 |
| WAS HE ABBY'S DAD ?? |
Chapter
sixteen
It was three
years later when Pa and I sent Ben down to Mexico Mexico
Ben finally
got home with the herd and had brought several Vaqueros’ with him. He kept them
here until we had branded the new herd and then paid them off.
In the
meantime Ben said he thought he had seen Vince at the ranch where he had bought
the cattle. There was a man who spoke both English and Mexican fluently. He
said he couldn’t be a hundred percent sure but he sure looked and sounded like
him.
I questioned Ben for some time and he said the man drove a hard bargain
and we were a few hundred dollars short of the amount the man wanted. He let me have the cattle with the promise I
would return with the money very soon.
Ben went on
to say this man was married to a very pretty young Mexican girl and had two
babies with her.
I had to ask
Ben once more, “How sure are you it is Vince?” He replied, “as sure as I can be without
really knowing.”
I got him to
promise he wouldn’t ever tell anyone what he had told me because it could be a
big problem for a lot of people if was true.
I knew Ben
to be pretty sharp and he wouldn’t be easily fooled so I decided to go and see
for myself.
I told Abby
where I was going but not why. I contacted Long Hair and asked if he wanted to
go with me and he declined. He said he
just got him a new young wife and wanted to spend a lot of time with her. I guess I couldn’t blame him for I would have
wanted to do the same.
I took a
couple of hands who had family south of the border and the Vaqueros’ who came
with Ben and we headed south. We took
the chuck wagon they had brought with the cattle to return it to the Mexican
rancher.
Six days
later we arrived at Grande El Rancho a few miles below the border. We were
greeted by the owner and were given the royal treatment. They quickly decided
to have a fiesta on the spot. The Vaqueros’ were glad to be back with their
families and they introduced me to their family members. They said their names
so fast I couldn’t remember hardly any of them but no matter.
On the
evening the owner of the hacienda brought out his grandchildren. I noticed a couple of them were a little
whiter than the others even though they were sun tanned. Their mother was a very pretty young woman in
her twenties. A short time later her husband appeared and to my surprised it
was Abby’s father.
I recognized
him by a scar he had on his neck. He had been cut by a defendant he had found
guilty and the scar stood out like no other I have seen. He wore Mexican garb with sideburns and a
mustache yet it was him.
I could
understand the Mexican language very well but only spoke English around
Mexicans. I wanted to know what they
were saying without them knowing I knew what they were saying. The two hands that came down with me were at
their family’s home and were to meet me in a week.
During this
time I wanted to find out who Vince had become and how all this came about. As it turned out he was attacked on the way to
the town where he was to hold court. Apparently
it was one of the defendants or plaintiffs depending on how you look at it who
wasn’t sure of his position and had attacked him leaving him for dead.
When he came
to - - he couldn’t remember anything about who he was or where he was from.
Some of the Mexicans from this hacienda found him and brought him there. He
physically got well but he still couldn’t remember anything about his past. Since he spoke Mexican fluently he had no
trouble fitting in.
He became
attracted to one of the Patron’s daughters and married her. He now has two
children and she is pregnant again. All in all it seemed to me to be an okay
arraignment. What was to be gained by trying to upset the life he now enjoyed?
Having made
that decision I headed home as I wondered how to handle things when I arrived
home and what to tell Abby.
TO BE CONTINUED
Thank you Robert for sharing your awesome story with us here at Tell me a Story.
ReplyDelete