Ralph Compton Brother's Keeper

Book 0: A Ralph Compton Western

by Ralph Compton, David Robbins

Genres: Action & Adventure; Historical Fiction; Westerns

Synopsis

The life of a cowboy suits Thalis Christie just fine. A puncher for the Crescent H in Texas, he loves what he does and is damn good at it too. He doesn't even mind being away from his family—he's got good friends to keep him from getting too homesick. That is, until his folks write, imploring him to hunt down his brother, Myles, who's been shot while prospecting in the Black Hills.

Thalis sets out to do his family duty and find his little brother—still alive, he hopes. Thalis has got his partner, Ned Leslie, by his side, as well as some other surprising travel companions, including the famous Wild Bill Hickok. But as he follows his brother's wandering trail across the country, leading him to encounter deadly obstacles from Texas to Blood Gulch, he begins to wonder if he can ever return to the comfortable life he used to lead—or if he even wants to..

Release date: September 1, 2015

Publisher: Berkley

Print pages: 304

Sample

THE IMMORTAL COWBOY

This is respectfully dedicated to the “American Cowboy.” His was the saga sparked by the turmoil that followed the Civil War, and the passing of more than a century has by no means diminished the flame.

True, the old days and the old ways are but treasured memories, and the old trails have grown dim with the ravages of time, but the spirit of the cowboy lives on.

In my travels—­to Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Arizona—­I always find something that reminds me of the Old West. While I am walking these plains and mountains for the first time, there is this feeling that a part of me is eternal, that I have known these old trails before. I believe it is the undying spirit of the frontier calling me, through the mind’s eye, to step back into time. What is the appeal of the Old West of the American frontier?

It has been epitomized by some as the dark and bloody period in American history. Its heroes—­Crockett, Bowie, Hickok, Earp—­have been reviled and criticized. Yet the Old West lives on, larger than life.

It has become a symbol of freedom, when there was always another mountain to climb and another river to cross; when a dispute between two men was settled not with expensive lawyers, but with fists, knives, or guns. Barbaric? Maybe. But some things never change. When the cowboy rode into the pages of American history, he left behind a legacy that lives within the hearts of us all.

Chapter 1

Thalis Christie knew he was in trouble moments after he opened his eyes. Dawn was about to break, and he lay there debating whether to get up or wait a few minutes.

That was when something brushed against his leg.

Thal nearly jumped out of his skin. There shouldn’t be anything under the tarpaulin and blanket that covered him—except him. It didn’t help matters that before he’d turned in, he’d stripped off every stitch of clothing.

Thal was on his side, with just his head poking out of his bed. Goose bumps erupted as the thing that had crawled in with him slithered onto his shin. Snake, his mind screamed, and it was all he could do not to scramble out. He didn’t move for two reasons. The first was that he would rather die than let the other Crescent H punchers see him naked. The second reason mattered more. The snake might be a rattler. If he moved his leg, the thing might bite.

No one else was up yet except the cook, Old Pete, who was over at the chuck wagon fixing breakfast. A few of the hands were snoring. His pard, Ned Leslie, was closest to him and snoring the loudest.

“Ned!” Thal whispered.

Ned went on sounding like a bear in hibernation.

Thal tensed as the snake inched up his leg. It was the creepiest feeling. Worse than that time a black widow spider had crawled up his arm in the woodshed. At least he could see the spider.

His mouth was so dry Thal had to try twice to say a little louder, “Ned, consarn you. Wake up.”

Another puncher muttered and rolled over, smacking his lips.

Thal swiveled his eyes from side to side, seeking anyone else who might be awake.

The snake reached his knee.

Thal blamed himself for his predicament. He shouldn’t have used the tarp, as hot as it was. But thunderheads had been noisily rumbling in the distance when he turned in, and he hadn’t cared to be soaked. It never did rain, though. The storm had passed them by.

Because of the heat, Thal had left a gap for air to circulate. That was how the snake had gotten in with him.

Of all the ways for a man to meet his Maker, Thal reflected, being bit in his bed was downright dumb. He’d be the laughingstock of the hereafter.

