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He rode on, the two horses following, riding doves up out of the pools of standing water and the sun descending out of the dark discolored overcast to the west where its redness ran down the narrow band of sky above the mountains like blood falling through water and the desert fresh from the rain turning gold in the evening light and then deepening to dark, a slow inkening over of the bajada and the rising hills and the stark stone length of the cordilleras darkening far to the south in Mexico. The floodplain he crossed was walled about with fallen traprock and in the twilight the little desert foxes had come out to sit along the walls silent and regal as icons watching the night come and the doves called from the acacia and then night fell dark as Egypt and there was just the stillness and the silence and the sound of the horses breathing and the sound of their hooves clopping in the dark. He pointed his horse at the polestar and rode on and they rode the round moon up out of the east and coyotes yammered and answered back all across the plain to the south from which they'd come.
He crossed the river just west of Langtry Texas in a softly falling rain. The wind in the north, the day cold. The cattle along the breaks of the river standing gray and still. He followed a cattletrail down into the willows and across the carrizal to where the gray water lay braided over the gravels.
He studied the cold gray rips in the current and dismounted and loosed the girthstraps and undressed and stogged his boots in the legs of his trousers as he'd done before in that long ago and he put his shirt and jacket and the pistol after and doubled the belt in the loops to draw shut the waist. Then he slung the trousers over his shoulder and mounted up naked with the rifle aloft and driving the loose horses before him he pushed Redbo into the river.
He rode up onto Texas soil pale and shivering and he sat the horse briefly and looked out over the plain to the north where cattle were already begi
When he rode into Langtry it was early in the afternoon and it was still raining. The first thing he saw was a pickup truck with the hood up and two men trying to start it. One of them raised up and looked at him. He must have appeared to them some apparition out of the vanished past because he jostled the other with his elbow and they both looked.
Howdy, said John Grady. I wonder if you all could tell me what day this is?
They looked at each other.
It's Thursday, the first one said.
I mean the date.
The man looked at him. He looked at the horses standing behind him. The date? he said.
Yessir.
It's Thanksgiving day, the other man said.
He looked at them. He looked out down the street.
Is that cafe yonder open?
Yeah, its open.
He lifted his hand off the pommel and was about to touch up the horse and then he stopped.
Dont neither of you all want to buy a rifle do you? he said.
They looked at each other.
Earl might buy it off of you, the first man said. He'll generally try and help a feller out.
He the man that runs the cafe?
Yep.
He touched the brim of his hat. Much obliged, he said. Then he put the horse forward and rode on down the street trailing the loose horses behind him. They watched him go. Neither spoke for there was nothing to say. The one holding the socketwrench put the wrench on the fender and they both stood watching until he turned the corner at the cafe and there was nothing more to see.
He rode the border country for weeks seeking the owner of the horse. In Ozona just before Christmas three men swore out papers and the county constable impounded the animal. The hearing was held in the judge's chambers in the old stone courthouse and the clerk read the charges and the names and the judge turned and looked down at John Grady.
Son, he said, are you represented by counsel?
No sir,l aint, said John Grady. I dont need a lawyer. I just need to tell you about this horse.
The judge nodded. All right, he said. Go ahead.
Yessir. If you dont care I'd like to tell it from the begi
Well if you'd like to tell it we'd like to hear it so just go ahead.
It took him almost half an hour. When he was done he asked if he could have a glass of water. No one spoke. The judge turned to the clerk.
Emil, get the boy a glass of water.
He looked at his notepad and he turned to John Grady.
Son, I'm fixin to ask you three questions and if you can answer em the horse is yours.
Yessir. I'll try.
Well you'll either know em or you wont. The trouble with a liar is he cant remember what he said.
I aint a liar.
I know you aint. This is just for the record. I dont believe anybody could make up the story you just now got done tellin us.
He put his glasses back on and he asked John Grady the number of hectares in the Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción spread. Then he asked the name of the husband of the hacendado's cook. Lastly he laid down his notes and he asked John Grady if he had on clean shorts.
A subdued laughter went around the courtroom but the judge wasnt laughing nor the bailiff.
Yessir. I do.
Well there aint no women present so if you wouldnt find it to be too much of a embarrassment I'd like for you to show the court them bulletholes in your leg. If you dont want to I'll ask you somethin else.
Yessir, said John Grady. He unbuckled his belt and dropped his trousers to his knees and turned his right leg sideways to the judge.
That's fine son. Thank you. Get your water there.
He pulled up his trousers and buttoned them and buckled his belt and reached and got the glass of water from the table where the clerk had set it and drank.
Them are some nasty lookin holes, said the judge. You didnt have no medical attention?
No sir. There wasnt none to be had.
I guess not. You were lucky not to of got gangrene.
Yessir. I burnt em out pretty good.
Burnt em out?
Yessir.
What did you burn em out with?
A pistolbarrel. I burnt em out with a hot pistolbarrel.
There was absolute silence in the courtroom. The judge leaned back.
The constable is instructed to return the property in question to Mr Cole. Mr Smith, you see that the boy gets his horse. Son, you're free to go and the court thanks you for your testimony. I've sat on the bench in this county since it was a county and in that time I've heard a lot of things that give me grave doubts about the human race but this aint one of em. The three plaintiffs in this case I'd like to see here in my chambers after di
The lawyer for the plaintiffs stood up. Your honor, this is pretty clearly a case of mistook identity.
The judge closed his notebook and rose. Yes it is, he said. Bad mistook. This hearing is dismissed.
That night he knocked at the judge's door while there were still lights on downstairs in the house. A Mexican girl came to the door and asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted to see the judge. He said it in Spanish and she repeated it back to him in english with a certain coldness and told him to wait.
The judge when he appeared at the door was still dressed but he had on an old fla
Come in son, he said. Come in.
I didnt want to bother you.
It's all right.
John Grady gripped his hat.
I aint comin out there, said the judge. So if you want to see me you better come on in.
Yessir.
He entered a long hallway. A balustered staircase rose on his right to the upper floor. The house smelled of cooking and furniture polish. The judge was wearing leather slippers and he went silently down the carpeted hallway and entered an open door on the left. The room was filled with books and there was a fire burning in the fireplace.