Invincible, page 11
The pastures must be cared for and guarded by their owner and if not, neither the laborers work with faith, nor the cattle are safe, because the cattle ranchers always find an open gap to cut the barbed wire when they know that the master's eye does not keep the ranch.
If something could be missing to not feel convinced of the young man, it was highlighted by the scene in the patio the night that Bud administered that sovereign beating and the little dignity shown later, by continuing to be in love with Nancy and willing to marry her despite of knowing that another man had crossed her path with the possibility of success, committing an action that, not being repudiated by her, left him in a ridiculous place.
Big welcomed Laurence warmly, asking:
“What's up, dear Raft? Where do you walk so gracefully at this time of the afternoon?
"Only to see you, Mr. Big."
“Oh, for me not having bothered to waste a couple of hours in front of the mirror. We cattlemen are better off the more we smell of beef.
"Yes," Raft smiled, "but even though I am coming to see you, I am not coming to see you ..."
“Understood. That justifies a lot of things. Well, my dear friend, what do you bring against me?
Laurence coughed to clear his voice a bit and said:
"Well, really, to insist close to you on something we've already talked about a few times, but this time in a more serious way." This morning I exchanged impressions with my father and he encouraged me to come and talk to him, recalling certain conversations that you two had some time ago.
“Now! ... I remember that we talked something about certain extremes, but you will understand that I have only my will, but not that of my daughter.
“Of course, of course! But you are heavy.
"Eighty”five pounds more or less," said the rancher seriously.
"I mean, your advice weighs heavily." If you show interest in it ... maybe Nancy will make up her mind and ...
Big launched into the full attack and replied:
"Listen, Laurence." I have remembered my conversations with your father and have tried to incline Nancy's spirits towards you. At one point, I thought it was decided, but something unforeseen came up and ...
"I know what you mean," Raft interrupted, grimacing, "but that seems to have happened." Fortunately for him, Bud was absent and Nancy doesn't seem to have taken his absence very seriously.
“Not precisely your absence, but you already know women, especially those from the West; They are impressionable, they fall in love with virile and brave men, they admire them for their aura of unbeatable men and they let their love incline to admiration rather than to the feeling of affection itself. My daughter is no exception, and I can't swear that Bud hasn't left any imprints on her spirit. However, something has come up that puts the situation in a tense moment and perhaps someone who knows how to take advantage of it can take a great advantage of that terrible gunman.
"Not that gunman, not so terrible, Mr. Big." Such a man there are dozens of them in the West.
"You better put it on me then." The fact is, as you are not unaware, Nancy has inherited a ranch in Whitebills, whose ranch was a hedgehog, there was no way to reach her without pricking her quills. I sent Bud there with the healthy intention of pricking himself, but he must have been skilled enough to rid his skin of the caress of the quills, and this has caused him to grow to such a degree that he has become rude and unbearable.
"He does not show signs of life, he does not account for his actions and when, annoyed, I sent him a letter on behalf of my daughter ordering him to fulfill his obligation, he replied so rudely that Nancy has gone through the roof and justly.
"To punish him, I decided to send one of my pawns, the one who promised to give him a good beating, but ... you know what paid people are. He took it with little heat and ... the result has been that instead of spanking the sheepskin, he has been spanked.
"I cannot tolerate this state of affairs and I have decided to go to the ranch, to take care of it, but, I suspect that things will not be that easy. I am already many years old and neither my agility nor my resistance are to face them. with a bold young man, but I have no choice but to expose myself. Nancy does not want to and is so desperate, that I positively know that if a man with guts emerged capable of giving him a good beating and lowering the fumes, oh, that man would have a lot of cattle to win her love.
Big had craftily reached the desired point. The balloon had been launched and all that remained was for that young man, conceited and foolish, to pick it up.
So it was. Raft, with fiery eyes and a gesture of unbearable pride, got up saying:
“When do you want us to go to the ranch to settle this matter?
Big pretended to be surprised and said:
“No, no, Raft! I don't want to expose you to failure. It would hurt me if this were to serve as a pretext for you to lose the ground that you have gained in my daughter's heart. Think that if you were defeated in these climactic moments, she would despise you for having made her conceive hopes that she cannot really acquire.
"Well, I appreciate your interest, but I know that I have no other path shorter and more straight than that." On the other hand, I have a debt to pay to Bud and I am infinitely happy that this opportunity presents itself to allow me to pay it off and, at the same time, take away what can hurt him the most in the world. I am determined and I will go.
"Well, I don't want you to believe that I want to take away the slightest chance of getting what you deserve, but I insist that the test is very dangerous for you."
"And I appreciate your insinuations, but I think I'm sure of the triumph." Do not forget that where there is one man another arises.
"That is very true."
"So I hope you'll tell me when the march is."
"Well ... let's say three days from now." I still have some preparations to make.
