'We're just Rebs to them. They won't want our help. We'll be lucky if they even let us keep our firearms. They'll probably have to issue us a pass before we're even allowed on the plains.' 'I don't think it will be that bad,' Call said, but he spoke without conviction. The Confederacy had been defeated, and Texas had been part of the Confederacy. There was little telling what the future of the rangers would be. What Augustus had proposed on the spur of the moment--quitting the rangers--might not merely be something they ought to consider; it might be something they would have to consider.
'We've done this since we were boys,' he said to Gus. 'What would we do, if we quit?' 'I don't care, as long as we go someplace that ain't dull,' Augustus said. 'Remember that town that wasn't quite there yet, by the river? I expect that Frenchwoman has got the roof on that saloon by now. Not only could she cook, she could barber. Lonesome Dove--wasn't that what they called it? It might be booming now. It wouldn't hurt us to ride down that way and take a look.' Call didn't reply. He saw that Jake Spoon was shaking hands with all concerned.
Probably he had decided to leave that night, after all. Augustus noticed and stood up, meaning to saunter over and say goodbye.
'Coming, Woodrow?' he asked.
'No--he's got half the town to say goodbye to as it is,' Call said--but Augustus, to his surprise, insisted that he come.
'You've been his captain since he was a boy,' Gus said. 'You mustn't let him go off without a goodbye.' Call knew Augustus was right--it would puzzle the boys who were staying if he held aloof from Jake's goodbye. He walked over with Augustus and shook Jake's hand.
'Take care on the roads, Jake, and good luck,' he said.
Jake Spoon was so surprised that Call had come to see him off that he flushed with gratitude.
It had been four years or more since Call had spoken to him, other than to issue the briefest and simplest commands--mostly, for the whole term of the civil war, Captain Call had treated him as if he were not there. It was such a surprise to receive a handshake from him that Jake was speechless, for a time.
'Thanks, Captain,' he managed to mumble.
'I aim to go prospecting for silver.' Call saw no need to extend the courtesies further. Even though Jake was mounted, Augustus produced a bottle and passed it around; soon the whole troop would be too drunk to notice whether he was polite to Jake Spoon or not. He noticed to his surprise that several of the rangers had been crying-- ffPea Eye and Deets and several of the younger men, Jake was a pard, a friend who had rangered with them and shared the anxieties of youth. Jake had ever been a merry companion, except when he was scared; why wouldn't they mist up a little, now that he was going?
Call walked away, back across the street, past the house where Maggie Tilton still boarded.
He wondered, for a moment, what she was thinking, now that the man who had carried her groceries and tended her garden was going. He seldom thought much of Maggie now, though, sometimes, from habit, crossing beneath her window at night, he would look up to see if her lamp was lit.
In the dusk, by the lots, the men were urging Jake to stay at least until morning. Newt could not control his emotions--tears kept leaking out of his eyes. He kept turning his back to wipe them away, so that Pea Eye and Deets and the others would not see him crying. Jake was his best pard and his mother's best friend. With his mother sickly and Jake leaving, Newt hardly knew what he would do; he would have to try and do all the things that Jake did, when it came to helping his mother. He didn't know much about gardening, but thought he could manage the firewood, at least.
Pea Eye, too, was disturbed. Jake had been talking about leaving the rangers the whole of the time Pea Eye had known him; he supposed it was just the kind of dreamy talk men indulged in when they were restless or blue; but now his horse was saddled and all his goods packed on a mule he had bought with some saved-up wages. Pea Eye considered the move a dreadful mistake--but no one could argue Jake out of it.
Deets said only a brief goodbye. The comings and goings of white men were beyond his understanding and concern.
Now and then, though, he saw things in the stars he didn't like, things that suggested Mr. Jake might be having some trouble, someday. No doubt his leaving would make Miss Maggie sad.
When Augustus learned that Jake had purchased a mule to carry his tack, he was indignant.
'Why, Jake, you scamp--y've been hoarding up money,' he said. 'Your job was to bring out your money and lose it to me in a fair game of poker. Now that I know you're a hoarder I ain't so sorry you're leaving.' Jake had taken a good amount of liquor in the course of his goodbyes. In fact, he had been drunk for the last three days, attempting to work himself up to departing. No one could understand why he wanted to leave at such a time, with the war just ended.
Jake hadn't wanted to be a soldier in that war, but he did want to get rich. He had seen a little booklet about the silver prospects in Colorado and the thought of discovering silver had given him a bad case of wanderlust.
Besides, Texas was poor, impoverished by the war; the Indians were still bad, and Woodrow Call didn't like him--all reasons for leaving. Even if Call had liked him there would have been no way to get rich in Texas--Jake had a longing for fine clothes that would never be satisfied if he stayed in Texas.
Of course, there was Maggie and Newt--they'd been a family to him for a few years, although Maggie had refused him the one time he suggested marriage. Later, Jake was relieved by the refusal. Maggie was not well, and, even if she had been, it was too hard to earn a living in a poor place such as Texas.
Besides, he had heard a rumour that the Yankee military meant to come in and hang all the Texas Rangers, as being sympathizers with the Rebs. He didn't want to hang, so now he was leaving, but it wasn't an easy thing. He had bidden goodbye to Maggie three times now, and to Newt; he had said several goodbyes to Pea Eye and the boys. It was time to go, and yet he lingered.
'Go on now, Jake, if you're going,' Augustus said, finally. 'I can't afford no more goodbye toasts.' With no further ado, Augustus walked away, and the rangers, after a final farewell handshake, wandered off to the part of town where the whores plied their trade. Jake felt lonely, suddenly--lonely and confused. Part of him had hoped, until the end, that someone would come out with an argument that would cause him to change his mind and stay. But now the street was empty; the boys had blandly accepted his decision to leave and it seemed he must go. If he waited until morning and announced that he had changed his mind the boys would only scorn him and take him for an irresolute fool.
