Ferris Town

Ferris Town

Happyhugo

Part One 

 Copy Right 12/17/23

Western, Romance.Historical

 77,714 words

7.96 Score

Randle Palmer and Sheila Pierson

~~Eastern Side of Ferris Town~~ 

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This is a story of two parts. The Palmer Ranch to the East end of the valley. The Ferris Ranch to the West end with the town of Ferris located in the center. It tells the story of the long valley where Ferris Town draws characters from both. Timeline and location in History … not specified. Men still wearing guns. Farms and ranches taken up. Trains and track laid to these locations where the bountiful land was making people rich.

 

Randy———————————

Part 1: Chapter 1

 

I came up out of the gully wondering how come I was still alive. I had tried crossing a creek in the dark last night. Somewhere back up the stream there must have been a cloud burst. I heard the noise of the rushing water and was half-way across the creek when I was hit by a wall of water. I never saw it coming. My horse was up-ended and I tried to stay with it. I made a grab for the horn, but couldn’t hang on.

Why I came away with the Winchester in my hand, I couldn’t tell. It was the last thing I needed right now. Being tumbled over and over, I needed my feet on dry land. The horse screamed in pain from down the creek and I figured he had some broken bones. Just then something caught me in the belly and I was slammed by something in the head. That was the last I remembered until now.

 I came to at daylight in terrible pain. My head ached and I had an eight inch long gash across my belly. My leather vest had been torn from me. The only thing left of my shirt was my sleeves and what went over my shoulders. I looked at the gash before moving much. 

 I could see the lining of my stomach, but it hadn’t been penetrated. A flap of skin three inches wide and eight inches long had peeled away and hung down. It had bled terribly, but it had stopped for the time being. Talk about smarting, I’ll tell you. There was tree bark ground into the wound. I felt my head. Not much damage, but I sure supported a good-sized lump.

 I was entangled in a fir tree. The roots had evidently torn loose and the whole tree had come down the creek gathering me up into its branches. The roots, washed now of any sign of dirt, were lodged against the bank. I tried moving, but my foot was caught. My rifle was still with me. I must have let it relax from my hand sometime, but it was within reach. It too, was tangled up in the tree. I finally pulled it free and muddy water ran out the barrel. I was able to pry my foot loose with this. I guess rifles are good for something besides shooting.

I slid into about two feet of water and made it to the bank of the wash. This looked like a regular crossing and the slope up out of here was gentle. I looked up and down the gully for my horse, but didn’t see him. Damn, that was a good saddle and there was money in the saddlebags. Well, I guess I had better see where I was? It was a slow painful assent up out of the creek bed.

This gave me time to think about this trip I had taken on. Trouble had dogged me this far. First gun trouble and now me without a horse and the gold I was carrying gone. With this gash in my belly, I guess I had better find a place to heal up for a few days.

 I topped out after a slow climb of a couple hundred yards. There was a string of woods on the left and then some open land stretching out to prairie. It looked like a homestead out a-ways from the woods. There was a rail fence enclosing a small house. The boards on it looked to be weathered a few years worth. There was a long, low, older barn that might hold enough hay and stable room for three horses. A small corral was at the back of the barn. It held a scrub saddle horse.

I was on a sort of trail. It branched to the right onto another one that came by the homestead. I didn’t see any traffic, but then it was early.

I watched the cabin to see what kind of people lived here. Homesteaders didn’t take kindly to tramps and I guess that was what I was. No horse, a rifle that wouldn’t shoot and me with most of my clothes torn off. I saw a woman in a poke bonnet and long dress come out of the barn. She must have been feeding the stock.  I wondered where her man was. When she went into the house, I followed along the edge of the woods, not stepping out until I was behind the barn. There was a door there where the manure was heaved out and I went inside. 

The inside was neat and orderly. Suddenly I was tired and looked for a place to lie down. Chickens scratched in the chaff on the floor. I took a horse blanket off the wall peg and throwing it over a pile of loose hay, I flopped down on it. I must have lost quite some blood last night because I was weak as a new-born colt. The sun was shining in through the door that was open on the house side. I settled down. There were two draft animals stalled munching hay.

“Hi, who are you and what’cha doing in our barn?” I looked at a young girl, maybe ten standing and staring at me. “You got guns too. I don’t like guns. They killed my daddy. I’m afraid of them.  Mommy said I was.”

“I’m hurt and I needed a place to rest.”

“I’m going to tell Mommy.”

“That would be okay. Can you bring me some water?”

“I’ll ask Mommy.” She turned and sped toward the house.

I hadn’t thought about my side gun. It still had a thong over it. It had to be in the same shape as my rifle. They needed cleaning soon before the rust got to them. I took the rifle and jacked the shells out of it leaving the breech open. My hand gun I did the same. Water drizzled out of the actions from both. I slid them toward the door. I tried to stand, but was too weak.

Maybe I was out for a few minutes and when I looked up there was the woman standing looking down at me. The wound in my belly must have opened when I tried to get up because blood was seeping from the flap of skin I had tried to cover over the gaping slash.

“You’re hurt. That looks bad. Were you shot?”

“No. I got caught in that flash flood last night. I was tumbled off my horse and into the water. I think my horse is dead. I heard it scream shortly after we separated. I was knocked out and got tangled up in a tree. I guess a broken limb gouged me. I woke up this morning wondering how I survived. I crawled up the gully and into the barn to rest.”

“Let me see how bad it is. Take off your shell belt.”

“I can’t, I tried that. Every time I move I start bleeding again.”

“I’ll unbuckle it. Stay still.” The woman came close enough for me to smell her. She smelled clean. She was big … almost as big as me. Her hands and wrists were brown and when she put her hand on my shoulder it was rough. Her face was tanned and I could see wisps of hair under her bonnet that were just about the same light chestnut tan. Her eyes were hazel. I don’t think she could be called a classic beauty, but she was attractive.

“Do you have a name?”

“Of course, Randal Palmer is how I sign my name. I go by Randy.”

“Mine is Mrs. Sheila Pierson. Patty is my little girl’s name.”

“And you are a widow?”

“How did you know?”

“Patty said a gun killed her daddy.”

“That’s what happened. Let’s see if I can get you up and into the house? You shouldn’t be out here in the barn with an open wound.” It was a struggle, but after I got on my feet, I was able to move with a hand steadying me.

“You’ll have to sleep in my bed.”

“I can’t do that. It wouldn’t be right.”

“Let me worry about it. There is no other place. You have to get well.”

I hesitated to say anything or ask, but I finally decided I must. “Ma’am, could I ask you to look for my horse? I need my saddle and the bags hooked to the skirt. There is money in both bags. Anyone who finds it could take it and it doesn’t all belong to me.”

“Whose money is it?

“Some belongs to me and the rest to three other cattlemen. I was the drover who took the herd to Kansas. We’ll all be broke if I don’t come home with it.”

“I’ll look for it after I get that wound cleaned up. It looks as if I can sew that flap of flesh back and you’ll be as good as new. I got some disinfectant that should be good. I don’t have anything to kill the pain, though.

“I can stand it.

Sheila went about picking pieces of tree bark out of the wound and when she had cleaned the best she could she washed it with hot water. “This will burn some when I put this horse liniment on. Scream if you have too. The disinfectant should numb it a bit and then I can begin sewing it together.” I pressed my lips tight, knowing I was in for some major pain.

I survived it, but I never wanted to go through it again. She brought me some clothes of her husbands, saying she would wash and patch my Levis when she washed next. “You stood that well, Mr. Palmer. You must be hungry. We’ll have a lunch and then I’ll see what I can do about finding your dead horse. I have some small screwdrivers if you want to tear down your guns.”

“Patty said your husband was killed by a gun. I’m surprised you would want anything to do with them.”

“My husband had a good serviceable revolver, but it never came back to me. All I have for a weapon is a small bore shotgun for shooting small game. I haven’t felt safe since he was killed.”

“How long ago was that, ma’am?”

“Springtime.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. He was mostly a good man, but he had a habit that drove him. We’d get a few dollars ahead and then he just had to gamble. He sat in on a game in town when he was after supplies. Most usually he gambled with town folk, but there was an outsider sitting in that day. My husband lost and he thought the game was crooked so he spoke up.

“The gambler was faster than my husband. The gambler hung around and gave me a bag of money at the funeral, saying it was on the table when my husband died. It was quite a lot of money so I think he added some extra to it. It’s about all gone now.”

“What are you going to do for cash money now?”

“I’ve got turnip and potatoes to come out of the ground soon. There are melons, squashes, and a lot of beans. After they are dried and threshed out, I’ll hitch up the wagon and take them to town.”

“Where is town?”

“Six miles west of here. The ford you got hung up at is a regular crossing for those coming down from the north. Sometimes there are cowboys going by that will purchase things for me if I ask. They are each hoping I will pick one of them for a husband. Most of them are respectful, but occasionally I have to turn the shotgun on them. It is a worry.”

“You’ve got it hard, ma’am.” She shrugged and began picking up the things she used on me.

“Rest, now for a few minutes. I’ll get you some food.”

She brought me a noggin of beef stew where I was sitting on the edge of the bed. It was hot and I burned my lips. When the liquid was gone I tipped it up and let carrots, beef, and chunks of potato slide into my mouth. “Want more?”

“I’m good. You’re a good cook. Can’t tell when I’ve had better.” She flushed. I looked at Patty who had been looking at me continually. I smiled and she smiled back and then got behind her mother.

“There’s some rag here to clean your guns. You better polish them shells so they slide easily.”

“You know guns?”

“Yeah, my Pa taught me. I’m taking the shotgun. Patty can carry it back if I find your saddle. I’m taking a knife in case I have to cut the girth.”

“It’s Texas rigged.” She nodded and went out the door. That was some woman. She had trouble and didn’t complain a bit about her what life had served up.

I stripped my pistol and used a little oil on all the parts. I polished the shells with the wipe rag and loaded the gun. I picked up the rifle. That was harder to get apart and I really had to work at it. I had to use the shotgun cleaning rod, because that’s all she had given me. Luckily I was carrying a .44 instead of a .36 or .32. I soon had it back together and fully loaded. I looked around for my holster, but that hadn’t been brought in from the barn.

I lay back onto the bed. It was soft and I knew I would have trouble rising out of the feathers. Actually I could stay right here and take in the scent of the woman. I didn’t dwell on it and the sun was setting when I heard Patty chattering.

“Is gold heavy, Mom?”

“It is after carrying it so far. Now don’t tell Mr. Palmer we peeked.”

“I won’t Mama.”

Sheila came in with the saddlebags. “I found a dry place for your saddle. I couldn’t carry everything.”

“That’s fine. I’ll get it later after I get better. How far was the horse?”

“Almost a mile down stream. The horse was dead. I think it drowned. It was kind of on its side with its head just out of the water. One front leg was broken. It looked like a good animal.”

“It was. I have a couple more of the same line, but I sure hated to lose him.” I paused, hating to make more work for this woman. “Ma’am, could you maybe heat me a basin of water and carry it out back for me? I’d like to clean up.”

“You’re not that bad. You’ll start to bleeding if you move around.”

“I got to go anyway.”

“Okay, let me get you up. You’re looking better.”

“Yep, almost well. At least my innards won’t fall out.”

“Mr. Palmer, you ain’t well by a long shot. You’re going to be one sick puppy before that is healed up. I’d almost guarantee you’re going to fever up by morning. Get your business done and get back in here while you can. I’m going to give you another bowl of soup and a piece of cheese. There is some crusty bread to go with it all.”

“Yes, Ma’am.

I slept, only waking when I heard Patty climb up to the loft. Sheila was moving around the room doing whatever. I then felt her fiddling with the bed and realized she had rolled up a quilt and put it down the center of the bed to divide us.

The fever she said I was apt to develop never did, and I felt pretty good in the morning. I was steadier and needed no help getting around. Patty went out to feed the chickens and we began to talk.

“Are you married Mr. Palmer?”

“No. I’ve been too busy building up my little ranch. I just sold this year’s herd, and I’ll have a few steers to sell every year from now on. The only problem is that I’m hemmed in by the three bigger ranchers around me. I’ve had offers to buy me out, but I’ve put a lot of sweat into the place and hate to leave. Actually I own a good-sized waterhole and a couple of ranch buildings my Pa put up. They’re some better’n you have here, but it’s a man’s place. Not cleaned up like yours.”

Sheila smiled at my compliment and I guess she had to brag a little. “I’m better off than you. There is the crick that is my north boundary and I have a full section under deed. The husband and I were doing well and we intended to buy some cows this year. There is some open range we could have laid claim to, so we could have done well. I guess it will never happen.”

“That’s sad. There’s always marriage again. Good women are pretty scarce.”

“Yeah, and good men are scarce too. I have to think about Patty.”

“You should, she is sweet. Just an observation, but you’ll have to do something soon. Winter will be here in a few months. I noticed you don’t have enough hay in the barn for your horses and I haven’t seen any wood supply.”

“I know. That’s mostly man’s work, but I can do a lot. I’m going to have to break down and ask for help. The only thing is whoever I ask will want something that I don’t want to give for it.”

“Well, you have a little time yet. Is it okay if I think about your problem? I do owe you for sewing me up.

“Think all you want, but I put that bundle down the middle of the bed for a reason.”

“I wouldn’t think of crossing over, Ma’am. I respect you too much for that. If you don’t mind my asking, how did you manage to get a deed on a whole section of land?”

“The land belonged to an uncle of mine. Uncle Pete had come on the land helping out a friend of his and the old man had a deed to the property. He turned it over to Uncle Pete when he died. I’ve got brothers and sisters back in Ohio and Uncle Pete was getting old so he wanted to go back home to be with our family. My husband was working on his father’s farm and a chance at almost free land got him all excited. Patty was only seven at the time, but we came out

“My husband wasn’t so excited when he got here, but we stuck it out and were about to make out. Going from farmed land back to something that wasn’t much more than raw land, chaffed him some. He took what cash money we had and headed for town to hire us a man to help.” She paused and wasn’t looking at me. Finishing up, she said, “So much for that.”

There was nothing for me to say. There was a little traffic during the day heading for town. I noticed if Sheila was outside, they all took off their hats and said howdy. Sheila saw a wagon with a fifteen-year-old boy driving come down the trail headed for town. There were two riders with the wagon. 

Sheila stopped what she was doing outside and came by me where I was sitting in the doorway. “I’m closing the door. That’s the wagon that belongs to Brad Bricknell who claims the open land that surrounds me on the south. I don’t like him or his men. One of the men is named Finch and he bothers me more than anybody. I guess the youngster is okay. I never had anything to do with him.”

We heard the wagon stop and the three men talking, but they didn’t come up to the house and soon went on.

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The sun was getting down in the west in the afternoon. We heard a wagon coming on the trail from town and then stop. “Hey, Miz. Pierson, show yourself.”

Sheila said to me, “That’s Finch and he’s drunk. Patty, you get on the far side of the bed in case he tries to get in.” 

I was buckling on my shell belt, but Sheila had my short gun in her hand. I reached for the rifle. It pulled like hell on my belly and I was getting madder by the minute. Mostly to think that drunkard was bothering a good woman.

“If you don’t open the door and talk to me, I’m going to start shooting the door down.” He didn’t wait and began shooting. We weren’t in front of the door and I saw a big sliver of wood come flying across the room and hit Patty in the shoulder.  She began screaming.

The shooting didn’t letup and he fired a couple more times. Mad now, Sheila swung open the door and started shooting with my six-gun. Finch fired once more and the bullet hit Sheila, knocking her back into the room. It was me now in the door shooting. First impression was that Sheila had hit Finch at least twice. His gun was down, but that didn’t stop me. Finch was now on his knees, just waiting for me to put a bullet between his eyes. That done, I swung around looking at the other two. The kid was on the wagon holding the team which was jumping around. The other puncher stood there in shock.

“Drop your gun.”

“Don’t shoot me. I had nothing to do with this.” He wasn’t going to put his hand on his gun to pull it, unbuckling his belt instead to let it fall. Maybe I might have shot him, I felt like it.

“Is there a doctor in town? The little girl is wounded and Mrs. Pierson is maybe dead. You kid, you get on that empty horse and ride like hell for town. Get us some help here. You better tell the sheriff or deputy what happened here too.

The kid, gray-faced, followed my orders and the other man held the team. I hurried inside as the horse with the kid was going out of sight. Sheila wasn’t dead, but there was a lot of blood coming from her left side. I tried ripping her dress, but it wasn’t possible. I looked for a knife and cut across the threads. I ripped and the whole side of her dress opened up.

The bullet had taken her in the side just above the hipbone. It was bleeding, but the blood wasn’t pumping out of her. It had cut into her cavity slightly, but it didn’t look like it mangled her too badly.  Another half-inch and it would have torn her up terrible

I looked at her face and she asked, “Are you through poking at me?”

“Yeah. I’m going to make a compress out of a pillow case and tie it tight. It’s not bleeding too badly and that ought to hold you until the doctor gets here from town. Patty, come around where your mom can see you. You’re a brave person. Sheila, Patty pulled the big stick right out of her shoulder. I saw her do it when I came back inside. She has bled some, just like you. Two pretty ladies with wounds, and I guarantee you both are going to be fine. 

“I’m going to put both of you on the bed and I want you try to sleep if you can. It will be a few hours or so and dark before the doctor arrives. Do you have coffee?”

“There are a few beans left. You can pound them up in that heavy stone mortar on the end of the shelf. I don’t drink coffee so it is all yours.” Patty crawled onto the bed. I looked at her wound. The stab wound looked terribly long, but then she wasn’t very big and it didn’t penetrate deeply. I thought she would be okay. There would be a scar, but could be hidden under a dress.

As gently as I could, I lifted Sheila off the floor and onto the bed. There was blood everywhere and I suppose some would seep into the bed, but I didn’t want to move her around anymore. Both were in pain, but there was nothing I could do about that.

I punched up the fire and put a big basin of water on, knowing the doctor would be here sometime and would ask for hot water. I made up coffee. I was feeling a little sorry for the puncher sitting outside. “Sit on the doorstep and I’ll give you a cup of coffee.”

“Thank’s. God, what a mess. That Finch was trouble and I always knew it. All he ever talked about was Missus Pierson. Is she going to live?”

“Yeah, I think so, but she does need the doctor.”

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you around these parts before.”

“I’m a stranger. I got caught in that gully washer two nights ago. Mrs. Pierson found me. I lost my horse and was waiting to get well. I belong down south in cattle country.”

“What’s wrong with you?” I pulled up my shirt and pulled aside the wrap that covered my belly.

“God, who sewed that up? It’s leaking too.”

“Yeah, I know it is. I had to lift Mrs. Pierson onto the bed. She sewed me up and I thought she did pretty good.  Kept me from losing my guts. That team over there alright?”

“Should be. I tied my mount near them and they are often stabled together. That Mrs. Pierson can sure handle a gun. Shooting Finch the way she done will slow down any more unwanted attention. She got two bullets into him before she got hit. Damned brave of her.”

“Too brave in my mind, but then she saw Patty get hit with a flying splinter. I was slow getting into action, so I guess it is some my fault.”

“You finished it though. You got him right between the eyes shooting from the hip with the rifle.”

“What’s your boss like?”

“Bricknell? Cheap and owes everybody. He ain’t much of a cattleman. He’s in debt to the bank and the banker is worried. The bank don’t need no more land on its books.  Bricknell works his nephew as hard as the rest of us which is some shame. Well, there ain’t many rest of us any longer. Just me, the kid and the cookie.  Bricknell don’t do much.”

I checked on my two patients and then I sat down on the steps next to the puncher. He looked old and weathered and maybe thinking he hated to hunt for a new job so was hanging onto this one. He must have been taken on hoping that it would last as last long as he ould. The puncher’s name was Montana. Ten paces in front of us, Finch was face down.”

“Him laying there dead don’t bother you?”

“Not much. He almost killed that widow and her young girl in there.”

“You took up for the widow, you sweet on her?”

“I don’t know her. I crawled into the barn yesterday morning and when she found me she sewed me up. I own a ranch down south ten-fifteen days away. I got to get home as soon as I can to see to things here. That’s why I told the kid to get the sheriff out here to see what went on. Just as soon as I can find me a horse to fork I’ll be on my way.” I got up every few minutes to check on those inside. Sheila wanted water, which I didn’t figure would do her any harm.

“Mister, I don’t know about you, but shouldn’t we cover Finch up? Ifen you had shot a dog, you would.”

“Go get an empty grain sack if you want to. He don’t bother me none.”

“Can’t I get a horse blanket?”

“No, horses ain’t partial to blood. It makes them jumpy. It would have to be washed before being used again.”

It was within a few minutes of full dark when we heard horse feet drumming on the trail. A gig wheeled into the yard. A small, older man had his hand on a black bag when he jumped down. There was a Mex woman on the seat with the doctor.

“Where’s the patient?”

“They are both on the bed. There’s hot water on the stove.”

 Smart.”

I turned my attention to the man that was stepping off his horse. I could see a star on his chest.  “I’m Deputy Steve Broduer. Is that Finch?”

“Yeah, or was.” 

“Get me a lantern.”

"Look in the barn. I think I saw one there inside the door.”

“Deputy, I’ll look for it. This stranger looks like he has been gutted. He says Missus Pierson sewed him up and he was recuperating when Finch showed up.”

“I’ll hear your story later. I want to know what went on here.”

“Let Montana tell it. I have no idea what this Finch had in his head other than he had the woman in his mind and got drunk.”

When Montana finished, the deputy said that was about the way the kid had said. “Now you, what went on inside?”

I told my story and was questioned how I came to be here. He even put the light on my belly. “Why’d you shoot him with the rifle?”

“She had the gun. Hey, there was a little girl hurt and screaming in the house and her mother had just been shot by a man that I thought was still shooting. When I went out he was on his knees with a gun in his hand. I felt he had been hit, but didn’t know for sure so I plugged him. Unexpected things were happening sudden like. I was late to the beginning, but I wasn’t to the ending.”

“Alright, I guess I can believe you. How long before you can ride?”

“A couple of days, I hope. I’m going to borrow Mrs. Pierson’s mount and hunt me up a horse. Are there any decent ones in town for sale?”

“Yeah, the livery stable has some.”

“Do you know if that Mex woman can stay to take care of the people here?”

“Yeah, the doctor will see to them. If you’re coming into town, stop in the office. I want to know more about you before you leave the area. When  Bricknell’s kid get’s back, load Finch onto the wagon and send him and Montana to the ranch. They can bury him. I’m going to see if I can get a word with the widow and then I’m heading back to town.”

The deputy went inside and I could hear the rumble of his voice. When he came out I asked if everything was okay. “Yeah, she said she felt safer with you here than she had in a long time. Make sure she keeps feeling that way. What I’m saying is … don’t do her wrong.

“Right.” 

