Mounting up, we rode swiftly from the town.
By the time we reached camp it was near to sunset.
Pa was up, had a gun strapped on that Miguel had taken from our gear, and he was watching the sun.
'The only place they can watch us from,' he said, 'is that dune. It looks over the whole country around here. It's over seventy feet high, and in this country that's a mountain--along the coast, that is. If we wait about ten or fifteen minutes, the sun will be shining right in the eyes of anybody watching from that dune. That's when we'll go for the gold.'
We now mustered six rifles, a good force by anybody's count, for Gin could shoot--or said she could, and I believed her.
We made beds ready, built up the fire, and put coffee on, and grub. Miguel was cooking.
When the sun got low enough, Pa, the Tinker and me took a few canvas bags we'd brought along a-purpose, andwith two steers we headed off into the brush. One of the steers showed old marks that looked like he'd been used as a draft animal sometime in the past. Both were easily handled.
As we walked, pa said, 'I dove for this gold, got it out of the sand on the bottom. Most of the hull is still intact, and most of the gold will be inside, but I brought up enough to make it pay.
We'll take this and run; then we'll wait for things to simmer down, and come back.'
Then pa told us some about how things were in Mexico. Right about this time Cortina had gathered a lot of power to him, but he was dependent on some of the lieutenants he had, of whom Herrara was one. The situation was changing rapidly, and it had changed several times over in the period of the last thirty years. Even in the last six or seven years there had been power shifts and changes, and changing relationships with the United States.
Not many years before, a Mexican cavalry detachment had crossed the border to protect Brownsville from a Mexican bandit, a fact known to few Americans except those in the immediate vicinity.
In the northern provinces of Mexico there was much division of feeling as to the United States, and the northern country had many friends south of the border. North of the border many citizens of Mexican extraction had fought against Mexico for Texas. It was difficult to draw a line, and there was a constant struggle in process for power below the border.
Pa told me some of this, and some I'd had from Jonas while riding south when there had been time to talk.
Pa led us in such a way as to keep bushes between us and the dune he thought was the lookout post, until we arrived right down on the shore of the inlet. There on the point, right where I'd planned to look, there was where pa stopped.
'The ship,' he said to me, 'lies off there, in no more than five fathoms of water.'
He glanced over his shoulder at the sun, then stooped and took hold of a tuft of grass and pulled on it; he caught hold of another bunch with the other hand. A big chunk of sod lifted out like a trap door, and in a hollowed- out place underneath was a tin pail and several cans, loaded with gold.
There was no time to lose. Working as swiftly as we could, we sacked it up, for the sun was going down and in a few minutes we'd stand out like sore thumbs out there on that point. Tying the sacks two and two, we hung them over the backs of the steers, and then replaced the sod. We started back as if driving two straying steers.
As darkness came we clustered around the fire, eating. Miguel and Jonas finished first and, mounting up, went out to circle the cattle. The rest of us went through the motions of going to bed. One by one the others moved off into the darkness, but Gin and me, we still sat by the fire and I stoked the flames a mite higher.
'He's quite a man,' she said suddenly.
'Pa?'
'Yes. I've never known anyone quite like him.'
Me, I hadn't anything to say. I didn't know enough about my own father, and there'd been little time for talking. Also, as the time drew near we were getting worrisome about what we had to do.
You bed down a bunch of steers and they'll finally settle down to dozing and chewing their cuds; but after a while, close to midnight or about there, they'll all stand up and stretch, crop grass a bit, and then lie down again. That was the time we picked to move them--catch them on their feet so there'd be less disturbance.
Finally we left the fire, adding some more fuel.
I rigged some branches nearby so they'd sort of fall into the fire as others burned, giving anybody watching an idea the fire was being fed, time to time.
Away from the firelight, I moved up to my dun in the darkness and tightened the cinch. 'You got it in you to run,' I said, 'you better have at it tonight.'
We waited ... and we waited. And those fool steers, they just lay there chewing and sleeping. Then, of a sudden, an old range cow stood up. In a minute or two there were a dozen on their feet, and then more.
Moving mighty easy, we started to push them.
Miguel was off to one side to get them started north, and Jonas had gone up the other side.
We pushed them, and a few of them began, reluctantly, to move out. It took us a while to get them started and lined out, and we did it without any shouting or hollering.
We walked them easy for about a mile, then we began to move them a little faster. Not until we had about three miles behind us did we give it to them.
It was a wild ride. I'll say this for Gin, she was right in there with us, riding side-saddle as always, but riding like any puncher and doing her job.
Only I noticed she was keeping an eye on pa, too.
It made me sore, only I didn't want to admit it. I told myself somebody had to keep an eye on him, the shape he was in. Nevertheless, I was a mite jealous, too. I reckon it's the male in a man ... he sees a pretty woman like that and wants to latch onto her. She was a good bit older than me, of course, though a whole sight younger than pa.
We had those cattle lined out and we kept them going. After a ways we'd slow down to give them a breather, but not so slow that they could get to thinking what was happening to them. Then we'd speed them up a little. After six miles or so, the Tinker, he swung in beside me. 'We'd best hang back, you and me,' he said, 'sort of a rear guard.'
The night wore on.
Once when we came up to water we let them line out along the creek bank and drink. We had ten miles behind us then, but by daybreak we hoped to have a few more, because it wouldn't take free-riding horsemen long to catch up, and when they did there'd be hell to pay.
We had managed to keep in sight those steers carrying the gold. We'd lashed that gold in place, throwing a good packing hitch over it, and there was small danger of it falling off--nevertheless, somebody always had an eye on that gold.
The dark skies began to gray. We were more than half way there, but we still had miles to go. The cattle had slowed to a walk. They'd have been plenty angry if they hadn't been so tired.
Pa looked awful. His face was drawn and pale, but he was riding as well as any of us. His eyes were sunk into his skull, and they looked bigger than anybody's eyes should.
We pushed on, walking them now, trying to create no more dust than we had to.
There was a place east of Matamoras where it looked like the border swung further south, and so would be nearer to us. We turned the herd that way, skirting a sort of lake or tidewater pool.
It was just shy of noon and we were within five or six miles of the border when they came at us.
It was about that time, just before they hit us, that I had my brain-storm. It came to me of a sudden and, saying nothing to anyone but the Tinker, I rode up to Gin.
'Look, you and pa take those two steers and you move out ahead. If we have to make a fight of it, we'll do it better without having to think of you.'
'I can fight,' pa said.
His looks shocked me, and he was coughing a lot and his forehead was wet with sweat. His cheeks were a sickly white, but I was sure he was carrying a lot of fever in him.
'Do like I say,' I insisted. 'You two light out and head for the border. If we have to, we'll make a fight of it and cover for you. With that money, you can help us out if we should get caught.'
