Lonesome Dove Part 17

17.

BY THE TIME Jake Spoon had been in Lonesome Dove ten days, Lorena knew she had a job to do-namely the job of holding him to his word and making sure he took her to San Francisco as he had promised to do.

Of course Jake had not given her any direct notice that he intended to do differently. He moved in with her immediately and was just as pleasant about everything as he had been the first day. He had not taken a cent of money from her, and they seldom pa.s.sed an hour together without him complimenting her in some way-usually on her voice, or her looks, or the fine texture of her hair, or some delicacy of manner. He had a way of appearing always mildly surprised by her graces, and if anything his sentiments only grew warmer as they got to know one another better. He repeated several times his dismay at her having been stuck for so long in a dismal hole like Lonesome Dove.

But after a week, Lorena became aware of a curious thing: Jake was more attached to her than she was to him. The fact struck her late one afternoon while she was watching him nap. He had insisted on a root, and gone right to sleep afterward; while the sweat was cooling on them she realized she wasn't excited about him in the way she had been the first day. The first day had been one of the big days of her life, because of the smooth way Jake had shown up and taken over, ending her long period of tension and discomfort.

She still felt peaceful with him; they had never quarreled and he had not demonstrated the slightest inclination to meanness. But it was clear to her already that he was one of those men somebody had to take care of. He had fooled her for a few days into thinking he would do the taking care of, but that wasn't so. He was a clever cardplayer and could make money, but that was just part of it. Jake had to have company. When he slept, or when he was amused, or was just lolling around telling stories, the childish part of him showed, and it was a big part. Before the week was over it seemed to her that he was all play.

The realization didn't disturb her calm, though. It meant he needed her more than he would admit; she recognized the need and didn't care whether he admitted it or not. If Jake had been as firm as he pretended to be, it would have left her with little security. He could have just walked off.

But he wouldn't. He liked talk, woman's talk, and the comforts of the bed. He even liked it that she lived above the saloon, since it meant a game was handy if he felt like playing.

Since the Hat Creek outfit had been gathering cattle and getting ready for their drive, games were handier than they had been for a while. Several cowboys drifted into Lonesome Dove, looking for work; some of them had enough snap left at night to wander in and cut the cards. A tall cowboy named Needle Nelson showed up from north of San Antonio, and a cheerful cowboy from Brownsville named Bert Borum.

At first Xavier was cheered by all the new customers, until it occurred to him that they would only be there for a week or two. Then the thought of how empty the saloon would soon be filled him with gloom, and he stood by the door most of the night, his washrag dripping down his leg.

Lippy was kept plenty busy, for the cowboys were always requesting songs. Lippy liked the company. He was proud of his talent at the keyboard and would pound out any song that was requested.

Jake took pains to teach Lorena a few things about card playing that she didn't know. She came to wonder how Jasper and Bert and Needle Nelson got by on so little sleep, for the Captain worked them hard all day and the games went on half the night. The only cowboy likely to pull a sour face if she sat in was Dish Boggett, who wouldn't get over being in love with her. It amused her that he sat there looking so solemn, with his big mustache. Jake did not even seem to notice that the man was in love with her. She was tempted to tease Jake a little, but he had told her plain out he was a jealous man: for all she knew, he might shoot Dish, which would be a pity. Dish was nice enough-it was just that he couldn't compare with Jake Spoon.

When the gathering and branding of cattle had been going on for about ten days, Lorena began to feel a crisis coming. She heard the boys speculate that the branding would be done in another week, which meant they were close to starting the drive. The boys were saying they were already late.

"h.e.l.l, we'll be crossing the Yellowstone on the dern ice, if we don't get started," Needle Nelson said. He was a funny-looking man, thin as a wire, and with an Adam's apple that looked as big as a turkey egg.

"Why, I doubt we'll make the Yellowstone," Jasper Fant said. "Most of us will get drownt before we get that far."

"Needle won't," Dish Boggett suggested. "There ain't a river up that way deep enough he couldn't walk through it and not get his hat wet."

