Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Chan, the Makepeace brothers and Tom Barkley decided to spend a couple of days in Matamoros to “turn the wolf loose,” as Chan put it. We left them at a saloon called the New York Bar and agreed to meet in two days at the Miller Hotel in Brownsville. Charley and I escorted Aida back to the Morales ranch.

As we rode north toward the B&M International Bridge with the remuda trailing behind us, I couldn’t help but notice the differences between Matamoros and Brownsville. They were staggering. Brownsville had paved streets, automobiles, and streetlights. Matamoros had mule-drawn streetcars, dirt streets, and no streetlights.

“Damn, this is one poor town,” I said to nobody in particular.

“Reminds me of Ellsworth,” Charley said. “Some of our streets still ain’t paved neither, and th……