“Out here,” he said gently. “That cell is no place for a lady.”
The captain said, “Hello, Sarah,” then dropped his head and stared at the floor. Sarah Rinehart took his hands and led him out of the cell, to the chairs McKelvie had set up. “It’s all right, Andrew. I know what you want to say.”
“I was wrong, Sarah.”
“And so was I, Andrew. I should have known I could never leave here. I never got farther than the hotel. Then I was ready to go back to the ranch where I belong. When this is over, we’ll go back together. We’ll pick up whatever is left and make it good.”
“What can we do, Sarah?” the captain asked miserably. “We’re old. Time has gone off and left us.”
“Time never goes off and leaves anyone,” she replied evenly, “unless he is standing still.”
* * *
SIGHT OF THE captain sitting in the tiny cell, a helpless, bewildered old man, brought tears to the eyes of Noah Wheeler. The big farmer motioned Luke McKelvie to one side.
“Luke, that’s no place for a man like the captain.”
Luke McKelvie looked surprised. “Noah, you know why it has to be. You’re the one who’s suffered.”
Noah Wheeler shook his head. “Sure, he’s made a mistake, Luke, but look at all the big things he’s done, too. The country still owes him too much to let him sit here in jail.”
Doug Monahan stared at Noah Wheeler, wondering how the old farmer could so readily forgive. But then he looked at Captain Rinehart, and he thought he could understand. He had never believed the captain could be shattered like this, so thoroughly humbled. Looking at him, Doug realized that he no longer hated the captain, either. All the anger, all the bitterness somehow had drained out of him, and now he felt only pity.
Noah Wheeler pleaded, “Let him go, Luke. For me, let him go.”
McKelvie’s eyes were grateful. “I reckon if that’s the way you feel, Noah, there’s no use me holding him. If you won’t press charges, there’s not much case.”
“No charges, Luke.”
McKelvie walked across the room and opened the cell door. “You hear that, Captain? Noah won’t prosecute. You’re free to go.”
The captain arose stiffly, hardly believing. Noah Wheeler moved forward, meeting him halfway, his hand outstretched. “We used to be friends, Andrew. As far as I’m concerned, we never stopped.”
The captain took Noah Wheeler’s hand, but he made no reply. He couldn’t.
The front door opened. A breath of chill wind came with the shadow that fell across the room. Luke McKelvie stared in surprise at the pale young man with the bandaged shoulder, and the girl who stood beside him.
“I’ve come to give myself up,” Vern said. “For stealing Captain Rinehart’s cattle.”
The captain swallowed hard, studying the boy and looking at Noah Wheeler. “Son,” he said, “I’ve lost no cattle.”
Vern replied, “You would have, if we’d got away with it.”
Luke McKelvie put in, “Why did you do it, Vern?”
“To get my three hundred dollars, the money the R Cross owed me.”
McKelvie said, “It was Spann that took your money.”
The captain frowned. “What were you going to do with the money, Vern, your three hundred dollars?”
“Buy some land with it. A start for me and Paula.”
The captain nodded. “I started like you once, and I didn’t have three hundred dollars. The R Cross will pay you what it owes you. As for cow theft, I don’t know what you’re talking about. There weren’t but three cow thieves. Two of them are in that cell yonder, and the other is dead.”
After that, there wasn’t much to be said. They all stood around looking at each other. Paula Hadley was crying into a handkerchief, and Doug Monahan was afraid someone else was going to start.
Luke McKelvie said with studied curtness, “Well, if we got all our business attended to, I wish you-all would clear out of here and let me get my paperwork done. I’m a week behind on the mail.”
As they went out, Doug heard the captain say, “Noah, you remember that old marching song we used to sing, ‘The Old Gray Mare Came Tearing Out of the Wilderness’?”
Noah nodded, smiling. The captain said, “I’ve fogotten some of the words. I’d like you to freshen up my memory on them sometime.”
“I’d be tickled, Andrew.”
Doug Monahan held back as the others left. “McKelvie, I want to apologize for the things I’ve thought and said about you. You’re a pretty good Indian.”