"I can swim, anyway," Needle remarked.

"I'd like to see you swim with fifty or sixty cattle on top of you, or maybe your own horse," Jasper said.

"Ain't no fifty or sixty cattle going to be be on top of me," Needle replied, unruffled. "Nor no dern horse neither." on top of me," Needle replied, unruffled. "Nor no dern horse neither."

Bert Borum thought Needle was hilarious-he thought pretty near everything was hilarious. He was one of those men who have a laugh you like to hear.

"I'm getting me a float before I cross airy river," he declared.

"What kind of float?" Dish inquired.

"Ain't decided," Bert said. "Might tie a few jugs to my horse. Jugs are good floats."

"Where would you get a dern jug on a cattle drive?" Jasper asked. "If the Captain was to catch you with a jug, he'd want to know who drank the whiskey out of it."

Jake was tolerant of the cowboys but careful to keep himself a bit apart from them. He never chimed in when they talked about the life they would have on the trail, and he never spoke to Lorena about the fact that the herd would be leaving in ten days. He didn't work much on the branding, either, though once in a while he spent a night helping them gather more stock. Mostly he let it appear that the drive had nothing to do with him.

Lorena didn't press him, but she kept an eye on him. If he wanted to stay, that was one thing, but if he planned on going he was going to have to figure a way to take her. He wasn't leaving without her, whatever he might think about the matter.

Then, before the issue came to a head, something happened that took Lorena completely unaware. It was a blistering day, the saloon totally empty except for Lippy. Xavier, who had a taste for fish, had gone off to the river to see if he could catch any. Lorena was sitting at a table, practicing one or two card tricks Jake had taught her, when who should walk in but Gus. His s.h.i.+rt was as wet from sweat as if he'd been underwater a week, and even his hatband was sweated through. He went around behind the bar, got himself a bottle and brought it over to the table, grinning a big grin despite the heat.

She noted that he brought her a gla.s.s, which struck her as bold, but then Gus would do anything, as Jake was always saying.

"What I can't figure out is why there ain't but two sinners in this saloon," Gus said.

Lorena made no comment, but Lippy piped up.

"I've tried to sin all my life-ain't you gonna count me?" he asked.

"No, you got a hole in your stomach," Augustus said. "You paid for yours, but so far me and Lorie have got off scot-free."

Gus poured a little whiskey in her gla.s.s, and filled his to just below the brim.

"I want a poke," he said, as casual as if he were asking her to loan him two bits.

Lorena was so taken aback that she didn't know what to say. She looked at Lippy, who was just sitting there listening, as if it were his right.

Gus, of course, was not the slightest bit embarra.s.sed by what he was suggesting. He took his hat off and hung it on a chair, looking at her pleasantly.

Lorena felt sorely at a loss. She had never expected Gus to commit such a blunder, for it was well known that he and Jake were good friends. Gus must know that Jake was living with her; and yet he walked in and asked, as if it made no difference.

She sat silent, showing her puzzlement, which only seemed to amuse Gus.

"I wisht you wouldn't sit there thinking about it," he said. "Just sell me the poke and be done with it. I hate to sit and watch a woman think."

"Why?" she asked, finding her voice again. She felt the beginnings of indignation. "I guess I got the right to think, if I want to," she added.

Gus just grinned. "Oh, you got the right," he said. "It's just that it's fearsome for a man to have a woman start thinking right in front of him. It always leads to trouble."

He paused and drank a healthy swallow of whiskey.

"I'm with Jake now," Lorena said, merely stating the obvious.

"I know that, honey," Augustus said. "The minute I looked up the road and seen Jake coming, I knew you and him would settle in. Jake's a good hand to settle in with, I admit-a sight better than me. But the fact is he went out to the cow camp at the wrong time and Call put him to work. Call don't appreciate Jake's restful qualities like you and me do. He's been fretting for a week because Jake wasn't working, and now that he's got him you can bet he'll keep him a day or two."

Lorena looked at Lippy, wis.h.i.+ng he wasn't there. But Lippy sat, astonished at what he was hearing. His lip hung down like a flap of some kind, as it always did when he forgot himself.