It wasn’t long after this when the kid ambled into the lantern light on the tired horse. “Finch’s horse is damned tired. I rode him pretty hard. Is the girl and woman okay?”

“They’ll heal up. Thanks for getting the doctor here as soon as possible. You did good. Can you help Montana get Finch into the wagon?”

“I do’no, I never touched a dead man before.”

“Get used to it. You’re young and it’ll happen a lot in your lifetime. Tell him, Montana.”

“He’s right. Just be thankful it ain’t you going into the wagon that’s dead.”

It took fifteen minutes to get Bricknell’s outfit on the trail. The moon was up and the horses knew the way anyway. The doctor came out and got into his gig without speaking. I went inside quietly and asked the Mex woman how Mrs. Pierson was. She was surprised when I asked in her language.

We conversed and I was assured that she would get well, but needed care for a week. She would stay for that long. “How much do you get paid?” 

“I get $2.00. I do this all time for doctor.”

“I was thinking, do you have any sons that would come here and help out Mrs. Pierson? She needs wood for winter and hay cut for the horses. Within a couple of weeks there are potatoes and turnips to be dug. Mrs. Pierson is going to sell them in town.”

“She got no money to pay. She tell doctor.”

“You live right in town?”

“Yes.”

“It must be expensive. You have to buy food and wood to keep warm. What if Mrs. Pierson let you cut wood here and gave you potatoes and squashes and paid you just a little, would you help her out?”

“Maybe.”

“Well think about it. I’ll talk to her tomorrow. She does need help.”

“I have big family … no husband. It good earn money and food.” Nina was her name and we talked quietly as I inquired about her family and how she came to be here so far from Mexico.

Nina's husband had been a Vaquero and had worked at the ranch that Bricknell owned now. Her husband had been killed when falling from a horse while roping a steer. She had lived on the ranch after his death, but when the ranch was sold to him, Bricknell drove her and her family of five children off. That had been ten years ago and the youngest child, a girl, was now twelve.

Nina had kept her family together and somehow by all contributing, managed to survive. The oldest, a boy, was twenty-two and was the biggest wage earner, working at the general store loading and unloading supplies as they came in or were sold. The next child was a girl and she worked at the same store sweeping up and arranging goods. Another boy and girl did errands around town when the townsfolk needed something.

They did own one animal, a burro that they kept in a shed behind their home which was small and crowded. The home was a converted stable that had been connected to a house that had burned down. Nina didn’t own the property and knew someday they would be driven from this squatter’s mean housing at some point.

Nina hunkered down in a chair by the stove with a blanket around her and I headed to the barn to lay on the same pile of hay and the same horse blanket I used when first arriving. The sun was up when I awoke and I headed for the house to see how Sheila and Patty were this morning. Patty was complaining that her shoulder hurt and Sheila had some fever which made her restless while sleeping.

Nina said there were eggs and oatmeal for my breakfast. She had pounded the last of the beans for a weak cup of coffee. That was going to change when I got to town. Breakfast complete, I offered to sit with Sheila and Patty while Nina went to the barn for a few hours sleep on my bed. I was ordered to put a wet cloth on Sheila’s brow when she got too warm since this might keep her from thrashing around. Maybe I could get Patty to sing to her if she would

When I went out to the well for water, I saw a wooden box had been lowered down inside and hung short of the water level. I pulled it up and there was a chunk of beef inside. That would make enough stew for two or three days. The water was almost cold so that was the reason for the box in the well. 

I pulled up a couple of quarts of water to use to cool Sheila. She was thirsty as well and soon after this she slept better without being so restless. I went to the garden and rolled some potatoes out of the hills. Tops were beginning to die so I knew they were about ready to dig. I pulled one turnip, a few onions and some carrots for the stew. There was a squash that was misshapen so I picked that. There was sorghum to put on the squash when I baked it.

Patty was up, still complaining, but I got her to humming a tune and she soon forgot about her hurt. When she got sick of that I sent her out to look for eggs. “I know where all the nests are. There will be a lot of them. We swap eggs to the man who brings us meat. He’ll be by tomorrow.”

I started the stew. I kept a little broth aside as soon as I could see it had some body to it to spoon into Sheila. I was called Joe a couple of times which Patty said was the name of her father. Nina came in after a few hours sleep and said I had done well nursing Mrs. Pierson. She would take over now and said she expected Mrs. Pierson’s fever to break sometime before daybreak tomorrow.

I declared I wanted to go to town by the day after tomorrow. I was supposed to see the sheriff. Nina looked at my wound and said I should be able to without problem. Nothing to do now, I went outside and walked around. This could be a great farm. The soil was heavy and dark but showed a little sand in it so it should drain well Great for raising crops. 

The wooded land was extensive and I could see there were trees that would make saw logs. This was early fall and dry time. The well was full of water and if there was much stock, it could be watered at the creek. Above that, the farmland didn’t cut out into the grazing land of the surrounding ranch.

Nina was spooning broth into Sheila when I returned. Sheila was in the throes of fever, but she knew me and smiled when Nina told her that I had started the stew. She went back to sleep and her temperature went higher. I was worried.

“It’ll break within the next eight hours. She strong and healthy. She’ll be up around by noon tomorrow. How are you doing? Do you want me to change the bandage?

“Maybe. It leaked some last night.” Nina went to work and washed the wound.

“My, my, I think you’re pretty healthy yourself.” She giggled.

Part 1: Chapter 2

“Sorry about that. I’m not used to a woman poking around down there.”

“Did that woman over there on the bed see that when she was bandaging up your belly?”

“I think I was hurting too much to have any reaction. Nina, are you flirting with me?”

“Mrs. Pierson had a few minutes before you came when she said she was hoping you would stay around. If I was flirting, it was for her and not myself.”

Nina’s face got red and she giggled again. I didn’t push it, I wondered. The nurse couldn’t be over fifty. I went out to the barn and lay down. I hadn’t been there long when Patty came out.

“Mama’s is awful sick isn’t she?”

“Yes she is, but Nina said she would be better tomorrow morning and that she would be up and walking around by noon. I believe her.”

“I’m so scared. I lost my daddy and now Mom is sick. I’m glad you are here. Can I lie down beside you and hold your hand?”

“Sure. Take a nap, I’m going to.”

“Can I call you Randy?”

“I wish you would.”

Patty wasn’t sleepy. “Randy, tell me about where you live?”

“Well, it is several days ride south of here. I own a small ranch in a big valley along with three other ranchers. My ranch is the smallest in the valley and there is no chance for me to get bigger. What I have is profitable, but I’ll never get rich.” Patty lost interest and asked another question.

“You talk with Nina in a language I can’t understand. How come you know how?”

“Nina is a Mexican and at one time the Mexicans owned this part of the United States. The United States started settling people from the east in the Mexican territory, and Mexico didn’t want us here so a war was fought over the land and The United States won the war and gained a lot of land to add to their country. When there are enough people here, the territories we won will become states. California is already a state.”

“How come there are still Mexicans here if they lost?”

"Because the United States said if the Mexicans had a home here many, many years, they were allowed to stay. They are pretty much considered second class citizens though, because they did lose.”

“What do you mean, second class citizens?”

“A lot of people think because they won, the losers aren’t as good as they are. You’ve heard of the Civil War? That was not many years ago and people who lived in states south of a line fought with people who live in the northern part of the country. So you see, many people of the south feel just like the Mexicans and who are also considered second class.

“The thing of it is, the Southerners consider Mexicans second class even though they are considered second class themselves. So all this makes it more difficult for Mexicans to have a better life like they had originally. It is difficult to explain. Even among the Mexicans some are considered second class, especially if they have Indian blood in their ancestry.”

“I don’t understand. Is Mama a second class citizen?”

“You tell me. Is there a bunch of people who don’t think she is as good as they are?”

“The ranchers don’t like us because my dad and mom are farmers. Are we second class?

“No, not in my book. Look at it differently. Your family raises potatoes and squashes to feed people. It is the same with ranchers, they raise beef to feed people, so why aren’t the farmers just like the people who raise crops. I consider you just as good as that boy who drives a wagon for rancher, Bricknell.”

“Good, I always wave at him when he goes by and he waves back. I don’t think he thinks I am second class.

“I’m sure he doesn’t think you are either.”

“You still didn’t tell me how come you can speak to Nina.”

“I had an uncle who married a Mexican woman and they have a large family. Where I grew up they lived next door to me. My aunt was very, very beautiful and I loved her as much like I did my mother.”

“I wish I could grow up near some Mexicans or maybe anyone. I get awfully lonely all by myself.”

“Keep hoping and it just might happen.”

We did nap so I spent the night sitting in a chair while Nina nursed Sheila. It was after midnight and I was really worried when Nina said not to worry. “Put another cool cloth on her forehead.” It was soon apparent that Sheila had stopped being restless and was sleeping soundly. “See, she is almost well. Go out and get some sleep. She’ll say good morning to you when you come in for breakfast.

Nina was correct and Sheila spoke as I came in, “Hi, Mr. Palmer, how is your wound?”

“It’s good. I’ll be going into town tomorrow to see if I can buy a horse. If you and Nina can get a list together I’ll pick up what you need.” 

“It won’t be much. I can’t get much until I sell my potatoes.”

“I want to talk to you about that. You can’t dig your root crops you being injured the way you are. I think I’ve lined up some help for you. What I say is just a suggestion so you can shoot me down if you don’t want to go along with it.

“Don’t say that. I’m through shooting anyone. Tell me, was it me who killed Finch?”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“Yes. Er, no. Damnit, I don’t know.

“Relieve your mind. He was still alive when I shot him. He won’t bother you again. The sheriff should have told you.”

“He might have, but I was out of it at the time.

“Hey, you were protecting your child. No one blames you. In fact you did people a service.”

“I guess I’m okay then. What were you going to suggest about digging my potatoes?”

“I was going to say, Nina has some teenagers. They are always waiting on someone who has chores. The two older kids have jobs at the general store, but it doesn’t pay them much. Any of them with free time would do things for you.”

“But I don’t have the money to pay them.”

“I know, but Nina needs things too. She needs wood and she can always use the stuff you have to feed her family this winter. There’s time enough for them to get up wood for you and she needs that as well. You must have enough dead wood in your woods for both you and them. They could take that in pay. I owe you for fixing me up so what you get from me should balance things out about even.” I asked a question, “You do get along with the Mexican people don’t you?”

“Of course I do, they have it more difficult to get along in our community than I. They have less than I do and I would like to share if possible. But, where would they stay?”

“That’s another thing I have thought of. What are you going to do next year about a garden and crops?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“I have another suggestion if you want to hear it?”

“I do.

“I was out walking and I saw you had a little more than an acre of plowed ground. Say you plowed up another two-three acres before the ground freezes. By spring it will be easy to work. Ask Nina if she would be interested in share cropping. You would still own the land, but then you would have help to work it. Patty was complaining she was lonely. Nina has a twelve-year-old daughter and she would be just right to be with Patty.

“But still you haven’t said where they would stay. What if they all wanted to move out here?  They certainly can’t travel back and forth and this house isn’t big enough. They wouldn’t want to live in the barn with the horses.”

“True, but I was thinking, just as soon as you get the crops out of the ground you won’t need it fenced away from the range cows. You’ve got all of those split rails on hand the fence is built with, and they could build a shelter with them for the winter. They get the shelter frame built and then they could cut wood to sell. They might even hunt deer or antelope for food. Somebody must be around to show them how to trap so they might make a few dollars doing that.”

“They wouldn’t want to move out here away from town.

“Ask Nina. She has heard everything I have said.”

“I thought she was sleeping out in the barn.”

“No, Mrs. Pierson, I was right here listening. I’m not against anything Mr. Palmer has said, but it would take some figuring. I would like to get my family away from town. Every day one or more of us has to endure bad remarks … my three girls especially.”

We sat in silence. I don’t believe either of the women was willing to say how they would work this. “One thing more, from now on I’m to be addressed as Randy.  I already call Nina, Nina and I’d like to call Mrs. Pierson, Sheila. Agreed?”

“That would be good. I’m Sheila to everyone.”

“Okay, let’s sleep on it. Sheila needs her rest and maybe Patty could try the loft tonight and let Nina sleep in the bed with you.”

“Oh, no, that’s not necessary.

“Stop that, Nina. You are my nurse and my friend and we may be in business together. Three nights ago Randy slept in the bed with me.” Sheila’s face got red and then she explained. “I did put a rolled up quilt between us, but that won’t be necessary with you and me.”

Things were easier in the house until bed time. Patty was ecstatic that her mother was going to get well and willingly climbed to the loft. 

The next day there was an intense discussion between the two women. Patty asked what they were talking about and when she learned that maybe she was going to have a friend living with her she was overjoyed. We put together a list of what absolutely was needed and I offered to pay for it before I left for home. I hoped that was going to happen within the next four days.

Part 1:Chapter 2

Patty cried when I told her I had to go home. We had become close. I guess I was her new father figure. Sheila didn’t say anything, but I could tell she wanted me to stay as well. Nina had a minute alone with me. “You’re a damned fool Randy if you leave. Sheila is perfect for you.”

“I know, but I can’t let my ranch go to hell. I need to be there. I’m way overdue as it is. My neighbors will be extremely worried. Nina, don’t say anything, but I plan on being back here in another month to see how things are going. I feel like I’ve pushed you and Sheila into something and I’m hoping it will be a smooth transition for you. You must remember your family knows nothing of your plans yet and may object.”

“No they won’t, they may not like it, but they will follow my lead as head of family. That’s just the way it is.”

“Ah, Nina, there is more than just family involved here. Sheila and Patty are too. I don’t want one of your kids unhappy to be out here in the wild. Say one of your girls is unhappy and she finds some man to run away with. That could be the death of her and that would make you feel really bad.”

“I see your point. I’ll try not to demand. Maybe you could meet with the whole family before you leave.

“I’ll plan on it. Now, how long before Sheila can be left alone?”

“She should have someone here all the time for the next three days.”

Okay, I’ll shanghai somebody going by and pay them to stay until we or I get back.”

“I guess you know what you are doing.”

The next morning I was getting the team hooked up. Nina did most of the lifting and managed to get the harnesses on the horse without me lifting much. She had insisted. I drove the team around front ready to pull out onto the trail. Nina and Sheila were inside.  Sheila was arguing that she would be fine and for Nina to go along. I got down off the wagon and was sitting there on the front step.

I heard a horse coming slowly along headed for town. “Montana, what are you doing?” 

“Brad Bricknell is drunk and nothing is getting done, so I took the day off. I’m almost out of chawing tabacy. Figured I wouldn’t be missed. How’s the woman?” 

“Mending well. Fever’s down. Say, I need you to do something. The nurse needs to go to town and I’m driving her, but she won’t let Mrs. Pierson stay alone. Would you keep her company?”

“Me … me after the Bricknell crew shot her? You’re crazy. She wouldn’t have nothing to do with me.”

“Step down and we’ll see. You had breakfast? I think there is a hank of side-meat left and there are always eggs.”

“That’s mighty tempting. Go ahead and ask. I was just looking for excuse to head to town.”

“Sheila, you don’t have anything against Montana do you? He’s hungry and I offered him breakfast. He can hang around until I get back.”

“Of course he can. Nina, you get going to town. I’ve seen Montana going by and he’s stopped to talk sociable like. Montana, sit down. Patty, you’re the cook this morning. I’ll sit and visit.”

“Ma’am, I’m real sorry you got shot.”

“It hurts some, but I’m on the road to getting well. Randy, take all the time you need, I’m sure I’m in good hands.”

After Nina and I had the team trotting along for awhile, I said, “I think it has been long enough and about now Montana is already in love. Sheila sure grows on a person.” I got a disgusted look from Nina.

A couple of miles further along, Nina grinning, asked, “How long did it take for you to fall in love with Sheila?”

I grinned, “About the same length of time as I said it would take Montana.” 

The sheriff saw me drive up and hitch to the tie-rail. Nina stepped down telling me she was going to round up her five kids and I was to meet her at her place. She pointed to an alley. “You’ll see it when you get beyond the regular buildings.”

The sheriff sauntered over and asked how the widow was. “She’s good this morning. She went through a spell of fever and I worried some that she wouldn’t pull through.”

“Somebody watching her today?”

“Yeah, Montana came along and said he would sit with her. We need supplies and I came on in. Nina wants to talk to her kids while we are here. I also want to go into the bank. I see it across the street. How’s the banker? Is he honest?”

“Too honest. The bank is a little over extended, but solvent. I don’t know if he has much money to lend out.”

“That’s okay, I wasn’t looking for a loan. You said there was a livery stable in town. Where’s that at?”

“Down this street and to the left. That’s the west side of town where most of the area ranchers have holdings. Bricknell is the only rancher out the widow’s way. You were going to tell me a little more about yourself.”

The sheriff wasn’t really asking me if I was honest, but then maybe he was. “Sure, my life’s an open book. I own a little ranch a couple of hundred miles south of here, at a place called Surcingle Valley. There’s three other ranchers in the valley. Maybe you’ve heard of it.”

“The name’s familiar. One of the ranchers is named Boyd as I recall.

“No Boyd that I know of. There is a Borden, though, fifty or so, and has a family of five kids.”

“That’s the one.” The sheriff was pretty damned sharp. I was too.  I had just verified I actually knew the valley. 

While we were talking, I saw Nina with a young woman and young man come out the back of the store and head down the alley. Both were short and stocky. “Well, I won’t hold you up. Are you hanging around long?’

“Nope, heading back soon. I’m sticking at the widow’s until she can manage on her own. The least I can do for her sewing me up. Say, she said when her husband was killed, his revolver was never returned to her. Any idea what happened to it?”

“It’s in my office. I’ll put it under the wagon seat before you leave.”

“Thanks, she might need it. She certainly knows how to use it.”

“You got that right.”

I went into the store and gave the clerk the list of goods I needed. “That the Pierson wagon you come to town on?”

“It is.”

“If you’re ordering for her, it’s cash money.”

“It is. Something you should orta keep in mind, she’ll be bringing in a load of potatoes and such in a week or two. If you want them I’ll tell her to get cash money rather than credit.”

“But she has an account run up and she ain’t got no man to do for her. I can’t keep a widow woman on the books.”

“There must be another business in town that deals in turnips and melons and potatoes and squash. The beans she has go with the beef every one eats. I’ll tell her to find out.”

“But then she won’t pay her bill at all.”

“Hey, I was just joshing you. I’m going to pay her bill before I leave. I think she said it was $47.17. That’s correct isn’t it?

“Yes.”

“You might give her good credit for her produce, though. I’m coming through here next spring and I’ll ask to make sure you did. Besides that, the sheriff is giving her gun back, and I know she knows how to use it.”

“I heard about that. Mister, I’ll treat her fair, I promise.” I smiled saying to put the order together and I would pay and load it when I finished my business in town

I headed across the street to the bank. I went inside and asked of the teller if I could see the banker. I was ushered into his office and was introduced. Banker Simpson looked a little harried. “If you’re looking for a loan, I can’t loan out more than a hundred dollars and I have to have good collateral even then.”

“I’m not here for that. I have a question. Do you ever sell paper on a loan you have made?”

Simpson perked up. “Maybe, that is if it was in default, I might. What loan are you referring to?”

“Let’s talk about this a little before I say. The word is that you may never get back the interest owed on this particular loan and very lucky if you get the loan itself back. I might work with you a little so it isn’t a total loss to the bank. I hate it when a bank is a little shaky.”

“This bank isn’t at all shaky. We don’t have too much capital, but we could cover all of our accounts if need be.”

“But you would feel better if you had a loan like I described paid off wouldn’t you?”

“Certainly. I only have two loans that are in default. I have a feeling you are referring to the Brad Bricknell property.” 

“That’s the one I am interested in. Do you have a description of the property? I’ve never even looked at the ranch.”

“I could show you the description and the account if I thought you are serious.”

“I’m serious and if I purchase the paper, I might consider moving to the area. I was just talking to the sheriff and he knows where I’m from. You must have heard about the trouble Mrs. Pierson had a few days ago. I’m sure she would speak for me. She’s a fine upstanding person.”

“She is, but she is a widow with no man.”

“But she does own a whole section of land and she hasn’t been in here to the bank asking for a loan. Her husband has been dead for six months, so she must be solvent.

“She owes the general store.”

“No, she doesn’t. I was just talking to the owner. Also, she will be bringing in wagon loads of produce to sell. That will take her through the winter. But let that slide and talk about this account Bricknell has with the bank.”

“I’ll get the description.” I received more than the description. Simpson had ridden over the entire ranch when the loan was applied for. I spent over an hour listening to him. We covered the buildings, which weren’t much, and what the range was like. It got real quiet when I asked about water.

“There is plenty of water, but Bricknell hasn’t filed on it because he didn’t have the fee. The bank was waiting to see if he paid off the loan. If we foreclosed, I was going to file on it and it would help the bank sell the property. I even have the description of the water. There is water enough on the ranch except in a dry year so I didn’t feel it was imperative because the water is contained within the boundary of the land he claims

“Okay, let’s talk money. The amount of the original loan that Bricknell took out is a given. According to your figures, Bricknell paid down the loan about $900 dollars. If I paid you what the original loan was then the bank hasn’t really lost any money, has it?”

“But that loan was taken out five years ago.”

“I understand that, but remember I’m talking cash money here, paid to you in gold the day after tomorrow. I’m going down to the livery stable and buy me a horse. You think it over and give me your answer when I return.”

“You’re pushing awfully fast.”

“I know I am, but I have to leave town this week. I’m ten days late held up by an injury.”

“What’s the injury?” I pulled up my shirt and showed him. It was red and terribly ugly. Simpson shuddered when he saw what it looked like

“The sheriff know about this?

“Of course, he saw it when it was worse than this. It is almost healed up and I’m ready to ride. Uh, I want this kept quiet. Nobody needs to know my business. You may ask the sheriff what he thinks of me, but no details. If you want to check up on Mrs. Pierson’s credit, you may ask what her status is at the general store.” 

I left the bank and found the livery stable. The liveryman had seven horses for sale.  They all looked decent. I had him put them into a corral and I walked in watched them circle. I spent a half hour at this. The pretty chestnut was priced the highest, but I knew he wasn’t the best. I had my eye on an ugly grey gelding, but paid the least attention to him. I said I wasn’t interested in the chestnut and the two small fillies. “Set the same price on the four remaining and let me take my pick.”

The halter came with the grey and I left the chagrined owner knowing I had bested him as I led the mount away.

Now I went down the alley and found Nina and her family. The oldest boy spoke, “We want to talk to Mrs. Pierson before we decide.”

“Fair enough. This is a big decision for you and you should look into everything. You can ride in the wagon when your mama and I leave town today. Bring some blankets because you won’t have time to return until tomorrow. If you reach an agreement, you will have full use of the wagon and the team. You know if your house here doesn’t belong to anyone, you could tear it down for the salvage.

