The Coyote Tracker by Larry D. Sweazy Read Free Book Online Page A

them.”
    â€œAh,” Juan Carlos said, “but very unwise since you are not alone.”
    â€œI’m sure it would be.” Josiah acknowledged Juan Carlos’s prowess with weapons and his fighting skill, bringing a smile to the old man’s face.
    â€œYou still have troubles to face of your own. Elliot is like a bull running loose, looking for whatever he can find to break. It has caught up with him now. But I thought you should know. No matter what I think of the
niño
, I believe if you were in need of his help, he would come to your side.”
    Josiah nodded. “He’s done so in the past. I owe him my life, but I can’t let it show or his head swells even bigger than it already is.”
    Scrap Elliot was not much over the age of twenty years old, and Josiah had not known him prior to joining up with the Frontier Battalion in May of 1874. It had been at the start of the new Rangers, the official Rangers, organized by Governor Coke to quell the Comanche raids and restore faith and order in what was the corrupt State Police system. By all accounts, the organization had been successful, and the Comanche were nearly defeated, or at least on the run into Indian Territory.
    It seemed that whenever there’d been a mission, Josiah had been paired with Elliot. The boy was one of the best shots Josiah had ever seen, and a fine horseman, too. But he was brash, quick-mouthed, and a hothead, always looking, as Juan Carlos had pointed out, for nothing but trouble.
    â€œThe Rangers came into town early this evening,” Juan Carlos said.
    Josiah didn’t say anything, but he was relieved at the news, glad that he would be able to face Captain McNelly after the latest incident and find out what his status with the Rangers was once and for all.
    â€œI followed at a distance,” Juan Carlos continued. “It was time for me to leave the seashore. There was too much sadness there for me to bear. And it was no longer safe for me. Mexicans are being killed for no other reason than the color of their skin, and the words that escape their tongues. I could not hide behind my Anglo blood. It shows itself poorly. Besides, the village was convinced I had brought them trouble, a curse on their way of life. The fish had abandoned them, and my presence was to blame, or so they said.”
    After Cortina had raided Corpus Christi earlier in the month, several vigilantes got together, calling themselves minute groups, to protect the city. They were nothing but thugs looking for reasons to kill Mexicans. The uprising, as well as the raid, was the main reason Governor Coke and the adjunct general, William Steele had sent McNelly’s company of Rangers to South Texas in the first place and then followed up with the Frontier Battalion, doubling the punch against Cortina.
    Prior to that, after Josiah had left the Frontier Battalion and joined McNelly’s company, he had been assigned to the city to serve as a spy, to arrange contacts, so they could get a better understanding of the cattle rustling operations taking place and Cortina’s full intentions. Lyle had taken sick, and Josiah had come home, followed by a killer enticed by Cortina’s bounty. Josiah killed the man, but as far as he knew, the bounty was still valid. The only woman, as far as Josiah knew, that Juan Carlos had loved had been killed during the raids—and Josiah had been there, had made a bad decision that had led to the woman’s death. He didn’t think Juan Carlos would ever forgive him, but he had, or seemed to at least.
    â€œI’m glad to see you,” Josiah said. There was no use offering up another apology. He had said he was sorry to the man more times than he could count.
    â€œI am glad to be back in Austin. After dismounting, a few of the boys went off looking for a saloon. They stopped at the Easy Nickel,” Juan Carlos said.
    â€œI know that place.” The saloon was a couple of blocks