McKelvie passed it off with a shrug of his shoulders. “I still don’t like your infernal bobwire fences, but I reckon they’re here to stay. You’re apt to have enough fence-building now to keep you busy a long time. I expect even the captain will come to it by and by, in self-defense.”
Monahan nodded. “It’s no life’s work, Sheriff, but it’s a living. Maybe it’ll put me back on my feet and into the cow business again.”
McKelvie said pointedly, “This is as good a cow country as you’re ever apt to find.”
Monahan said, “That’s the way I see it, Sheriff.”
* * *
NOAH WHEELER GOT back to the farm long before Monahan did. Doug rode up and found a lot of neighbors still milling around, cleaning up the debris. One of the Oak Creek farmers had even brought a milk cow, a hungry calf trotting along behind her, grabbing a drop or two of milk every time the cow stopped for a moment.
Doug found Trudy sitting up in a big rocking chair in the front room. Her face was swollen, and it had several spots bruised blue. But some of the healthy color had returned. Doug took her chin in his hand.
“How you feeling?”
“Better. How about you?”
“I’m fixing to get me a blanket and crawl up in that corner yonder and sleep for a week.”
Trudy said, “Dad’s already given us all the good news.”
Doug smiled. “Maybe not all of it.” He reached in his coat pocket and withdrew a bundle of papers. “I stopped by the bank and had a long talk with Albert Brown about the Gordon Finch place. It’s not the Finch place anymore.”
Trudy’s eyes widened. “You mean you…”
Doug nodded, grinning. “I’m going to have to build many a mile of fence to help pay for it, but it’s mine.” He gripped her hand. “Or it can be ours, Trudy, if you’ll have it that way.”
“Ours.” She tested the word fondly. She reached up and caught his chin and pulled him down to kiss her.
“Yes, Doug, I think I’d like that a lot.”
Forge Books by Elmer Kelton
After the Bugles
Badger Boy
Barbed Wire
Bitter Trail
Bowie’s Mine
The Buckskin Line
Buffalo Wagons
Captain’s Rangers
Cloudy in the West
Dark Thicket
The Day the Cowboys Quit
Donovan
Eyes of the Hawk
The Good Old Boys
Hanging Judge
Hard Trail to Follow
Hot Iron
Jericho’s Road
Joe Pepper
Llano River
Long Way to Texas
Many a River
Massacre at Goliad
Other Men’s Horses
Pecos Crossing
The Pumpkin Rollers
The Raiders: Sons of Texas
Ranger’s Trail
The Rebels: Sons of Texas
Sandhills Boy: The Winding Trail of a Texas Writer
Shadow of a Star
Shotgun
Six Bits a Day
The Smiling Country
Sons of Texas
Stand Proud
Texas Rifles
Texas Standoff
Texas Vendetta
The Time It Never Rained
The Way of the Coyote
Lone Star Rising
(comprising The Buckskin Line, Badger
Boy, and The Way of the Coyote)
Brush Country
(comprising Barbed Wire and Llano River)
Ranger’s Law
(comprising Ranger’s Trail, Texas Vendetta, and Jericho’s Road)
Texas Showdown
(comprising Pecos Crossing and Shotgun)
Texas Sunrise
(comprising Massacre at Goliad and After the Bugles)
Long Way to Texas
(comprising Joe Pepper, Long Way to Texas, and Eyes of the Hawk)
Praise for Elmer Kelton
“One of the best.”
—The New York Times
“A splendid writer.”
—The Dallas Morning News
“A genuine craftsman with an ear for dialogue
and, more important, an understanding
of the human heart.”
—Booklist
“A master storyteller.”
—Publishers Weekly
“You can never go wrong if … you pick up
a title by Elmer Kelton.”
—American Cowboy
About the Author
Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was the award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards were seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
BITTER TRAIL
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
BARBED WIRE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Forge Books by Elmer Kelton
Praise for Elmer Kelton
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these novels are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
BITTER TRAIL AND BARBED WIRE
Bitter Trail copyright © 1962 by the Estate of Elmer Stephen Kelton
Barbed Wire copyright © 1957 by the Estate of Elmer Stephen Kelton; renewal copyright © 1985 by the Estate of Elmer Stephen Kelton
All rights reserved.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
eISBN 9781250306333
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First Edition: July 2018