“We have already discussed that we would.”

I asked Juan, the oldest boy, to go purchase a couple of girths for my saddle because Sheila said she had to cut both to get the saddle free of my dead horse. I headed for the bank, telling the Gonzales family that I had one stop and maybe two, before I was ready to go.

Simpson took my deal. Not only that, he had sketched out a description of the water source. I was going to ask Montana to put up corner markers sometime early tomorrow and I was going to have them recorded making my filing legal. I handed Simpson five gold pieces earnest money and said I would be back with the rest of the money within 48 hours. He was almost dancing when I headed for the store.

We had a little problem at the store. I settled up for what I purchased today and I settled up Sheila’s bill. The Gonzales’ family carried everything out to the wagon. The store owner held up the two Mexican young people who worked for him, telling them he would fire them if they didn’t return to work.

The girl spoke. “Mr. Samuel, my Mama wanted a picnic and she is caring for Mrs. Pierson so we won’t be in until tomorrow afternoon. If you find someone to replace us, it has been nice working for you, but Mama comes first.” Soon I wheeled the wagon around in the center of the street heading east. We were loaded with goods and Mexicans. Oh, and an ugly grey horse was tied to the wagon.

Rosa was singing “Lorena” and José was playing on his guitar when we drove up to the homestead. Sheila and Patty were standing in the doorway when they heard us coming down the trail. Montana was leaning on the corner of the house. Nina did the introductions. Josephina and Rosa were kind of roly-poly like their mother. Teresa, the youngest, was slim as were one of the two boys. Nina organized the unloading.

I motioned to Montana and led him away from the house. “How are things over to the ranch?”

“Gone to hell. I guess I got to find me another place to live out my days. Cookie is about ready to run off.  Bricknell sells one critter a week to the butcher and the proceeds he gets goes for drink. The boy and I take care of the stock that’s around the barn. We’re down to half pay and lucky to get that.”

“What’s half pay?

“$10 a month.”

“Would you hang around a spell if your wages went back up to $20?”

“Sure as hell would. What do I have to do for it?

“About the same as you have been doing except for one thing. I need someone to put markers up around the big spring and some land around it. I’m filing on it and it needs markers to be legal.

“What are you up to?”

“This can’t get out just yet, but I bought up the paper the bank held on the  Bricknell ranch. I got to leave the day after tomorrow and it will be a month or more ’till I get back. I’ll take over the ranch then.” 

“You’d keep me on for certain?”

“For certain.”

“How do I know where to put the markers?”

“I have a sketch that the banker drew to say where and he made out a paper for each marker with my name on it. A marker is stones piled up and visible with the paper under the top one.”

“I know. I’ve seen enough of them in my time. There is plenty stone around so I won’t have to lug them far. Hell, I’ll bet I can get it done tonight. I’ll ride over and tell you when it’s done. I got one question for you. What in hell are you doing with them Mexicans?”

“Sheila needs help seeing as she lost her man and they and she are looking into running the farm on shares. That’s her plan anyway. The Mex family is out here looking over the situation.”

“Sounds good for the widow. I know them Mexicans get hassled in town so it’d be good for them too. Get out that sketch and I’ll see what I can make of it? I’ll be over tomorrow, anyway. Did you buy us some coffee? I could go for a cup when I get here.”

“I did, and here is a plug of chewin’ tabacy. That was what you wanted isn’t it?”

“God, you’re a white man.” I watched Montana mount up and head down the trail. I guessed there was plenty of good life left in him yet. I had no doubt he had a lot of aches and pains. Punching cows was hard on a man. It certainly was time for him to take it easier. He never would have got the chance with Bricknell. I smiled, thinking he needed a woman. I’ll bet he would come to life then. 

I went and hunted up Juan and José. “Would you go down to the crick and follow it to where Sheila stashed my saddle. It’s about a mile downstream. Better yet, I’ll send Patty with you to show you where it is. I’ll replace the girths when you get it back here.” I laughed because all of the Mexican kids and Patty took off down the trail that crossed the crick. I could still hear them chattering away long after they disappeared.

I went inside and asked Nina how Sheila was. Sheila injected the comment she was fine. Nina spoke up, “Randy, Sheila and I are working out an agreement on farming some of this land. Will you be here to get us started?”

“No, I’m leaving the day after tomorrow. Sheila understands why. I have to see to my ranch. I have tomorrow though, and I think I can lay out a plan to follow until I return. I don’t know how soon that will be. It is straight forward what’s ahead of you. The potatoes and garden stuff needs to be dug and taken to town to be sold.

“When you get the donkey out here you can start looking for wood. You’ll want to figure how much cropland to get ready for next year. Wait until after a good rain, and then the plow will cut through the sod easier. Hell, you both know that. I’m just talking to myself.

“You have to build a place to live in. Make one wall of this house one side of the new one. It’ll be warmer to heat. There is the salvage from where you live in town. Bring that out before you start to build. What you build won’t be pretty, but will do until you can afford something better.”

“Randy, I don’t think I can do much of anything physical for awhile.”

“You’ll do more than you think you can. While you are resting start learning Spanish. When these people are speaking English, notice when it isn’t spoken correctly and they will thank you for setting them right. There is no doubt English is going to be the dominant language of the country, so the better they speak, the better they will be looked upon.”

I wanted to make sure Nina understood so I rattled this off in Spanish to her. Americans and Mexicans down by the border had developed a language all of their own to converse in, and Nina grew up not far from the border. She broke into smiles and nodded agreement vigorously.

“Nina, will you reach under the bed and get out my saddlebags? They are heavy with money.”

“My God, how much is there?”

“A lot. I’ve got two hundred miles to go with most of it. How close is the nearest Wells Fargo office?

“There is one fifteen miles south of here. You’ll have to go through the town to get to it.”

“That may work. It’ll be on my way to home for me.”

“You’re really leaving?”

“I have to because some of this money belongs to the other ranchers. I’ve found out what can happen to a person traveling alone and it is too dangerous just in mishaps alone. I thought it would be an easy hundred dollars to pack it, but I have changed my mind. I lost a pack horse and a damned good riding mount. Not only that I had a spot of trouble when I lost the pack animal. The ranchers must have figured I’ve taken off with their money by now. I’m ten days late as it is.

Sheila was looking sad. “Randy, you are the most interesting person I have ever known.”

“I could say the same about you. I’d have probably died if it wasn’t for you.”

“Yes, and if you hadn’t got the doctor here as soon as you did, I really would have died. Randy are you coming back this way again?”

“Yes, I am. I hope to get back before snow flies, but if I don’t I’ll be up in the spring. I think I’m leaving you in good hands with plenty of help. Look, I’m leaving you with a little cash money. Just enough to tide you over until you can sell your potatoes. Nina, I’m going to leave you the same. Get your family out cutting wood as soon as possible. You’re smart and I’m sure you can get it done.

“Randy, you worked hard for your money. We can make out okay.”

“Sheila, it is only a hundred dollars. If you don’t use it this winter, use it for seed in the spring. Oh, and I think Montana is coming over this evening for coffee. He don’t look like much, but he’s been around enough to be helpful if you need him.”

“I had a nice talk with him while you were in town. He was hoping you would bring back some coffee beans. I’m surprised he went off earlier,”

“He said he had something to do, but he would be over when he got it done. Sheila, is it okay if I lie on the bed? I’m about beat.”

“Sure, I’ll be lying down in a little while too.”

I took out ten gold pieces and handed five to Nina and five to Sheila. I closed up the saddle bag and slid it back under the bed and then rolled onto the bed. I was soon asleep. When I awoke later, it was because Montana was coming up the trail and Nina was pounding beans. 

“Juan has your saddle all fixed. It’s pretty dried out but isn’t damaged too badly. I put it on that ugly mount you bought and made sure the holes in the girth are right. Say, that’s some piece of horseflesh. He acts like he could go all day and then some.”

“I am going to push him some. Do you think he’ll do thirty miles a day?”

“Easily.” I waited for Montana to step down. He gave me a half salute so I knew he had the markers all in place so I could file on the water rights tomorrow.

“Coffee is ready, Montana. Nina brewed it.”

Later after a few sips, Montana said, “Ma’am that is the best coffee I ever did taste.

“Well, Mr. Montana, I don’t think Randy will take all the beans with him. I’m sure he won’t mind if you stop by whenever you have a thirst and join me in a cup.”

“I surely will.”

Before Montana left, he got me aside and handed me the sketch. “I had me the stub of a pencil and marked the number of paces between the markers. They might want to know how far apart they are.”

“Good thinking. I should be all set. Montana, how old are you?”

“Fifty-two, why?”

“Just wondering if you could keep up with Nina if you had the chance.”

“I might try. She’d be a nice armful. You got anything against something like that?”

“Nope. You’ll have to do it on your own, though. She’s got family that might object, but then she could override what objection they might make. As the saying goes, when you marry a woman, you marry the whole family. Juan now is the oldest boy and his father was a vaquero, so you might start him talking about riding and roping and stuff. That should give you an opening.”

“I never had me a wife. Do’no as I could stand still to be hitched.” He looked at me and grinned. “But maybe I’d try it just to see what it was like.”

I slapped him on the back

“How’s the kid for working around. Is he like his uncle?”

“No, the kid has the making of a good puncher.”

“Think you could line him up to stay if I run Bricknell off?”

“I might could. I don’t think he’d want to go off the place. It’s the only one he knows.” I dug around in my Levis and came up with a five dollar gold piece along with the twenty dollar coin I had promised Montana.

“You know gold from anywhere is suspect. Cash your coin at the bank and not at the store. Tell the kid to do the same.”

“I knows that. How bad you going to torch Bricknell when you run him off the place?”

“I don’t think too badly considering. I’ll leave him a few dollars if he plays along. I don’t want to be known as a bastard even though Bricknell screwed the bank. You could say he screwed the town too by tying up the bank’s money by defaulting on the loan.

“Never thought about it that way. Guess you’re right.”

“I know Bricknell’s name is Brad, what’s the kid’s name?”

“Johnny. So, when ya’ leaving?”

“Maybe tomorrow and if not, certainly the day after. We’ll see how it goes.”

“I’m going to be waitin’ on you coming back. Don’t you be getting into trouble, there’s a woman there in the house who needs a man, and she knows you’re a good one. Speak to her before you leave so she’s not just hoping. You told me what and now I’m telling you.”

“I’m listening.” We shook hands, neither one of us knowing if we would see the other or even when. I had a long road to travel and a lot of uncertainty on either end.

I asked Sheila to walk out with me just at dark. “Sheila, I wasn’t going to say anything, you being a widow and all, but I’ve become really fond of you in the short time we’ve known each other.”

“Randy, I hear you and I’m of the same mind. I said I was going to wait a year from my husband’s death, but now I’m hoping it’ll all be settled by that time and I’ve found the man I want.

“I hate making you wait even a short time, but I have to get my ranch taken care of. If I can do that before snow flies, then I’ll never have to leave you again. I am coming back to see you somehow and I’m asking you to wait for me until I do.”

“I will, Randy, and I’ll be pining for you.” Our first kiss was something. We were squirming around trying to get as close to each other as possible. I worried I would hurt her, knowing that she still was bandaged from the gunshot wound.

“Randy, stop a minute and let me unbutton my dress. Just the top, you understand.”

“I know what you are saying. I wish I could do more with you, but it is too soon.”

“The way I feel, it isn’t too soon, but with the condition we both are in we will have to wait.” I felt the same way exactly.

——————————————

It was just past daylight and breakfast was done. I asked José to saddle the ugly grey while Juan hitched the team and wagon. They were going to drive it in and load up their belongings. They might even have room to pull apart the shed that the burro was hitched in. The burro, Jake, would be coming home with them.

“José, would you top the horse off. If he is going to buck, I’ll have to wait until I’m better to ride him.” The horse stood and never moved when he swung into the saddle. That was what I was hoping.

José climbed down and I swung aboard myself. “Would you fetch my saddlebags from under the bed? There’re heavy. The bags weigh about eighty pounds. Toss them into the wagon and when we get to town you can carry them into the bank for me.”

“What’s in them?

“Not your business, but if you think you need to know, its gold from selling a herd that I trailed north during the summer. You don’t have to spread that around.”

“I won’t. I wish I hadn’t asked. Now if you get robbed people will think I blabbed about it.” 

“More the reason not to blab.”

“Yes sir.”

We arrived in town just as Simpson was crossing the street to open the bank door. Juan didn’t stop and kept the team moving as José pulled the saddlebags off the back of the wagon. He staggered into the bank by Simpson and ran out and climbed back onto the wagon. I tied at the hitch rail and went inside. “I wondered if you would show.”

“Man of my word. I’m going over to file on that water. The four corners are all stone marked and I have the paces between the markers set down.”

“Shouldn’t be any problem. It’ll be an hour before the clerk get’s here. We have time to conduct your business with the bank. I take it it’s your money in the saddlebags?

“Yeah, and somebody said there is a Wells Fargo office in the next town. Do they transport cash all right?”

“Yes, of course, I use them when I get funds from another bank. In fact if you have what you agreed on concerning the Bricknell loan, I’ll have the sheriff go with you and at least take down $5,000 to send it off to the central bank.”

“Would he go today? I’d like to ride with him. I’m going to send the herd money to the other ranchers. I almost lost it once and don’t want to take any chances. Most of their herd money went east to some bank they use. What I have is supposed to take them through the winter so they split it up.”

“Hard on you wasn’t it?”

I nodded. “I lost a pack animal and my horse and almost lost all the money. If I didn’t have the extra weight in the saddlebags, we would have made it across that crick with no problem.” I hesitated in explaining the truth about how I lost my pack animal. I thought fast. “The pack animal stepped in a gopher hole a day earlier and I had to shoot it. So you got some paperwork?”

“I have. Bricknell won’t be too surprised when you show up owning his place. I sent the sheriff out with letter that I was foreclosing him. I didn’t hear back. That was before you showed interest in the property. This has come as an opportune time for the bank. So, as you can see on the loan, it was for his place, the stock, and the equipment. You’re filing on the water rights, so what you are getting from the bank is everything else. 

“The loan was originally for $13,000 which included more stock on the place than it has now according to the last roundup. But he didn’t ship this year, so there should be quite a bit ready to ship in the spring. I don’t care about that. He paid down the loan by $900, so you give me $12,100 and I’ll be satisfied.”

“What about the interest he never paid?”

“Not your worry, the bank is writing it off.” We did the transaction.

“Great. If you’ll make the deed change, I’ll file that along with the new water rights.” This all took up most of an hour and we saw the file clerk at the land office open up. As I was leaving, I said, “You know there may be some gold coins floating around that came from me. There is Montana, Johnny  Bricknell, they’re on the payroll. Then there’s Mrs. Pierson and Nina Gonzales. I gave them some advice and a little seed money.”

“How come you’re involved with the Mexican family?”

“My family was having a rough go of it and some people just like them kept us alive with help and food until we got on our feet. I declared I would even the balance sheet someday. This is my way of doing it.”

“Good. I know you are returning in a month to lay claim to the property. Are you planning on staying?

“I hope to. Plans are up in the air until I return. I’m leaving the saddlebags here until I get ready to leave. I hope the sheriff can head down the road with me.”

“I’ll urge him to.”

There was no problem with the title change and the water rights were now in my name as well. There was a pretty good fee, of course, but I paid it gladly. I crossed to the bank again and the sheriff was waiting.

“Mr. Simpson, I think I’ll open an account of my own. I’ll make the deposit of $1,000. Put Mrs. Pierson’s name as beneficiary in case you hear I’m dead.”

“You’re a fast worker. I might have known the widow wouldn’t be single long.”

“Hey, did I say we were getting married?”

“Foregone conclusion.” 

 Part 1: Chapter 3 

The sheriff had saddlebags too and we distributed the weight evenly as we left town. It meant we were carrying about forty pounds of gold apiece for extra weight. Both the sheriff and I were done soon after we arrived at the Wells Fargo Office and the money I sent to Surcingle would arrive in the office not far from my ranch. It was only a few miles from my ranch to where I would collect it.

Guaranteed and insured arrival … ten days. What a relief!

“You laying over tonight?”

“Nope, I’m buying some jerky, bread, coffee and any cooked beef I can find. I’m stocking up on an extra blanket, coffee pot and a bait of oats to keep my horse moving. By this time next week I’ll be sleeping in my own bed.”

“Yes, and when you come back, you’ll be sleeping in Mrs. Pierson’s.”

“I hope to, but you never know. I’ve got so I don’t always believe things come out right for a person. I make plans anyway and keep hoping.”

“That’s all you can do.  So when will you be back in town?”

“There again, not certain, but a month from now. Snow should hold off that long. When I show up, I’m asking you as sheriff to dispossess Bricknell.”

“I know and it shouldn’t be a problem. See you, I’m headed home. Nice knowing you.”

“So long, Sheriff.” When I was in the store picking up what I needed I said I was headed for Surcingle Valley.

“Hey, I’ve been there. Do you know the trail?”

“Nope, can you sketch me out a map?

“Sure. Going from here, there’s only rough in one spot that where you might get turned around. That’s about sixty miles out. You have to go up and through a pass between two peaks. If you miss it, you’ll have to backtrack and lose some hours. I’ll make it as plain as I can.”

I was liberal with my mounts rest and pushed him in between the rest stops. Six days later I rode into the ranch. The horse was fresher than I was. Too bad he had been cut or I’d pay to have colts out of him. I put Old Ugly into the corral after giving him a rub down and a scoop of corn. The only puncher around had to be Slim since his was the only mount in the corral. I went inside and to bed.

Slim was coming out of the bunkhouse when I washed up on the stoop. “Hey, Boss, we’uns thought you was dead. You’re three weeks late.

“I had some problems. Most of it because of that gold I was bringing down for the other ranchers.

“Yeah, they been over here about every day. They think you took off with it. They’s calling you thief. They’s been to the law too.”

“Piss on them. I lost my pack horse, my best mount, I got gored in the belly and had to shoot a sidewinder. I was laid up a whole week getting well so I could ride. I’ll give it right back to them. They promised me a hundred dollars. It should’ve been a thousand.” I cooled down. “Where’s the boys”

“They herded the cows that belonged to Smith over to his place.”

“Roundup is all over, then?”

“Yep. We got some real fine stock. Next year will be a bumper crop going to Kansas.

“We’ll see.”

That stopped Slim in his tracks. I kind of gave him a half-way grin and turned to the house. “Any eggs on the place?  I ain’t facing another piece of jerky in this life time.”

I looked at the tally book. It was up to date and we had had a decent increase. We had cleared out a nest of wolves a couple years ago and bear had never been a problem. The answer to my success was the deeded water I held. This year I had fenced it off for about a month from the cattle of my neighbors. That pissed them off. 

I held deed to the headquarter buildings, and I had the boys keeping the line shacks in good shape. Dad had built them as they became necessary and had filed a deed to them. The remainder of my grazing land was open range, but situated so I could legally keep my neighbors from moving cows onto my grass. For the last few years we had trailed north to the railroad in Kansas. Someday there would be rails in this part of the country

I hated to leave the home territory, but I could see a fight shaping up. I was the smallest of the four ranchers in the valley. They were of a mind to bring cows in and turn them loose and collect the profit when trailed north as three and four-year-olds. They didn’t think about when the rains didn’t come in the spring after a low snow fall in the winter. My father taught me to read the signs. It was much easier than to have crises of some kind year after year. 

That Bricknell property was way under grazed and there was so much more of it than I had here. It wouldn’t have any other ranches crowding me either. I would make sure it stayed that way too. I hadn’t ridden over it, but the banker, Montana, and even the sheriff said it was an apple ready to be picked and no one so far had recognized it

I should get twice the money for my ranch here than what I had paid down up north. Maybe I was a dreamer. I didn’t want to get rich just to be rich, but I did want to make things better and it damned was sure easier if you had more than two coins to rub together.

What I was intending to do was make the other ranchers think they needed this ranch and would pay top dollar for it. As I told Slim, “we’ll see.

It was mid-morning when my three other punchers rode into the yard. I was sitting on the stoop and they totally ignored me. Slim shouted, “Hey men, the boss is back.”

“So, what else is new?”

“He said he had trouble.”

“Can’t be, he always tells us to keep out of trouble.”

“Randy, cried a whole long list of troubles. The thought just came to me he must have found his self a woman.”

I answered this, “I might as well tell you. I did meet a widow and she’s the one who sewed me up when I got gored.” I pulled my shirt out of my jeans so they could look at it. “Then when she put two bullets into a bastard and got shot, I crawled off my sick bed and shot him right between the eyes. I didn’t think that would kill him because he was a mean son-na-ofa-bitch, but it did. And I ain’t telling you a damned thing more other than she showed how grateful she was about me saving her life.

I turned and headed into the house, before turning back with more. “The nurse I found to keep the widow from death’s door has three beautiful daughters and she’s a widow too and already thinking about how to keep warm this winter. A puncher has been coming around after the coffee she pours and I imagine they’re walking out together already. I kinda’ like that country up there.” I slammed the door behind me.

Tony eased the door open and peered in at me. I got there first, “I understand you men got sick of doing your own cooking while I was gone. I also heard she sings good. Can she ride?”

“I might have known you’d find out about Kate before I got a chance to tell you. Why’d you ask could she ride?”

“Do’no, might be you’d be going somewhere and we have to drag her along with us. That is if she can really cook.”

“She’ll be here later to ask for a job.

“I’ll meet her. Bring the men in, we have to talk.” I went on to tell the punchers that I had already bought another ranch and I was hoping to sell out here and get up there by the end of the month.”

“Boss, we can’t gather the cattle and get a chuck wagon ready or get very far before we might get caught in a winter storm.”

“We ain’t taking the cattle, they stay with the ranch. On that ranch up north, there are as many or more cows than I have here. There wasn’t a roundup this year and the puncher that’s on the place says some of the steers will be five come spring. The cattle aren’t bunched and the land looks almost empty. It is a big ranch and the cattle have been allowed to run free and are all spread to hell. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”

Slim asked, “Who you going to sell this place to?”

“The three other ranchers here in the valley want me out of here so they can get my water. Over time they intend to push me out and I’d have to fight like hell to hold it. But they know too, if I put up a fight, it will cost them. I think they will pay top dollar for the land and the cattle if they can get rid of me that easily.”

“What about the hosses? I’d hate to give up my string.”

“They’ll go with us. I have those two horses that are brother to the one I lost, sired by the same stud and dam. He was the best horse I ever owned. I lost him and it was my fault. He was packing me and my outfit along with eighty-seven extra pounds of gold. It was too much for any horse.

“Good, horses traveling over the trail won’t be a problem. What else we taking?”