He saw the tarp bulge slightly as the serpent inched up his thigh, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

To the east the sky had brightened and the stars were fading. Others would wake up soon. The first puncher who did, Thal would ask for help. He didn’t know what anyone could do, but there had to be something.

Luck was with him, for just then Ned Leslie slowly rose onto his elbows and sleepily gazed around. Ned’s hat was off, and his usually slick black hair stuck out at all angles. He yawned and gave his head a slight shake, then saw Thal staring at him. “Mornin’, ugly.”

“I need help,” Thal whispered.

“What’s that, pard?” Ned said, scratching himself. “Didn’t your ma ever teach you not to mumble? You’ll have to speak up.”

“I need help,” Thal whispered a little louder.

“You sure do,” Ned said, his green eyes twinkling. “That filly over to the Mossy Horn Saloon wouldn’t warm to you nohow the last time we were there. And Lordy, how you tried.”

Thal smothered a few choice cusswords. Ned had been needling him about his attempt at romance for weeks now. “Snake,” he whispered.

“Shake?” Ned said, and sat up. “You got cottonmouth or somethin’? I don’t see how you could, seein’ as how we haven’t had a lick of liquor for days.” He ran a hand over his hair to smooth it down. “Maybe more whiskey would have helped you with that filly. Get a gal drunk enough and she’ll do just about anything.”

“Snake,” Thal said.

Ned didn’t seem to hear him. “The problem with that is, by the time the gal is drunk, you are too. Some of those doves hold red-eye like it’s water. The last time a gal and me got drunk together, I woke up in an outhouse with no idea how I got there or what happened to her. So gettin’ drunk ain’t no guarantee you’ll get lucky.”

“Ned, snake, damn you.”

“What’s that, Thalis?” Ned jammed his hat on. “You’re actin’ awful peculiar. Quit whisperin’. My ears haven’t quite woke up yet, although the rest of me has.”

Thal took a gamble. He said out loud, “There’s a snake in my beddin’, you lunkhead.”

“You don’t say?” Ned said calmly.

Thal could have hit him. The reptile had reached his hip and was posed along his unmentionables. He shuddered to think of the thing’s fangs sinking into his private parts.

“That’s what you get for bundlin’ in all that canvas in the summer,” Ned was saying. “Snakes like hot spots, and the inside of your beddin’ must be an oven.”

“Ned,” Thal said, “I’m unshucked.”

Ned started to laugh, and caught himself. “You’re buck naked?” he said, and then did laugh. “Well, ain’t this a pickle?”

“It could be a rattler.”

“Has it rattled yet?”

“Not that I’ve heard.”

“That’s good,” Ned said. “They usually only bite when they’re riled, and they usually rattle before they bite. So long as it doesn’t, you should be all right.”

“Ned, for the love of heaven.”

“Oh, all right.” Ned cast his blanket off. He had gone to sleep with his shirt and pants on. He’d taken off his boots, though, and now he commenced to pull one on.

Much too slowly, for Thal’s liking. “Any chance you could hurry it up? Bein’ snakebit ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at.”

“Maybe it’s not the heat,” Ned said, tugging harder. “Maybe it’s how you smell.”

“What?”

“You and your baths,” Ned said. “Always goin’ on about how you like to smell clean when we go to town so the gals will fancy you more. But bein’ clean didn’t help with that dove, did it? And after you sat in that river water for pretty near ten minutes, scrubbin’ yourself raw. I don’t see why you bother. You probably gave the fish fits.”

Thal couldn’t believe his pard was ribbing him, yet again, about his fondness for baths. Not at a time like this. “If I get bit and die, I’m comin’ back to haunt you.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ned said, reaching for his other boot.

“I mean it. I’ll come back and make you take baths just to get even.”

Ned paused. “Can a ghost do that? Make somebody do somethin’ they don’t want to do? If so, you can keep your darn baths. Twice a year was good enough for my pa and twice a year is good enough for me. That’s why wash pans were invented. Our face and our hair are all that count. Who cares about the rest of us? No one can see how dirty we are if we have our clothes on.”

Thal felt a feathery touch on his thigh. The snake’s tongue, he reckoned. “Ned, honest to God.”

