The Hide and Tallow Men (A Floating Outfit Western. Book 7) Read online

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  The Pilar Hide and Tallow Company were in trouble—their enormous profits looked like dropping if Colonel Charles Goodnight’s scheme of driving cattle across country came to fruition. In order to protect their interests the five partners came to an agreement—an agreement that Mark Counter had to break.

  This was all fine and dandy, except that the hide and tallow men were ruthless, unscrupulous and had small regard for the sanctity of human life. Their women were even worse. And Mark Counter found himself in the middle of the conflict, with lead likely to be thrown his way from every side...

  THE FLOATING OUTFIT 7: THE HIDE AND TALLOW MEN

  By J. T. Edson

  First published by Transworld Publishers in 1974

  Copyright © 1974, 2017 by J. T. Edson

  First Smashwords Edition: January 2017

  Names, characters and incidents in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information or storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law.

  This is a Piccadilly Publishing Book

  Series Editor: Ben Bridges

  Text © Piccadilly Publishing

  Published by Arrangement with the Author’s Agent.

  For my new boss, Diane ‘Calamity Jane’ Lloyd, and her twelve foot bull whip.

  Honestly, Di, I will ‘work hard’.

  Author’s Note

  Once again, to enable my regular readers to avoid repetition but to explain things to new chums, I have included the histories of Dusty Fog, Mark Counter and the Ysabel Kid in the form of Appendices.

  In Explanation

  While complete in itself, this book continues the events recorded in SET TEXAS BACK ON HER FEET. Points to be remembered from the previous portion of the story are:

  Hearing that Colonel Charles Goodnight was to tell the Ranch Owners’ Convention—which was being held at Fort Worth in conjunction with the Tarrant County Fair—of his plan to rebuild the War-ruined economy of Texas by utilizing the vast numbers of longhorn cattle that were roaming the range country, the five owners of the Pilar Hide & Tallow Company had seen a threat to their enormous profits. At that time, they and similar organizations were the only market for the cattle; paying at the highest four dollars a head, with the calves thrown in free. Goodnight hoped to prove that herds could be driven to the railroad in Kansas and sold for much higher prices. As he was known as a cattleman of ability and was backed by General Ole Devil Hardin among others, the partners had believed that he would succeed. If he did, the ranchers would not be compelled to sell to hide and tallow factories for want of a more lucrative market. The benefits which would accrue from Goodnight’s plan, even the possible salvation of Texas, had meant nothing to Bernard Schweitzer, Pierre de Froissart, Giuseppe Profaci, Austin and Marlene Viridian. They had decided that they must take action to save their investment.

  Austin Viridian had gone to Fort Worth disguised as a cowhand and accompanied by the factory’s floor supervisor, Gus Roxterby, an ex-outlaw with numerous useful contacts. They had had the dual purpose of trying to prevent Goodnight’s plan from being accepted and persuading ranchers to sign contracts to continue supplying the Company with cattle even if it should be.

  Knowing that, under an agreement they had all signed on forming the Company, no owner could dispose of his or—in Marlene’s case—her holdings except to the remaining partners, Viridian had taken precautions to protect himself. He had forced them to put into writing and sign that they had known about and concurred with whatever actions he found necessary to carry out his task. Harlow Dolman, a corrupt captain of the State Police who had been present, had been a reluctant witness to their signatures. Each of the affected parties had retained a copy of the incriminating document Viridian had taken two and had warned that they would be used if he should be arrested, to ensure the others did not try to desert him.

  Helped by two of the men Roxterby had hired on their arrival, Viridian had forced a rancher, Paul Dover, to sign a contract. However, his first attempt at preventing Goodnight’s views from being circulated had ended in disaster. Learning that Dover had been discussing the matter with what he had described as a ‘short-growed, blond-haired kid’, Viridian had left the rancher unconscious and gone to silence the youngster. While the description had been correct physically, Dover had deliberately failed to mention the ‘kid’s’ name. He had proved to be the legendary Captain Dusty Fog! i The omission had cost Dover his life and had resulted in both of Viridian’s men being killed. One had been shot by Dusty’s amigo, the Ysabel Kid. ii Before escaping, Viridian had murdered Dover and the second man to prevent them from being able to identify him.

  Finding that he had not been pursued, Viridian had changed into his usual style of clothing and returned to confer with de Froissart, who was to act as the Company’s official representative at the Convention. The hour was late when he had reached the Creole’s room. De Froissart had been sleeping with a woman, but had hidden her in the wardrobe before allowing his visitor to enter. She had remained in hiding all the time Viridian had been there and he had pretended to be unaware of her presence. De Froissart had stated that Dusty was not fooled by Viridian’s disguise and had given the local peace officers an accurate description of his surviving attacker. Fortunately, the investigation had been put in Dolman’s hands and, taking out a posse, he had made sure that they did not follow Viridian.