“Everything that can be carried on the horses we ain’t riding. That means all the horse tack, ropes, etc. We can’t take a wagon from here to there, but we will take what we can pack. Get that new cook in here and have her help decide what goes out of the house.”

“Ah, Boss, that new cook is now Mrs. Slim Rogers. She’s in town in the room we rent, but town is close enough so I can see her. ”

“I heard that, Slim. Okay, what I just told you is to be kept under cover until I get this place sold and the money in my jeans. I suspect the three of them ranchers will be coming around looking for the money I was supposed to have with me. Actually, it ain’t here yet. I hired a sheriff to carry it a ways and he found someone to pack it the rest of the way. I’m sweating it some though, and it is a lot of money. They promised to have it here within the week. I think that’s good. The rancher’s minds will be on the missing money and not what I’m up to.”

—————————

I guess my new cook spread the word that I was back, or maybe someone saw me ride through town. The three ranch owners came pounding into the yard just as I suspected they would as soon as they heard I was home.

“Palmer, where’s our money?”

“I ain’t got it right to hand, but it will show up in a few days. Get down and we’ll have a drink. How was your trip east to see the bright lights?”

“You don’t need to know. Tell us where our money is?”

“I said I’d have it in a few days. No need to worry about it. You guys kind of put me to getting your money here just for a few pennies. I had severe expenses, lost my pack animal that was carrying it and lost my mount in a gully washer. I got laid up and had to lie over to get well. I did save the money and as I say it should arrive sometime next week.”

“Sounds like bullshit to us. You’re at least three weeks over due and you don’t have the money to hand over.” Sam, the rancher that was blustering, was getting a full head of steam.

“My word is good, you know that.”

“We don’t know that, not anymore anyway. Comes down to it, we decided we want you out of the valley.”

“You’ll play hell making it happen. My men can put up a hell of a fight.”

“Whoa, we don’t want a shootin’ war. We was figuring on making you an offer.”

“I don’t know as I would sell. My pappy got this place when I was a youngster and he and my ma are buried here. I’ve got forty acres where the water comes up out of the ground, plus some deeded water that can be fenced. There is thirty acres all with ranch buildings and all in good shape. The four line shacks are livable.

“One of my men just tied the knot and will be living in the one closest to town. That’s a hundred and fifty acres all under deed. You can’t do much with the open range if I keep you off the deeded land. Given that, I have the best grass in the valley, but it is pretty much worthless to anyone without water.

“We know all that and we’ll be willing to pay. Probably not what you think it is worth, but we could get an appraiser to figure out a good price. You know that money of ours you say is coming, we don’t believe you. We think you lost it.”

“Well, I was going into town and talk to Banker Williams tomorrow. Remember that was your money and you have to bear some risk if I lost it, but I did give my word.”

“Then what are you seeing Williams for?"

“None of your business.”

“I thought so. The bank will never give you fifteen thousand on this place. We talked this over and we can come up with $7,500 apiece and then you won’t have to humiliate yourself asking for a loan. This offer includes the cattle

“Not good enough. I can easily sell off the cattle for $25,000 and that’s a big portion of what I’d be asking for the ranch and the cattle. Sure you don’t want to have that drink?”

“Give us a minute?” The three got their heads together and finally broke up and faced me again.

“If you sell off the cattle, we can come in and claim the land that isn’t under deed if there is no cattle on it. Final offer, we’ll come up with $30,000 for everything.  No, we’ll skip the drink we never mix business with pleasure. Tell you what, you go talk to the banker tomorrow and we’ll be back to get your word by six in the afternoon.” They wheeled out of the yard and were gone.

My men had heard this exchange. They looked worried for me and maybe some for themselves. “Men, I think I have them right where I want them. If you go into town, look as worried as you look right now. Tell you what, drinks are on me. Head for Castro’s dive and spend some of the money those bastards want to do me out of. Here’s a ten dollar coin that ought to be enough to cry in your beer and let the town know how bad it is out at the Palmer ranch.”

“Boss, I think you should save your money.”

“Take it. Things are bad and let them know how bad.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Slim, bring that wife of yours home with you and sleep in one of the bedrooms here in the house. You shouldn’t be paying rent in town. I may not be here when you come in. I’m going for a ride. I grew up here and I’m going to miss the place. I’ll look around so I don’t forget it.”

“Boss, I’m sad for you. What about that place you’s was telling us about?”

“We’ll see how tomorrow goes before we talk about that again. Take off and I’ll see you in the morning.” I was giving mixed signals to everyone including my own hands.

I waited until the men left and then I saddled up. I still got a good-sized twinge when I lifted the saddle on but nothing like what it was when I left Sheila. I headed cross lots and came in behind the place where the Wells Fargo agent lived. We were sometime friends, congenial, anyway.

He came out and sat on a bench in his yard. His wife was getting his supper so I didn’t have long to talk to him. “Grady, you don’t know it, but there is a package coming into the office from a Wells Fargo office up north a ways. I want you to hang onto it and don’t say anything that you have something for me. I’m going to redirect it out of here, but I don’t want anyone to know that either. Can you do that for me?”

“Sure, no problem. What’s going on?”

“I don’t want to say anything now but after it comes and goes out again, I’ll tell you all about it. You’ll get a kick out of what I’m doing.”

“You’ll have to pay another fee you, know.”

“Glad to.” Just then Grady’s wife came to the door telling him his supper was ready. I waved and turned my horse.

I had to go around the town to come in behind the banker’s house. I left my horse back in a grove and came to the back door. I knocked, “Who is it?”

“Randy Palmer, can I speak to you?”

“I guess. I don’t do bank business outside of hours.”

“I know that. I want to get an appointment to discuss some things. I also I wanted to make sure that the other three ranches didn’t know what we were going to talk about during the appointment.”

“Rest assured they won’t know. What’s this all about?”

“You just said you didn’t do business outside of you banking hours.”

“Come in, Randy, bank is open.” I had to laugh. This wasn’t the first time Mr. Williams had opened the bank for me. I told Mr. Williams everything except where the money was that the ranchers figured I didn’t have. I said I was hoping it would get here, but was losing faith that it would. I also laid it on heavy about the three pushing me out of Surcingle.

Williams offered, “They have been in several times asking about you and your accounts. Of course, I haven’t told them a thing. You know you are more solvent than anyone else here in Surcingle connected to the cattle business. It is too bad the other cattlemen aren’t as good in the business as you. You do have a good balance in your accounts and you could cover their loss over time. They are squandering their land and what is on it.

“I’ve tried to tell them that. I guess I’ll take what is offered. They are trying to get me out of here so they can take over my range. For your information, I’m going to let them, but it will be on my terms. I’m going to see if they will forget that I was carrying their money and that it really is lost. I’ll be okay if they do push me out.”

“That’s a crime what they are doing to you.”

“Mr. Williams, they are going to offer me less than they think my ranch is really worth but I’m going to take it. Within the last month I’ve met a woman and I’m going to make my home with her. I’ll explain why I’m telling you this. What I want you to do is to turn me down when I apply for a loan tomorrow, but have you okay a personal loan of about $1,000 against my horse herd. This, information I want to get out around town and I need my horses.”

“I can do that. I don’t suppose you have told me everything. You might fill me in the day you leave town.”

“I will do that when I pay back what I borrowed the day I leave town. I hate to do this to you, but I’ll be taking what’s in my account with me as well.”

“I would expect so. Don’t worry about the bank. It will do alright. Borrowing rates might be going up a little, but that’s business.” I thanked Mr. Williams. I had known him all my life. We respected each other, but weren’t close personally. Time I went home.

I heard the men pull in later. The bunkhouse door slammed. Slim and his wife stumbled into the extra bed room. I went to sleep with the rattling of the bed. No more than I expected when they picked that room. It only held a single-sized bed.

I had a breakfast fit for a king. Slim’s wife, Kate, was in her late twenties, a couple years older than Slim. “Mr. Palmer, thanks for letting me come home with Slim. I’ll make you the best cookie you ever did have.”

“Randy is the name and the breakfast was perfect. Is twenty dollars a month satisfactory? If you have to handle a chuck wagon, you get a hand’s wages of thirty. With what I pay Slim, you two should make out fine.” 

“We will for certain. Will you be able to pay that much when you get shoved out of here?”

 “Yes, I can afford the wages.” I didn’t elaborate.

I went out to give orders. “Tony, you and the rest bring all the horses up into the corral here by the barn. Figure out what we will need for packs for them to carry what we have. We’ll take all we can.”

“You’re really giving up, Boss?”

“Yeah, let them think they are driving me out, but I planned on leaving anyway. I’m just suckering them into giving me as much as I can get. When you see that country where we’re headed, you’re going to think I’m pretty damned smart.”

“When’s this move all taking place?”

“I have a feeling they will have the sale papers with them tonight. If not they will by tomorrow. We will start packing as soon as they are signed. Slim, you tell Kate to do some planning on what we can take from the house. I’d like to be out of here in eight days if I can.”

“Damn it, Boss, we still don’t know what-all is going on. Some time you have to tell us everything.”

“I will. Now I’m going into town to the bank. Is that list of bills you ran up while I was gone for the three months everything?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, see you in a bit.”

The word around town that I was being pushed off my land because I lost the money the others had paid me to bring money home for them. The General store, the livery stable, and the gunsmith were tickled that I was paying my bills. “Thank Mr. Williams, he’s lent me some money to pay you what I owe.”

“They’re holding you to it, losing the money I mean?”

“I keep telling them I arranged to have someone else bringing it. They won’t wait and don’t believe me. I can’t see where it is any benefit to try and keep ranching next to them that don’t trust my word.”

“Don’t blame you. What’re you going to do if you’ve lost your land?”

“I met a homestead woman, who is some took with me. I’m going up there and see if she will have me. The boys will be alright, there are three-four ranches in the other end of the valley where they can maybe get on. They are some pissed about all this and wouldn’t work here if their wages were doubled.”

“I don’t blame them.”

I was home for the noon meal. It was beef and beans, the same as always. I don’t know how Kate did it, but you could chew the beef and the beans were more than little hard pebbles.

Kate was beside herself when I told her that I wasn’t taking any of the furniture. “Even your mother’s little vanity?”

“Can’t help it. The trail’s too rough except for horses.” 

“That’s sad, I’m going give them bastards a piece of my mind.”

“Let it go.” Kate wasn’t happy with the situation, but I didn’t see any advantage for her to brace the ranchers

I slicked up and was freshly shaved when I pulled on my only pair of whipcord pants. I had on a blue denim shirt with some stitching of a cowboy hat on the two pockets. The one item different in my usual dress at home was the holstered gun I belted on

My men were just as they had come in from the day’s work and all were armed. Kate stood in the doorway with a rifle showing. I was surprised when I saw the number of riders approaching. Then I saw it was the sheriff, his deputy and the local Judge with the three ranch owners. They came in and halted their mounts twenty feet from where we were standing. I smiled when I saw that the three of them didn’t have any guns showing.”

It was the sheriff who opened the talk, “Palmer, these men say they gave you a hundred dollars to transport their cattle money and you won’t turn it over to them. Is that right?”

“Right as far as it goes, sheriff. I don’t have it yet, but I’m expecting it.”

“You were more than three weeks overdue, so what held you up?

“That’s just it, I was held up. I saw two men here around town before I left on the drive and after I got the gold on a pack horse I headed for here and home. Three days out somebody shot my pack animal, the one with the gold on it. One of them two men kept me pinned down, while the other one Indian’d in and grabbed the gold. I finally found my horse and took off after them. 

It took me a week to get the gold back and then a wall of water ran over me in a gully washer. My horse was killed and I had to buy another. I was laid up for a week with that and then I came on home. I couldn’t even lift the gold from the ground to the horse.”

“So where’s the money?”

“Can’t rightly say but it should be coming. I couldn’t fight off another robber after I got hurt so I talked to the sheriff. He put me with someone whom I gave the money to. You can write the sheriff about it. I also gave him the name of the ranahands who robbed me. I’m just as worried as these others. I tried to borrow money on my ranch today, but the only thing Williams would lend on was my horses. Remember, I had money in that pack too and I come home with just what I had in my pockets.”

They all stared at me. “Sheriff, I’d kinda like it if you’d ask around town and see if you can get a line on two men who were here before the drive started. They must have been seen talking with someone.” I proceeded to give a description of them to the sheriff.

The three ranchers were decidedly uncomfortable. Bordon spoke, “That has nothing to do with Palmer not bringing our money home. Sheriff, we have made a serious offer for his ranch. We are willing to pay what we think it worth with or without the money he says is coming. If he will get off the ranch within ten days we will pay him what we promised and sign the papers of transfer immediately and do it tonight.

“Palmer, I guess it is in your hands. The ranchers don’t believe you about where or when the money is arriving. Frankly I don’t either. Judge, what’s your opinion?”

“I’d say from listening to Palmer, he should hang on to his ranch and pay back what the ranchers entrusted him to do. If the ranchers push and take over the ranch without time to do this, then that would absolve Palmer of everything including what he lost. He would lose his ranch, but would have a substantial sum of money if the ranchers paid most of what Palmer figures is a good price for his ranch. That’s my opinion.”

“Ah, one point, Judge, the bank has a lien on what horses I own.”

“You have to pay back what you borrowed. You’ll have the money from the sale. If you do then the horses belong to you.”

“Judge, what we are purchasing is the ranch and the cattle on it as of tonight if we sign the papers. He can remove any personal property that is in or around the buildings.”

“I guess this is the best deal I can make. I’ll give up the ranch, and sheriff, I don’t even care if you catch up with those sidewinders that killed my packhorse and stole the money.” There was an immediate look of relief on the faces of the ranchers.

“Let’s get this done.” This was Sam Bordon, the spokesman for the three ranchers. They dismounted and Sam pulled a set of saddlebags from his horse. “Count that. It came out of Williams bank this afternoon.”

I showed my mistrust so I stacked the rolls of coins on the doorstep.

I asked Kate to bring a small stand out from the house to lay the papers on. I had my deeds at hand and turned them over. We agreed on the conditions the buyers provided and we both signed it. When finished the ranchers mounted. “Ten days and then we take over.” No hand shake was offered. The riders moved away toward town.

Part 1: Chapter 4

“Well, men I guess you could say we’re homeless. I will make a prediction, though. The three ranchers own my ranch jointly and I predict those three will be fighting amongst themselves over this land and no one will be the winner. To me they are small minded crooks.”

“Boss, what was all that about two men?”

“I fudged the details a little. I never did see the two in town here, but I was suspect of something why I was hired to bring some money back from Kansas for them. Remember they have approached me several times to buy me out. I was watchful leaving up there and still as careful as I was they almost got me. One of the two shot at me and the other one downed the pack animal that was carrying the money. I was pinned down, that part was true.

“Luckily my horse had run off. Anyway they got the gold and took off. I rounded up my mount an hour later and took off after them. I got to where they had made camp by daylight the next morning. I wanted to get them in their blankets, but they were mounting up just as I arrived. I wounded one of them and the other took off.

“The one I hit was the one with the money and he toppled out of the saddle. He hung onto the reins and so I could come up to him to see how bad off he was. I had winged him in the shoulder and he was hurting. I asked questions and I got answers. They had been hired by these three to take the money and come back here. They said they could keep what was mine in the saddlebags.

“I laughed, no way were those bushwhackers going to bring any part of the money back. The crook verified that they were headed for California. I put him on his horse and told him to find some help somewhere because he got into this mess himself and he could get out by himself.

“Truth to tell, that was the easy part on coming home. Four days later my horse and I were both tired and I came to this creek. I had heard a lot of thunder over West, but gave it no thought. I hadn’t much more than was splashing through a couple of feet of water when a wave of water hit me, knocking me off the horse when it went down. I came to the next morning stuck in the top of a downed fir tree. I guess you know the rest.”

“What about the woman?”

“Sheila Pierson, she’s a widow and she has a ten-year-old child. She owns a section of land and was doing okay. She needed help and even more so when she got shot.”

“Is she pretty?”

“She’s attractive, tall, but not as full figured as you are Kate. I was hurt and she took over and fixed me up pronto. I was a stranger and she didn’t hesitate at all. Anyway I’m going back as soon as possible. She was going to wait a year before looking for another man and I damned sure want to be in on the ground floor.”

“This Mex woman with the three daughter’s you mentioned, what about her?”

“I believe the woman is taken, but the daughters are interesting. One is twenty, one is eighteen and the youngest is twelve. She’s the pretty one of the three. There are two sons too. One, Juan is twenty-two and second, José is seventeen. The girls are Josephina, twenty, Rosy, eighteen and Teresa twelve. They are the typical Mexican family and as such have had their troubles. But they work hard and love each other so they make do.

“Hey, we start packing in the morning. We have ten days, but I want to be on the trail in five. But you men, we have to be aware tonight because there is quite a chunk of gold on the place until I can get t into the bank."

I went down to the Wells Fargo office to see if the money had come in. It had. He pointed to the large safe where the money was contained. I gave direction, “I am going to redirect this money back to where it came from. I also am going to send more coin to the same place. I worry about your stages being robbed. I know the company will pay off because I’m buying insurance. Wouldn’t it be better to send it in smaller amounts?”

“Of course we would prefer you did, but it would cost more in fees?”

“I think I’m willing to pay the fees. There is eighteen thousand here in your safe and there is thirty thousand plus in William’s bank here in town. I don’t need anywhere near that amount at present so I’ll be sending on thirty thousand, in five thousand amounts at a time.”

“That seems cumbersome for you. Why don’t you deposit with us and we’ll make out a bank draft that you can present at any of our offices or your bank. You just go to your bank and present the draft drawn on Wells Fargo, and your bank will take care of paying the money to you. Believe me when I say we have never defaulted on any accounts since different express companies started moving raw gold from the California gold fields in 1849. Wells Fargo came into being in 1852 and has had a glorious past. I’m sure we will continue.”

“The world is getting smaller isn’t it? The telegraph is criss-crossing the west at a fast rate. Someday we may have a train coming through here.” 

“Yes, and that will hurt our stage coach business, but I bet we will survive.”

“No doubt. So, I give you my gold and you give me a piece of paper. I can then present this at any bank and they can get it from Wells Fargo?”

“That’s right. Much easier to carry and if need be, it is much easier to hide too.

“Well now, I like that. There are a lot of sidewinders around and I got a long trail ahead of me. Make out those bank drafts and I’ll go see Williams so you can get what I have in my account. I’m liking this better and better.” I headed uptown.

I had $12,000 in my account at the bank. I would leave that here and I made arrangement with Williams to honor a draft if I wrote one on that account. I returned the $1,000 to Williams I had borrowed for the supposed need to keep the horses. I still had more than $5,000 in my saddlebags that I had brought home with me. That was enough to keep with me now.  

Wells Fargo would be taking care of the $30,000 I had received from the ranchers for me. I was redirecting the $18,000 to be returned to where I had first sent it from. With $48,000 total banked with Wells Fargo and $12,000 banked here with Williams and the $5,000 in my pocket, I considered myself a fairly rich man.

I would be spending much of it though, because I intended to buy my end of the valley and have it under deed. I planned on having a family and wanted to head off any danger of someone moving in on us. With the land deeded there would be no question whatever. The Homestead Act was just being implemented, and that would bring a flood of people looking for free land. The government would not look at it if I had deed to it.

“Boss why are we taking some of those mares. They ain’t worth twenty dollars apiece.”

“I got plans for them. In fact, as we get closer to Wade County, we might pick up a few more if somebody wants to sell. They have to be good enough to be bred and get a mule out of. If they are, we’ll take ’em.” I said no more

Kate had harped on me not taking my mother’s little vanity, so I had Slim knock it apart and we would tie it onto one of the horses. I laughed for some of the mounts were going to be highly insulted by becoming pack animals. We were ready to go at the end of the fourth day and we headed out before light on the fifth. It was going to take us a full ten days to reach Wade County. We had a small mountain range to go over, but it wasn’t going to be a problem.

I was astride Big Ugly. I was quite fond of him. We were two days on the trail and tired. The horses were taking a long time to get into line and were difficult. We woke up after day light on the third morning. Our guns had been lifted and we were facing the same two men who had ambushed me several weeks previously. 

I was getting sick of these bastards showing up. No wonder the valley ranchers weren’t worried about the $15,000 they suspected I would have on me that was theirs that I promised to deliver. And they thought I would be carrying the $30,000 they paid me when I turned over the deed.

Was I worried … some, but didn’t I have a good crew? Raoul, my one Mexican vaquero would have a knife on him and one of us would get the other one. The robbers got us to line up. Kate was the only one who still had blankets over her. Now she slithered one bare leg out from under the blankets. All eyes were riveted on her. The other leg came out. They were bent slightly and not too close together. The two bandits could see under her part way up.

“Bent, watch the men, I have to see this. I never figured on them having a woman with them.” He came up to Kate and reached down to pull the blankets off. Her hand came out and it was holding one of those gambler’s guns. I didn’t know at the time what calibre it was, but it was big enough. The top barrel belched smoke and the polecat staggered backward.

The other man was plenty distracted and when he brought his attention back to us, there was a knife sticking out of his chest. I looked at him. “You should’ve gone to California. Too late now.” Kate was a little pale, but otherwise fine. I leaned over and put my boots on. I found our guns in a pile back of some brush. Their horses were tied a couple hundred yards from the camp, apparently them afraid our and their horses would whinny warning.

“I’ll drag them out of camp. First I want to see what’s on them.” 

I found five gold coins on each of them. There was a letter. It was short, “Make sure you kill Palmer. The horses are yours as soon as you bring the gold back to us. Sam will be at Palmer’s ranch. Burn this note.” I split the coins among the crew. Kate got an amount equal to the others. She earned it!

Kate made breakfast while we stripped the two and dragged them over to the edge of a steep gully and rolled them into it, watching them bounce all the way to the bottom. Animals would take care of them. An hour later we were moving again.

It was damned cold going over the pass, but we made it okay. Nine days later, my crew herded our horses around the town, while I went in to tell Simpson I had returned. I had one of the pack horses with us and I needed to get some supplies. I took Kate with me. Sheila’s farm wagon was hitched in front of the store. I was hoping she was the one driving it, and it was a lot to hope for. “Kate, get the supplies together. Ask in there if that’s the Pierson wagon and if they will deliver to the Bricknell ranch. Tell whoever it is that Randle Palmer is back in town.”

I went into the bank to find out about the ranch. “You’re all set. I do have one paper for you to sign.  Bricknell is still living on the place, but knows he will have to move on. Do you want me to drive out there with you?”

“I’d feel better if you would. How about the sheriff? Can he go with us?”

“He’s out of town chasing horse thieves for a couple of days. No problem with  Bricknell. He said he’d move as soon as you showed up. You alone?”

“No, I brought my crew with me. I want to deposit some money. Anything major happening?”