"Well, I'm happy and I'll come here." Now, if you'll allow me, I'm going to have a chat with Nancy.
"I think you are at a bad time today." Nancy is in a terrible headache because of that man's letter and you will understand how annoying it would be for her to talk about things unrelated to her situation. I think you, would leave it for tomorrow, I take it for granted.
"Well, if you think so, I don't insist."
Raft said goodbye to Big, promising to satisfy his desire for revenge and retired very happy from the opportunity that had been presented to him to decide Nancy. His outstanding debt to Bud must be satisfied, and he was not a man to forget offenses of that nature.
On the other hand, Nancy's love was well worth the sacrifice, and he was in love with the girl as passionately as Bud could be.
CHAPTER XI
A PARTY INTERRUPTED
Maliciously overjoyed, Big began making preparations for the trip to Whitebills. On that trip, he was going to leave many interesting things resolved, although he was also aware that he was going to have an interview that was too sour with that powder of his representative, whose nerves and pride there was no one in the world capable of breaking.
What was most difficult for him was convincing his daughter to accompany him. Nancy was looking forward to being with Bud again, but after everything that had happened she was scared of the first meeting, which could backfire, if Bud was as angry with her as he had with his father.
Big wasted all the eloquence he was capable of convincing her. If the young woman really loved Bud, if she was willing to get rid of Raft's assiduities and discard Raft from her path, and if she wanted that nervous tension between Bud and them to dissipate, she should agree to the trip, because if someone was needed Let him act like a diplomat, no one better suited than her to overcome Bud's stubbornness.
This outraged Nancy and she replied:
“What's your idea now, dad? That I save you from that ridiculous posture that you have adopted for your own pleasure?
The rancher scratched his head, puzzled, and replied:
"Well, maybe you're right about that." I do not feel very comfortable in relation to him, but you must not forget that everything I have done has been in defense of your interests and to stimulate on the one hand and pull the reins on the other to that wild colt, wilder than all the stallions he has hunted in the mountains.
“All that is very good, but with it, you only show me that all the good things you have as a rancher you have horrible as a politician. I'm going to have to bear the brunt of the brawl if I don't want to throw my relationship with Bud out of the window, and in case something was missing, now I'm also going to bear the responsibility for what happens to that cretin Raft.
“I0h! ... Not that. For the record, I have fully warned you of the risk you run in feeling like a hero. If they send you to the dentist because of you, go ahead.
"All of that, counting on Bud spanking him." Have you thought about what would happen otherwise?
"Of course it is, but that ... would not be a serious thing."
“How not? It would be hard for me to break up with Bud for good, because it would be unworthy to see him humiliated by that puppet. You would have to compensate him, God knows how, for all that he has done on the ranch and you would leave me betrothed to Raft, who would demand, and rightly so, that I marry him.
“Not that! I have only promised to consent to him officially besieging you. What I couldn't assure him was that you would marry him.
"I wouldn't have missed more than that." Anyway, you've done a bad job. You take Raft to the slaughterhouse as it is vulgarly said and that is not very noble.
"Well, it won't be, but don't you think he's earned it?" He keeps harassing me and harassing you and somehow I have to charge it.
“Have you not thought that due to the hatred they profess, they can settle this question with gunshots?
“Wow, that is not! But I won't allow it.
It would be too much. I'll talk to Raft and warn him that I don't want shots. You wouldn't want him with bloodstained hands.
"Tell him I will not love him in any way and he will be more noble."
“That never. That moment has passed.
Nancy was about to say that she would, but, realizing the upheaval it was going to cause her, she refrained.
To make the trip less onerous, Big had his gig ready and, for convenience, he had one of the laborers accompany him on horseback, who had the gray jackfruit tied by his bridle that Nancy used to ride on her daily walks.
Nancy planned to go alone with her father to the ranch, but at the last minute she had to agree to the requests of Rosa, her maid, who, although she said nothing of the real reason that made her long for this trip, felt inclined towards Fred and I was also looking forward to seeing him again.
One morning, the procession started, to which was added Raft. It seemed that he was going to conquer the New World and if he did not lead an army of scouts to give him an escort, it must have been because their numbers did not give of themselves that much.
Very proud and proud, he kept his horse to one side of the gig and his smiles were like a flourish dedicated to sowing roses on the young woman's path.
This, serious and self”absorbed, had her thinking much further away than Raft supposed. Nancy, distraught, wondered how Bud would welcome them and what situation they would both be in for the future.
But Laurence, conceited and proud, believed that the girl cared only about the outcome of her next fight with Bud and even dared to insinuate:
"Don't worry about it anymore, Nancy, you'll see how everything is resolved to your satisfaction and without violence."
She looked at him indefinitely. He had always thought of him as a being endowed with very few lights, but he had never assumed him so frivolous and unconscious and he told himself in his heart that a new and definitive beating was very well earned so that he would learn to judge the things of life with a little more realism and humanity.
