From Texas to New Mexico

It was nearly midnight as the four men sat at the small dining room table on the first floor of the boarding house in Corpus Christi Texas. An overhead lamp illuminated the room as a map of the western part of North America was rolled out on the table in front of them. A candle holder kept one end of the map from rolling up and a pistol lay across the opposite end of the map. The four men sat and studied the map carefully in silence. “I still think we should head across Mexico and then north into Arizona”, said Rooster. The Tall Texan shook his head in disagreement, “The only way into Arizona is north thru Albuquerque and then west thru Flagpole and down south to Prescott”. Caed had a double edged knife in his right hand and the knife point was in the table and he was turning it with his fingers. “I still don’t see why we just can’t head directly thru southern Arizona passed Fort Bowie and then thru Tucson and north to Prescott” Caed replied. “The Tall Texan shook his head once again, “Rooster and I waited three days at Fort Bowie and traveled from there to Lordsburg with a company of Cavalry Soldiers and a group of about forty men thru the Chiricahua Mountains and the Apache were still brave enough to attack us and take shots at us all the way thru the Apache Pass. There is no way that the four of us and half a dozen horses will ever make it alone thru there.” He Replied. Caed sat back in response replacing the knife back into its sheath. Hawkins sat back in the chair looking at the map. “Well gentleman, we need to get there one way or another, and I prefer the quickest way. One way or another we need to leave here in two days and head west. I suggest we meet here in the morning and make a final decision then”. Rooster, and the Tall Texan got up from the chairs around the table and walked upstairs. Caed lined back in the chair looking at Hawkins. “Well, you ever fought an Apache before?” Hawkins shook his head slowly looking down at the table, deep in thought. “I need to take a walk” Hawkins replied. He picked the pistol up from the table that was laying on the map and stuck it into the holster on his rig. He then got up from the table and walked out the back door leaving Caed sitting in the dining room alone.

Hawkins walked down the back steps of the two story house and across the small yard to the street, he then headed north to where the shops, restaurants and saloons were located. As he approached a small saloon he could hear the music from a guitar travel thru the night air filling it with the sounds of Spanish music. He walked into the saloon and could see the guitar player in the far corner looking down and playing his instrument. He had heard this type of music in New Orleans, but the man in the saloon was a much better musician. Several men sat around the saloon and stood at the bar as two women served drinks and talked with customers. Two men were playing cards at a table near the middle of the room and Hawkins walked to the table placing a small leather bag down on it with a metallic clang. One of the men looked up smiling “Have a seat gringo” he said, as Hawkins pulled out a chair and joined the men at the table. He ordered a cup of coffee and put down two silver dollars on the middle of the table as they dealt his cards. Hawkins picked up the cards; he had a pair of twos a five and a Queen.  Hawkins placed two more silver dollars in the middle of the table and discarded the five and the Queen. The dealer took the cards and gave him two new ones; another two and an Ace. Hawkins smiled three of a kind Ace High, just like the men he would be riding with in a few days, it was a good sign and he called the deal winning the pot. It was going to be a good night of cards, he could feel it.

Hawkins walked out of the Saloon as the sun was rising in the Eastern sky. The three men had played cards till dawn and although he didn’t win more than eighty dollars, he felt more clear headed then he did the night before, and he knew where he wanted to go and where the four men were headed next. Walking back to the boarding house he could smell food being prepared up and down the street and it made him realize how hungry he was. He walked thru the front door of the boarding house and saw the other three men sitting down to breakfast in the small dining room. Hawkins took off his hat and joined them at the table as Mrs. Shelby, the wife of the boarding house owner, brought them each a plate with eggs, biscuits, sausage and gravy. She then brought in a pot of coffee and four cups pouring them each a cup. The three men sat in silence looking at him as Hawkins began to eat. “Well?” Caed finally said to him. Hawkins continued to hungrily eat the food in front of him. “We head north thru San Antonio, then east To Fort Stockton and on to Lordsburg.”, “And from there Gringo” Replied Rooster. “We look for someone to take us thru Apache country” Caed replied.  Rooster and the Tall Texan shook their heads in disbelief and then began to eat the food in front of them. Hawkins finished his plate of food, drank the last of the coffee in his cup and wiped his face. He then got up from the chair and began to leave the room. “Hey Hawkins, what are we supposed to do?” asked the Tall Texan. Hawkins turned around to face the Tall Texas “get the horses and pack, I’m going to bed” he then walked out of the room and up the stairs. The Tall Texan just shook his head in disbelief and continued to eat the food from his plate.  

The next morning Caed, Rooster and the Tall Texan were completing packing the gear onto the three pack mules in the stables on the north end of town, when Hawkins walked up followed up a cowboy in a red bib shirt, blue pants, black and red boots and a big Blue sombrero style hat. “Good Morning Gentlemen”.  “Were just about ready to go Hawkins, but I hear we may have to pay a small toll north of here to pass thru the King Ranch” Caed said. Hawkins smiled, “Meet Henry Jesop, seems he lost some money to me the other night and wanted to know how to earn it back.  Come to find out he works for the King Ranch and can help us get thru for the cost of the money he lost to me the other night.” Caed shook his head, “I just don’t know how you do it sometimes Hawkins, I just don’t know he replied". The five men mounted up and headed north toward San Antonio, Henry did as he promised and led the group thru the King Ranch and Hawkins paid him with two twenty dollar gold pieces which were more than Henry had lost to him at cards. Henry thanked the men as the four headed on thru San Antonio and onto Fort Stockton, a United States Army post, where they stayed three days to rest the horses and bought a small wagon for the mules to pull. The wagon would carry the supplies, and three barrels of water thru the desert ahead. The four men continued west thru El Paso, Las Cruces and onto Lordsburg thru the Desert following the wagon and stage trails heading to the Arizona Territory. The hot desert sun baked the men during the day and the cold desert nights made it hard to sleep.  Even though it was fall the Desert heat was relentless reaching into the mid-nineties during the mid-day. The men reached Lordsburg and found a hotel to stay in while they made plans to cross the Chiracaua Mountains.