“Not much. Mrs. Pierson found out you put her name on your account as your beneficiary. She tried to appear mad, but I don’t think she was.

“I expected that. What about Nina Gonzales and her family. Did they get a place built for the winter?”

“I’ve heard they have. I don’t see much of them. I understand they have a huge wood pile and they have almost eight acres of land turned over getting ready for spring. I’ll get my horse and ride out with you.”

“Before we go, would you look at these slips? The Wells Fargo agent says they are as good as gold. If they are, would you put them in your safe?”

“Sure, they are just what they say they are. I’ll tell you I can’t cash them in if you want it all at once. I don’t carry that much on hand.”

“I know that. I remember Steve, the sheriff, went with me took some extra gold down to the next town when I left.”

“Right.” I headed for the store to see if Kate was ready with the order of supplies. Both she and Sheila were sitting on the wagon seat. The wagon had been turned around and Sheila was facing toward her place. I came up behind her.”

“Sheila, I’m back.”

“Oh, Randy, I worried so you wouldn’t make it back. I knew you would if you could.”

I smiled with gladness. “Got a kiss for me?”

“Right here in the street? What will people think?”

“They will think you have found yourself a man and you don’t intend to be single much longer.”

“They just might be correct.” She came off the wagon seat and into my arms. Just then Simpson rode up.

“Palmer, somehow this doesn’t surprise me. Let’s go, I want to get back before dark.”

Kate was going to ride on the wagon. I’m sure she shared what she knew of my life while in Surcingle Valley.

Sheila agreed to go past her own place and on the two miles to the  Bricknell ranch that I now held title to. Simpson and I went on ahead. My crew was already at the ranch. I had given them directions so as not to hold them up while I was in town.

Montana was standing in the middle of them waving his arms telling where and how far from headquarters the boundaries were. Johnny Bricknell was out there too, but off to one side.

Simpson stepped down and Johnny grabbed the halter. I handed over the lead of Big Ugly when I reached ground. “Johnny, is your uncle inside?”

“Yeah, in front of the fireplace. Mr. Palmer, don’t humiliate him please? He never was made to be a cattleman and he thinks he’s failed, but it isn’t really his fault.”

“I won’t, Johnny.”

Simpson and I went inside and found  Bricknell. I knew his first name was Bradley. “Bradley, we haven’t met but I purchased your paper from Mr. Simpson at the bank.” The man looked beaten down. I couldn’t detect that he had been drinking.

“I know and I’m out from under. I don’t have no place to go though. Could you let me stay through cold weather?”

“Would you be willing to move to the bunkhouse?”

“I certainly would. I’d help around the barn doing chores too and just for your information, I don’t smoke.”

“Okay, you’re on the payroll.”

“Good, payroll? I’ll move my stuff.”

“Tomorrow will do, my men will be out on the range. Maybe your nephew or Montana will help you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Palmer.”

“Randy, call me Randy.” I heard the wagon pull in and quickly finished up with Simpson and Bradley. 

Simpson mounted and leaned down. “Randy Palmer, you’re a really decent man. We’ll get along very well.” I put the men to unloading the supplies and Sheila and Kate came in.

The two women went through the house inspecting what I had purchased. It was in better shape than I was led to believe. “Sheila, do you have to leave now? I’ll escort you and the team home after Kate gets up a meal.” 

“I’ll help.”

Montana sidled up to me. “The cookie quit a week ago when I started hammering on him to clean up the house, so me and Johnny did what we could. I ’spect you’ll be bringing in Sheila to do for you. Wha’ta you going to do with the woman you brought with you?”

“She’s married to Slim, one of my punchers. Thanks for helping around the house. It’s in better shape than I was led to believe.”

“Nina came over a couple times to oversee. I understand that Bricknell is going to stay?”

“Yeah, that’s so the crew doesn’t have to do barn chores.”

“That’s mighty white of you. You still haven’t answered what about that Kate woman?”

“I’m either going to build them a cabin or put them in one of the line shacks.”

“Oh, that’s never been done here before–having married punchers, I mean.”

“What about Nina? Do you mean if you had the chance to hole up in a line shack for the winter with her, you’d turn it down?”

“What do you think?” I laughed and walked away.

Part 1 : Chapter 4

Supper over, I handed Sheila into the wagon. My horse tied behind. She clutched my arm as we sat on the wagon seat. “Randy. I went into the bank to deposit the money from selling my produce. I found out you made it easy for me and I also found out you named me as your beneficiary if anything bad happened to you. Why did you do that?”

“Sheila, do you feel anything for me?” I didn’t give her a chance to answer. “I mean we met and were together for one week. We even slept in the same bed. I found you some help after you went charging out the door and got shot. You didn’t wait for me to protect you, which made me feel terrible. So I made a move to protect you in the future if need be. Remember you have a ten-year-old sweet little girl that needs the same protection. That’s why I made you my beneficiary.”

“I forgot to ask if you healed up okay.”

“I did. Would you like to feel the scar?”

“Yes.” I pulled the team to the side of the trail and reached for Sheila. “Randy, I would have died if you hadn’t come back to me. Patty feels the same way. You’ll see when we walk into the house. She’ll be all over you. I do think she has learned some facts of life sooner than I wish she had. She and twelve-year-old Teresa are constant companions and I heard them discussing what her mother and Montana were up to.”

“That’s bad.” 

“No, that’s good and that’s just in case she catches us sometime doing the same thing. Randy, I owe you so much. You took all the worry from my mind. You chose the Gonzales family to help me and they are the best people. I don’t even think about them being any different from me. They are my good friends. 

“They are making out very well too. They wouldn’t take any money so I could bank most of what I sold my produce for. You were traveling too fast when you went by earlier, you couldn’t have seen what they put together to live in. They say when spring arrives they will tear it down and put it up somewhere further from my house.

“Maybe they will want to live in your house. I would like to have you living in mine.”

“What about Kate? She seems to fit in well at the ranch house.”

“Kate is an unusual person and I owe her a lot.”

Sheila pulled away from me. “What do you owe her?”

“My life.” I went on to tell her what Kate had done for us all. “That robber would have shot me as soon as we had been cleaned out. I plugged him one other time before. This was before I met you the time I was here last and shortly after I left Kansas. He was hired twice by the three ranch owners that lived near my ranch back home and who bought me out. There would pay extra if I had been killed. That’s another story I’ll have to tell you sometime. How about me running my fingers over your scar?”

“Randy, it’s almost November and cold. I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll have the house empty tomorrow afternoon and you could visit me.”

“Now that’s what I call a date.” I stopped long enough to say hi to Patty, She came into my arms for a hug. There were tears of happiness and I hugged her tighter. Teresa was living with Sheila and Patty in the house and she wanted a hug too. She then scooted out the door to tell Nina and the rest of the family. They all crowded in to shake my hand. Well the boys did, the girls hugged me, and Nina passed her lips over mine. This was the finest welcome a man could have.

I didn’t stay long. Brad Bricknell heard me pull in and came out of the bunkhouse to take my horse to the barn. Kate met me at the door asking, “Where am I to sleep?”

“I don’t know where I’m sleeping. How many bedrooms are there?”

“Three.”

“Well, pick one. Where’s Slim?”

“Out in the bunkhouse.”

“I’ll go get him. Can you fix me up with a room? All I need is a blanket.”

“You are all set. Sheila and I fixed you up. You even have your own blankets. When the horse that was packing them was unloaded, they were brought in. Randy, I like Sheila. I’m glad you are a couple. It’s no good living alone. Slim says some day we will have a little home of our own.”

“You will. I can’t say when, but it is on the list.”

“I’m not worried because you seem to get things done.”

“I do, but I couldn’t if it wasn’t for the men like Slim who work for me.”

I slept hard and I guess everyone else did too. I was the one to get the fire going and had the coffee on before Kate came rushing out to begin breakfast. I headed for the bunkhouse. There was a cook shack that was attached to the back of the bunkhouse. The men were already drinking coffee and Bradley was frying thin sliced beef in a pan. He was making himself useful.

“Bradley, don’t we have any side meat? There should be some around at this time of year.”

“No, we don’t have any. I’ll talk to the butcher about some. We have to deliver a steer by tomorrow.”

“Ask him if anyone has bred sows for sale. We have a huge pile of horse shit behind the barn. We’ll throw a good fence around it and turn a couple sows in there. It has enough heat in it to keep them warm through the winter.

“Montana, you know where the cattle are most likely bunched. I want as close a tally as I can get. Tony, scout around to see where we can keep the mares this winter. Someplace out of the wind. If it holds off with rain or snow for the next couple of weeks, we might put up some hay stacks. It looked like grass still had some good in it. The cattle will have to fend for themselves. There’s enough scattering of trees here and there to stop the wind from being too vicious.”

“Boss, the winters ain’t too bad here in this end of the valley. We most usually let the stock roam free.”

“That’s good, but Tony will decide. He knows what I want. Johnny, do you know how to tie off the nuts on calves?” He nodded. “Well you and Raoul work together on the calves. Don’t try it on the yearlings, we’ll see about cutting them. You better take your soogans and food enough in case you don’t get around the area laid out for you by nightfall.

“This is mostly a discovery of the range for me and what works here and what’s on it. Give me an idea if there is any woodland and if there is enough timber to cut to keep the place up. I don’t know how soon I will be able to see it for myself so I’ll be relying on u men.”

Bradley came up to me, “God, you’ll know more about the place by tomorrow night than I do and I’ve been here six years.”

“What did you do before you came here?”

“Not much of anything but keep store. My father came out to Missouri from New England at the end of the war and opened a store. He didn’t do well at all. People hold grudges and the war was never over for them. My brother left the store and came out here and bought out this place, but these people ain’t no different. I came with him, but was never included even when the ranchers got together. 

“I finally gave up trying. When Simpson told me he had sold the mortgage I was actually relieved. I got to drinking and even my nephew looks down on me. I knew it was in me to have to beg for a place to stay the winter and that’s when I spoke up. You know I feel I'm a part of something again even though I don’t own any of this ranch anymore.”

“You are a part of something. We’ll make this a good ranch someday and you can look back and say you helped.”

“That’s good enough for me as long as I get enough to eat and a bunk to sleep in.”

The rest of the morning I worked in the cubbyhole office setting up books so I could come in, open to a page, and know exactly where I was. Finished with that, I went through the buildings. There were several out-buildings and the barn was of good size. The house was sturdy. Because it was a man’s camp it was no place I wanted to bring a wife to yet. Kate would see it was made livable, though.

I gobbled down a quick lunch while there was some water heating on the stove. I warned Kate to stay out of the kitchen while I took a bath. I’d have to see about getting some kind of tub. I liked to get wet all over at the same time. There was water around the kettle I had bathed from, but that couldn’t be helped. Dressed, I shouted to Kate. “I’m going calling on Sheila. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Don’t bother with supper for me.”

“Have fun.”

I didn’t see anyone around when I stepped down from Big Ugly. Nervous now, I rapped on the door. “Who is it?”

“Randy.”

“Come in.”

I opened the door. Sheila was sitting on the edge of the bed in a robe. “I just finished a bath. You came before I could get dressed.”

“I planned it that way.” 

Sheila giggled. “That doesn’t surprise me. Don’t stand there, come kiss me.” I took off my jacket and walked slowly to her. She stood up and came into my arms. Her lips were the sweetest I had ever kissed. “Randy, you are serious about us aren’t you?”

“Yes, I’m here to ask you to marry me. I’ll leave the when for you to say. I’ll also tell you, and it is the truth, I’ve never been as serious about a woman as I am about you.”

“Randy, I don’t know what to say. I’m a widow and I was married for several years to a really decent man and I loved him. Not once though, did I ever feel the hunger for him or any other man than I do for you.”

I backed away and started taking off my clothes. “Randy, we have three hours before I told Nina she could return.”

“That should be time enough for today, that is.” The robe opened and dropped to the floor. I stared at where the bullet had clipped her. It was still red and some puckered. 

Sheila put her hand over it. “Randy, pay attention to me, and not my defects.” I almost fell over kicking my pants off. So began a time of exploration. Tender at times and demanding at others. “Enough, Randy, I’ve screamed so much, I swear my tonsils are sore.”

“Uh, huh.” She slapped me and we snuggled together. I got serious, “Sweetheart, how are we going to work this? I’d like to have you move in with me immediately if you think it possible. It might be a little inconvenient with Kate there, but Slim is looking around the ranch to see if there isn’t a camp they can move into. I want it livable or I won’t let them move out of the house.”

“How many bedrooms do you have? I thought there were three when I went through the house with her.”

“There is, but would you move in before Kate moves out?”

“Certainly. You said I could set the wedding date. I’ll talk to Nina and she can get me ready this week. I think if you would line up a preacher, it might be as soon as next Saturday.”

“You’d get married without posting banns?”

“Yes. In my mind, banns are for first time weddings or for young folk. I’m neither so we’ll skip them.”

“What about Patty, will this upset her.”

“No, not really. She is going to miss Teresa terribly. They have become as close as sisters. They sleep in the loft together.”

“I suppose she could stay here, I want to get to know her.”

“How about Teresa moving in with Patty at the ranch? Would you mind?”

“Of course not. You work it out with Nina. I suppose we should be getting dressed.”

“I hate to, I could stay like this forever.”

“Happy?”

“Extremely. Randy would you like a cup of coffee? I have the beans all pounded.”

“I’d love some. Sheila, would you like a ring to show you how serious I am?”

“You don’t have to get me one.”

“It just so happens I have one. I purchased it before I left my old home town.” I didn’t have it in a box, but it was wrapped in some tissue paper. I pulled it from my pocket and unfolded the paper. “Hold out your finger, please.”

Tears of happiness were streaming down Sheila’s cheeks. Her hand was shaking so much I had to hold it with my own. “Sheila May Pierson, would you honor me by becoming my wife?”

“Yes, I will Randal Palmer. Oh, it is so beautiful.” Her arms came around me and I was squeezed in a hug.

“Sheila, please put something on.”

“I have something on. Wow, I didn’t have an engagement ring before. This is so pretty.”

“It’s a little large.”

“I’ll wind some thread around it so it won’t come off. I’ll do it while you are having your coffee.” I poked the fire up and put the coffee on.  Sheila was most seductive putting clothes on. Finally she was covered completely and she went around straightening the bed. 

It was a good thing, for the farm wagon pulled in from town with the Gonzales family and Patty. Patty came rushing in after seeing the extra horse. “Randy, you came over. I didn’t want to go to town in case you did, but Mom said I should.”

“Patty, I had business to discuss with your mother.”

“Oh, you’re as bad as Mom. She is so serious all the time. I wish she was happy.”

“Patty, I’m happy and I’m going to be happier. I hope you will be happy too. Randy has asked me to be his wife. We are going to try for a wedding this Saturday.” Sheila brought her hand from out behind her and flashed her ring.

“Mom, it’s beautiful. I have to tell Teresa.” She went running out, coming back soon with Teresa, Nina, Rosa and Josephina crowding in behind her. There was nothing ostentatious about the ring, just a simple gold band with a quarter-caret diamond stone.

“Randy, what do I call you, Randy or Dad?”

“Either, sweetheart, but I’m always going to introduce you as my daughter. You must remember though, that you own father loved you very much too.”

“I’ll decide later. Oh, I’m so thrilled!”

I openly kissed Sheila in front of Patty and Teresa before opening the door to leave. Sheila’s face was red and Patty’s was as well. “Honey, I’ll see you tomorrow after I get back from town. I have to find a preacher to marry us and a place for the wedding. You make a list of who you want there to see us take our vows.”

“Randy, I’ll leave that up to you. The only people I want to invite are Nina and her family. Everyone else is connected to you and your new ranch.”

“Okay.”

“Patty will be my maid of honor.”

“Oh, Mom, this is so exciting!” I laughed, because this was a big to do for one so young. Of course, I felt it was a big to do for me as well.

I finally got away and headed back to the ranch. Not much of the crew had made it back to the home place. Raoul and Johnny were in saying they were heading in a different direction in the morning. I had always let my crew decide which were best for them and the ranch. I wanted them happy and if they could cover ground and be comfortable as well at the same time, I was for that.

I told Kate, Bradley, Johnny and Raoul that I was getting married Saturday if I could get a preacher. Raoul immediately asked if the Gonzales family were all going to be there. I answered yes. I took it he was looking for a wife too. I never should have told my crew that Nina had three beautiful daughters.

I hadn’t asked Sheila if she wanted to talk to the preacher before we were married, that is if found one. I stopped by her house. She wanted to speak to the Parson. “Actually, I want to be with you every minute I can be. It will only take a few minutes to get ready.  Would you saddle my horse?”

As we arrived in town, the sheriff was crossing in front of us. He reached up to shake my hand. “I heard you were back. You two look happy, what’s going on?”

Sheila spoke up. “We’re in town to find the preacher. We want to get married this Saturday.”

“That’s fine. Parson Winters is a little odd and his congregation is small. People always seem busy on Sunday. Maybe it’s because he holds church in an empty saloon and is that why not many attend. There is no church building as such, but he says any place can be God’s house. Personally I like him.”

“Where does he draw his people from?”

“A few from town, a few from the Mexican community, and a few from the ranchers west of town. He hasn’t been here that long. He wants his church to become a gathering place for those that don’t hang out in the saloons. Having a wedding might help a little too if you would invite his congregation to be present.”

Sheila asked, “Would there be a chance for the ladies to put on a reception? I could furnish some of the food and Randy, would donate some meat.” She looked at me and I was laughing. “Won’t you, Randy?”

“I will. It will give us a chance to become part of the community by meeting some of it.”

We found the preacher in the back of the building that was previously a saloon. He was a small rotund little man. Surprisingly he had a deep voice. “Yes, I can perform the ceremony this Saturday. It will be my pleasure.”

We discussed what to do about food. Parson Winters said it would be better if there was a box social and dance immediately following the wedding service, rather than Sheila and I furnishing it. Some other Saturday at another gathering, I could contribute a calf or steer. This Saturday should be free for us to socialize and become acquainted with people.

We talked with him for an hour telling him a little of our past, separately and together. He wasn’t aware there was a ranch in the eastern part of the valley and had only heard of a widow woman who owned a farm.

I asked the question if he minded having Mexicans in his church. He rattled his answer off in Spanish. “All people are welcomed.” He was happy when I said my cook sang and so did Rosa Gonzales. José could accompany on a guitar. I also said there would be about fourteen people that would be joining Sheila and me in our nuptial celebration.

We walked inside to what had been the bar room. Most of the bar had been removed. The pulpit was a very short section of the bar that remained. It was the center section and he used it as his pulpit. There was a raised platform behind the pulpit the parson stood on so he could be seen by the congregation. Planks were laid on saw horses for seats. The planks hadn’t been smoothed and were rough cut which must become very uncomfortable if the sermon was lengthy.

“We push the seats out of the way if we have a church social and dance. That is our main fundraiser. All money that is bid for lunches comes to the church to pay me and what I need to conduct the service. We schedule these once a month and no one has to be one of our flock to attend. One of the ladies has an upright piano and we move it from her house. It is a chore but she likes to dance and pressed it on us to use.”

This sounded like a good idea. I came up with another suggestion. “Why don’t you have the wedding on this Saturday and my new wife and I will meet our neighbors?”

“I’ll get the word out. Will you be asking for the money paid for the lunches?”

“No, of course not. If you don’t say anything, I will also donate to the church an amount of what is the sum you take in for the lunches.”

“You’re generous, Mr. Palmer. Mr. Simpson is the one who auctions the lunches. Have you met him?”

“Yes, I have an account at the bank and he has been very helpful.”

We left there and I went into the general store and looked at wedding bands. There wasn’t much of a choice. I found one that would fit Sheila, but I would have to go without. “My first husband didn’t wear one, and I still felt I was married. It would be nice if you wore one, though.

“Would you mind if I put on my father’s. He wore his proudly and I could keep up the tradition.”

“Does it fit?” I nodded yes, and Sheila smiled.

“Sheila, I should get back to the ranch. The men will all be in tonight from looking over my range. I want to find out what I have.”

“I’m a distraction and holding you up, aren’t I?”

“Somewhat, but you come first. I’m cramming a lot of work into a short period of time, but it all needs doing. It will settle down and we can relax this winter after all the fall work is done. Hell, some days we won’t even have to get out of bed.”

“Randy, stop talking like that. I’ll have you making love to me behind those bushes I see head of us.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

I didn’t follow up because we were meeting two riders coming toward us. They paused long enough to ask how far ahead the town was located. Sheila giggled as they moved on. “We dodged the bullet didn’t we? I would have been so embarrassed if we had been found doing what I suggested.”

“There’s still time.”

“No, the moment has passed and I have regained my sanity. Randy, I don’t know what has come over me. I never acted like this with Joe. Am I being too bold?”

“No, sweetheart, some of it is because it’s been so long since you’ve made love. It’s been months for you. Think about me. It has been longer than that for me.”

“Did you ever have someone steady?”

“Of course, I have. But I just never had my priorities straight before. Now I am in a position where I’ve found someone I want to be with all the time rather than look to piling up money in the bank. Actually these last few months I have piled up considerable assets and it is time to take on something that is more important.”

“Am I that important to you?”

“You are. I believe we are like minded in so many ways. Family and friends are important. I have always had friends, but never much family. My father and mother died almost five years ago and I have been on my own. I have always been open to opportunities and I’ve acted on them when they presented themselves. The best one recently is you.”

“So you consider me an opportunity?”

“Only in the fact that we both need a partner and I think we have both found a good one. We still don’t know each other very well, but I have a feeling about you.

Some of it is faith in making one’s own decision and by all indication you are doing the same.”

“Randy, that’s exactly how I feel about you.”

We were quiet for a few minutes, not talking, just riding along. “You know, sweetheart, we are going about starting a life together backward. I’m confident that it is going to work though.”

“I know what you are saying. We are getting married and then getting to know each other.

“Exactly.”

Part 1: Chapter 5

All hands were in from the range that evening. After everyone ate chow, I went into the bunk house and asked them to tell what they had found. I wanted to know how much stock there was and what there was for feed. All the hands declared I had made quite a buy.  Bricknell, was there and I looked at him when this was said.  “I’m glad you bought. I’m so relieved I don’t have to deal with all that goes with running the ranch any longer.” If he was happy then I was.

Tony and Slim summed up what the ranch was and what it held for promise in the future. “Randy, it looks like the range has never had enough cattle on it to be efficient. Also what stock is here hasn’t been managed well at all. There are several large draws where there are steers at least seven years old holed up in the brakes. Everything we’ve seen is in great shape though. There are a lot of bulls, and some of these are full grown, but small. Those should be the first to go. 

“We’ll need at least three more hands to work the place as it is right now. Later we’ll need more. You still haven’t told us why you brought all them mares with us when we came up from Surcingle?”