This thought made her give up her intention to speak with him and force him to renounce an action that was not going to bring her anything beneficial. Everyone had to enjoy what was well earned and Raft had no right to earn more than what he himself was looking for.
* * *
It was the middle of October. Autumn was already announcing itself, slowly stripping the trees of their bright green finery and in the distance of the rocky peaks the snow was beginning to weave its shroud, announcing that it would soon spread it across the valley. In the mornings, the water in the ponds appeared with a thin patina of ice that the sun was able to melt immediately, and, at night, some logs burning in the hearth were appreciated.
Bud was turning twenty-four that day. Bud had forgotten until the day he came into the world, but Fred was kind enough to remind him with no other encouragement than to annoy him by making him see that he was walking old.
Bud heeded the warning and arranged an extraordinary meal for his laborers that day. She would eat with them in the general shed, present them with a large apple pie that the old maid had made with care, after the meal she would give them a few glasses of brandy and some cigars that she had acquired in the village, and even present them with some. songs of his harvest, to the beat of a new guitar that he had acquired to vent his moments of melancholy, when the memory of Nancy overflowed in his soul and he needed to remember the beautiful decisive night of his life, singing the old song that thus changed the course of its existence.
The cowboys, warned by Fred, who knew everything, had decided to return the treat by giving him something practical and together they had acquired a magnificent "Colt", with a bone grip, on which the name of the favored person was engraved.
The revolver had been carefully stored in a wooden box, wrapped in cotton bubbles and tied with silk ribbons, as if it were something subtle and delicate.
Consequently, Bud had decreed that this day be considered a holiday, and except for a couple of laborers who watched the pasture and took turns every two hours so that everyone enjoyed the party, no one worked that day.
After the meal and when it was time for the toasts, Fred got up with the glass in his hand and, demanding silence, placed the box delicately on the table and said:
“It feels very bad to me that these beasts of pawns in my charge have commissioned me to be precisely the one who gives thanks for the party and congratulates Bud Raines on his birthday, and I say that it tastes very bad, because I am a man so not easy to speak, that I am afraid I can spoil such a beautiful act.
"But, finally, this ass and I have fought so many times that even if we do it again today, it would have nothing special and it may even turn out to be the most appropriate as a worthy end of the celebration.
"Dear Bud, I have the task of these good boys to put in your hands a small gift that they have acquired together and dedicate it to you as a symbol of your struggles and your efforts for the prosperity of the ranch. If they had left it to my whim, I swear to you that instead of this thing that is enclosed there I would have given you some garters or a corset, because I understand that it is what suits you best, given your withdrawn character, your native shyness and your lack of courage to ride a horse, swallow you in the saddle five hundred miles, to sneak into the ranch of that creeping Jew called Lou Big and bring his daughter Nancy on the rump, which is what your ancestors and mine would have done had they lived in this age, in which we all boast of being brave and in the end,We are just tame donkeys who have learned to handle a revolver quickly, as we might have learned to handle a sickle or a rake.
"But, well, as the thing is hopeless, here I give you the gift and I, for my part, will be wondering when you will be ready to use it so that people do not forget that you were born with a Colt "In your hand since apparently you have fallen asleep, with the weight of the weapon.
And for the record, if you allow us to do so, the graceful will take your place and we will throw you into the pond like a mangy frog, so that you die of disgust under the silt. I think I said what I had to say.
A round of applause greeted the incongruous speech, and Bud, who had listened to him between amusement and annoyance, rose, glass in hand, saying:
"Gentlemen, the speech of this Fred beast has moved me in such a way that I don't know whether to shoot him five times in the belly so that he can digest well or give him a hug, because of the interest he takes in me."
"You cannot criticize people on the day they turn twenty-four, without having married, when the one who does it has already turned twenty-five ...
“I protest! Fred exclaimed. You are insidious. You are accumulating years for me and that is playing with an advantage.
“I insist on what I said and I will keep it with my fists if the aforementioned shows me that I am lying. On the other hand, I am the most interested in fulfilling such a beautiful program, but things have not been as easy as this ass thinks. In any case, to prove it to you, I am going to fulfill what is being asked of me with such haste. Before a month I will go to the Grand Canyon to look for Miss Nancy and I will bring her here by degree or by force, but if later the whole region of Colorado burns in shots I will make those who get lost be found by this barbarian who believes that love is like cattle, which can be stolen by the strongest.
The applause cut off the speech and Bud, intrigued, untied the package until he discovered the revolver.
He took it in his hand, examined it with pleasure and leaving it in the box, exclaimed:
"Thank you very much, friends, but ... I would like to ask God to only serve me to decorate my office and not to test its quality on the meats of a fellow man." Life changes people's feelings and I, who thought I was born only to live with the "Colt" in my hand, today I feel as Fred said very well, who seems to me to be asleep from the weight of the weapon.