“Don’t be bringin’ the Almighty into this. It’s not His fault He gave you a brain and you don’t use it.”

The snake was on the move again. Thal felt it creep past his hip, climbing higher.

Ned stood and stomped each foot a couple of times. “There. I’m all together. Or pretty near.” Bending, he scooped up his gun belt and proceeded to strap on his six-shooter. When he was done, he patted his Colt. “I’m not Jesse Lee, but I reckon I can hit a snake in a bedroll.”

“Like blazes you will,” Thal said. “You’re liable to hit me.” Neither of them was much shakes with a revolver. They only ever used their six-guns, ironically enough, for snakes and such.

“I know what made it crawl in with you,” Ned said, and snapped his fingers. “It’s not the heat or your smell. It’s that yellow hair of yours. I bet the snake mistook it for the sun and you for a flat rock.”

“You’re not even a little bit funny.” Thal was whispering again. The snake had reached his chest. He nearly shuddered.

“Some folks might not think so,” Ned said. “But I like to start my day with a grin. It puts me in a good mood for whatever comes after.”

“The snake,” Thal whispered.

“Oh, Thalis,” Ned said with an exaggerated sigh. “The way you harp on the little things. It’s not as if you’ve got a bear in there. That filly doesn’t know how lucky she is that she didn’t let you lead her to the altar. You’d have harped her to death with all your gripin’.”

“I swear,” Thal said. The snake was almost to his shoulder. Peering down in, he imagined he saw the tips of its forked tongue.

This whole time, others had been waking up and rising. A pair of them ambled over. Like Thal and Ned, they were pards. Unlike Thal and Ned, who were both in their twenties, one of the pair was past forty and the other was the youngest hand in the outfit.

Jesse Lee Hardesty was seventeen. He hailed from North Carolina, and was Southern through and through. He liked to wear a gray shirt as a kind of tribute to his pa, who had lost an arm in the War Between the States. His shirt matched his gray eyes. His bandanna was red. Another splash of color decorated his hip. Where the rest of the punchers got by with an ordinary Colt, Jesse Lee’s sported ivory handles and nickel plating. He was uncommonly quick on the draw, and accurate. Around the campfire at night, he loved to hear stories about shootists. Some of the more seasoned punchers worried that if the boy wasn’t careful, he’d turn into one himself.

Crawford Soames was one of those worriers. He’d been Jesse Lee’s pard for going on a year. A lot of the men figured that Crawford had taken Jesse Lee under his wing to keep him out of trouble.

“What’s goin’ on?” Crawford now asked Ned Leslie. “Why is your pard still in bed? Is he sick?”

“Thal has come down with a case of snake,” Ned said with mock gravity.

“He’s done what, now?” Jesse Lee drawled.

“A snake has crawled in with him,” Crawford had realized. “That happens from time to time. I remember Charley Logan, over to the Bar H. A snake crawled in with him one time and bit him when he rolled on top of it. Lucky for him it was a copperhead and not a rattler. Copperhead bites don’t always kill, but he was in misery for months.”

Thal was about to burst with exasperation. “Are you three goin’ to stand there jawin’ or are you goin’ to help me?”

“Someone flip that tarp off,” Jesse Lee said, placing his right hand on his ivory-handled Colt. “I bet I can shoot the sidewinder before it bites him.”

“Sidewinders are desert rattlers,” Ned said. “Southwest Texas is a lot of things, but it’s not no desert.”

“Most likely the snake’s a diamondback,” Crawford said. “Timber rattlers like trees, and we’re not near any woods.”

“We have diamondbacks in North Carolina,” Jesse Lee said. “Folks say they’re the most dangerous there is.”

“They are,” Crawford said.

The snake reached Thal’s shoulder. Now he definitely could see its tongue darting out and in. “I hope you all die,” he said.

“We’d better do somethin’,” Ned said. “I don’t want to have to break in a new pard.” He came over to the tarp. “I’ll grab this side. Craw, you take the other. When I count to three, we’ll flip it off and Jesse Lee can try and shoot the serpent before it can strike.”

“Try?” Jesse Lee said.

“Hold on,” Thal said, breaking out in even more sweat. “There’s got to be a better way.”

