Farley had ridden westward. Clyde reined his horse eastward and put him into a lope. Andy doubted that he would slow down until the horse was exhausted. He said, “I hope we’ve seen the last of him. And Farley, too.”

Rusty said, “You never know.”

Up the street a wagon arrived, driven by a black farmhand. Bethel Brackett sat beside him. Rusty watched them. “Looks like they’re headed for the doctor’s. I expect they’ve got Mrs. Brackett in the wagon.”

“That’s the way I figure it.”

Rusty made a thin smile. “That Bethel’s a nice-lookin’ girl but a little light in weight. Maybe you’d better go see if you can be any help to her.”

Andy nodded. “I think I’ll do that.” He trotted up the street.

Rusty held the deed tightly in his hand. Watching Andy speak to the girl, he was reminded of Josie Monahan. Soon as he caught up doing what was needful around the farm, he would write Josie a letter.

He might even take it to her himself.

EPILOGUE

By the December election of 1873, the disenfranchised Confederate veterans had regained the right to vote. Two to one, they chose Richard Coke over the longtime reconstruction governor, Edmund J. Davis, a basically honest man who had been given too much power for his own good or the good of the people of Texas. Davis for a time rejected the results and maintained that the election was unconstitutional. As the inauguration date approached in January 1874, Davis held out, refusing to relinquish his office. For several days armed groups from both sides jockeyed for position in and around the state capital, threatening but never quite coming to violence.

Barricaded in the capitol building, Davis twice telegraphed President Ulysses S. Grant, begging for military force to keep him in office. Grant refused, advising him to give up the struggle. Davis did, finally, and a new era dawned in Texas.

A new constitution was written, guaranteeing that no governor ever again would have dictatorial powers. The Texas Rangers were reorganized, stronger and more efficient than ever before.