"Jake ain't got the stuff to stand up to Call," Augustus said. "He's gonna have to stay out there and brand dogies for a while. So there ain't no reason for you not to sell me a poke."

"I told you the reason," Lorena said. "Jake takes care of me now," she added.

"No he don't," Gus said. "You take care of him."

It was the very truth Lorena had discovered for herself, and it stumped her that Gus would not only know it but come right out with it as if it were an ordinary fact.

"Jake Spoon has never taken care of n.o.body," Gus said. "Not even himself. He's the world's child, and the main point about him is that he'll always find somebody to take care of him. It used to be me and Call, but right now it's you. That's fine and good, but it's no reason you should go out of business entirely. You can sell me a poke and still take care of Jake."

Lorena knew that was true, as far as it went. Jake was not hard to take care of, and probably not hard to fool. It wouldn't enter his head that she would sell a poke, now that she had him. He had plenty of pride and not a little vanity. It was one of the things she liked about him. Jake thought well of his looks; he was not a dressy man, like Tinkersley, but he nonetheless took pains with his appearance and knew that women fancied him. She had never seen him mad, but she knew he would not like anyone to make light of him.

"I believe he'd shoot the man that touches me," she said.

"I believe it too," Lippy said. "Jake's mighty partial to Lorie."

"h.e.l.l, you're partial to her yourself," Gus said. "We're all partial to her. But Jake ain't exactly a killer."

"He killed that man in Arkansas," Lorena said.

Augustus shrugged. "He fired off a buffalo gun and the bullet happened to hit a dentist," he said. "I don't call that no crime of pa.s.sion."

Lorena didn't like it that Gus acted like Jake wasn't much. He had a reputation for being a cool man in a fight.

"He kilt that bandit," Lippy said. "Hit him right in the Adam's apple, I've heard."

"The truth of that is, the bandit rode into the bullet," Augustus said. "He was unlucky, like the dentist."

Lorena just sat. The situation was so unexpected that she could not think about it clearly. Of course she had no intention of going upstairs with Gus, but he couldn't just be scared off with a look like some cowboy. Gus was not afraid of looks-or of Jake either, it seemed.

"I'll give you fifty dollars," Gus said with a big grin.

Lippy nearly fell off his stool. He had never seen or imagined anything so rash. Fifty dollars for one poke? Then it occurred to him he would cheerfully give as much, if he had it, to get under Lorena's skirts. A man could always get more money, but there wasn't but one Lorie, not on the border, anyway.

"h.e.l.l, I would too," he said, just to register the offer.

"I didn't know you was so rich," Augustus said, a little amused.

"Well, I ain't now, but I might be," Lippy said. "Business is picking up."

"Pshaw," Augustus said. "Once we start the drive you'll be lucky to earn a nickel in a month."

Lorena decided her best out was to pretend to be frightened of Jake's vengeance, though now that she thought about it she knew Gus was probably right. She had met one or two men who were proven killers, and Jake didn't have their manner at all.

"I won't do it," she said. "He'll kill us if he finds out."

"How would he find out?" Gus asked.

"Lippy might tell him," she said.

Augustus looked at Lippy. It was true that the man was a dreadful gossip, and a gossip, moreover, who had scant materials to work with. It would not be easy for him to resist mentioning that he had heard a man offer fifty dollars for a poke.

"I'll give you ten dollars to keep your mouth shut," Augustus said. "And if you betray me I'll shoot another hole in your stomach."

"Gimme the ten," Lippy said, his astonishment growing. That made sixty dollars Gus would be spending. He had never heard of anyone spending such an amount on their pleasure, but then, so far as he knew, there was no one anywhere like Gus, a man who seemed to care nothing for money.

Gus handed over the money and Lippy pocketed it, knowing he had struck a bargain he had better keep, at least until Gus died. Gus was no one to fool with. He had seen several men try, usually over card games, and most all of them had got whacked over the head with Gus's big gun. Gus didn't shoot unless he had to, but he was not loath to whack a man. Lippy was dying to tell Xavier what he'd missed by going fis.h.i.+ng, but he knew he had better postpone the pleasure for a few years. One hole in his stomach was enough.

