[Texas Rangers 06] - Jericho's Road by Elmer Kelton

the cattle behind.”
    “ Wouldn’t you?” Len slapped his leg and laughed. “Look at them run. If they could fly, they’d do it.”
    Andy saw a man fall from the saddle just as his horse entered the river. Another made it partway across before he slid into the water and began floundering. A companion grabbed him and pulled him against his horse’s shoulder.
    Farley drew his pistol. “They’ll blame us for this.”
    Len drew his rifle from its scabbard and laid it across his lap. “Ain’t it a shame.” He appeared to welcome the prospect of a confrontation.
    Andy cautioned, “Have you forgotten how to count?”
    “ They’ll be stringin’ out of the river one and two at a time. They’re tired and pretty well boogered. Us three can take them all on.”
    Andy had his doubts but decided to put his faith in Len’s prior experience and Farley’s fighting nature. The Rangers met the riders as they straggled onto the bank, their horses dripping. Len pointed his rifle in their direction and ordered each in turn to shuck his weapons. Two seemed prepared to argue, but Farley cut them short: “Don’t make us finish what them Mexicans started.”
    Andy had thought some of these might be men who had attacked him and Len and Farley several nights ago, but he recognized none of them.
    Len said, “Well, looks like you boys bit off a bigger chunk than you could chew.”
    One growled, “All we done was buy a herd of cattle across the river. Bunch of Mexican bandits jumped us and took them over. You seen it yourselves, didn’t you?”
    Farley was openly skeptical. “How about showin’ us a bill of sale?”
    “ Mexicans don’t put much store in such as that. Most of them can’t read or write.”
    “ I’ll bet they can read brands.”
    The raider complained, “We lost a man over on the other side, and we’ve got another with a slug in him.”
    Andy turned his attention southward. “Looks like those Mexicans are comin’ across to finish the job.”
    The man’s eyes widened as he saw riders moving into the river. “Let us have our guns back.”
    Len shook his head. “No, the best thing you-all can do is see if them horses of yours are faster than what the Mexicans are ridin’.” He waved the muzzle of the rifle, pointing it northward.
    The man protested, “Them guns cost us good money.”
    “ If you don’t hightail it you ain’t goin’ to have no use for money. And tell Jericho the Rangers said howdy.”
    The raiders’ reluctance to leave without weapons was quickly surpassed by their fear of the angry-looking Mexicans coming across the river. Andy watched the men move away in a lope. He said, “We ought to’ve arrested them and taken them back to camp.”
    Len said, “We’d’ve lost half of them between here and there. Anyway, whatever they done on the other side, that’s Mexico’s business. They didn’t break no Texas law. Wasn’t nothin’ we could charge them for.”
    Andy asked, “How do you know they’re Jericho’s men?”
    “ I’m just guessin’. Jericho runs most of the contraband business along this stretch of the river, just like Lupe Chavez runs it on the other side.” Len dismounted and began picking up the weapons. “Let’s wrap these in a blanket and tie them on the pack mule. Them Mexicans have got guns enough already.”
    Andy unrolled his blanket on the ground. “Do you think you can bluff them like you bluffed the others?”
    “ What makes you think I was bluffin’?”
    Andy counted ten horsemen coming across the river. Several more had remained with the cattle. Len squinted, studying them. “I don’t see Lupe Chavez, but you can lay odds that these are some of his men.” He remounted and again brandished his rifle. Andy and Farley followed his example. As the riders came up to face them Len said, “You boys are on the wrong side of the river.”
    A lean young man pushed forward, a challenge in his dark eyes and the set of his shoulders. “There was a time when