“I knew from what the banker told me that the range was under stocked. This part of the country will become more populated with people. I’m thinking of buying some jacks and raising mules. That’s why I hung onto the mares. We’ll put the word out for some. We’ll get them here by spring. A few years from now we’ll have some mules to sell. I’m in this for the long haul.”

“Christ, Randy, you’ll be raising sheep next.”

“Don’t laugh, we might have a few of those too if we can find a place to keep a small flock away from the cattle.”

“Where did you get all these crazy ideas from?”

“From Sheila Pierson. I know she is just a farmer in your eyes, but she comes from Ohio country. Back there the farms are diversified, raising all sorts of different crops on the same farm. The ranchers out here just raise one thing. What if the cattle market goes bust? What are the ranchers going to do? And by the way, you are all invited to Shelia’s wedding. She’s getting married on Saturday.”

“Who is she getting hitched to?

 “Me.” I stood there grinning. “Seriously. I’d like everyone to come to see me married. It’s happening in an empty saloon that is being used as a church. I’ll have Kate make up lunches for everyone to take. They’ll be auctioned off. There will be some townspeople there and some people from the ranches from the other end of the valley. It’ll be a great way to get acquainted with people in the area.”

“Hey Boss, you’re in trouble now.”  This was Tony laughing at the state of marriage.

Johnny  Bricknell injected, “Don’t you laugh at Mrs. Pierson. She’s a fine woman   and any man should be honored to have her choose him for a husband.” His face turned red but with a shocked look on his face, not believing he had spoken.

It was quiet for minute and then we all laughed. I slapped Johnny on the back. Tony did too, explaining, “I was only joking. Of course she is a fine woman and Sheila and Randy are going to have a happy marriage.”

“Randy, I was with Finch when he started shooting at the house. She never blamed me at all because I was riding with him that day. Not only that, she came out of the house shooting when Patty got hurt. She was protecting her kid. Not all parents would do that. I thought she was wonderful and I still do.”

“Johnny, we all do. Tony was just having a little fun with me.” I saw Sheila the next day and I told her about Johnny.

“Must be his parents let him down sometime.”

“I guessed that was the situation the same as you.”

“Randy, am I going to move in with you? I will have Nina help me pack some things for me.”

“Pack some things for Teresa and Patty at the same time. Slim and Kate are going to have the third bedroom until I can arrange otherwise.” I smiled. “But don’t have the girls come until Sunday for dinner.”

“What about Kate?”

“She’s staying in the bunkhouse. It was her idea. She said she was on the trail with us all on the way up here. Don’t worry about her. There is an alcove behind a blanket for privacy. Be assured she will be well respected.

“You have great crew, Randy.” I knew that. Montana, and both Brad and Johnny  Bricknell had fitted right in and all got along with the hands who came with me.

Nina and her three girls came with Sheila Friday afternoon. They were making food for the lunches tomorrow. It was beef, of course, but it was being cooked with some spices that were a staple of Mexican seasoning. I escaped to the bunkhouse. It wasn’t long before we heard singing and laughter from the house.

Saturday morning the crew and I got slicked up. Kate made sure that I looked nice. She even trimmed my hair. Johnny polished my boots. When we went out on the trail to town we fell in behind Sheila and Patty. Sheila had arranged for a gig to ride in. Nina was driving it.

“Montana, you and Johnny ride ahead of them for an escort. Kate tells me I’m not supposed to see Sheila this morning until the parson gets me lined up. That’s when she is to appear at my side.”

We came down the main street of the town. Nina wheeled the gig around behind the former saloon and Kate informed me that Sheila would come in the back door. I was to go in through the batwings. We pulled up to the hitch rails. There were a few horses tied already up and down the street. When I entered the saloon-cum-church, I paused because most of the seats were filled with townspeople.

I noted Banker Simpson and a woman sitting next to him who must be his wife. Steve Brodeur, the deputy, was on the same bench with a woman beside him.  The only others I recognized were the owner of the general store and the owner of the livery stable where I had bought Big Ugly.

The parson was standing in front of the pulpit and I lined up on his left.  Kate had followed me and she stood across from me waiting for Sheila. Patty and Nina came from the back and stood beside Kate. Slim left my crew where they had arranged themselves along one side of the front wall to the left of the batwings. Slim grinned self consciously as I watched him align himself with me.

Montana came in with Sheila on his arm. José began playing strains from the hymn, “Nearer God to Thee” on his guitar. As Sheila and Montana made their way around the room from the back and came up to me with her hand out for me to take.

—————————————

We faced Parson Winters and he began the ceremony. He was about half-way through it when the batwings were pushed open with a bang and ten cowhands came noisily barging in. The front man was pushing a mousy little woman ahead of him. He pointed at a small space on the end of the bench and said, “Sit.”

Montana said out of the side of his mouth, “That’s Dean Ferris and his wife Mable. He is the biggest rancher in the valley and he wants the town named for him. I think he is a bully and carries a big crew of tough men to back him up.”

“What’s his brand?”

“The backward “Slash DF Slash.” The slashes come together at the top and some call it the tent brand.”

“Slim, ease out the back door and run their horses off. The deputy will calm them down in here. I’m going to get married come hell or high water.”

Slim motioned to Johnny to go out the batwing door because he was standing next to it. The Ferris crew had taken space further away from it and moved into the corner. Steve was on his feet headed for Ferris. “Ferris we are having a wedding here. We’re having a social after the ceremony. You stay and can meet the new owner of the  Bricknell ranch.”

“Yeah, I want to talk to him about that. I was planning on getting that end of the valley for my own.”

“It’s too late for it. Palmer got it from the bank and Bricknell is working for him.

“Where’s Palmer?”

“He is the groom and was getting married when you interrupted.”

“Too bad about that. He marrying that widow woman?”

“That’s right, now be quiet and have your men keep quiet too.”

One of the punchers, declared, “She may not be married for long. He don’t look like much to me.”  Steve pushed the puncher and Ferris toward the door and outside. We could still hear them arguing.

I started forward, but Kate and Sheila hung onto my arm. “Randy let’s get us married and then we’ll deal with him. Parson, continue where we left off.”

A few minutes later Sheila was now Mrs. Randal Palmer. Parson Winters spoke to the congregation, “It is nearly lunch time. We’ll have a couple of songs. Rosa Gonzales and Kate Smith have been rehearsing and I believe you will enjoy hearing them. We’ll auction the lunches as soon as they finish.”

The Ferris crew was uncomfortable without their leader. Mrs. Ferris made her way tentatively up to Sheila. She began to apologize for the actions of her husband.

“Oh, don’t apologize, Men sometimes get on their high horse and we women have to put up with their antics.”

“But Dean can be such a bully.”

“That may be, but I have faith in my new husband. Come sit with me on the front bench. Randy, please bid off enough lunches for our party and Mrs. Ferris.” Two bits was the going bid. Done this way it wasn’t really an auction, but it was the way Parson Winters wanted it done.

Slim and Johnny came back in grinning. “We unhitched the Ferris horses and chased them up the street. They won’t go too far, but they are out of sight.”

Mable Ferris heard this, but didn’t say anything. There was a quirky little smile at the corners of her mouth and her eyes were smiling when she looked at me.

Ferris came back inside and up to me. “Listen Palmer, I’ve made myself clear. This valley is going to be all mine someday.”

I cut in, “You’ve made your brag, but it sounds more like a threat to me. You’d do well to be satisfied with what you’ve got now. I’m telling you something, you can stay west of town and I won’t bother you, but you try horning in on my side and you’ve bought yourself some grief.”

“Who’s threatening now?”

“Not threatening, just stating a fact.” 

Mable put her hand on Dean’s arm. “Dean, you’ve made enough noise for today. Let these people be.” She spoke to Sheila, “I come to church every Sunday. Maybe I’ll see you and Mr. Palmer here?”

“Maybe, not tomorrow, but likely sometime.” Ferris stared at me and his wife pushed him toward the door. His crew looked like they wanted to stay, but he signaled them to leave with him.

Banker Simpson came up to congratulate us. “Simpson, you didn’t tell me about Ferris.”

“No. I didn’t. I knew he was after your end of the valley, but I didn’t think it was in the best interest for the community. Besides he is a little over extended at times and it wasn’t in the best interest of the bank to help him. As long as the town is between you and him, I doubt you will have any trouble.” He looked around before continuing, “If it was Bricknell he had approached threatening like he did you, Brad would have caved.” I had to agree.

—————————

Sheila and I left at three. There was still singing going on. I handed Sheila into the gig and we headed home as husband and wife. My crew was laughing about turning the Ferris horses loose, but weren’t blamed for it yet. I knew this was too big a thing to keep a secret. I would deal with it when Ferris learned of it

We had the house to ourselves tonight and made the best use of it. We heard the crew ride in but no one came near. Sheila had hinted in the last week how much she enjoyed sex. That was just a hint, though, the few times we had managed to come together before we actually became husband and wife. The future looked pretty damned bright for me. I guess it did for her too.

“Randy, can we start a family right off? I know I have a few years before I can’t anymore, but I want to begin now.”

“Your wish is my command. I thought we had already begun.”

“We have begun. Maybe one more time before we get up for breakfast.” We got dressed and we went over to the bunkhouse as soon as our breakfast was finished.

“Why don’t you all come into the house for coffee this morning? Mrs. Palmer found a bag of doughnuts still in the gig that she took time to bake yesterday morning before going to town. 

“While I’m here I want to take up the subject of Ferris and his crew. We may have trouble with him if I read him right. If you are in town and alone or outnumbered, don’t start anything, even if you are pushed.

“If you have an equal number and think you can hold your own, you don’t have to back off. I don’t want any of you hurt, but we have to hold our head up. Just be smart when you get near any of them. Also it would be best to let them start it. People are always rooting for the underdog. We have a smaller crew than theirs, and we are the newcomers so it is a tossup of how the community feels about us.

“This is our end of the valley and we’ll defend it. I don’t intend to spread out any farther than what I have right here. Apparently Ferris wants to build an empire. We’ll push back if he comes at us. I’m hoping something may come up where we can get along. I’d hate to see this come to real trouble and you men get hurt.”

Kodak, my puncher that never said much, spoke up, “You didn’t fight back when we were pushed out of Surcingle. That bothered us some.”

“I know that, but remember I had just purchased this place. This is four times what my other ranch was. Our cattle market is three weeks trail time closer here than it was there as well. And I came away with cash money to get this place up and running. All that is the more reason to fight for what we have here, but it will be easier if we stay out of trouble. There was just no reason to hang onto the Surcingle ranch.”

Tony had something to say, “Yes, and there was a widow woman here that wasn’t in Surcingle.” The house was filled with hoots of laughter, Sheila, laughing the loudest.

The hands stayed until the doughnuts were all gone. Slim went out with the rest of them, Kate staying behind. She made comment that Slim could come in for his meals and sleep in their room, but wasn’t to hang around in the house. “He’s one of the hands and his place is with the others. That’s the way I want it and he is okay with it. He still has it better than the rest of them.”

After dinner, Sheila’s wagon came into the yard carrying Teresa and Patty. Montana had gone over to help load what they were bringing with them. Juan Gonzales and Nina were in the wagon too with Montana driving. While the women were getting the girls settled, Montana and Juan got me aside.

“Randy, I guess I’m asking for my time. Nina and me, well, we’ve come to an understanding and I’ll be moving in with her.”

“You like farming better than riding?”

“I don’t think I can say that, but then there are some things about farming I like. Nina won’t leave the place now that she and Sheila have come to an agreement on shares so that leaves me to move over there. I thought maybe if you had need of me at times, you know at roundup or calving time, I could help you out and get paid a little for it.”

“Tell you what, I been thinking this was going to happen. I’ll keep you on the payroll at your present wages. You think of the farm as one of our line camps and patrol the same as you would if it was on the other side of the valley. You might patrol towards town in case something develops with the Ferris outfit. Your base is only two miles away from here and that’s closer than our regular camps.”

I went on, “That’s unless you would rather follow the ass end of that burro that Nina owns.”

“I’ll stay with being a hand for you. I was hoping you would feel this way. Oh, the preacher is coming out on Thursday of this coming week. I’m shouldering a harness after all these years. What am I thinking?”

Juan was laughing, “From the actions that have been going on around the farm recently, the harness fits pretty damned well.”

Juan had said this in Spanish. Montana bristled. “What’d he say?” Juan tuned his attention to something else. “Mr. Palmer, I was twelve when Papa died here on this very ranch. Mama and us young’uns had to leave. I was awfully proud of him and would like to follow him in becoming a vaquero. Montana says I’d be good. I can rope some already.”

Juan was a little old to learn, but if Montana vouched for him, I’d give him a try. I looked at Montana and he nodded. “Not much going on in the winter and sometimes I have to let hands go in this season. I’ll put you on trial at half wages. If you make out come spring, you go on full wages. Montana, see if we have enough tack to fit him up? Have one of the others get him out a horse to ride. Montana, you might as well move your stuff into the wagon since I suppose you wanted to leave with Nina when she gets ready to go?”

“Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for.” I sent the two on to get done what I had asked and went into the house. I guess Nina had seen me talking to Montana and Juan. All the women were looking at me, expectantly.

“Nina, Juan’s staying here until spring on half wages. Is that okay with you?”

“Si.”

“Also, Montana is going back to the farm with you. He’s still on the payroll and will be working out of the farm as a line rider. I understand you talked to Parson Winters yesterday?”

“I did. He said he would ride out Thursday.”

“Congratulations. Sheila and I will ride over if we may?”

“Yes, please do. Neither Montana, nor me want to make a show out of this, but we feel it right that we should be married. My children feel if I go to bed with a man, I should be spliced. Otherwise I’m not a good woman. It is difficult being a good woman when you are still young and your husband has died.”

I was learning a lot about females that changed what I imagined the way they thought. If my mother had lived longer after my Pa died, would I have had to deal with this the way the Gonzales kids had to? Then I smiled to myself. Patty had dealt with it when she ended up with a new Pa too, hadn’t she? But then she was that much younger than Teresa.

_____________________

We were all set now for the winter. There was plenty to do. I rode a lot, finding out what I owned. It was even better than I imagined when I grabbed the property. Sheila often rode with me. If we came to one of our line camps, we often stayed the night if it was late in the day. In January as the cold strengthened, I kept one or two riders there to keep the water holes open for the cattle. We had herded our horses into a sheltered draw, they went out of it in the middle of the day to feed, but returned to shelter as the sun went down.

I sent forth letters in November asking about where I could find jackasses to service my mares. I was getting replies in early January. I followed up on these that weren’t too far away. I took Tony and Johnny and rode the forty miles to see them. We came home with two. I also purchased a small string of mares bred to these same two Jacks.

My thinking was that it wouldn’t be too many years before the railroads would come within some miles of this valley. If some of Sheila’s and my land were farmed, mules would be used not only as farm animals, but for hauling freight to the rails as well.

It was busy at the ranch headquarters. Kate said she was birthing a child in summer. I put the men to cutting logs for a cabin for her and Slim to live in and then Sheila told me that she was pregnant as well. Our baby would come approximately two weeks after Kate and Slim’s.

I went in and talked to Banker Simpson about something that was bothering me. “You know, I had a little trouble with Dean Ferris at my wedding. He made some brags and I took them as threats. If I purchased a strip of open land the width of the valley bordering the town, this would close off my end of the valley from both development and from allowing another ranch to gain a foot hold on my side of town. What do you think?”

“It would be a good move. Filing fees would be pretty high. Do you want to tie up your available cash just to prevent something that might never happen? Do you want to go into debt? I could lend you about half of what you need, but then you would have to pay interest.”

“Well, I was just looking for information. I’ll go over to the land office and see how much the fees are. Thanks for talking with me.”

“Let me know what you decide. The bank would like to lend you the money. I believe you are a good risk.”

“Thanks for your confidence in me.”

I went over to see the land agent. He listened to me and had this to say. “These are troubled times as far as land is concerned. Generally land belongs to the federal government. However there are portions turned over to the states as grants to be sold to support education. The money goes to the state to build schools, colleges, and universities. I’m very much in favor of this.

“If you bought the land you are looking at, how would you feel about designating some acres to build some such facility? This would certainly influence me whether all the land would come under the umbrella of best use.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“The description and deed would speak for itself.”

“I’d like to be sure. What if the town grows enough so it needs to expand? How long ago was the town Platted and where are the borders?”

“There are borders, but they are all west of town. Near you on your side of the valley is still considered open land.”

“So I could build anything on it I wanted to?”

“Just about. You might piss off some townspeople and they could raise a strong objection, but legally they wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. What possibly have you in mind?”

“I may set up a stage or freight concern … maybe even both.” 

“That’s normal growth for the town. I doubt anyone would object too much. It wouldn’t matter, because by purchasing the land you’ve closed off the open land and that is what your goal is, isn’t it?”

“Yes. So how much is this going to cost? I think I need a strip two miles deep and I’d guess it is three miles across the valley. That’s six sections.”

“It’ll cost you nearly as much as what I heard you paid for the  Bricknell ranch.

“I guess I can stand that. Do you have to broadcast that I bought this land?”

“The records are open to everyone, but not many come in to check who owns what. Simpson at the bank will know about it. You might want to let Deputy Broduer know in case there is an argument over someone encroaching on it. As far as what the cost is, I’ll set it a dollar an acre and I’ll include the filing fee in that. You can use the town Platt to orient the boundary. That is, of course, on file here in the office. Build a cairn on the remaining two corners. There is access across to your side of the valley and it will have to remain because it is in the public domain.”

“How soon can I call it mine?”

“I’ll make out the paperwork. Bring me gold or a bank draft which is what I prefer.”

“I’m in town until two this afternoon. Can we meet at the bank to wind this up?”

“Sure, I’d be glad to.

___________________

“Sheila, I bought us a buffer zone on this side of town.”

“How much of a buffer?”

Two miles deep and the width of the valley. The only opening in it is the trail. I couldn’t get title to that and I wouldn’t want to block it anyway.”

“Why are you buying so much land? You have the valley tied up as it is. You have cattle on it so it is yours by right of occupancy”

“Yes, now, but it is still free range. What happens if someone buys it even if they don’t have the water I control? It might bring on a fight. Land is going to get more expensive as years go by. What happens if the free range in the valley is opened for settlement? It is better to buy it out right than to take a chance. After we sell our steers, we may buy more.”

———————————————

In March, Ferris got up a petition to name New Town. He of course thought he should have it named after him. He didn’t want it named Ferrisville, but just his name of Ferris. Sheila, Kate, and I were in town coming from the general store. Two kids, fourteen or so, came running up to us, “Mister, will you sign this paper to give the town a name?”

“Let me read it.” I took it from the boy and looked at it. It was spelled out that the town’s name should be Ferris. “Has he said he would pay you to get names?”

“Yeah, we are supposed to get a penny a name.”

“Can a woman sign this?”

“I guess so.”

“Good, I’ll sign it and so won’t my wife. This other lady will too.” We signed and the kids went running off looking for more people.

“Randy, you surprise me. How come you signed? I didn’t think you liked him. He made threats against us too.”

“I don’t, but the town needs a name. Ferris is as good as any for the time being. He has the biggest ranch and is an asshole. This will either change him for the better or someone will shoot him. Either way Ferris will be on people’s tongues and that will be good for the town.” I grinned at how surprised Ferris would be when he saw my name. “It should be interesting.”

“Wouldn’t you like to have the town named, Palmer?”

“No, not at all, and too much to live up to. I would always be embroiled in some kind of argument and might get shot by Ferris. Let’s go home. We’ve done our civic duty today.” I helped Kate into the wagon. She was within three months of having a baby. Then I helped Sheila in. She was due two weeks after Kate. Patty and Teresa came out of the general store as we went by. They handed us each a horehound candy to suck on. Kate had come in to buy a basket for her infant to sleep in when born.

I saw some chairs stacked in the loft of the store and bought two to give to Slim and Kate as a house gift. They would be moving into their new two-room log cabin the crew had constructed in their spare time. After going through the winter with little privacy in the ranch house, this would be more of a gift to Sheila than to the Smiths.

Sheila, most days, was taking the girls back to her house and getting ready for planting her land. It was to be many times bigger than last year. Nina and Montana had prepared the ground for her along with the much larger one for themselves. Sheila had the use of Patty and Teresa to help her plant. Juan was working full time for me on the ranch, but that left Nina with José, Rosa, and Josephina, to do their planting. They had the burro for getting both plots ready and for cultivating.

I knew if Sheila needed more help, the ranch hands would give them some of their spare time. Soon though, we would be rounding up the cattle and heading north with a herd to sell. Our cattle had wintered well, being able to feed all winter long. They would have six weeks of new grass to put on weight before taking to the trail. Also I would be a month less on the trail than with my herd last year. I was anticipating a good price.

There were also the mares to be bred by the two jacks I had purchased. I lost several months by keeping the mares open, but wanted to time them right to have the foals come in the spring. I knew all would get done because I had such an excellent crew.

We freighted all of the horse manure over to Sheila’s and spread it on the plowed land. It had been turned in when the land was prepared for planting. Nina and Sheila had their seeds in the ground by mid May. The crops would be early. Sheila had run onto an article in a farm paper that the General Store carried. The article advocated planting Rye Grass in the fall and turning it under in the spring. That was one reason the crops were in this early.

There were always strange things happening on a ranch. Raoul, my Mexican hand, had gone up a small draw chasing cattle during round-up. He had seen someone digging in the ground on the hill at the head of the draw. He investigated and saw two Indian kids run and hide when he came up to where they were digging. There was a blanket covered bundle on the ground

The kids ran away, of course, but not far. He naturally assumed that the bundle contained a dead Indian. He peeled back the blanket and there was a dead squaw with a fetus wrapped in her arms. The kids were trying to bury her. All they had to dig with was a stick and had used a knife to shave an end five inches wide. Raoul picked it up and proceeded to enlarge the hole. The kids inched closer and watched for a few minutes. 

The digging was quite easy and soon digging by hand, it was big enough to place the body in a sitting position facing west. All three found stone to place over the grave. The two then faced west and did some chanting. When the finished, they looked and acted undecided what to do. He guessed they were now orphans. Making a quick decision, he boosted the little female onto his saddle and mounted, then reached down and pulled the other kid up behind him.

He headed for the roundup gather. This was more than a mile away. Heads came up when he came riding in. “What’cha got there?”

Speaking fast, “A couple of Indians kids I ran onto. I think they’er orphans. I helped them bury their mother. I guess she died giving birth. Most likely they are hungry. Somebody feed them. I have no idea what to do with them after that. I got some cattle in sight and I’m going back after them.”

Juan Gonzales, dark like the Indians, came over and picked the tiny squaw off the front of Raoul’s saddle. Her brother slid off the horse’s rump. Both looked scared to death. Juan jabbered at them and motioned them to follow him.

