Galloway didn't show any ire, even if he felt it. He just said, "It would be nice if your pa knew, Judith. Do you care so little for him?"
That got to her, and she sobered up, suddenly so serious I thought she might cry.
"It's a noble sacrament," I said, "and a rare thing for a man to see his daughter wedded to the man of her choice."
She looked up at Fetchen. "James .. maybe we should wait. After all, it isn't very far."
Black's lips tightened and his eyes squinted just a mite. I'd always heard he carried a fearful temper, liable to burst out whenever he was thwarted, and it was edging toward the surface now. Maybe if she saw him in a rage it would help. Me and Galloway must have been thinking the same thing. Only trouble was, I up and made a damn fool of myself. I said the wrong thing.
"Besides," I said, "Judith is only a youngster. She's not old enough to marry."
Judith ran up her flag and let go with all her guns, she was that mad. "Flagan Sackett, you wouldn't know a woman if you saw one! I am so old enough! We'll just show you how old I am! James, if you're ready we can be married tomorrow morning."
Fetchen straightened up. Of course, that was all he wanted all the time. He threw me a look that was what a body might call triumphant. "I would be honored, Judith. If you'll come with me I'll show you to your room."
Judith got up and turned her back squarely to me. I started to speak, but what could I say?
Fetchen turned and looked back at us. "Gentlemen, I'll send a couple of the boys over for my fiancee's clothing and her horses - all of them."
"What do you mean, all of them?"
"I mean those you two have been riding. They are Costello horses."
"For which we have a bill of sale," I said calmly, but I was fighting mad underneath.
"That's right, James," Judith said. "Those horses belong to them."
"We will look into that a bit further," Fetchen replied. "I do not think those bills of sale, as you call them, will stand up in court."
They walked away together and left us sitting there, and of a sudden I no longer had any appetite. Youngster she might be, but I had no wish to see any girl in the hands of Black Fetchen.
"Galloway, we can't let him do it. We got to stop him."
"You tell me how. She wants to marry him, and we can't prove a thing against him."
"Do you suppose he really drove in some Half-Box H cattle?"
"I'd lay a bet on it. Oh, he's a smart one! If anybody saw him with cattle of that brand, he's now got himself an alibi. Also, it makes him look good with the other cattlemen around."
"What's he see in her, do you suppose?"
Galloway, he gave me an odd look. "Why, you damn' fool, that's a right pretty little girl. Shapes up like pretty much of a woman. And in case you forget, Ma was no older when she married Pa."
He was right, only I didn't like to admit it. That Judith seemed like a youngster ... all those freckles and everything. Only when I started reminding myself of that everything, I got to remembering that what Galloway had been saying was right. She was nigh to being a woman, even if she wasn't one yet ... in my judgment, anyway.
"Flagan, what are we going to do?"
Upshot of it was, we went to see the marshal, Wyatt Earp, but he said he could do nothing. "Sorry, boys." He was kind of abrupt. "Mr. Fetchen brought in some of the Hawkes cattle and turned them over at the corral. That certainly doesn't make him seem a thief. Also, there seems to be no evidence that he had anything to do with running off the herd. As for the girl, she is old enough to marry, and she wants to marry him. I am afraid I can do nothing."
Bat Masterson was sheriff of Ford County, and we went next to see him. He was a right handsome young man about twenty-four or -five years old, wearing a dark suit and black derby hat. You had to be quite a man to wear a hard hat in those days; it was such a temptation for some half-drunk cowpoke to try to shoot it off your head. Bat's didn't carry any bullet marks that I could see.
He listened to what we had to say, then shook his head. "Sorry, boys, there's nothing I can do. The girl has a right to marry, and there's no warrant out for any of that crowd." He paused a minute. "Although I've got some good ideas of my own."
"Anything we can tie to?" Galloway asked.
"No. But a man who rode in the other day said he saw the Fetchen outfit driving about fifty head of cattle. They didn't turn in but half a dozen scrubs."
"Ain't that evidence?"
"Not exactly. Rufe was drunk when he saw them. Now, I'd take his word for how many head he saw, drunk or sober - Rufe's an old cowhand. But I doubt if you could make it stick in a court of law."
"What can we do?"
Masterson tipped back in his chair and considered the question. "I'd say you might wire her grandfather. Get authority from him to hold up the wedding. And wire her father too."
Well now. Neither one of us had even thought of that, because we'd had no truck with telegraph wires. We'd heard about them, and seen the wires along the railroad tracks, but the idea of sending a message to Costello never occurred to us.
"If you'd write us out a message, we'd be obliged," I said, "and you'd be helping a mighty nice girl from a bad marriage."
So Bat taken up a pen and scratched out the message. I had figured a body would have to write it some special way, but nothing of the kind.
He wrote it out, slick as you please: Fetchen here. Proposed marriage, Judith accepted. Wire authority to stop marriage.
"If we get a wire from Costello saying he refuses permission," Masterson said, "I'll stop it."
When we had sent the message we stood on the boardwalk in front of the Long Branch and considered the situation. Of a sudden, Galloway had an idea. "This sort of town," he said thoughtfully, "I wonder how many preachers it's got?"
"Three, four, maybe."
He was looking at me kind of funny-like and I began to read the sign of what he was thinking. "Now, that there," I said, "is what comes of contemplating. I think we better ask around."
"Ladder Walker, Harry Briggs, and them," Galloway said, "they owe us a favor, and Hawkes told me this morning that they were holding what cattle they'd found about fifteen miles north of here. I figure one of those boys should talk to a preacher. Ladder, f'r instance. If he was dyin' he would surely want a preacher."
About that time Bat came walking down the street headed for the Long Branch, carrying the cane from which he had taken his name.
"Mr. Masterson," I said, "how many preachers in Dodge?"
"Bat's eyes started to twinkle. "You're lucky," he said. "They're all out of town but one." And then he added, "Don't forget the justice of the peace."
Galloway, he rounded up his horse and headed for the camp on the run to set up the deal at that end. Me, I mounted up, taken my horse out of town for a good run, and brought him back into town and up to the preacher's house, all lathered up.
"Reverend," I said, "there's a man in a bad way out to a cow camp, and he's bound to make his peace with the Lord. Will you ride out to him?"
Now, that sky pilot was a right fine gentlemen who put down his coffee cup, wiped his mouth, and harnessed his team. I hooked up the traces whilst he slipped into his coat. In less time than it takes to tell about it, he was ready.
"One more thing," I said, "he wishes to make a will, and he said the man he wanted to draw it up for him was the justice of the peace. Said he didn't know whether the J.P. was a proper lawyer or not, but he doesn't care. He believes he's an honest man."
Well, with me riding alongside the buckboard we made it to the J.P.'s house and he was quick enough to go. It looked like a good fee and he was ready. They went dusting out of town in that buckboard, riding on their mission of mercy, and I tailed behind them.
When we rode up to the camp it was nothing but a corral, a spring, and a sod shanty that was half dugout Ladder Walker was a-lying on his back with a blanket pulled up over him, and he looked sicker than anybody I ever did see. Those others cowpokes were all standing around with their hats off, talking in low voices.