Larry McMurtry - Comanche Moon

The white colonel had not been interested in any of that--he had promptly put Famous Shoes in jail for disobedience. Fortunately Captain Call heard about the matter quickly and soon got him out. He and Captain McCrae had complained to the white colonel, too-- Captain McCrae had even yelled at the Colonel; he let him know that Famous Shoes was needed by the Texas Rangers and was not to be interfered with.

In view of the help he had received, Famous Shoes thought he ought to lay aside the problem of the black ferret for a bit and go locate Captain McCrae. He had known Captain McCrae for a number of years and knew that he did not behave like most white men. Captain McCrae's behaviour reminded him of some friends he had who were Choctaw. Captain Call was very much a white man; he lived by rules. But Captain McCrae had little patience with rules; he lived by what was inside him, by the urgings of his heart and his spirit--and now, grieved by the death of his wife, Captain McCrae's spirit urged him to get on his black mare and go west. Already, that morning, Famous Shoes had the feeling that something unusual was happening with Captain McCrae.

He was not going away to do some chore that he would be paid for. He was going away for a different reason.

Famous Shoes got up and led the two rangers over to the stream, to show them the tracks where the black mare had crossed.

"I will go find him--I think it will take me many days," Famous Shoes said.

Captain Call looked displeased, but he didn't disagree with the statement. He himself probably felt that something unusual was happening with his friend.

"Why would it take so many days if he just left?" Pea Eye asked. Tracking was a mystery to him. He liked to watch Famous Shoes as he did it, but he didn't understand the process involved. The track he saw by the stream just told him that a horse had passed. Which horse, and where it was going, and how heavy a rider it was carrying were all obvious to Famous Shoes but not obvious to Pea Eye. Even more puzzling was Famous Shoes' ability to predict things about the traveller, his mood or circumstance, that he himself could not have guessed even if he were with the traveller and looking him right in the eye.

Captain McCrae himself had been doubtful of the scout's ability to figure out such things, and said so often.

"He's just guessing," Augustus said. "When he's right it's luck and when he's wrong nobody knows about it because whoever he's guessing about gets away." "I don't think he's guessing," Call had protested. "He's got nothing to do but track, and think about tracking--and he ain't young. He's learned it. He gathers information that we can't see, and puts it together." Pea Eye thought Captain Call probably had the better of the argument. The tracker's very next comment was a case in point.

"He's looking for peace and cannot find it here along the Guadalupe," Famous Shoes said.

"I think he will have to go a long way to find it.

He may have to go to the Rio Pecos." "The Pecosffwas Call exclaimed. "The Governor will fire him if he goes that far." "I don't think the Captain will care," Famous Shoes said.

"No, you're right," Call said, once he had considered. He thought the matter over for a minute, looking west into the hills.

"I'm going to send Corporal Parker with you," he told Famous Shoes. There were no graded ranks in the rangers, but he and Gus had taken to calling Pea Eye "Corporal" because they liked him. He was not a confident young man--it flattered him a little to be thought of as a corporal.

"We can leave now," Famous Shoes said.

"Maybe we can spot another of those black ferrets while we are tracking Captain McCrae." Pea Eye was startled but pleased--travelling with Famous Shoes would be instructive. The man was already trotting west; he did not seem to think it necessary to go back and speak to his wives.

"Stay with him, Corporal," Call said.

"I'll stay with him, Captain," Pea Eye said.

He had no more than said it when he looked around and noticed that Famous Shoes, the man he had just promised to stay with, had disappeared. The hilly country was patched with clumps of cedar, juniper, live oak, chaparral, and various other bushes.

Pea Eye felt something like panic. He had not taken even one step westward and had already lost the man he was travelling with--and Captain Call was right there to see it.

Call noticed Pea Eye's confusion, and remembered how annoyed he had been at first, and how confused, when Famous Shoes would just disappear, often for days.

"There he is," Call said, pointing at Famous Shoes, who was crossing a little hillock some two hundred yards to the west.

"I expected he just squatted behind a bush to look at a track," he added.

"Maybe it was a ferret track," Pea Eye said, much relieved. "He's got a powerful interest in ferrets.

"What is a ferret, Captain?" he asked --he wasn't quite sure and did not want to appear ignorant, as he travelled with Famous Shoes.

"Well, it's a varmint of the weasel family, I believe," Call said. "You best catch up with Famous Shoes and ask him. He might lecture you on ferrets all the way to the Pecos, if you have to go that far." "I don't know why Gus would want to go all the way to the Pecos," he said, but Pea Eye had his eye fixed on Famous Shoes, clearly worried that he might disappear again.

"I'm going, Captain, before I lose him," Pea Eye said.

He put his horse in a lope and was soon beside the tracker, who neither stopped nor looked around.

Watching them go, Call felt both relief and envy: relief that Famous Shoes had accepted the job; envy because he wished he could be as young and unburdened with duties as Pea Eye Parker.

It would be nice to be able to forget the Governor, and Barkeley, and the ledger keepers and just to ride west into the wild country. Perhaps, he thought, as he turned back, that was what Augustus wanted: just to be free for a few days, just to saddle his horse and ride.

Within an hour of leaving Captain Call, Pea Eye began to wish fervently that they would soon find Augustus McCrae, mainly because he had no confidence that he could stay with Famous Shoes. It wasn't that Famous Shoes travelled particularly fast--though it was certainly true he didn't travel slow. The problem was that he travelled irregularly, zigging and zagging, slipping into a copse of trees, loping off at right angles to the track, sometimes even doubling back if he spotted an animal or a bird he wanted to investigate. No matter how hard Pea Eye concentrated on staying with him, Famous Shoes continually disappeared. Every time it happened Pea Eye had to wonder if he would ever see the man again.

Famous Shoes was amused at the young ranger's frantic efforts to keep him in sight, a thing, of course, which was quite unnec. The young man looked worried and nervous all day and was so tired when they made camp that he was barely capable of making a decent fire. Famous Shoes liked the young man and thought it might help a little if he instructed Corporal Parker in the ways of scouting.

"You do not have to follow me or stay close to me," he told Pea Eye. "I do not follow a straight trail." "Nope, you don't," Pea Eye agreed.

He had been almost asleep, from fatigue, but the strong coffee Famous Shoes brewed woke him up a little.

"I have many things to watch," Famous Shoes told him. "I do not think we will catch up with Captain McCrae for a few days. I think he is going far." "Can you tell how far he's going just from the tracks?" Pea Eye asked.

"No--it is just something I am thinking," Famous Shoes admitted. "He has lost his wife. Right now he does not know where to be. I think he is going far, to look around." In the night Pea Eye found that he could not sleep. It occurred to him that he had never been alone with an Indian before. Of course, it was only Famous Shoes, who was friendly. But what if he wasn't really friendly? What if Famous Shoes suddenly got an urge to take a scalp? Of course, Pea Eye knew it was unlikely--Captain Call wouldn't send him off with an Indian who wanted to take his scalp.