[Texas Rangers 06] - Jericho's Road by Elmer Kelton Page A

from a cold Dutch oven and found leftover flat-baked bread. He tore off a chunk. “Try it, Andy. It ain’t bad when you get used to it. Mexicans don’t know about bakin’ biscuits.”
    Andy gave Pablo a questioning glance before accepting. He knew that getting crossways with the cook was about the worst mistake a man could make in camp. He saw that Pablo was awaiting his verdict on the bread. He took a bite and nodded. “Tastes mighty fine to me.”
    Pablo grinned. “Any time you are hungry, you come see me. We find you somethin’ to eat.” He shook the knife at Len. “You got enough. You wait for supper.”
    Len broke off another piece of bread. He said, “Another good thing about camp cooks is they’ve always got a givin’ disposition.”
    The sergeant came looking for him. “Tanner, the lieutenant says we need to get the new men off to a quick start. In the mornin’ you’ll take Brackett and Pickard and patrol up the river. They need to get acquainted with the lay of the land.”
    Len asked, “We got to take Farley?”
    “ He needs to learn the country.” Donahue frowned. “What’s the matter? Don’t you and Brackett get along?”
    “ I get along with Farley just fine. As long as I don’t pay any attention to him.”
    Donahue grunted. “Just be damned sure you pay attention to me.”
     

CHAPTER FIVE

    B urt Hatton came to a fork in the road and glanced with foreboding at a sign which stood on the left. It said: THIS IS JERICHO’S ROAD. TAKE THE OTHER.
    He wished he could take the other and keep going. Facing Jericho was always unpleasant when things did not go as Jericho wanted. Hatton turned in the saddle and looked at the men who followed. One led a riderless horse. He said, “Don’t none of you forget what we’ve agreed to say. We got jumped by Lupe Chavez’s bandits. The kid got shot before we could reach cover.”
    He hoped Jericho would be mollified at least somewhat by the fact that they did not lose the cattle money.
    Jesse Wilkes always looked as if he had sucked on a sour persimmon, and he had more complaints than a dissatisfied mother-in-law. He argued, “I still say you can’t lie to Jericho. He reads faces like me and you read a paper.”
    “ Let me do the tellin’. You-all just nod. Maybe he won’t ask many questions. He’ll be busy figurin’ out some way to get even with Chavez.”
    “ Whatever he comes up with, it’ll be us that get sent to do the job. He don’t do anything the law can grab him for.”
    Hatton’s voice sharpened. “You’ve got nothin’ to bellyache about. You get your share.”
    “ Money’s hard to spend in the graveyard.”
    “ You can always leave if you’re a mind to. Go back to East Texas. Maybe they’ve forgot about that murder charge they had out on you.”
    Wilkes seemed to shrivel. “They don’t ever forget.”
    “ And neither does Jericho, so keep your mouth shut and let me talk to him.”
    Wilkes went quiet, but his eyes still reflected his anxiety. Hatton had not chosen him as a member of the bunch; Jericho had done that. Hatton often found it hard to fathom Jericho’s thinking. It was too bad Wilkes didn’t catch that bullet instead of the kid. If it ever became necessary for Hatton to sacrifice somebody to save the rest, Wilkes would be his first pick.
    Hatton’s eyes kept searching the crooked wagon track ahead. Jericho kept a guard on this road in case some stranger came along who couldn’t read the sign or chose not to heed it. The guard moved around often, so Hatton could never predict just where he would be. The regular guards knew Hatton and his riders, but sometimes Jericho put a new man on the job. Sooner or later he might assign somebody who was too slow on recognition and too fast on the trigger.
    A horseman casually rode out from behind the leafy green cover of a mesquite tree and stopped in the center of the road, waiting. He had a rifle in a scabbard and a pistol on his hip but nothing in his hands except his