Major Chevallie advanced the two dollars, and the next morning at dawn, he, Call, Gus, Shadrach, Bob Bascom, Long Bill Coleman, Ezekiel Moody, Josh Corn, one-eyed Johnny Carthage, Blackie Slidell, Rip Green, and Black Sam, leading his kitchen mule, trotted out of San Antonio. Call had never been so happy in his lifeovernight he had become a Texas Ranger, the grandest thing anyone could possibly be.
Gus, though, was irritated at the lack of ceremony attending their departure. A scabby dog barked a few times, but no inhabitants lined the streets to cheer them on. Gus thought there should at least have been a bugler.
Id blow a bugle myself, if one was available, he said.
Call thought the remark wrongheaded. Even if they had a bugle, and if Gus could blow it, who would listen to it, except a few Mexicans and a donkey or two? It was enough that they were Rangers two days before they had simply been homeless boys.
Bigfoot Wallace, the scout, didnt catch up until the next day at the time of their departure he had been in jail. Apparently he had thrown a deputy sheriff out the second-floor window of the communitys grandest whorehouse. The deputy suffered a broken collarbone, an annoyance sufficient to cause the sheriff to jail Bigfoot for a week.
Gus McCrae, a newcomer to Texas, had never heard of Bigfoot Wallace and saw no reason to be awed. Throwing a deputy sheriff out a window did not seem to him to be a particularly impressive feat.
Now, if hed thrown the governor out, that would have been a fine thing, Gus said.
Call thought his friends comment absurd. Why would the governor be in a whorehouse, anyway? Bigfoot Wallace was the most respected scout on the Texas frontier; even in Navasota, far to the east, Bigfoots name was known and his exploits talked about.
They say hes been all the way to China, Call explained. He knows every creek in Texas, and whether its boggy or not, and hes a first-rate Indian killer besides.
Myself, Id rather know every whore, Gus said. You can have a lot more fun with whores than you can with governors.
Call had seen several whores on the street, but had never visited one. Although he had the inclination, he had never had the money. Gus McCrae, though, seemed to have spent his life in the company of whoresthough he had once mentioned that he had a mother and three sisters back in Tennessee, he preferred to talk mainly about whores, often to the point of tedium.
Call, though, had the greatest respect for Bigfoot Wallace; he intended to study the man and learn as many of his wilderness skills as possible. Though most of the older Rangers were well versed in woodcraft, Bigfoot and Shadrach were clearly the two masters. If the company came to a fork in a creek or river while the scouts were ranging ahead, the company waited until one of them showed up and told it which fork to take. Major Chevallie had never been west of San Antonioonce they left the settlements behind and started toward the Pecos, he allowed his accomplished scouts to choose a route.
It was Shadrach who took them south, into the lonely country of sage and sand, where the two boys were now crouched behind their chaparral bush. In San Antonio there had been talk that war with Mexico was brewingearly on, the Major had instructed the troop to fire on any Mexican who seemed hostile.
Better to be safe than sorry, he said, and many heads nodded.
In fact, though, the only
Mexican they had seen was the unfortunate driver of the donkey cart. In the western reaches, no one was quite certain where Mexico stopped and Texas began. The Rio Grande made a handy border, but neither Major Chevallie nor anyone else considered it to be particularly official.
Mexicans, hostile or otherwise, didnt occupy much of the troops attention, almost all of which was reserved for the Comanches. Call had yet to see a Comanche Indian, though throughout the trek, Long Bill, Rip Green, and other Rangers had assured him that the Comanches were sure to show up in the next hour or two, bent on scalping and torture.
I wonder how big Comanches are? he asked Gus, as they peered north into the silent darkness.
About the size of Matilda, Ive heard, Gus said.
That old woman aint the size of Matilda, Call pointed out. Shes no taller than Rip.
Rip Green was the smallest Ranger, standing scarcely five feet high. He also lacked a thumb on his right hand, having shot it off himself while cleaning a pistol he had neglected to unload.
Yes, but shes old, Woodrow, Gus said. I expect shes shriveled up.
He had just consumed the last of his mescal, and was feeling gloomy at the thought of a long watch with no liquor. At least hehad a scrape, though. Call had no coathe intended to purchase one with his first wages. He owned two shirts, and wore them both on frosty mornings, when the thorns of the chaparral bushes were rimmed with white.
Just then a wolf howled far to the north, where they were looking. Another wolf joined the first one. Then, nearer by, there was the yip of a coyote.