Chapter 12
As they sat in the rectory the next morning, Will said. "I'm thinking about going to speak to Vega, man to man."
"You gonna threaten him?"
"I don't know," Will said. "I'm first going to ask very nicely to let our people go, and I'll give him a few things to think about."
"You want me along?" Isum asked.
"Yeah, you come but wait a mile down the road," Will said. "If I'm not back in an hour, you'll have to figure out how to handle it."
"Oh thanks," Isum said. "Any advice?"
"Yeah, go back to the ranch and bring down the Gatling gun."
They both laughed.
The gate was timber, heavy, set in an adobe archway with the Vega brand worked in iron above it. Two vaqueros stood in the shade of the arch. They watched Will come up the road with the professional attention of men paid to do exactly that.
Will reined in ten yards from the gate and spoke in Spanish.
"Good morning. I am looking for the mayordomo. I'm Asa Smith, a cattle buyer from Texas, and I'd like to see Don Rodrigo Vega."
"Wait here, and I will ask."
The vaqueros looked at each other. The older one, a man of about forty with a gray-streaked mustache, went through the gate. The younger one stayed and watched Will with his thumbs in his belt.
Will sat his horse and did not look at the house.
He looked at the gate, the wall, the angle of the archway, the placement of the younger vaquero.
He noted how far the wall ran to each side before it turned a corner.
He counted the seconds it took the older vaquero to cross to the main house and come back with another man.
The mayordomo was a trim man in his sixties named Salazar, who came out smoothing his coat and offered a firm handshake with the confidence of a man accustomed to receiving visitors of consequence.
"As I explained to the guard, my name is Asa Smith, and I'm a cattle buyer. I'd like to see Don Rodrigo and talk business."
Salazar said, "I will ask, but I'm not certain the patrón has the time right now."
"Meantime, can I water my horse?"
Salazar ordered the men to open the gate, and Will rode through.
He dismounted at the well. The hacienda was larger than Will had imagined from Morales' description.
The main house ran the full length of the north wall, two stories, thick-walled, with a long covered portal facing the interior courtyard.
The courtyard itself was wide and open, packed dirt, a well at the center, a row of outbuildings along the south wall including what appeared to be a stable, a granary, and a forge.
Two vaqueros were working a young horse in a nearby corral.
A woman was carrying laundry toward the outbuildings from the east wing.
Salazar returned and said that Don Rodrigo would see Will.
He tied off his horse and followed Salazar into the hacienda.
He stepped into the sala principal, which was richly furnished, and Salazar led him to a smaller room that looked like a large office.
It had rows of books and several large chairs.
Don Rodrigo stood and with his hand gestured for Will to sit.
"You are here to buy cattle," Don Rodrigo said, "and I have some to sell, so tell me what you need."
Salazar had moved to a corner of the room.
Will glanced at him just to note his position before turning to Don Rodrigo and saying.
"I'm not a cattle buyer. I'm a friend of Del Cole.
I'm told you have two guests here, Del's wife, Elena, an American citizen, and her son, Carlos, also an American citizen, and I'm here to ask you, man to man, to release them and let them return to Texas. "
Don Rodrigo steepled his hands and asked over them, "Ah, so you lied to see me."
"That's right," Will said.
"I don't like liars."
"Yeah, normally I don't either, but sometimes it's necessary to dissemble to gain access."
Don Rodrigo sighed deeply. "What is the source of your information that these American citizens are here?"
"I spoke with Capitán Fuentes."
"So you know of course that Elena's husband is in jail?" Don Rodrigo asked.
"Yes, I know that you put him there," Will said. "He's a friend of mine, as honest a man as I've ever known. He's never stolen a horse in his life. You know it, and I know it."
Don Rodrigo acted as though he'd been slapped. He blustered, "Surely Elena doesn't want to leave until this matter with her husband has been resolved."
"Oh, I believe she does," Will said. He stood, "If you'll just tell them I'm here, we can be on our way."
"No," Don Rodrigo said with finality.
"No?" Will turned to Vega with surprise. "So you're holding them against their will?"
"I'm doing no such thing," he said. "I've spoken with Elena, and she and the boy want to remain here."
"Let's ask her to join us," Will said, "and we'll ask her what she wants to do, just so there's no misunderstanding."
"I'm told she's resting at the moment," Don Rodrigo said, "and I don't want to disturb her."
"When may I speak with her?" Will asked.
"I'm afraid that will be impossible," Don Rodrigo said.
"Why?"
"I think this conversation is over," Don Rodrigo said as he rose from his chair. He gestured to Salazar to show Will out.
Will stared at Don Rodrigo. "So it'll be fair for me to report to the U.S. State Department that Elena and Carlos, American citizens, have been kidnapped and are being held here incommunicado as prisoners. I don't think President Diaz would approve of that, and he will hear about it very soon."
"We will of course deny that," Don Rodrigo said.
"Ah, so you'd lie about it," Will said with a smile, " and of course we both know you're lying about Del Cole being a horse thief, so you're a liar when it suits you."
As Salazar came forward to escort him out, Will said, "I'm told that you ride your range every morning. I'd be careful if I were you. I've failed to reason with you here today, but somebody with a long-range rifle might be able to reason better than I."
Don Rodrigo turned ghastly white. He flipped his hand to indicate that Salazar should escort Will out, but Will knew from his reaction that he'd struck a nerve.
When Will got outside, he mounted his horse and looked at the second floor.
Elena was at the window, and Will saw a little black-haired head at the bottom edge of the window.
Elena was standing back from it far enough that someone crossing the courtyard at a glance would not notice her.
She stood very still and placed her hand over her heart. She was looking directly at him.
Will nodded twice. He turned his horse toward the gate and rode out. Now Elena knew that Will had arrived from Texas. She'd be ready in the next few days when he and Isum and Del came for her and Carlos.
When Will met Isum down the road a mile from the hacienda, he said, "No luck. He refused to let me take her and Carlos. Wouldn't even let me speak to her."
"You can't say you didn't expect it," Isum said.
"He's come, Mamá, just like you said he would," Carlos said, his eyes shining with excitement.
Elena nodded. "Yes, soon he'll get your Papa out of jail, and they'll come for us. I'm betting he's got Mister Wood with him."
"Why do you think he was here?" Carlos asked.
"He's doing what the army calls reconnoitering," she said. "He's looking things over to see how he can best help us."
"When will he come?"
"I'm thinking he'll come for us in the next two or three days."
That night, Will said, "Let's concentrate on getting Del outta jail. I'm thinking now we need a different kind of help. Local knowledge. Someone who knows the jail and the ground and isn't in Vega's pocket."
"Morales gave us the jail layout."
"Morales gave us what a priest knows. We need what an insider knows. He mentioned a man named Ruiz. Ask around tonight. Find Ruiz or someone in this town who has a reason to want Fuentes inconvenienced."
Isum picked up his hat from the peg by the door. "I'll start at the cantina," he said. "That's where malcontents usually live."
"Yeah, and drink one beer for me too," Will said with a laugh.
"At least one," Isum said with a laugh.