He went to the chuck wagon and dug out some corn pone to feed the kids. Raoul saw they were being fed and headed back to the draw where he had been interrupted. The boy saw him leave and ran after him. Juan grabbed him and holding him until he was made to understand that Raoul would return herding some cattle.

The boy spent the afternoon watching the cowhands work around the branding fire waiting for Raoul to return. Before the day was done, he was helping feed the fire with little sticks to keep the coals the hottest for the irons. When Raoul came in herding seven head in front of him, the kids couldn’t wait to make him welcome. From that time on, they were his kids.

I first learned of the Indians when I arrived at chow that evening. Raoul tried to get them to go with me, but no way were they going to leave him. Needed back at ranch headquarters, I headed for there. Soon I heard a horse behind me. Raoul came up behind me with the two kids. “Boss, maybe you can get Teresa and Patty to keep the girl. I don’t think the boy will cause any trouble hanging around camp, but I don’t think she should be with us.”

“We’ll see what we can do. It really looks as if you have been adopted.”

“Yeah, but what would you have done?”

“Probably, the same.”

It was dark when we arrived. I shouted for the women to come out of the house. Kate, Sheila, Patty and Teresa appeared, wondering why I was shouting. I explained to them what Raoul had done. Teresa and Patty took the little girl in hand. I think what helped calm the little girl, and maybe the boy as well, with Kate and Sheila both showing their condition. Raoul had to be back at roundup but he did sleep in the bunkhouse that night. Brad Bricknell was the only other man on the place, but he always had little to say and ignored the kids.

When Raoul hit the sack, he gave the boy a blanket and indicated he could sleep on an empty bunk. In the morning, Raoul discovered that the kid had crawled underneath his bunk and slept on the floor. They came up to the house for breakfast before Raoul headed out for the roundup. 

This was about 4 A.M. The little girl came sneaking out to see her brother as he was wolfing down bacon and eggs. Patty had found a dress for the girl and she was pretty damned cute. She jabbered away at her brother and he told her where he had slept. When Raoul headed for the roundup, the boy was on his horse’s rump, hanging on as usual. The little girl was standing in the door watching in the dawn light as her brother rode away. Patty came and laid her hand on the little girl.

The roundup came to an end and the herd was ready to hit the trail. The herd was made up of steers and of culls. We would split the herd before we reached the end of trail. We didn’t expect much for the culls, but anticipated we would get more than hide price and wouldn’t have to slaughter the critters. This was a chore that no one wanted. I knew there was a sale for culls. I had been at the end of track last year and the year before. Buffalo hides were at a premium, but were scarce and hide buyers got onto having the hides coming to them.

Parting from Sheila and Kate was difficult with so many things that could happen on the trail. I promised I would be home before our baby would be born. Kate would have Slim’s baby well before we reached the railhead, but that couldn’t be helped.

We didn’t hurry our herd, but moved along steadily. I had come down this way late summer last year, so knew the trail. I always looked at the land and had a good memory for available water and feed in case I traveled this way again. Neither would be a problem this early in the season. 

Buyers were waiting when we pulled into the holding grounds. This was about two miles from the loading pens at the railroad spur where the cattle would be herded onto the cars. I had three cattle buyers bidding on my herd. Their eyes lit up, for they were all fat. I accepted twenty-two dollars a head. My cattle brought twenty last year because they weren’t in as good shape from being on the trail a month longer.

The boys had one night in town and I gave them five dollars to drink and gamble with. They had voted to bring their pay for the month home to the ranch and I agreed this was a good idea so this was their bonus. Less chance of getting into trouble this way. I rented a room at the hotel. Montana who had come up the trail with the herd and was my oldest hand, slept on the other side of the bed with me.

“Randy, you know that Indian kid you got hanging around with Raoul? It might be a good idea if we’uns leaned his language.”

“How are we going to make that happen?”

“I can make it happen. I can understand his jabber. I think he is from a sub tribe of the Comanche. It might be good to know. Anyway, if he is hanging around I can teach him our speak.”

“Where’d you learn Comanche?”

“I tried hunting and trapping one winter. I bought me a squaw, but I couldn’t stand to keep her so I sold her come spring back to her tribe. Too bossy and I worried about being named a squaw man. Luckily, there was no kits, or I don’t think there was.

“Nina bosses you.”

“Yeah, I guess she do, but I’m older now and Nina let’s me up to go to work.  That young squaw wanted to stay in the bunk all day.

“How old was this squaw?”

“Fourteen summers if I remember right. Course I was a young sprout myself. I paid an ornery mare for her.”

“What’cha git when you sold her?”

“This stone set in silver I wear around my neck.”

“Nina know where you got it?”

“God no, and don’t you tell her either.” I chuckled and turned over and went to sleep.

I looked at the stone in the morning. I wasn’t impressed and Montana knew it. “This stone is a bonus. I’d have given the squaw back to her tribe freely, but that would have shamed her and her life would be miserable the rest of her life. I gave her some trade trinkets too and she thought she had made out great being away from her tribe for a time.”

Part 1: Chapter 6

We met the Ferris’ herd coming up the trail on our way home. Ferris wasn’t bossing it. He had started out, but got busted up the first day on the trail and had returned to his ranch. Dean’s wife Mable, and their eighteen-year-old son, Dave were trying to get the herd to market. They had started out three weeks after mine, and weren’t making time at all. It was getting dryer with little rain and feed was short.

I met Mable a few times in church, but had barely said more than a few words with her. She was having trouble with her crew and she had no idea how to boss a cattle drive. The crew pretty much ignored her and didn’t seem to care whether the cattle reached market or not. Dave tried, but was used to his father bulling the crew and being obeyed. He was too young and inexperienced to be boss and was just laughed at. This was a rough bunch of hands with the foreman being the worst.

We stopped for the night to learn all this. Mable got me off to one side and told me her tale of woe. “Mr. Palmer, will you take my herd to market for me?” I’ll give you half of what you get if you can get it there and get it sold.”

“It won’t bring much. You are late starting and you haven’t made much time. You are still three weeks away from reaching the railroad. At the rate you are moving you can add another week.”

“I know it, but we do need money even if it isn’t as much as we hoped for. Dean could’ve done it, but I can’t get the crew to even get up at daylight and get the herd moving.”

“I don’t want to. Sheila will be having our baby within the next two weeks and I want to be there.”

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”

I looked at the Ferris crew. Most were lying around asleep and it wasn’t even twilight yet. “How big is your crew?”

“There are twelve hands including the cook and that’s not counting me and Dave.”

I looked over the crew. I looked like they were all in camp. I wondered who was watching the cattle that were bedded down’

“Who is watching the herd?”

“No one of my crew. Sam says they are tired and won’t go anywhere. There are four small ranchers from the hills above our ranch.”

“Mrs. Ferris, that won’t work. You’ve been extremely lucky you haven’t lost your whole herd before this. It must take a long time in the morning to get the cows together, up and moving.”

“It does, but Sam is the straw-boss and he hasn’t said different. I’ve had to leave things up to him.”

“You mean your cattle are left untended all night?”

“Not exactly. We have four other ranchers from the hills with us. They have eight hundred head in with ours. They don’t have any riders and are their own hands. All of them are pretty old and not much help. They take turns riding at night while my hands are in camp.”

“Mrs. Ferris I really feel sorry for you, but I want to be with Sheila.”

“I guess I can understand. Is there anyone that you know of that could boss my crew? It would have to be soon. I have a feeling that my luck is running out.”

“Well, let me think on it. I’ll camp here for tonight. We’ll talk in the morning.”

“Thank you Mr. Palmer. Please call me Mable.”

“I will if you will call me Randy.” My men cooked over the open campfire, but drank Ferris’ coffee. When done, I walked around looking at the other crew. They were all dirty … much dirtier than need be. Sam, the straw boss, was pointed out to me and I remembered him from things he had said on my wedding day. A small, dark-featured man was sitting with him. I came up to two of the other ranch owners. I hadn’t met them yet.

“How’s it going?”

“Not well. Ferris got injured. We should have pulled our cattle out of his herd and stayed home, but his crew wouldn’t let us, so we kind to had to come along to protect our cattle. I have a feeling we might as well turn tail and head for home. I don’t think our cattle will ever get to market.”

“It could happen. It’s awful late in the season to be on the trail.”

“We know.”

“What time do you go on nighthawk duty?”

“Midnight.”

“That’s a long time to pull duty after riding all day.”

“Yeah, but maybe we can give Mable a little warning if something comes up. Course that’s not saying she can do anything about it.”

“Bad situation you are in.”

“You got that right.”

I left them and got on my horse and headed out to the bed-ground. I came up with one rancher and it wasn’t long before the other one joined us. One of them, asked, “You with that bunch that rode in awhile ago?”

“Yeah, I’m Randy Palmer from the same valley as you. I guess we haven’t met. Mrs. Ferris is trying to get me to take her herd up the trail for her. I was wondering how you felt about it?”

“Anything is better than the way we are going now. Are you going to?”

“Thinking on it. Problem is my wife will be birthing our baby before I get back to her if I do.”

“That’s tough. You better forget Mable asked you.”

“Hard to do.”

“Guess so, but then it sure would help us out if you took over. You know if it wasn’t for Sam, we’d have made out fine. He acts like he has his own agenda. He and two-three of the crew all the time got their heads together.”

“Think they are planning on stealing the herd?”

“Donno, but the thought crossed my mind.”

“What shape are the cattle in?”

“Good. Hell, they have enough time to stay fat. We ain’t on the road long enough to make them get poorly.”

“Well, I’ll let you know in the morning if I decide to give you a hand.”

“We’d hope you help Mable out more’n for ourselves.  She’s purely a nice lady. Don’t care much for Ferris, but we’ve managed to get along with him. Too bad the boy, Dave, has him for a father.”

I headed back to the camp. Most of my thoughts were for Sheila, but I wanted to help out my neighbors. Up until now I hadn’t had anything to do with them, but that would change over the years.

Mable was still sitting by her campfire. My men had built a fire of their own to keep coffee on during the night. Montana and Slim were sitting around it half asleep. The two ranch owners I had talked to earlier were watching me as I unsaddled. I motioned them to join me. “Mable, let’s talk. Help me figure how I can help you. Can you get your boy to hear what we say?”

“Yes, I’ll bring him with me.”

Two ranchers, my two men and Mable and Dave were far enough away where the others couldn’t hear our conversation. Before I could speak, Mable said, “For your information, I’ve asked Mr. Palmer to take the herd up to the tracks. I’ve offered him half of what we get to do this for us.”

“Whoa, now, I’ll make my own deal.”

“Randy, I made the offer. Do you want more?”

“Not in money, but we have to plan this. I understand that your straw boss and two of your crew may make trouble. I’ll want you to back me when I fire them if I take over. I’ll want one of your men to head back and explain to your husband that you have asked me to be your trail boss and why. That’s going to leave you seven trail hands and the cook.

“I’m going to be sending one of my men home with a letter to my wife, telling her of my decisions and why I’m breaking my promise. I should send two, but we’ll see. Mable, you might send a note with my man as well. I think one of the other ranchers should go back with your man. Everyone will be wondering why we aren’t back when they figure we should be. 

“Now, as far as the deal with Mable and the four others, I couldn’t hold my head up if I took half your herd as has been offered. I’m only asking here, but would you go for two dollars a head delivered? I see the cattle are in good shape, so they will bring more than the half that Mable offered. I do have to say it is late in the season, but there were a lot of buyers still around looking to buy when I left Kansas. I’ll expect every day we are on the trail before we get there makes it so you receive less per head.”

“Why isn’t it be me that goes back to the valley and talk to my husband and Sheila?”

“Because if there any hint of a cloud over the ownership of the cattle, that will drive the price down. You will be needed as owner to prove ownership and if I negotiate the selling price I’ll need every advantage I can use.”

One of the ranchers spoke up, “I’ll accept paying two dollars a head to get my cows to there from here. I think I’ll lose it all if I don’t get them there.” The other rancher present, agreed.

“Fair enough, Randy. You take over.”

“Remember, I might lose too, if I don’t deliver, because I’m doing this on speculation of two dollars a head delivered. You might add that into your note.”

“I will.”

“Okay, get some rest. I’ll get this settled at day light. Mable, when we get up, you head out to the bed ground. I don’t want you here in case there is some shooting.”

“Do you think there will be?”

“Hard to tell, but it wouldn’t be surprising.”

“Do what you have to do. You are my prospective savior as well as the savior of the herd.”

When I opened my eyes, I heard the cookie stirring the fire. I was soon up with my boots on. Slim and Tony were putting their boots on at the same time. Montana was in his blankets and grinned at me. I figured there was a gun in his hand, I just couldn’t see it. Dave Ferris was over by the chuck wagon. He looked like hell and I knew he hadn’t slept.

The rest of my crew was stirring. Mable came out of her little tent shelter that was in front of the cook wagon. I went over and saddled her horse, but when I banged on a dish pan she came and stood with me. Everyone jumped up and looked around. Sam came out of his blankets. He didn’t look up, but he was swearing a blue streak.

Finally he faced Mable. “What the hell is the racket, Mable? It’s too early to be up.”

I started to speak, but Mable did first. “Sam, you, Nick, and Ralph are fired. I’ve hired Mr. Palmer to take the cattle from here to the rail head, so I won’t need your services any longer.”

“What did you do, sleep with him last night. I saw you with your heads together. Dean won’t like this at all.”

“What Dean likes doesn’t matter to you. He charged you with getting our cattle to market and you have been dawdling along and we are almost two weeks behind where we should be. I’m convinced Mr. Palmer can make up some of the time you’ve lost us.”

“You said I’m fired, but how is that going to happen? You can’t do it. I’ll take over the herd and leave you with nothing.”

I spoke now, “That’s part of what I was hired to do.”

“Shit, so I’ve heard, you’re half farmer. I’m faster than greased lightning.”

“Rattle your chain or get out. That gives you a choice.”

I have to say, Sam didn’t hesitate to make his choice. He pulled and his gun was coming up when I shot him. There were two more shots fired. One from Montana and one from Nick, the weasel-faced man. He was faster than Sam, but I had seen Montana with a gun on him so I chose Sam as my target. Montana was still alive and he was grinning. There was a young man standing, blubbering not to shoot. He hadn’t tried for his gun at all. He was a toady of Sam.”

I turned to Mable, “Damnit, woman, you could have got killed. From now on you obey my orders when I tell you to do something.”

“I know. I was scared when Sam went for his gun and I was standing beside you. I never saw anything happen so fast.”

“That’s the way gunfights are. I should know, I’ve been in enough of them.” 

“You’ve been in fights before?”

“I’m from Texas, Ma’am. The rangers taught us it’s not safe to hesitate.” I didn’t like this at all. I should have made sure Mable was out of the line of fire. The killing didn’t bother me, but this fight could have gone so wrong.

I walked around the cook wagon and back. I looked at the man who was afraid he was going to get shot for hanging around with Sam. “You still want to work for Mrs. Ferris?”

“Yee-ss. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t tell me, tell her. When you get that done, and after eating, bury those two. Consider yourself lucky it isn’t somebody burying you. Everything they own is yours. I’m sure they would want you to have it for putting them in the ground. When you get that done and still want to be on the payroll, catch up with the herd. Also, you’re on drag for the next two days.”

I walked away. “Okay men, you have twenty minutes to eat and head for the herd. My men know the drill so follow their lead. We’ll take today to get organized. Tomorrow morning the herd will have been on the trail an hour before this.”

I got paper and pencil from Mable and scribbled a note to Sheila explaining why I wasn’t on the way home. 

I tried to tell her how sorry I was, but was making a mess of it. “Sheila, this was another one of those opportunities I told you about. I weighed the cost of me taking it and the cost to you. I guess it is about even, so you know how badly I feel. This is your loving husband, Randy.”

I watched one of the, small ranchers, my Slim, and one of Mable’s regular punchers, take the trail for home. I wanted to be with them.

It was hot and we kept the cattle from moving in the hottest part of the day. We were blessed with finding water on a regular basis. We had the cattle up and on the trail before daylight. Sometimes we rested four hours in the heat of the day and then I had them up and moving again. The bed ground I found for the cattle had grass as often as not. We had plenty of hands with the two crews to manage the herd. Did the cattle ever know that someday, sometime, their journey would end? Probably not. 

I had targeted three weeks to reach the holding pens. Hopefully there would be cattle buyers and cars waiting for us. The bed grounds for miles around had been grazed to the roots when we arrived and I didn’t see but one small herd bedded down.  Mable and I headed into town to find a buyer. We were informed the buyers who were still here were over at the saloon playing poker.

We walked in and up to the bar. I ordered a beer and was told, “It’s warm.”

“As long as it’s wet, I don’t care. You got some wine for the lady?”

“Yeah, someplace. A drummer dropped some off for me to sell. It’s cheap. I heard he got killed in a poker game, so I guess I can open a bottle. I’d like it, if you would buy the whole bottle. You’re the first I ever had call for it.”

I set Mable down at a table in a corner and walked over to the poker table. “I announced, “I got a herd out on the flats. They’re in good shape.”

“Yah, I’ll bet. This time of year as hot as it’s been there are few cows that come in that are good shape.”

“Suit yourself if you don’t want them. You got a railroad agent here? I’ll get cars and sell them in Chicago. They’re twenty-two dollar cows here and I’ll make five dollars bonus after cost of shipping them.” 

“He won’t get you cars. We got that angle sewed up.”

“Do you want to lay a bet on that?” That caught their attention. “I came by the little bitty bunch out on the flats. There ain’t a scrawny cow in my herd. I tell you, I’ll get cars and ship them if you don’t want to deal.” I turned and went over and sat down with Mable. I poured her a glass of white, and took a sip of my brew. It was kind of flat, but as they say, it was wet.

We could see the three cattle dealer’s conferring amongst themselves. One came over. “You say you got cows?”

“Yep, good cows.”

“Twenty-two dollars?”

“Nope.  Twenty-three dollar cows. I’ll hold that price ’til dark. That’ll give you time to get out there and look at them. Tomorrow morning the price goes up a quarter.”

There was a scramble as the four buyers headed out the door. We finished our drink. On the way back to the holding ground, Mable asked, “Are they worth what you’re asking?”

“No, of course not. They are nineteen dollar cows. They’ll say they are sixteen dollar cows and I’ll bet you would have accepted sixteen if I wasn’t doing your dickering. If I can get nineteen then you’ll make a bonus of a dollar and it won’t really cost you anything for hiring me.”

“Randy, we didn’t expect more than sixteen. That’s what we got last year. You’re right, I would have taken it.”

“We’ll see.”

The three buyers tried to look not interested, but to me it was obvious they were. “You’re way off on your price. Give you a one-time price for each head, seventeen bucks, gold.”

I shook my head. “I’ll come down a buck to twenty-one. You know even in today’s market they are worth it. How are you going to fill your quota? Even if you split the herd and you each put 900 head on a train.”

“Can’t do it.”

“Okay, we’re talking, Wire your bosses and see what they will come up with. Just so you know how hard it was for us to get the cattle here, I had to kill two men to do it. The killing was legal and just as soon I can find a US Marshal I’ll report it to him.”

“We’ll talk in the morning.”

“Good, I want to get on home. By all calculations, I became a father yesterday. I’m anxious to see which, a girl or boy.” I turned to Mable after the buyer’s left. “Well, we’ll see tomorrow morning how bad Chicago needs cattle. Let’s get some sleep.”

When the sun was rising, I looked toward town and could see four horses coming. They pulled up by the campfire. “Nineteen, fifty. That’s our price.”

I looked at Mable, and she nodded. I looked up at the buyer. “You’ve just bought a herd of cattle. There are five brands that belong to us. We’ll run a tally, if you would stand by. There are three of you. We’ll split the herd into three groups and run the cows between you and one of our men.”

“Fair enough. That way we will get done quicker. Our shipping crew will be here by the time we finish and take the herd in hand. We’ll finish this up at the bank in town.

We funneled the cattle between the three pair of men counting. It went fast. All the brands were about in the same place so that was easy to identify who they belonged to. The tally was close to what we anticipated. Ferris had 1800 head. That meant the brand lost nineteen of what they had started with. Each of the small ranchers count was right on at 210 they had added to the Ferris herd.

There were another fifty-three with various brands. They were the buyer’s responsibility if we agreed to turn them over. The buyers would leave money in an escrow account at the bank and post a list of each brand. I claimed money for nineteen head when I was here last.

Mable and I had a conversation about taking the money with us. “Mable, I have a little money to buy supplies for the trip home. If you need some money for supplies …?

“Randy, I have over $35,100 to buy supplies with.”

“Yes, I know, but is it safe to carry that amount? That isn’t the safest method of moving money.”

“Well, what do you do?”

“The same as the Simpson’s bank in Ferris. I work through the Wells Fargo and bank in the next town. That’s a territorial bank and safer. There is a telegraph here and the concerns who bought your cattle can have it wired right from Chicago, and you can get a bank draft if you want gold. Most any bank can and will honor the draft.”

“I’ll go to the bank here and have them explain it to me. Dean can’t know how to do this. If I tell him I did this because you told me about it, he won’t like it or believe me.”

“By all means go to the bank. It can be all done in a couple of hours.” It only took forty-five minutes to have the money transferred and confirmed. We headed for home at a fast lope.

_______________

My young son was eighteen days old when I pulled into the home ranch. I didn’t go all the way to the Ferris headquarters because Mable split off saying that her end of our valley was miles closer going in a different way. I expected Sheila would be upset and rightly so.

I opened the door. Sheila hadn’t heard me arrive. “Sheila, are you okay. I was worried about you here having a baby all by yourself.”

“Come kiss me. I worried about you being on the trail so long. Come peek at your son. He is sleeping. He is very good baby. No, Randy, I wasn’t alone when I had the baby. Nina was here and Kate was here and I had Patty and Teresa holding my hand and Dawn was chanting.”

“Who is Dawn.”

“Dawn is our little Indian daughter. She is so sweet.”

I felt as if I had been away forever. “What else is new?”

“The crops are growing great with hardly any weeds. That was smart turning over the sod last fall. The girls have been out regularly and looked at the mares and the cattle. They couldn’t see anything wrong, and Slim thinks things are fine. Little Shovel has Nina’s burro to ride and he is always off somewhere.”

“I take it Little Shovel is the Indian kid? How’d he get that name?”

“He found a draw that had cattle feeding in it, but there was no water closer than a mile away. He found a broken shovel and went back and dug for water. Would you believe he found some?”

“No, I don’t.” 

“We didn’t either, but then a week ago he came and urged the girls to go with him. He tied a shovel to the rope that holds his blanket on the burro. He went up another draw and jumped off the burro. The girls said he had a forked stick under the robe,  grabbed it and walked all up and down the draw. He came and got the shovel and dug furiously and about two feet down water came into the hole.