“What would you have us do?” Ned said. “Ask it ‘pretty please’ to not bite you and come out and leave you be?”

Jesse Lee chuckled. “Wouldn’t that be somethin’? A snake with manners.”

“The things you come up with,” Crawford said.

“Let’s hear your plan,” Ned said to Thal. “Do you have a trick for lurin’ the reptile out?”

Thal was about to say that all he cared about was not being bitten when the snake’s snout appeared at the edge of the tarp. Eyes with vertical slits peered back at him with what he took to be malignant purpose. He recollected his grandma telling him once that snakes were evil, that they were Satan’s progeny on earth, as she’d put it, constant reminders of the fact that Satan had disguised himself as a snake to cause the Fall. “It’s right here,” he whispered.

“Here where?” Ned said.

The rattlesnake slithered into the open.

Thal nearly cried out. It was indeed a diamondback. Over three feet long and as thick as his wrist, the snake glided by within inches of his face.

As if it had become aware of the others, the rattler suddenly streaked toward a patch of high grass.

Just like that, Jesse Lee’s Colt was in his hand. He fired once, from the hip, and the snake’s head exploded. The body stopped cold, writhed spasmodically, and was still.

Shouts came from different quarters, cowhands demanding to know what was going on.

“Just a rattler!” Ned hollered, and smiling, he squatted and tapped Thal on the head. “Are you fixin’ to lie abed all day? Or did you wet yourself and you need a towel?”

“What I need,” Thal said, “is a new pard.”

Chapter 2

The Crescent H was one of the largest ranches in that part of Texas. Two-thirds of it was hilly, with a lot of brush. The cattle loved that brush. They’d hide in it during the day.

Thal and Ned and ten other punchers, among them Crawford and Jesse Lee, were searching for those hard-to-find critters to add them to the growing herd that would be shipped to New Orleans.

Thal had donned chaps on account of all the thorns. His were batwings. So were Ned’s. Crawford was fond of bull-hide chaps because they were thicker and offered more protection. As for Jesse Lee, he liked Angora chaps. Made from goat hair, his were as white as snow.

The four of them were working a section together. Crawford was the best tracker, and found some fresh sign.

“Made this mornin’. Over a dozen or more. And lookee here.” Bending low from his saddle, Crawford pointed at a particular set of prints. “The size of those, it’s got to be a big ol’ steer.”

“Wonderful,” Thal said. Older, wilder animals were notorious for giving cowpokes a hard time. The animals would run and have to be roped, and sometimes would fight when cornered, and their horns weren’t to be taken lightly.

“He went up thataway,” Crawford said, bobbing his chin at thick timber ahead. “Why don’t you boys split right and Jesse Lee and me will take the left side, and we’ll work our way in?”

“Sounds good to me,” Ned said.

Thal had his rope ready. Shorter than the rope he’d use in open country, it had a smaller loop. Both were essential. In heavy brush a long rope with a wide loop became entangled too easily. “Maybe he’ll let us herd him.”

“I love an optimist,” Ned said.

Jesse Lee laughed, and he and Crawford went their own way.

Clucking to his roan, Ned assumed the lead. “I’ve been meanin’ to ask you somethin’, pard.”

“I’m listenin’,” Thal said, although he’d rather they didn’t jaw. An old steer could be as quiet as an Apache when it wanted to, and might slip by if they didn’t stay alert.

“How long do you aim to keep at this?”

“At what?” Thal asked absently. “Brush poppin’?” They had been working the brush country for pretty near half a year, and he had gotten darn good at it, if he did say so himself.

“No, you knucklehead. This cowboyin’.”

The question so startled Thal that he tore his gaze from the undergrowth. “Where did this come from? I thought you liked it.”

“I do,” Ned said, nodding. “I like the outdoors. And I like to ride. So the work agrees with me.”

“Why talk of quittin’, then?”

Ned shifted to look back at him. “I didn’t mean quit all cowboyin’. I meant quit the Crescent H and find cow work somewhere else.”

Thal had never given it any thought. The wages were good, they were treated decent, and Old Pete had a knack for tasty victuals. “What in tarnation is wrong with the Crescent H?”

