Larry McMurtry - Comanche Moon

Though Madame Scull was silent, she was a presence they could not ignore. When they stepped in, the Governor was busy with a secretary, so they stood where they were, hats in hand, just inside the door of the broad room. To their embarrassment Madame Scull got up and came and gave them a silent inspection, looking them over from head to foot. She was bold in her looking too, so bold that both men were made distinctly uncomfortable under her silent gaze.

"Here they are, Inez--our two young captains," the Governor said, when the secretary left. "They brought the troop home safe and rescued three captives besides." "I'd say it's beginners' luck," Madame Scull said, in a tone that stung Gus McCrae to the quick.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but we ain't beginners," he said. "Woodrow and me have been Texas Rangers a good ten years already." "Ten years!" Madame Scull said. "Then why haven't you learned to stand at attention properly? Your posture is a disgrace. It's a slouch, not a stance, and it doesn't bode well." "And the other one needs barbering," she added, turning to the Governor. "I'm afraid I must decline to be impressed." "But we ain't soldiers, we're rangers," Gus said, unable to restrain himself in the face of such insults.

"Now, McCrae, you hush," the Governor said. He knew that Inez Scull was capable of high, even cyclonic furies, and he did not want a cyclone to strike his office just then.

"This is Mrs. Scull," he added hastily.

"She's upset that the Captain didn't come home with the troop." "Shut up, Ed," Mrs. Scull said, to the young rangers' great shock. It couldn't be proper for a woman to tell a governor to shut up, even if she was the Captain's wife.

But the Governor immediately shut up.

"I am not so ill bred as to be upset," Inez said. "I'm angry. Do either of you have a notion as to where my husband is?" "Somewhere along the Pecos River, I reckon, ma'am," Call said.

"I hope he drowns in it, then, the stumpy little mongrel," Madame Scull said, turning to the Governor--Governor Pease had retreated a step or two, and looked very out of sorts.

"He is rather a mongrel, you know, Ed," she said to the Governor.

"I don't follow you, Inez--he's a Scull and I believe they're a fine family," Governor Pease replied.

"Yes, but rather bred down, if you want the truth," Madame Scull said. "Inish is the only one left with any fight, and most of that comes from his mother--she was a Polish servant, I believe. Inish's father was Evanswood Scull.

He rose rather high in Mr. Madison's government, but he would have the Polish maid. So Inish is a mongrel and that's that." "Fight's worth more than breeding when you're policing a frontier," the Governor remarked.

"Perhaps, but I did not agree to police any frontiers," Inez replied. "I need my operas and my lapdogs and my fine shops.

Given my shops and a little Italian singing I can get by rather well without that black mongrel of a husband." Augustus wanted to look at Woodrow, to see how he was digesting all this, but Madame Scull stood right in front of them; he didn't dare turn his eyes.

"Did the ugly little brute give you any warning, or did he just sniff the air and walk off?" she asked. "Inish usually leaves at a moment of maximum inconvenience for everyone but himself. Did you wake up expecting him to leave, the morning he took himself away?" "No, ma'am," both said at once.

"He just decided to go try to get his horse back," Call added.

"Bosh ... the horse is just an excuse," Inez said. "Inish doesn't care about horses.

Not even Hector. He'd just as soon eat one as ride one." "But Inez, what other reason would he have to walk off like that?" the puzzled Governor asked, still nervous about the possible cyclone.

"I don't know and neither do these slouchy boys," Madame Scull said.

"We tried to talk him out of walking but he wouldn't listen," Call informed her.

"He was the captain--there wasn't much we could do," Augustus said.

"No, he's a damn restless mongrel--he wanted to walk off and he did walk off, leaving everybody, including me," Madame Scull said. "It's abominable behaviour, I say." "Ma'am, he left with Famous Shoes, who's a fine tracker," Call pointed out.

"Famous Shoes knows the country. I expect he'll bring the Captain out." "You don't know the man," Inez snapped.

"He won't show up unless he's fetched. I expect he'll find his way to the sea, and the next thing I know there'll be a telegram from India, or somewhere, expecting me to pack up and follow.

I won't have it, not this time!" There was silence in the room. Madame Scull's last statement left everyone in doubt.

Did she intend to go after the Captain herself? Her black eyes were so filled with anger that when she looked at Augustus he felt like stepping back a step or two, yet she was so forceful that he was afraid to move a muscle, and Woodrow was just as paralyzed. Governor Pease stared out the window, uncomfortable and silent.

"Will you fetch him for me, gentlemen?" she asked, softening her voice even as she raked them with her eyes. "If we don't catch him soon I might have to wait a year for news, and I won't tolerate it!" "Of course you have my permission," the Governor quickly added. "I'd recommend taking a small force, perhaps four men besides yourselves." "The sooner you get started, the better," Inez said.

In Gus's mind was the coming torment of Clara's wedding--he saw Madame Scull's request as a God-sent, hope of escape.

"I'm ready, I can leave in an hour," Augustus said. "Or less, if it's required." Call was very startled by his friend's wild statement. They had scarcely been back a day from a long expedition. The men were tired and the horses gaunt. [ they to set off without rest to find a man who might refuse to come back even if they found him, which was by no means a certain thing?

Before he could speak Mrs. Scull suddenly smiled at Augustus.

"Why, Mr. McCrae, such impetuosity," she said. "I wouldn't think of having you depart quite that soon. No doubt you have arrangements to make --a sweetheart to say goodbye to, perhaps?" "I ain't got a sweetheart and I'm ready to leave as soon as I can clean my guns and catch my horse," Gus said. He didn't think he could endure being in Austin much more than another hour--not with the triumphant Bob Allen taking up all Clara's time, as he would for the rest of her life. If the boys couldn't leave at once, then he meant to leave anyway and camp somewhere along the route, with a bottle of whiskey to keep him company.

Call was astonished, but Gus's peculiar desire to depart at once wasn't the only thing that concerned him.

"What if we find him and he won't come back?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm sure if you tell him Inez is anxious he'll be happy to come back with you," the Governor said. His own main desire was get Inez Scull out of his office before she broke into a fit.

"Inish hates to be checked, particularly when he's running away from his duties," Inez said.

"They may have to arrest him." "Just find him and ask him politely to come back," Governor Pease said, remembering that Inish Scull himself was no slouch when it came to throwing fits. Besides, he was a popular hero, and not loath to act the part. Putting such a popular man under arrest might lead to political catastrophe--he might even lose the governorship, if Inish stood against him. It was too much to risk.

"Ask him politely--what good will that do?" Mrs. Madame Scull said. "Inish ain't polite." "What'll we do then, ma'am, if we find him and he won't come back?" Call inquired.

"How should I know? I ain't a great Texas Ranger, I'm just a wife," she said. "But don't come back without him--I won't have it!

Come along, Mr. McCrae." She started for the door. Augustus wasn't sure he had heard correctly.

"Do what, ma'am?" he asked.