Lorena felt her indignation growing. She was beginning to feel cornered, something she had not expected to have to feel again. Jake was supposed to have ended that, and yet he hadn't. Of course he probably never suspected his own friend would make such a move behind his back, and yet it still seemed negligent of him, for he knew Gus's ways.

"You can pay him if you want but I ain't going," she said. "Jake's my sweetheart."

"I ain't trying to cut him out," Augustus said. "I just want a poke."

Lorena felt her silence coming back. It was the only way to deal with such a situation. She sat for a few minutes, not talking, hoping he would go away. But it didn't work. He just sat and drank, perfectly friendly and in no hurry. Once she thought about it, the sum grew on her a little. It was something, to be offered fifty dollars. She would have thought it crazy in anyone except Gus, but Gus was clearly not crazy! In a way it was a big compliment that he would offer fifty dollars just for that.

"Go get a Mexican woman," she said. "Why waste your money?"

"Because you're my preference," Augustus said. "I'll tell you what, let's cut the cards. If you're high, I'll give you the money and forget the poke. If I'm high, I'll give you the money and you give me the poke."

Lorena thought she might as well. After all, it was just gambling, which was what Jake did. If she won it would all seem like a joke, something that Gus had cooked up to pa.s.s the time. Besides, she would have fifty dollars and could send to San Antonio for some new dresses, so Jake wouldn't be so critical of her wardrobe. She could tell him she beat Gus to the tune of fifty dollars, which would astonish him, since he played with Gus all the time and seldom won more than a few dollars.

Then, in a second, Gus beat her. She came up with a ten of spades, and him with the queen of hearts. It was her sense that he'd cheated, though she couldn't have said how. She had not realized before what a determined man he was. He had come in for a purpose and she had not been clever enough to head him off. He paid her the fifty dollars at once-it had not been a bluff. When he had had the poke and was dressing, she found that she felt pretty cheerful and was not in a mood to hurry him out. After all, Gus had paid her many visits and given her nothing to hold against him. The fifty dollars was flattering, and she rather liked it that she was his preference even though he was Jake's best friend. She had stopped feeling silent and was content to let him loll for a few minutes.

"Well, do you and Jake aim to marry?" he asked, looking at her cheerfully.

"He ain't mentioned it," she said. "He's taking me to San Francisco, though."

Augustus snorted. "I figured that was his game," he said.

"He promised," Lorena said. "I mean to hold him to it, Gus."

"You'll need my help then," Augustus said. "Jake is a slippery eel. The only way to keep him around is to chain him to a wagon."

"I can keep him around," Lorena said confidently.

"Oh, he fancies you," Augustus said. "But that don't mean he'll stay around. My guess is he'll use the drive as an excuse when the time comes."

"If he goes with it, then I'm going too," she said.

"Why, Lorie, you're welcome, as far as I'm concerned," Augustus said. "The problem is Call. He ain't very tolerant of women."

That was no news. Captain Call was one of the few men in the region who had never been to visit her. In fact, so far as she could remember, he had never been in the saloon.

"It's a free country, ain't it?" she said. "I guess I can go where I want."

Gus got off the bed and tucked his carrot back in his pants.

"It's not very free if you happen to work for Call," he said.

"You think Lippy will tell on us?" she asked. To her surprise, she felt no guilt at all about operating behind Jake's back. So far as she was concerned she was still his sweetheart. It had happened only because Gus had been too quick for her in a card game-it didn't affect the situation one way or another.

"He won't tell," Augustus said. "Lippy's got more sense than you might think. What he figures is that if he keeps quiet he might make another ten dollars sometime. Which is right. He might."

"Well, not unless we play a hand," Lorena said. "I don't trust your cut."

Augustus grinned. "A man who wouldn't cheat for a poke don't want one bad enough," he said as he took his hat.