“Not a thing,” Ned said. “But it’s not the only cow outfit in the world. There are heaps of them, from Oklahoma to Montana.”

“Wait,” Thal said. “You’re hankerin’ to leave Texas?” He’d only come to the Lone Star state about four years ago, and had fallen in love with it. He’d never considered going anywhere else in a million years.

“Texas ain’t all of creation, you know,” Ned said. “There’s a whole wide world we haven’t seen yet.”

“Why, Ned Leslie,” Thal scolded him, only half in jest. “You’ve had me snookered all this time. I took you for a Texan through and through.” His friend had been born and bred there.

“I’m as Texan as you or anybody,” Ned said defensively, “and I’ll thrash anyone who says different. But would it hurt to travel a little? Would it hurt to see what else is out there?”

“I know what this is,” Thal said. “You’ve come down with a case of wanderlust.” He had a cousin who’d come down with it. An itch to see what lay over the next horizon, and the one after that, and then the one after that. The last he’d heard, his cousin was up in Oregon country and could go no farther west on account of the Pacific Ocean. That was where wanderlust got you.

“I suppose I have,” Ned admitted. “Although it didn’t come on me suddenlike. I’ve been thinkin’ about seein’ more of the world for a while now, and was waitin’ for the right time to bring it up.”

“What makes this the right time?”

“That snake. It spooked you. I could tell. You reckoned you were a goner, and I don’t blame you. That rattler was proof that none of us know when our time is up. We could be bucked out tomorrow, for all we know.”

“They call that ‘life,’” Thal said.

“All the more reason for us to see some more of this world before we cash in our chips. We could hire out on a drive to Kansas, or anywhere you wanted.”

“This is your brainstorm, not mine.”

“And you’re against it,” Ned said.

“The notion is new, is all,” Thal said. “You’ve sprung it on me out of the blue. I need to ponder on it some.”

“Ponder all you need to.”

Thal tried to concentrate on the brush but couldn’t. “Do you have somewhere particular in mind or do you aim to ride from here to Canada to find a place you like?”

“I’m not lookin’ for somewhere to plant roots,” Ned said, sounding irritated. “I just want to look.”

Thal never savvied that attitude. His cousin, for instance, had always gone on and on about what was over the next horizon. The answer was simple. Another horizon. A fella could chase horizons from now until the day of doom, and what would it get him? A sore backside from all that riding, and not much else. To Thal, one prairie wasn’t much different from another, one mountain peak wasn’t any more exciting than the next. Sure, there were some wonderful sights in the world, but riding around looking for them would get boring after a while. How many sunsets did a man have to see, how many sparkling lakes and grand canyons, before he realized that when he had seen one, he’d seen them all?

A sudden snort brought Thal out of himself.

Ned drew rein and pointed at a patch of thick brush ahead and to the left. Deep in the patch, something moved.

Unlimbering his rope, Thal nodded. It must be the big steer they were after. He looked for sign of Crawford and Jesse Lee coming from the other direction. With their help it would be a lot easier.

Another snort heralded the crash of brush as the steer hurtled from cover, making to the northwest.

“Almighty!” Ned blurted.

Thal didn’t blame him. The steer was huge. The biggest he’d ever seen, two thousand pounds or better, with a horn spread of eight feet, at least. It was a monster, and it plowed through the oak brush as if the vegetation were paper.

Ned let out a whoop and took off after it, bawling, “Craw! Jesse! It’s comin’ your way!”

Thal used his spurs. The mare he was riding was one of six horses he’d picked from the remuda. Small and wiry, she was a natural at brush popping. He’d picked her for just that purpose. Larger and slower horses were of no use in the brush.

The longhorn hurtled along like a steam engine, its legs pumping like pistons, leaving a swath of flattened vegetation in its wake. The animal was moving so fast they were falling behind.

Ned resorted to lashing his reins. “Get on there, horse! Get on!”

Acting on inspiration, Thal veered onto the path of destruction and followed it as if it were a road. He quickly gained to where he was only a few yards from the longhorn’s tail.

“Stick with him, pard!” Ned hollered.

