where they belong, tomorrow?”

  “Aye,” Duff said, nodding. “’Twould be a good thing for ye to do so.”

  “Wang will like goin’ with me, ’cause he likes gettin’ out ’n about,” Elmer said. “’N you know what else he likes? He likes helpin’ folks. It’s kind of a honor thing with him. Actually, lots of Chinese are big on honor, I learned that when I was in China.”

  “I’m sure there are many honorable Chinese,” Duff answered. “And I know for a fact that honor plays a significant role in Wang’s makeup.”

  * * *

  Houser and Shamrock were riding toward Twin Peaks alone. Wix, Jaco, and the others had been told that they were going to be used in a scheme that promised to bring everyone a rather sizable payroll, but as yet, they had no idea what that scheme might be.

  “Paul,” Houser started to say.

  “Why don’t you call me Sid when we are alone? I’ve had that name long enough that I’ve done got used to it.”

  “On your bank robbery in Seven Oaks, did you kill someone?”

  “Yeah, I kilt the bank manager.”

  “Why?”

  “The son of bitch grinned at me. The bank had what they called a time lock safe, ’n it couldn’t be opened till four o’clock. He told me to come back at four o’clock, ’n he grinned at me while he was sayin’ it.”

  “And for that, you killed him?”

  “Yeah. You shoulda seen ’im, that big mocking smile like he had me just where he wanted me. It pissed me off so much that I couldn’t help it, so I shot the son of a bitch.”

  “Yes, well, you should have controlled your temper. Did you not also say that you saw the name Sid Shamrock in the paper for the bank robbery and murder you committed in Seven Oaks?”

  “Yeah, I seen it. ’N seein’ as I never was there before, I don’t have no idea how it is that they knowed it was me. But, anyhow, that was down in Texas, that’s a long way from here. So I don’t see as how anyone up here can find out.”

  “Do you think we are on the back side of the moon up here?”

  “What?”

  “I was using an analogy.”

  “What’s an analogy?” Shamrock asked again.

  “Never mind. What I am saying is that, sooner or later, your name will be known up here as well. And the name Shamrock is just too easy to remember. In our business, it doesn’t pay to have everyone know about you.”