Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

E. Richard Womack, a native of Bowie, Texas, grew up listening to his great-grandfather tell tales about cowboys. He is also the author of "Ride the Ranger Winds" and is working on the third book in the "Ranger Winds" series. He lives on a small South Texas ranch in Fowlerton.

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Ranger Winds

Ride OnBy E. RICHARD WOMACK

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 E. Richard Womack
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-3632-4

Chapter One

Five years had passed since the death of J.J. Fox. Boots and Jerry Jack were both twenty-three while JoJo had turned twenty-six. They had become inseparable since Glen Ray and Jim retired. The threesome was headed for Laredo; the horses were in a boxcar while they rode in one of the passenger cars.

Boots was thinking about how the times were changing. Five years ago this trip from Uvalde would have been on horseback and taken several days. He could see changes coming for the Rangers also; with the railroads ending many of the cattle drives, drovers were out of work. Then, coupled with the ending of the Civil War and the advent of railroads, many men, who were left either homeless or un-employed, turned to a life of crime.

At one time the Rangers were viewed much like the army. Their job was to protect settlers from the Indians. Now, they were required to be lawmen protecting towns and ranches; primarily dealing with outlaws and ruffians.

The three Rangers, at the request of Herman Fox, brother of Sheriff Oral Fox of Uvalde, had been sent to Laredo to put down a range war. Herman's ranch had water and his fencing it off is what was fueling the war.

The train came to a halt; they unloaded and went directly to the boxcar holding the horses. The horses, saddled with a loose cinch, were led out of the car and down the street to the jail. There they tied the horses to the hitching rail and entered.

"Hello Rangers, how you boys doing?" asked the sheriff, Luke Starrett, "How's your Captain Laughlin these days, still in Uvalde raising horses?" The Rangers nodded as Luke continued, "Have a seat, set down; Boots, I remember when I located you and your brother over in Atlanta."

"Yes sir," said Boots, "that really changed our lives. I'm a Ranger now and my brother, Sterling, is a lawyer over in Austin."

With an approving nod, Luke queried, "How's your Pa'..... still a Ranger carrying that sawed-off double?"

"Yes sir," replied Boots, "he's helping Oral over in Uvalde and goes out on Ranger Patrols when needed."

"Here, let me pour you boys some coffee," spouted Luke as he set cups down and started pouring. Then, with a stern look on his face, he snorted, "Boys, we got some problems brewing out at Herman's ranch." He paused, took a sip of coffee, then continued, "He's fencing and Ben Kingston, owner of the Circle K, isn't taking kindly to it. He's tearing them down as fast as Herman puts them up." Luke's face hardened as he growled, "Hell, there's already been a couple of men killed; both off Fox's ranch, the Lonesome Chaparral. Kingston wants to buy the place but Herman won't sell; so Ben's tearing down the fences and driving off cattle."

Luke took off his hat, scratched his head, replaced his hat, looked at the Rangers and said, "You see, Fox's grandson, Ronald, who Kingston hates, married his granddaughter. When she died during child birth, Kingston blamed the Fox family. Now he's hired about thirty outlaws and professional gunslingers like, Curlee Johnson, Cherokee Jack and Lefty McCauliff, among others that you can find on wanted posters; all working for him."

With a somewhat defeated look on his face, Luke added, "Herman's no match for `em, and I ain't either. I got no deputies; they've all been scared off by those hired guns of Kingston's. Matter of fact, Curlee and some of his boys are over in the saloon right now."

Boots thought about going to the saloon and confronting Curlee and his men, then decided against it and said, "We're gonna take our horses to the livery stable then get some supper and a room. Tomorrow we'll ride out to Herman's place and see what needs to be done."

The Rangers took their horses to the livery stable, removed their saddle-bags and rifles before heading toward the hotel. As they passed the saloon, six men came out and mounted up. They rode up behind the Rangers who were still walking down the street. As they stopped their horses, the rangers turned to face them when the fellow on the lead horse said, "Hold up boys, we need to talk a while."

He was medium in build and height; had curly hair with his hat cocked back and the brim turned up in front. He was fairly nice looking with half grinning but daring eyes. There was a 44 pistol on his right side with pearl handles. It was in a cutaway quick draw holster with tie downs.

Boots said, while looking straight into the man's eyes, "What can we do for you?"

"Well boys," said the stranger, "Laredo's not too friendly of a town; don't take to strangers real good."

Boots, who hadn't taken his eyes off the man, growled, "You must be Curlee!"

Curlee, with a cocky smile, shot back, "Yea, that's right.... Who are you?"

Boots answered, "I'm a Ranger; we're all Rangers, and we'll be staying a while."

Curlee leaned over and spat on the ground, looked up and barked, "You know Rangers, me and my men don't cotton to no lawmen, especially Rangers. I'll tell you again, Laredo ain't friendly. If I were you boys, I would go play lawman somewhere else." Curlee paused, looked defiantly at Boots and warned, "Don't get in our way or in our business; bad things could happen to ya." He paused, then with a final stare said, "Let's go boys, we got work to do."

As they rode off at a gallop, Jerry Jack looked at Boots and said, "Friendly fella ain't he."

Boots looked serious when he said, "Maybe he'll be friendlier after he gets to know us." Then he laughed and uttered, "Let's go eat, my stomach thinks my throat's been cut."

The next day Starrett and the Rangers rode out to the Chaparral. The ranch was located in an area once referred to as Apache Flats. Herman and his two brothers came to Texas when they were young men. While his oldest and middle brother became Rangers, Herman stayed and built his cattle ranch. In his younger days he had fought Indians and Mexicans as well as serving his time in the Civil War before returning to his ranch.

He was a rough and rugged individual living in an area where only the strong survived. Although he was a decent and fair man, it was said he would kill anyone who harmed a kid. Now in his sixties, he was still a slender man with a full head of hair that at one time was dark brown, but now was mixed with gray. His face was weather beaten from spending most of his life in the saddle.

The Chaparral was a cattle ranch and was reported to be about sixty thousand acres. A close observation of the ranch house revealed the original one room structure and then the many additions built around it through the years. From this, one could tell the history of the ranch.

When Starrett and the Rangers arrived there, Herman was at his blacksmith shop shoeing a horse. He finished what he was doing, waved his hand and said, "Hello Luke, this must be the Rangers you told me were coming." He put down his tools, took off his apron, turned the horse out and continued, "Get down and come to the bunkhouse; I'll get us some coffee."

They entered the bunkhouse, sat down and introduced themselves; Herman got cups and poured coffee all around. As Herman sat down he said to Boots, "Boots, I knew your Pa while he was Luke's deputy here in Laredo. Heard lots of good things about him, heard they call him `shotgun'."

Boots laughed and said, "Yea, him and his shotgun; I suppose he's a good Ranger, matter of fact, you know he works over in Uvalde with your brother, Oral. They...