“Not for sale?” James sputtered. “Well, if the wagon isn’t for sale, I don’t understand. Why did you bring it out here?”
“I wanted you to see it,” Revelation replied. “I want you to realize what a great wagon it would make for your drive to Dakota.”
“Uh-huh,” James said. “So you’re just trying to goad us, is that it?”
Revelation smiled and when she did, an amazing transformation took place. Although dressed as a man, in trousers, denim shirt, and a decrepit old felt hat, the smile lit up her face. Her eyes flashed, her dimples deepened, and it was quite easy to see that she was a woman.
“No, Mr. Cason, I don’t want to goad you,” she said. “I want to join you.”
“Join us?”
“I want to go to Dakota with you.”
James laughed.
“Do you find the idea of my going to Dakota funny?”
“Yes,” James answered.
“I’m told that you’ve not been able to hire anyone to go with you.”
“Don’t need anyone,” James replied. “We’re going to make the drive ourselves.”
“Four of you are going to drive nearly three thousand cattle over a thousand miles? And with no wagon?” she added.
“Maybe our herd won’t be quite as large as all that,” James said.
Revelation nodded. “I don’t blame you. With no drovers to move the cows, and no wagon, then the smaller you keep your herd, the better it will be for you. Of course, the payoff at the other end won’t be nearly as large.”
“Better that we get there with a few, than that we leave cows stranded over the eighteen hundred miles between here and there.”
“Perhaps. But it would be better still if you got there with all the cattle you originally planned to take.”
“And you think your going with us can accomplish that?” James asked.
“Me . . .” Revelation replied. She nodded at the wagon and team. “My wagon and team . . .” She paused for a moment longer before continuing. “And my four brothers.”
“Your four brothers?”
“You’d have plenty of drovers to help you with the herd if they came,” Revelation added.
Billy snorted. “Ha! I can’t see your brothers working for forty and found.”
Revelation shook her head. “Oh no, we wouldn’t work for anything like that.”
James’s face reflected a look of confusion. “Then I don’t understand. If you won’t work for forty and found, what will you work for? What do you want?”
“We want nothing,” Revelation said. “Except the right to throw our herd in with yours during the drive.”
“Your herd?”
“A thousand head. For that, you have five more hands—”
“Five?”
“Counting me,” Revelation said. “I can work as hard as any man.”
James shook his head. “A thousand head? No. Even with four more—-five more hands,” he corrected himself, “a thousand more head would make the herd too large to handle.”
“What about seven hundred fifty head?” Revelation proposed.
“Make it five hundred and we have a deal,” James countered.
“Done,” said Revelation.
“James, you think that’s wise?” Billy asked, surprised that James had accepted Revelation’s offer.
“Think about it,” James said. “With five more hands and a wagon, we can take our entire herd.”
“I agree with James,” Bob said. “What about you, Duke?”
Duke demurred. “I’m not sure I rightly have a voice in this,” he said.
“Sure you do. You’ve got your own herd, same as the rest of us.”
“Well, if the difference is between taking all our cows or paring down because we have to travel light-handed, then I’m for adding the extra hands.”
“All right,” Billy said. “If you fellas are willing to take a chance on them, I reckon I am, too.”
“Go get your brothers,” James said. “Come back with them and the wagon, ready to go.”
“Give me the loan of a horse,” Revelation said, “and I’ll leave the wagon here so you can get started loading.”
“All right,” James said. “Oh, there’s one more thing. Since you and your brothers are partners, rather than riding for forty and found, you’ll be expected to come up with your share of money for the drive.”
“Fair enough,” Revelation said. “We’ll bring the money with us when we return.”
“How do we know we can trust you to have the money?” Bob asked.
“Simple. If we don’t have the money, we don’t go. If we do have the money, we do go.”
“Sounds reasonable enough to me,” Billy said.
“What about the cattle?” James asked.
“What about them?” Revelation replied.
“Word is you Scattergoods aren’t always that particular about whose brand is on the cows you run. I wouldn’t want to get jumped by a posse somewhere, claiming we’re driving stolen cattle.”
“There will be no posse,” Revelation assured them.
“If anyone does prove you are running their cattle, you and your brothers will have to leave.”
“That’s fair enough.”
“Without your cows,” James added.
“What are you saying? That you would expect us to just leave our cows behind?”
James shook his head. “No, what I’m saying is, you better own the cows you bring to us.”
Chapter Nine
It had taken Angus Butrum most of the morning to ride over to Fort Worth from Dallas. Dallas was a sleepy little town, but Fort Worth was full of activity, though as he looked more closely, he saw that most of the activity came from soldiers. Like ants at a picnic, the soldiers were everywhere. As far as he could tell, though, they weren’t doing anything except wearing their uniforms and parading up and down the street saluting one another. Angus reined up in front of a saloon, but just before he dismounted, he worked up a good spit of tobacco and squirted it onto the boardwalk. Although he hadn’t intended to do so, it got on the boots and pants of a young lieutenant. The young woman who was walking along the boardwalk with the lieutenant just managed to avoid it.
“Hey, mister, you just spit on my boots!” the lieutenant complained.
Angus looked at the officer but said nothing.
“Well, you just going to stand there like a dumb ox?” the lieutenant challenged. “Get down there and clean it off.”
The girl saw the danger in Angus’s eyes before the young officer did, and she pulled on his arm. “Come on, Donnie, let’s go. I’ll clean it.”
“No,” Donnie said, obviously trying to make a show of it in front of the girl. “This scoundrel is not in uniform. It is obvious that he is either too cowardly to be in the army or he is a deserter. Now, which is it, mister?”
Still silent, Angus tied his horse off at the hitching rail.
“Mister, are you mute as well as dumb? I’m talking to you.”
The blood vessel in Angus’s temple enlarged, then began to throb. He stared directly at the young
