understand?'
He turned slowly, insolently away. 'Si,' he said, 'I understand.'
But when he looked at me his eyes were filled with hatred and I glanced at Cruz, who lifted a hand in a careless gesture.
When we were inside, she turned on me. 'Tye, why have you stayed away? Why haven't you been to see us? Grandfather misses you. And he wanted to thank you for what you did for Juan Torres, and for Miguel.'
'They were my friends.'
'And you are our friend.'
She looked up at me, then took my hand and led me into another room and rang a little bell. She had grown older, it seemed, in the short time since I had last seen her. She looked taller, more composed, yet she was worried too, I could see that.
'How is Don Luis?'
'Not well, Tye. My grandfather grows old. He is more than seventy, you know. I do not even know how old, but surely more than that, and he finds it difficult to ride now.
'He fears trouble with your people. He has many friends among them, but most of them resent the size of the ranch. He wants only to keep it intact for me.'
'It is yours.'
'Do you remember Abreu?'
'Of course.'
'He is dead. Pete Romero found him dead last week, ten miles from here. He had been shot in the back by someone with a Sharps buffalo gun.'
'That's too bad. He was a good man.'
We drank tea together, and she told me all that had been happening. Some days now it was difficult for the don to get out of bed, and Juan Torres was often off across the ranch. Some of the men had become hard to handle and lazy.
Apparently, what had happened today was not the only such thing.
Don Luis was losing his grip when he needed desperately to be strong, and his son, Drusilla's father, had long been dead.
'If there is any way that I can help, you just call on me.'
She looked down at her hands and said nothing at all, and I sort of felt guilty, although there was no reason why. There was nobody I loved so much as Drusilla, but I'd never talked of love to anybody, and didn't know how to go about it.
'There's going to be trouble at Mora,' I said, 'it would be well to keep your men away from there.'
'I know.' She paused. 'Does your brother see Senorita Pritts?'
'Not lately.' I paused, uncertain of what to say. She seemed older.
So I told her about the place we had found, and thanked her for the help of the men the don had sent to help us with the adobe bricks. Then I told her about Tom Sunday and Orrin, and she listened thoughtfully. All the Mexicans were interested in the selection of the marshal, for it was of great importance to them. His authority would be local, but there was a chance he could move into the sheriff's job and in any case, the selection of a man would mean a lot to the Mexicans who traded in Mora and who lived there, as many did.
What I was saying wasn't at all what I wanted to say, and I searched for the words I wanted and they would not come. 'Dru,' I said suddenly, 'I wish--'
She waited but all I could do was get red in the face and look at my hands.
Finally, I got up, angry with myself. 'I've got to be going,' I said, 'only--'
'Yes?'
'Can I come back? I mean, can I come to see you often?'
She looked straight into my eyes. 'Yes, you can, Tye. I wish you would.'
When I rode away I was mad with myself for saying nothing more. This was the girl I wanted. I was no hand with women but most likely Drusilla considered me a man who knew a lot about women, and figured if I had anything to say, that I'd say it.
She had a right to think that, for a man who won't speak his mind at a time like that is no man at all. More than likely she would think I just didn't want to say anything. If she thought of me that way at all.
That was a gloomy ride home, and had anybody been laying for me that night I'd have been shot dead I was that preoccupied. When I rode up to the house I saw Ollie's horse tied outside.
Ollie was there, along with a man who operated a supply store in Mora. His name was Wilson. 'The time is now, Orrin. You've got to come in and stay in town a few days. Charley Smith and that sandy-haired man who was with him have done a lot to rile folks around town, and they were mighty impressed the way Tyrel handled them.'
'That was Tyrel, not me.'
'They know that, but they say you're two of a kind. Only,' ... Ollie looked apologetically at me, 'they don't figure you're as mean as your brother. I mean they like what happened out here, only they don't hold with killing.'
Orrin glanced at him. 'There wasn't another thing Tyrel could have done, and mighty few who could have done what he did.'
'I know that, and you know it. The fact remains that these folks want law enforced against killers but without killing. The Mexicans ... they understand the situation better than the Americans. They know that when a man takes a weapon in hand he isn't going to put it down if you hand him a bunch of roses.
Men of violence only understand violence, most times.'
Orrin rode into town and for two days I stayed by the place, working around. I cleared rocks using a couple of mules and a stone boat. I dragged the rocks off and piled them where they could be used later in building a stable. Next day I rode into town, and it looked like I'd timed things dead right. There was quite a bunch gathered outside the store Ollie was running and Ollie was on the porch, and for the first time since he came out here he had a gun where you could see it.
'It's getting so a decent person can't live in this country,' he was saying.
'What we need is a town marshal that will send these folks packing. Somebody we can trust to do the right thing.'
He paused, and there were murmurs of agreement. 'Seems to me this could be a fine, decent place to live. Most of the riffraff that cause the trouble came from Las Vegas.'
Across the way on the benches I could see some of the Settlement crowd loafing and watching. They weren't worried none, it seemed like it was a laughing matter with them for they'd played top dog so long, here and elsewhere.
I went on into the saloon, and Tom Sunday was there. He glanced at me, looking sour. 'I'll buy a drink,' I suggested. 'And I'll take it.'
He downed the one he had and the bartender filled our glasses for us.
'You Sacketts gang up on a man,' Tom declared. 'Orrin's got half the town working for him. Take that Ollie Shaddock. I thought he was a friend of mine.'
'He is, Tom. He likes you. Only Ollie's sort of a cousin of ours and came from the same county back in the mountains. Ollie's been in politics all his life, Tom, and he's been wanting Orrin to have a try at it.'
Tom said nothing for a little while, and then he said, 'If a man is going to get any place in politics he has to have education. This won't help Orrin a bit.'
'He's been studying, Tom.'
'Like that fool Pritts girl. All she could see was Orrin. She never even looked at you or me.'
'Womenfolks pay me no mind, Tom.'
'They sure gave you all their attention in Santa Fe.'
'That was different.' He needed cheering up, so for the first time I told him--or anybody--of what happened that day. He grinned in spite of himself.
'No wonder. Why, that story would have been all over town within an hour.' He chuckled. 'Orrin was quite
