Arizona Territory Read Online Free PDF

house at Preskitt.”
    â€œThat would sure impress her.”
    â€œBut what if she’s busy? And it’s cold up there.”
    Maria laughed and pointed at her gold cross. “If I was her, and you invited me to your house, I would be there in the morning.”
    He shook his head. “I don’t expect that.”
    â€œAll she can say is ‘no.’” Maria looked up at him. “I say she won’t do that.”
    â€œRoamer is coming back. All we have are some horse thefts. It will take my answer a week to get to her and a week to get back.” He shook his head. He still wasn’t clear enough in his thinking about her and what to do. Was he just lonely without Marge? One way to find out. “I’ll send a letter and ask her to wire me if she can come. Jesus can meet her.”
    Maria dropped her shoulders and scowled in disapproval at his words. “No. You should meet her.”
    â€œMy advisor.” He looked to the sky for help.
    â€œHow sincere will she think you are, sending someone else, and not meeting her yourself?”
    He laughed. “Damn sincere.”
    So he wrote her a letter.

    Dear Liz
    I want to invite you to come to my ranch at Preskitt. If you can come, wire me at Tubac and I will meet you at Nogales and escort you by stage to my home. Perhaps we can sort our lives out and resolve some things. We can get you warm clothes. It will be snowy up there.
    Â 
    Love, Chet

    The three of them went to Tubac, where he mailed the letter, then they rode on up to Tucson to see about some horse thieves. They checked with several liveries and found that a man who called himself Fred Cousins had sold the stolen horses. No one knew where he lived, and the town marshal wasn’t certain that was his real name.
    Chet tried to straighten out the situation, but he found no way. Six horses with ranch brands were sold, and they’d been listed as stolen on the sheriff and brand inspector pages. He informed the livery owners they must keep a current list of reported stolen horses and check it before making any sales. He and his two men went to supper and discussed the situation. The Chief U.S. Marshal was out of town, and they slept in their bedrolls.
    Jesus asked him. “Do you think she will come?”
    â€œI don’t really know how busy she is. It depends how much help she has to manage the place. I’m not in the know about her business.”
    The next day, they rode east to see about a ranch robbery they’d heard about. But the tracks were too old and faded to follow. Three border bandits did the holdup, and Chet had no doubt that they were already back across the border. He told the rancher that he needed to get them word quicker. The man agreed, but Chet knew no one would rob the same person twice, no richer than that man had been.
    Roamer came back. His wife was fine, had plenty of firewood, and the kids all had colds. He laughed, telling Chet how Sheriff Simms had a burglar loose up there. The thief waited for folks to go to town and then stole what he could. Someone’s ranch hands caught him and solved the crimes themselves.
    No telegram. The next day, he got one from her.

    CHET
    I AM HONORED YOU HAVE ASKED ME TO YOUR HOME. I WILL BE IN NOGALES IN FOUR DAYS. I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO BE WITH YOU, HOMBRE. LIZ

    â€œThat was sent on Tuesday, and this is Wednesday. She’ll be down there on Friday,” Chet figured out loud, standing near Roamer. “We can go down there Thursday and wait for her. You don’t need Cole and Jesus. They can go with me.”
    â€œSure. Good luck,” Roamer said.
    â€œWe’ll check back. Be careful.”
    On Thursday, they rode down to Nogales. With the horses in the livery, he took two hotel rooms on the U.S. side. Across the border, they ate in a café with fine food, then went back to the hotel to sleep.
    They got up early for breakfast. After the meal, they did some shopping in Mexico,