  Accepting that it would be unwise and unsafe for him to remain, Viridian had taken his departure. He had been puzzled by the Creole’s behavior on his arrival and worried over the way they had discussed the affair with the woman able to overhear every word. Wondering who she was, Viridian had taken advantage of the desk clerk’s absence and examined the register. From what he had read and remembered about the visit, he had realized that she was his wife. There was no love between the Viridians, but he had still been furious over her infidelity, mainly because he had felt that she and de Froissart might be laughing at him. Even as he had thought of rushing up and confronting them, using the incident as an excuse to get rid of two partners, a better and safer way had presented itself. Having run into difficulties, Roxterby had arrived to ask de Froissart for advice. Telling the supervisor not to mention they had met, Viridian had bribed him to arrange for the errant pair to be murdered—in such a way that it would seem they were killed in a hold up—on their way home.

  Although unaware that she had been found out, Marlene had decided to establish an alibi to ‘prove’ that she had not been in the hotel while her husband was there. Going to a ball given by friends, she had seen Dusty Fog and had decided that he had great potential as a supporter of Goodnight’s plan. Later, she had met Mark Counter who was representing his father’s R Over C ranch and had discovered that he had several qualities which could be turned to her advantage. In addition to having proven very skilled in fist fighting and using a gun, he had expressed doubts regarding the feasibility of driving herds to Kansas and appeared to harbor considerable resentment towards Dusty Fog. Realizing that, in Goodnight’s absence, Dusty would be a leading protagonist of the plan, Marlene had hoped to induce Mark to kill him. They had fought, but with bare hands, and Mark had accidentally strained his right shoulder. While the injury had not been serious, it had precluded any hope of a showdown with guns.

&
nbsp; While disappointed, Marlene had continued her friendship and invited Mark to accompany her when she went home. She had explained to de Froissart and Dolman that other ranchers who had been disinclined to believe Goodnight’s plan would work had also been asked to visit Pilar. It was hoped that they would sign contracts and being able to show them Mark’s signature when they arrived might sway them favorably. However, she had not mentioned her real reason for inviting Mark. She intended to spend the week until the other ranchers arrived winning him over and use him as the means of gaining complete control of the Company. As its profits would be reduced when herds began to trail north, she had decided that five partners were excessive to share in them. Not only did she intend to become the sole owner, but she suspected that her partners and Dolman had similar sentiments. Although she had once considered Dolman as an ally, she no longer trusted him and felt that the blond youngster would be far more satisfactory and safe.

  What Marlene did not know was that Mark was Dusty Fog’s amigo. While he had been representing his father, who was in full agreement with Goodnight, he rode for Ole Devil Hardin’s OD Connected ranch. iii Before reaching Fort Worth, Dusty and Mark had decided to take advantage of the fact that, as yet, few people knew of their association. In that way, Mark’s support for Goodnight would have a greater effect upon those who were doubtful. Certain remarks made by Marlene on their first meeting had caused Mark not to mention his true status. On hearing of her interest in Mark, Dusty had decided that they would make use of it. From various pieces of evidence, they had come to suspect Viridian was Dover’s murderer. So Mark had won Marlene’s confidence in the hope of obtaining proof of her husband’s guilt. The fight and Mark’s ‘injury’—which had been ‘diagnosed’ by his uncle, who was a doctor—had been carried out to avoid him having to face Dusty with guns. Having failed to obtain the necessary proof in Fort Worth, Mark had accepted Marlene’s offer in the hope that he might find it at Pilar.

  THE HIDE AND TALLOW MEN commences on the Monday following the end of the Tarrant County Fair.

  One – Are You Threatening Me?

  As Austin Viridian strolled out of the main entrance to the Pilar Hide & Tallow Company’s factory, there was nothing about him to suggest that he believed his wife would be dead before sundown.

  Tall, broad shouldered and in his late thirties, Viridian had close-cropped brown hair that was receding from coarse, irregular features. Reddened and puffy from much good living, they had surly lines which warned of an ill-tempered nature. Clad in a white ‘planter’s’ hat, black broadcloth coat, fancy vest, white silk shirt and black cravat of the same material, yellowish-brown Nankeen trousers and black Hersome gaiter boots, there was an ivory handled Remington New Model Police revolver in the cross-draw holster on the left side of his gunbelt. It was anything but a decoration. Although there was a pronounced thickening at his waist, he still looked strong and powerful.

  Until a few minutes earlier, clad in just his vest and trousers, he had been killing the cattle which the corral crew—under their supervisor, Stack Leathers—had sent up the chute which led into the factory. As one of the five partners who owned the Company, there had been no real need for him to work as a slaughter-man. He did so when the mood took him because he enjoyed carrying out the task and derived considerable pleasure from watching a large, powerful creature tumble dead as a result of his expert wielding of a pole-axe. It was his frequently-made boast that he could down a longhorn—be it a yearling, steer, full grown cow or prime bull, the factory took and used them all regardless of age or sex—faster and more neatly than any man on the Company’s payroll.