Thal had every intention of doing so. A peeve of his was letting a steer escape. He’d only ever had it happen a few times, but it galled him. He took it personal, the way some men took insults. And in a way, it was an insult. A cowhand worth his place at the feed trough should never let a cow get away.

The longhorn abruptly broke sharply to the west.

Reining after him, Thal saw the reason why. Crawford was barreling in from the northwest. Almost instantly the older puncher reined to cut the longhorn off, but the monster flew by before Crawford could throw a loop.

Thal bent over his saddle horn to avoid a tree limb. The noise they made was tremendous. Between the pounding of hooves and the crashing of brush, he could barely hear himself think.

Two wide white stripes appeared and grew into Angora chaps as Jesse Lee, yipping like a Comanche, bore down from the west.

Again the longhorn changed direction, to the southwest this time. Jesse Lee tried a toss, but it fell short.

Thal could have told him that would happen. The youngster had misjudged. It took experience to know when to let fly. And if there was anything in the world Thal was good at, it was roping. He practiced all the time, and why not? Roping was one of the main skills of his trade. A man who couldn’t rope was worthless as a brush thumper and at riding herd.

The longhorn was going all out. The wily critter knew from experience that if it could stay ahead of them long enough, their horses would tire and they’d have to give up.

Not this time, Thal thought. The steer had met its match in the mare, who had more stamina than most three horses put together. That might be bragging, but it was close to the truth.

They swept down one slope and up another, the longhorn a living engine of destruction, the mare a credit to her kind. The chase might have gone on for a while, if not for the unforeseen.

The steer was racing down yet another hill. Thal, still glued to its tail, eagerly watched for a chance to throw. Without warning the mare squealed and pitched into a roll. Kicking free of the stirrups at the last moment, Thal pushed clear. He struck hard on his shoulder. His hat went flying and he lost his hold on his rope.

The next he knew, Thal was flat on his back. His shoulder and the back of his neck throbbed with pain. Grimacing, he raised his head and turned it from side to side. Nothing appeared to be broken.

Her nostrils flaring, the mare was back up. Her eyes were wide and she was quaking.

A bellow explained why.

Thal’s blood went cold at the sight of the longhorn not twenty feet away. Its legs planted wide, it snorted, pawed at the ground, and tossed its head from side to side. He recognized the signs. It was about to charge.

Springing to his feet, Thal dashed to the mare. He reached her just as the steer exploded into motion. In a bound he was in the saddle and reined around to get out of there. He realized he wasn’t going to make it and braced for the impact of a ton of sinew and bone.

Out of nowhere, Ned Leslie galloped up. His loop was in the air even as he broke clear of the brush, and it settled as neatly as could be—but only over one horn. That was enough to slow the steer but not stop it. The next instant, though, Jesse Lee was there, whooping as he tossed his own rope. It flew over the other horn and down over the critter’s head, but not quite far enough. The steer snorted and pulled back.

“Hold him!” Ned bawled.

There wasn’t much either man could do other than dally his rope and hope for the best.

Thal had drawn rein. Thinking to help, he swung down and ran to his rope, which lay on the ground not six feet from the struggling longhorn.

“What do you think you’re doin’?” Ned yelled.

Scooping his rope up, Thal coiled it for a throw. He wasn’t watching the steer, and looked up when Jesse Lee shouted a warning.

A shorn tip sheared at Thal’s face. Ducking, he dropped to his hands and knees and scrambled out of there before he was gored or kicked. The steer tried to reach him but was hindered by the ropes.

With a great rending of brush, Crawford finally arrived. He didn’t waste time with a head toss. He threw just as the longhorn reared back with its front hooves off the ground. His loop passed under and up, and with a swift dally and a jerk on his reins, he brought the monster crashing down on its side.

Darting around, Thal threw his own loop over the rear legs, and the job was done. Only then did it hit him how close he had come to not seeing the sun set.

“That was plumb fun,” Jesse Lee declared. “Let’s add him to the herd and go find another.”

“Kids,” Crawford said.

“Are you all right, pard?” Ned asked Thal. “You look a little shaken.”

“First the snake and now this,” Thal said. “I’m havin’ a wonderful day.”

“Look at the bright side,” Ned said. “Yo