“Absolutely,” Prentiss said. “Never let it be said that a Hampton stood in the way of Cupid.”
Falcon laughed and Rachael blushed.
Five miles east of Higbee at the ranch, La Soga Larga, Ike Clinton bit the end off his cigar and licked it along each side. Firing a match, he held a flame to it, puffing until the tip began to glow. He squinted his eyes as he stared through the billowing cigar smoke at the three boys, recently returned from a business trip, who were in the den with their father.
“What kind of price did you get for the cattle?” Ike asked.
“We didn’t get no offer a’tall,” Ray replied.
Ike looked surprised. “What do you mean, you didn’t get no offer? Didn’t you go see Mr. Westpheling?”
“Yeah, Pa, we went to see him,” Ray said.
“So? What did he say?”
“He didn’t say nothin’.”
“He didn’t say anything?” Ike asked, the inflection of his voice showing his disbelief. “How could he not say anything?”
“He didn’t say nothin’ ’cause we didn’t see him,” Ray said.
“I thought you said you did go to see him.”
“Yes, sir, well, what I meant to say is, we went to where he was supposed to be, but he wasn’t there. And when we checked up on him, we found out he was already gone.”
Ike shook his head. “I don’t understand. I got a letter from him that said he would be at the Cattlemen’s Exchange Bank at two o’clock Monday afternoon.”
“Yeah, well, he might’a said that, only he wasn’t there.”
“How long did you wait for him?”
“We waited at least half a hour, till the bank closed,” Cletus said.
Ike took another puff of his cigar and stared at Cletus. He continued to stare until his oldest son became discomfited by it.
“Let me get this straight,” he said. “You stayed for half an hour, and then the bank closed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The Cattlemen’s Exchange Bank closes at four P.M. What time did you get there?”
“Oh, uh…” Ray said, realizing now that he had been tripped up. “We got hung up, Pa. We didn’t get to the bank till three-thirty.”
“And where did you get hung up? In a saloon somewhere?”
“Well, yeah, we was in a saloon. But we was talkin’ business, Pa. We really was,” Ray said. He looked over to Cletus for support. “Wasn’t we, Cletus?”
“Yeah, we was, Pa,” Cletus said. “It’s just like Ray said, we was talkin’ business. You know, cattle market and such.”
“I see,” Ike said disgustedly. After a long, hard stare at his two oldest, he looked over at Billy. “What about you, boy? Was you in the saloon, too?”
“Ha!” Cletus said. “You think Goody Two-shoes here would hang out in a saloon with us? Like as not, he was up in his room suckin’ on a sugar tit or somethin’.”
Ray laughed.
“Was you in your room, boy?”
“No, sir,” Billy answered.
“Where was you?”
“I was meeting with Mr. Westpheling.”
“What?” Ray and Cletus both shouted at the same time.
“Don’t you remember, Ray? You told me to go ahead and go to the meeting. So I did exactly what you told me to do.”
Ray realized then that Billy was covering for him, and he recovered quickly. “Yes, yes, that’s right. That’s exactly what I said,” Ray said. “Ain’t that right, Cletus? I told Billy to go ahead and go to the meetin’, do you remember?”
“I don’t remember you tellin’ him nothin’ like that,” Cletus said.
It took a long moment and an intense glare from Ray before Cletus caught on to what they were doing. Then, suddenly realizing what was expected of him, he nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, wait, yeah, now that I do think about it, Pa, that’s right. Me’n Ray was talkin’ business, so we told Billy to go meet with Mr. Westpheling.”
“What kind of business could possibly be more important than getting a good price for our cows?”
“Well, I thought that—uh—Billy could use the experience,” Cletus said. “Go ahead, Billy. Tell Pa what you found out.”
“And did he make us an offer?” Ike said.
“Yes, sir, he did.”
“What was the offer?”