  As always when carrying out his self-appointed task, Viridian had found himself experiencing a sensation of sexual stimulation. So, having told one of the Negro factory hands to continue the slaughtering, he had dressed and set off to find female company with whom he could satisfy the feeling. His wife had been attending the Tarrant County Fair and, if all went as planned, would not be returning alive. Not that he had considered her as the means of gratifying his lust. Giuseppe Profaci had left Pilar the previous Friday on a business trip. So Viridian hoped to find his Italian partner’s wife in an accommodating frame of mind. Gianna had been on two occasions, but they had failed as yet to make the most of her husband and his wife’s absence.

  Viridian felt certain that an assignation could be accomplished with little danger of them being caught in the act. Every Monday morning, Gianna could be found doing the family’s laundry—herself, not the servants, just like Momma back in the Old Country, Profaci had often explained with pride—in the stream that flowed through the woodland to the rear of hers and the Viridians’ homes. He wondered if he should give Gianna a hint of his hopes regarding Marlene and decided to do so only if she continued to display the reluctance to yield to his wishes that had been in evidence since Profaci’s departure.

  Standing just inside the open double doors, Gus Roxterby watched his employer leaving. The floor supervisor was a tall, lanky, unhappy-looking man with a broken nose and a partially bald head. As always, his well-worn range clothes had acquired numerous splashes of blood. Slanting down from his left hip, a gunbelt supported a Colt 1860 Army revolver—the barrel of which had been cut down to four inches and the rammer adjusted accordingly—in a tied-down, contoured holster. Despite his lugubrious appearance, he was reasonably fast with the gun and used it if the slaughter-man should fail to make a clean kill.

  Taking his opportunity while Viridian had been dressing, Roxterby had brought the conversation around to the task he had been given in Fort Worth. He had assured his employer that only the leader of the gang he had hired would know of their real purpose in committing the hold up. With it carried out, the outlaw would come to Frog Creek—about a mile from Pilar—on Wednesday night to collect the balance of his payment. On Viridian querying the advisability of allowing the man to come so close to the town, Roxterby had replied that it would be lead and not gold he would receive on his arrival.

  However, despite Roxterby having mentioned that he had been compelled to advance the outlaw a hundred and fifty dollars—the actual amount had only been a hundred—the hide and tallow man had not been receptive to a hint that he would like the money which had been promised for making the arrangements. To do the supervisor justice, he could appreciate his employer’s reluctance to making the payment at that time. If their positions had been reversed, he most certainly would not have handed over the five hundred dollars until he was sure that it had been earned. So he could hardly blame Viridian for refusing. The trouble was that Roxterby also knew that he would have tried to find some way of paying the promised sum. Doubting that Viridian would prove any more honorable, he saw danger to himself. From now on, if Widge carried out his instructions, he might have to step warily if he wanted to stay alive.

  Without realizing that his floor supervisor was watching him, or guessing at the thoughts which were running through Roxterby’s head, Viridian glanced to his right. He did not expect to find the small office annex occupied. Concentrating upon their second business interests in Pilar, his male partners left him to run the factory. So the office was used only for general administrative purposes. All of the Company’s business deals were carried out in the back room of Schweitzer’s General Store. Previously, having felt that it belittled his abilities, Viridian had disapproved of the system. He was now compelled to admit that it had certain advantages.

  A faint grin creased the hide and tallow man’s face as he gazed at the office. In the small safe, concealed among the unimportant papers which were usually all that it held, were three items which his wife, partners or Harlow Dolman would be very pleased to see destroyed. He did not doubt that the two copies of the statement they had all signed were responsible for his safe return from Fort Worth. Without them, Dolman would have hunted him down and, having killed him, buried him to prevent his body being identified.

  The third document was the contract which Viridian had compelled Paul Dover
to sign. Although he had realized that it was even more incriminating than the statements, he could not bring himself to destroy it. He hoped that he might still be able to make the rancher’s widow honor it at a later date. Retaining it might be dangerous, but he felt sure that nobody would suspect him of using such an obvious hiding place.

  Hearing the sound of hooves approaching, Viridian turned his gaze from the office. What he saw drove all thoughts of the safe from his head. Three riders had turned from the stagecoach trail and were coming along the track which connected it to the factory. Clad in sombreros, filthy charro clothing and well-armed, they were Mexicans.

  Studying the trio, Viridian felt worried. He could identify only one of them, Juan Ribagorza’s segundo, who went by the name ‘Gomez’. While the segundo's lack of stature, straggling moustache and apologetic manner made him seem harmless and even comical, Viridian knew him to be as unpredictably savage as a stick-teased diamondback rattlesnake. He was probably far more dangerous than either of his larger, heavier companions. Which did not imply that they would be harmless. Individually, or as a group, they were real bad hombres. Ribagorza did not hire any other kind of men.

  There was, Viridian tried to tell himself, no reason why he should feel uneasy over the trio’s arrival. Although Ribagorza did not own a ranch, he had frequently delivered herds of cattle for sale to the Company; for which he had received only one dollar a head, but without having embarrassing questions about how the longhorns—invariably bearing a variety of brands—had come into his possession. None of his hard case crew had ever caused any trouble. Being aware of how useful the lack of questioning was, Ribagorza had always ensured that the visits went off peacefully. Yet Viridian had always sensed that Gomez nursed a bitter hatred towards white people and was only held in check by his employer.