Strays

By Gerald Goble

In 1873 William returned from the war to join his brother John who was the Sheriff in Mason Texas. The place was going through changes where free range ranches were being replaced by homesteads with fences. There have been cattle rustled and the old time German residents don’t trust the new English residents and they don’t trust the Germans. Mobs form and lynch suspected wrong doers. In the midst of this anarchy William homesteads a piece of land, makes it into a working ranch and finds love and eventually peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerald Goble
• Release date: Jul 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370656837

Gerald Goble

Gerald Goble has PhD in Theoretical Physics and has been a research scientist, teacher, federal employee, businessman, manager, and martial arts instructor. He is author of several scientific publications, U.S. Army Publications on Ammunition and Explosives, non fiction books "The Way of Two as One“, "The Bear Slayer – Women’s Self-Defense“; the fiction books, the Bunko Club Murder series, and the Jack Wellington UN Attaché Series, Westerns “Jacob’s Coat”, "Strays" and "Warrior Woman" and Science Fiction, "The Majestic Committee."

Book preview

Strays

By

Gerald Goble

Strays

By

Gerald Goble

Strays

Copyright © 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping by or by an information storage, retrieval system without the written permission of the author with the exception of brief quotations. This is a work of fiction. Some characters may have a historical counterpart, but their actions and dialogue are fictional. Some names, incidents, organizations, may have a historical counterpart but their use in this novel are either, the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Accounts of this period for the Mason County War are available on line with the Texas State Historical Society

For Joan my friend, my love.

Chapter 1

The Sheriff of Mason County, Texas, John Clark held the cigarette paper with his left hand with his index finger pressing down the paper between his middle finger and thumb to create a channel for the tobacco as he sprinkled it from the white cloth bag. He drew the tobacco bag closed with his teeth grabbing the paper tab and pressed it into his right shirt pocket. With both hands he spread the tobacco and raised it to his lips and tongue to use his saliva as glue for the small cylinder. He placed it in his mouth and extracted a match from a small box in his left shirt pocket behind the metal star badge. He struck the match on the inside of his left boot and brought it to the cigarette as he turned to look down the street in the City of Mason that led to the east. There he saw a man on a horse with a mule trailing behind at the edge of the town coming in his direction.

The Sheriff was tall for the average in Mason County. He had brown hair and not thin or overly muscular, but gave the appearance of being fast on his feet. He studied the man from a distance. He was tall, but bent over. There had been a spring rain early that morning and the man looked wet. The black hat on his head that covered his face had a flat brim similar to a military cavalry hat. The mule behind was loaded with a wooden cross piece pack saddle on a large white pad trimmed with blue also in a military fashion. The Sheriff drew in a breath of smoke and exhaled it out just as the man sat up straight. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and threw it down on the street as he said, Bill? He ran forward toward the man and yelled, William Wesley Clark is that you?

The man on the horse pulled the horse to a stop and watched as the Sheriff came forward. As the Sheriff came within a few feet, he stepped down off the horse and dropped the reins down on the ground under the horse’s head. The two men grabbed each other in a hug pushing back their hats. The Sheriff said, You didn’t write that you were coming. Let me look at you. The Sheriff held William out at arm's length and looked at his face, Well, it’s not as bad as you indicated in your letters.

A large white scar ran from the middle of his forehead down to the left side of his upper lip. His nose looked as if a piece was missing on the left side. A second scar ran down the left side of his head near his ear and half of the ear lobe was missing. There was a scar diagonally on his neck downward from his left ear. His left arm moved in a strange manner as if it the shoulder did not have a full range of movement. His left leg was similar causing a strange gate in his steps. Overall his build was similar to his brother John but he at this time was thin to almost gaunt.

William said, Well, when they released me from the hospital. There was a doctor there from Germany that wanted to make my face look better, but after I was able to walk again I was rearing to go.

The Sheriff laughed and said, Well, your face looks a little scary, but the right eye is the same old Bill.

William said, On my trip here on the conductor of the Great Northern Railroad asked me to go back and stay with my horse because I disturbed the other passengers. I didn’t say anything to them and kept my hat down, but some of the children ran up to me and ran away.

The Sheriff stopped and looked up at the horse which had one ear missing and the skin had been sewn to cover the ear hole. He motioned to the horse and asked, What’s this.

William said, Well, we’re both old cavalry soldiers and we both have a bad left eye. They were going to put him down, but I just couldn’t see it. He has a tendency to walk in a circle when he’s grazing. I figured he weren’t gonna run off when I camped at night.

The Sheriff said, Well, lets go have a drink in the saloon, then I’ll take you home to Elsa to get settled in. The two men walked up the street about twenty yards and then tied up the horse and mule to the rail on the street.Inside the saloon they walked up to the bar and he said, Herr Meyer how bout you pour my brother and me a couple of mugs of that good beer you make. He dropped some coins on the bar and they grabbed the two mugs of beer and each had a sip. The Sheriff said, I know you been sitting on that horse most of the day, but let’s go over to the table and sit.

The two men sat at a table next to the wall. William asked, You got trouble in this little town? I see you got your back to the wall in a place where you can see who comes in through the window, the back door to the saloon and what’s goin on in here.

John took another sip of the beer and set it down, Well, are yes. Someone’s been steelin and killin cattle and there’s a lot of bad feelins between the old time Germans that live here and the people that’ve move in since the end of the war. He paused for a moment then said, The Germans just now have taken to branding their cattle. Before they didn’t bother, everyone in their community who’s was theirs and they took them to the closest rail head in a bunch. Again he took a sip of the beer, For a while it looked like the two groups was feudin a couple of head would disappear on one side then a couple would get killed and skinned on the other. But I dragged ol Commanche Charlie out with me when he was sober. He paused and nodded toward an elderly Indian man in a chair at the back of the saloon asleep, And he showed me the tracks were the same in both cases. So I figure someone is playin both sides against ta other. Now everyone is replacing their old Osage Orange fencin with that new DeKalb barb wire and it gets cut and there’s a lot of tension here.

One of the men at the bar looked over at the two and then in the mirror at the two. William said, Well, I was lookin for a place to homestead that was real quiet. I still get a lot a dreams at night.

John said, Well, there’s a place just west across James Creek from Elsa’s ranch. It’s south of here bounded on one side by the Llano River and the other by James Creek. It’s in the midst of the area where the Germans settled and mostly quiet.

William asked, You have a house in town, work as the Sheriff and ranch too. How do you find the time to do it all. The man at the bar again looked over at them and then in the mirror.

John said, Well, I don’t. The ranch was homesteaded by Elsa’s father Aksel Meyer before he died. She don’t like the solitude out there. There’s a few head out there, but not much. The Sheriff paused to take a sip of beer."

A man with blonde hair about five and a half feet with a little paunch at the bar walked over to the two men and placed his right hand on his gun as he spoke to William, You got some reason you’re starin at me?

William looked up at the man and said in a low voice just above a whisper, If you’re referring to my left eye, my face was cut up at the Battle of Ream’s Station by someone from Rooney Lee’s Confederate Calvary, and I ain’t got no control over it. And if you even move that right hand a little bit, the gun I got on you under the table will do a similar thing to your left eye.

The Sheriff moved his chair slightly backward in a start and looked under the table at the gun pointed upward, Now Shelby this is my brother Bill. You let everyone know that. He just got into town and is a bit edgy. He has a short barreled Colt single action pointed at you. Now I see the tag hangin out your left pocket so you got some good Carolina tobacco there. Why don’t you go back over to the bar and have a cigarette?

Shelby nodded and backed away raising his right hand to pull out the little white bag of tobacco, "Sorry Sheriff I didn’t