“Slim rode up there with him the next day and there is fresh water in the hole. So we’ve named him Little Shovel, finder of water.”

I stepped back and stared at my wife. “What? What are you looking at?”

“You’re breasts are much bigger.”

“Of course they are. They are filled with milk to feed our son.”

“I suppose they are off limits for me to play with?”

“Better not. They leak and drip, but then they do that most often when I’m thinking about you. Randy, I was pretty damned mad when I got that note that you sent back with Slim, but he calmed me down. I understand you killed a man?”

“Yeah, it was necessary.”

“You got along good with Mable. Should I be jealous?”

“Nope, you have bigger breasts and much prettier than she is.” Sheila wrinkled her nose. “Seriously, though, I admire her a lot. Ferris isn’t going to be able to bully her around so much. She’ll stand up to him now that she has had a taste of managing things herself.

“I was concerned when it all came down to firing her straw boss. I said I would fire the troublemakers for her, but she was right beside me and did the firing on her own. It got damned dicey for a bit. I wasn’t scared for myself, but she was standing next to me.

“On the trail, she worked as hard as her hands and pulled her own weight. She also insisted on taking her turn at night hawk. I think Dave, that’s her son, will make a good hand someday. He was trying to act like his father at first, bullying and blustering, but soon saw there is a better way to handle men if you are bossing them. I taught Mable a few things too.”

“Nothing intimate I hope.”

“Of course not. There is only one woman for me. I have yet to meet Dean Ferris. The only time I’ve had any contact was the day we were married. I’ve got pay coming. Mable asked if I could wait until we got home to collect. It is enough so I’m sure going after all of it I’m due if, he reneges.”

“I’ll go after it myself if he doesn’t pay you. I was crushed you couldn’t be here when Junior was born.”

The crew was glad to be home and I let them have a day off. Slim filled us all in what had gone on here on the ranch while we were going up to Kansas. He had to tell the crew about Little Shovel finding water with a stick. Sheila had begged the Burro from Nina so the Indian kid could ride something his size.

Slim had turned the jacks in with the mares. I rode up to look at them the next day. They were feeding in with the other horses. I guess they had mated with the mares and it was peaceful or it wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t done what I bought them for. When I got home from riding out that morning, Dave Ferris was sitting on the piazza. 

“I brung you an invite from Pa. He wants to settle up with you. Ma would like it if you and your wife would come Sunday for dinner.”

I took a chair and sat. “You and your Ma got home okay?”

“Yeah. Pa is able to get around pretty good now. I thought for sure he was going to have a heart attack when he got busted up, way back when. He was doing some ranting and raving before we got him back home that day. One day on the trail and he couldn’t keep on. He put Sam in charge and sent Ma along to see if we could get the herd to market. He figured you had Ma at a disadvantage when he got word she had hired you to take over.

“Ma told him how you dickered with the cattle buyers and got us a good price. I guess he worried just about everything whilest we was gone. About Ma mostly, and he’s finally treating her the way she should be treated. Maybe from now on he will listen to her. She also told him I done good too, and he put me on as a hand with half wages. I never had no money of my own before.

“I moved from the house and into the bunkhouse and I’m getting a little respect from the other hands. I hate to say it, but Pa getting busted up is the best thing that could have happened for me.” He grinned. Silently I agreed with him.

I heard someone stirring around. It was Sheila just coming from feeding Junior.  She was burping him. “Dave, come in and meet my wife and baby. The baby came while I was helping you people out.”

Sheila put junior down to meet Dave Ferris and listened to him invite us to dinner Sunday. “I don’t think I can make it. The baby is only a three weeks old and I don’t think I want to travel yet. I do thank you though, and I’ll make sure Randy will be there.

I rode onto the Ferris’ range late Sunday morning. Dean Ferris was using a homemade crutch. He came out and invited me in. Mable was taking off her apron. “Mr. Palmer, welcome, I’m so pleased you come for dinner. Dean has business with you and I told him he needed to get it done. You need your money for taking our herd up to the railhead and negotiating such a fine price for the cattle.”

“Mable, have you forgotten my name is Randy? But thank you for inviting me and my wife for dinner. I’m sorry she didn’t feel able to travel this far. You understand, I’m sure?”

“I do, and I hope she is well. You must have done well this year, all things considered?”

“Yes Mr. Ferris, it has a busy year for me. Buying a new ranch and finding a woman who loves me is quite the undertaking. It seems as if is all coming together, much better than I expected.”

“Call me Dean.” (I knew I would call Dean, “Ferris” and he most likely call me, “Palmer”) “I hear you’ve let some farmers into your end of the valley. Is that wise?”

I laughed at this, “One of them was already there. I found she was a nice woman and I married her. She of course has moved to the ranch and we have found a Mexican family to take over her section. Another year or so I hope they will have more acres under cultivation. We may lease out her whole section to more farm people.

“We don’t need farmers in our valley. They destroy the grassland by tearing it up.”

“That’s the way most people look at it, but then my wife planted an acre of land last year with vegetables. She sold them and made enough to keep her and her child for almost a year. You know Old Abe was going to give every black slave forty acres and a mule to live on. It passed congress and was getting started when he was shot. But then congress up and killed the program. The government is proposing something called the Homestead Act now consisting of one hundred and sixty acres. 

“Out here if you’re cattle ranching, forty acres wouldn’t be anywhere enough and a quarter-section of a hundred and sixty acres won’t be either, but if the land will grow crops it could make a comfortable living for most families. Much of my land will grow crops, but some of it won’t so what is marginal, I’ll raise stock on.”

“I heard you bought a couple of Jackasses. What are you going to do with them?”

“Raise mules. I brought with me twenty five head of older mares and I think they are all settled with little mules in them. I’m hoping I’ll get ninety percent rate and half of those males. I’m planning on diversifying what I produce so if one thing fails I’ll have a fall-back position.”

“Where are you going to sell all this stuff? There is no market except for cattle.”

“I’m hoping someday we’ll have a railroad come into the valley. It never will if we just have cattle to sell. A railroad will benefit every one of us. Just think if you got twenty-dollars a head for your cows and didn’t have to spend two months herding them north and you still sold for the same price. Cattle go to market once or twice a year. No railroad is going to build track for a once-a-year customer

“How come you think that far ahead?”

“I’ve traveled all over the southwest, two years of that as a Texas Ranger. When my Pa died, I came home and took over the ranch. I’ve seen how things are going. Pa taught me how to think some, but he was locked into a valley with three other ranchers. He didn’t have room to expand. I had a chance to sell out and come up here. I’ve got plenty of room to expand now.”

“Still, you are ranching on open land. Have you thought about that?”

“I worry about it some, but the railroad isn’t here yet and there aren’t enough sections of land open to entice land speculators. Someday they will show up so I’m concentrating on tying up the water. What brought this to my attention was having my wife’s deeded land between me and the crick, so in essence that protects me from being settled on in that direction.”

“Maybe I had better look at my own place.”

“Maybe you should. I just found water in a couple of the draws that are on the south side of my ranch. I was in yesterday and filed on them.”

“How did you find the water?”

“One of my hands run onto two Indian kids who were trying to bury their mother. He buried the squaw for them and brought the two kids home. One is able to find water by holding a stick. I’m keeping him and his sister. I figure he has paid his keep for the next ten years at least.”

“I wouldn’t have no Indians around.”

“I donno, but I just figure he was paying one favor for another. Can’t fault that.”

“One more question, how are you going to get your farm stuff to market if the railroad never reaches here?”

“I figure my mules will be big enough to hitch to some freight wagons by the time the farmers will need them. I can go as far as a hundred miles to a railroad that way

Mable spoke up, “Here come the other ranchers that went up the trail with us. They and their wives were invited. Now Dean, don’t talk business all through dinner. This is supposed to be a sociable gathering.”

I was greeted with glad hands. These ranchers were all older than Dean and me. All four dwelled on what I had done for them. I told them I now had a son that had been born while I was gone. One of the women exclaimed, “You mean you left your wife to have a baby and went and helped out your neighbors? I wouldn’t put up with that. I’ll have to meet your wife and tell her so, too.”

“Do come to visit. Sheila will be mostly home for awhile.” 

“I have to go to town on Wednesday. Will she be home then?”

“I’ll make sure she is. There are several people on the ranch with us as well. I have Patty, my step-daughter and Teresa Gonzales. One of my hands married Teresa’s mother and they live at Sheila’s farm. Teresa and Patty are great friends so she came with Patty when I married Sheila. I also have a pair of Indian kids that moved in on us. One of my hands found them out on the range beside their dead mother. He brought them home’

“Then there is Kate Smith, she is married to my foreman. She had her baby two weeks before my son was born. The crew built them a cabin for the winter in their spare time. Brad Bricknell is always there along with his nephew, Johnny.”

“Bricknell, isn’t he the former owner of your ranch?”

“That’s correct. He takes care of the horse and barn chores. He didn’t have a place to go to, so offered to stay and help me build up the place. Owning a ranch wasn’t his choice of work, but he’s happy working for me. Let’s see, I have one the Gonzales boys working as a hand and I have a Mexican puncher who came with me from Surcingle when I bought. Mable and your men met the rest of my crew going up the trail with me.”

“How do you get along with so mixed a crew?”

“Easy. I treat them right and I don’t put up with any foolish games. I figure one man is as good as another. I hire them to do a job and expect them to get along.”

Dean followed up on what the ranch wife had questioned. “You mean you all get along?”

“That’s right. I’m not above settling things if I have to.”

“You mean like you did with Sam, my foreman?”

“That’s right if I had to. That was a little extreme, but your man pushed it.”

Mable said, “I told you, Dean. After we got rid of Sam, the crews came together and drove cows. There wasn’t any shouting at anyone either.”

“I guess, Mable, I’ll have to change my ways.” He gave her a side-wise grin.

“I’ve been telling you that for years.” She smiled, so we, who were around the table, knew this wasn’t going to break into a shouting match between them.

We ate and then Dean had Mable bring out his account book. When the table was cleared, Mable sat back against the wall. The other four wives went into the next room and could be heard talking about their daily lives. The four ranchers paid attention to Ferris as he portioned out the herd money Mable had brought back.

Ferris cleared his throat. “Okay, let’s get this settled up. Palmer, I want to say you did a great job for your neighbors up in this end of the valley. The agreement you made with my wife was we would pay you for taking our cattle into the shipping pens for anything over sixteen dollars.”

I raised my hand and cut in, “No, my final agreement was for two dollars a head, delivered. I know some other figures were tossed around, but what if I hadn’t been able to get sixteen dollars? I would have expected to still get paid the two dollars and I would have come after it if you quibbled. There were 1800 of your cows in the herd and 880 combined from the other four ranchers. Mable has the figures and they get charged the same two dollars per head. Call it I have $5360 owed to me and my crew. That’s a fair price what with you furnishing most of your crew and the chuck wagon.”

Dean stared at me. “You sold the herd for nineteen-fifty. That’s a helluva bonus for us.”

“You’ll find a use for it.”

“True.”

“I’ll meet you in the bank tomorrow and we’ll settle up. All you have to do is have Simpson make out a bank draft to me when you deposit the drafts Mable brought home.”

“You’re mighty trusting of your neighbors.”

“Up to a point, but then I’ve eaten and slept in the same camp with your crew and your wife. I showed my trust to them and I expected the same in return.”

“Palmer, are you going to trail up to the same railhead next year?”

“I expect so. I think I’ll have a smaller herd than I had this year. I took a lot of culls with me, but won’t do it next time. They didn’t pay the cost of trailing them that far. I’ll find a way to butcher them for the hides and make as much without the bother.”

“Thinking ahead, would you consider driving my cattle? Mable and our crew were impressed with your capabilities.”

“I don’t know, I don’t want to lock myself into something that far ahead.”

“Well, think about it, if you would.” I nodded that I would. I soon headed for home after shaking hands with all and thanking Mable for the wonderful dinner. She promised she would ride out to the ranch within a few days. I took it the other four wives would be with her.

When I reached home, I had to explain what went on. Sheila was pleased that we would soon have more money in our account at the bank. “What are you going to do with it?”

“Buy more land. That will give us another 5,000 acres located between the ranch and the land I bought next to town. By another year, I hope to own everything from the ranch house right up to the main mtreet of Ferris. That’s another seven and a half sections.”

“Is owning this much land necessary?”

“It is if we want to be sure it can’t be taken away from us. I already own the water rights.”

“You are a bit paranoid about this, aren’t you?”

“I suppose, but it isn’t because I want to get rich. I want people to think well of me and I’ll go along way for that. Look at Ferris, he was all set to be against me and he may be yet, but his wife and the four close neighbors of his won’t let him because I did them a favor. I also gave him something he wanted and that was to let him have the town named after him. He is questioning me about how I’m using my land by letting some of it being farmed, but he’ll be glad of that someday when he realizes he doesn’t have to go hundreds of miles when he can buy it right here in the valley.

“Why am I thinking like this? My father and mother made the most of what they had. But then it came to me and I was pushed out of the ranch that I inherited. Oh, sure I could have hung on for a couple of more years, but the writing was on the wall. The men who pushed me out will squander what they worked so hard to get, I just know it. Anyway this isn’t going to happen to me again.

“I met you and I knew I could have a better life here. So far my life has purpose and that is because you are by my side. A man has to build something if he has the love of a good woman and she gives him a son.”

“Damnit, Randy, keep it up and you’re going to be making me cry.

Sheila and I went into Ferris three days later early in the afternoon. I wanted to share with her what I had in my bank accounts and put her name to them. Why I hadn’t done this sooner, I couldn’t say. She had been named as my heir, but had no idea as to my worth. When we came out of the bank, she stated, “Randy, I didn’t realize how much you were worth. I don’t know how you have done it. I missed you terribly when Junior was born, but that extra five thousand dollars looks damned good to me in our account.”

“Yes, it does, doesn’t it? You know if we totaled up the your land and added the value of that to our account, you would be worth considerable more. The section you own is worth ten sections of mine.”

“The section I used to own is now what we own. There is actually more than three hundred acres of my section we can put under the plow.” 

“I think we should plow up more as fast as we can. That acre of yours that you had your garden on is so easy to work now that the sod has broken down. We need more people to work the land, though. We have money enough to hire workers outright. There is no place for them to live. Maybe we should put up a bunkhouse for them to live in when we find them.”

“Randy, I think it would be better to build something that a woman can live in. Most workers won’t stay just working for us when the government is giving away free land. We could put them under contract to stay a couple of years. They will have their wages and we will give them seed money when they leave to start their own farm.”

“That’s a thought. Talk this over with Nina. We don’t want just Mexicans, though.  I wouldn’t mind if we had some Negras. They’ll work like hell for a chance to get ahead with a grubstake the same as the Mexican people. I’ll talk to Simpson. He might know of a few people.”

“Good idea.”

______________________

For the next two years I did drive cattle north for the other ranchers. I combined mine with theirs, us meeting at a point a few miles north of our valley. This saved several miles of traveling by waiting until then. This way, neither my herd, nor theirs had to be driven through town. My trail herd crossed the creek where I had almost been killed by the flash flood the night I arrived in the area.

Ferris’ end of the valley stayed the same, continuing on as strictly cattle country. I took a different path. I had fewer cattle each year, but I made up for it in weight, by buying better bulls. When we reached Kansas, we split the big herd and sold mine separately. I always received a better price of at least a dollar, and sometimes two dollars a head.

My end of the valley was changing dramatically. Sheila had leased out most of the tillable land that she owned to farmers. I was raising a herd of mules. I bought several full grown mules before mine were old enough to work and hired a drover to run a freight line. My crew was working with my young stock, training them to pull carts and farm equipment with the idea that the farmers would buy replacements when these mules were old enough to work.

I continued investing in land and four years after I arrived in the valley, I had under deed all the land between my headquarters and the town. I laid out a trail ten rods wide along the south-edge of my ranch. There were three miles of rough territory east of the valley and I hired a road construction company to build a trail suitable for my freight-line to be able to navigate it. Twice a week I made a round trip thirty miles east to a good-sized village for supplies. There was another freight-line going east from there sixty miles to where it connected to end of the line railhead.

Also it wasn’t long before I was asked to run a coach east on days when the freight-line wasn’t operating. I was using horses for this because they traveled faster than the mules.

The town of Ferris was growing, too. The pastor was able to build a church. Two more places to eat were built and there was a modest hotel. Inevitably there were also two more saloons, but they were more social places than dens of iniquity. This building took place all on lots that I had surveyed out from my first land purchase that bordered the town.

I wanted the town to grow, so I donated the land for the church, the new school, and for the new town hall. I built a store that handled farm equipment and work related goods of small tools and clothing. I put Bradley  Bricknell in as manager. He now was a business man of the community and had his esteem back after his misadventure of trying to raise cattle.

My family was growing as well. When my son, Randy Junior, was four, Sheila, gave birth to twins … a boy and a girl. We named them Hank and Hannah. We decided that this was enough children. Patty, Sheila’s daughter by her first husband, lived with us. Patty and I were close as a father and daughter could be. There was also Teresa, Nina’s daughter, who had lived with us as Patty’s friend and couldn’t bear to be split up when I married Sheila. This was at the time Patty moved to the ranch with her mother. We considered her our family also.

There was Dawn, the Indian maiden. She slept in the same room as the two older girls. Her brother, Little Shovel lived in the bunkhouse with the hands. The two older girls made up some clothes just like the hands wore, even to a cut down Stetson. Soon he walked like the men and even on occasion cussed just as they did. When he was seven we gave him the name of Ralph, thinking Little Shovel was too Indian of a name. He didn’t care as long as he could live in the bunkhouse with the crew.

When Patty and Teresa began to teach Dawn her letters, it took a lot of coercion and bribery to get Ralph to stay in the house long enough to learn anything. Raoul was adored by the Indian kid and would do anything the puncher asked of him. Raoul leaned on the boy. He also made him understand that some of the language used in the bunkhouse was not to be spoken when there were women present. This included in front of his sister. It just wasn’t done.

Sheila had leased out all of her crop land that could be put under the plow. She had split it into different sized plots, the smallest at forty acres, Nina and her family held the only land that had been sold. Actually even this wasn’t sold, but given to Nina as a gift. There were now five other farmers who turned the remaining land under the plow.

Dean Ferris was not happy about the direction I was taking the valley. For years I trailed our combined cattle herd north until Ferris decided to do it with his own crew. He didn’t hold with my bringing in farmers and we were often at odds. When I returned from selling my herd in the fall, the harvest was completed. I had the job of freighting the produce from the valley nearly a hundred miles to the railroad.

Within another four years, I was freighting corn and wheat to a grist mill that was twenty miles away in a small valley that had swift moving water enough to power the mill. There was a lumber mill on the stream and I’d freight logs to it and bring lumber back. Each year my cattle herd had grown smaller. I was now leasing out land to various farmers that were moving into the valley. I saw the need to develop another commercial street near town on land I owned.

I built an auction house and holding corrals for cattle and different types of livestock. There were pigs, sheep, cattle and sometimes goats, horses and mules. I had brisk sales of corn, wheat and other farm goods. All these goods went under the hammer in my establishment and then I had the job of freighting it to the railroad. I didn’t do any speculating.

I had an office and on certain days kept regular hours three days a week. I was making money by handling what was bought and sold and saw no need of getting rich any other way. This wasn’t to say I didn’t have considerable money in the bank from my various enterprises.

The tenth year I was in the valley, I gave a deed to a railroad company for a right-of-way to induce them to follow my freight trail into the valley. It had taken me two years to finalize this. It would cut into my freight business, but I would make up for it by the businesses I had built in anticipation of this happening. At certain times a year, my warehouses would be overflowing, waiting on buyers coming in to buy at the auction house.

The town of Ferris was now open to the rest of the country, and yes, to the world. My cattle and mules could be sold in my own place of business and I wouldn’t have to trail them any distance to meet a buyer. Ferris held off and trailed his herd north. He was terribly disappointed at the prices for when he reached the railroad in Kansas, he found there were no buyers waiting. By the time he found a buyer, he actually lost money and had gone to a lot of trouble to do it.

Having to deal with me in holding his cattle in my corrals and having them go through my auction house was a bitter pill for Dean to swallow. In fact he wouldn’t even speak if we met on the street. Luckily, Mable and Sheila had become close friends and would get together in town on occasion.

“Sheila, tell Mable to have Dean do what we do here. Make up enough cattle for one rail car-load of steers weekly or bi-weekly. This will give him steady income and he won’t have to carry such a large crew to handle a big herd. I own the right of way around the town and he is free to use it because I have made it a public road. Also I don’t charge holding fees for less than one car load of goods. If I know early when he is coming in with cattle, I can have a buyer here. There is usually a buyer here on Friday each week, anyway.”

“Randy, you’re damned solicitous of Mable, Are you sure you and her didn’t get something going years ago?”

“Come on, Sheila, I feel sorry for her being married to Dean. She’s got more sense in her little finger than he does in his whole hand. Everyone likes her and look what happened when Dean ran for Mayor. Many people wrote in Mable’s name on the ballet.”

“Yes, and you won the mayor’s position on the same write-in ballet, but then wouldn’t take the office and declined it.”

“Sweetheart, I’m too busy to take something like that on. That reminds me, I’ve got railroad seats for a trip to Fort Worth two months from now. I even rented a coach for the family so we could travel in style. This will be our Ten-year Anniversary and I know it isn’t on that date, but this is for the honeymoon we didn’t have time for when first we married.”

“Can we take the kids?”

“Six of them will go because I’ve talked to them already. I’ve arranged for Teresa to get time off from teaching school. Patty is graduating soon and we’ll pick her up from college on the way. Dawn wants to go, and Junior, Hank, and Hannah were the ones to give me the idea.   

Teresa was almost considered an old maid.  It was a sore point with her, but she said she wanted to marry, but not just for the sake of being married. She taught third and fourth grade in school and was well liked. She came in contact with several eligible young men, and was friendly, but didn’t encourage anyone. She lived in Ferris while school was in session and otherwise she made her home at the ranch.

Right after I had made plans for our trip, Dave Ferris came into the yard, asking for me. “Randy, I’d like a job. I can’t get along with my Pa any longer, so I’m heading out on my own. Ma and me talked it over. She hates the thought of me leaving, but she knows it would be best. Pa and I had a hell-of-a-row and he told me to get out if I wasn’t happy the way things are.”

“What’s the problem?”

“Several things. You know that time I went up the trail with you when I was eighteen, I was happy. You gave me some responsibility and I learned a lot from you. I learned how to manage a crew so they would show respect for the owner and the brand. Pa has gone back to hollering at his help and at me even more than at them. I’m supposed to draw regular wages, but I’m back to have to ask for money if I want to go to town.

“He’ll toss a five dollar coin at me and tell me that ought to hold me. I do twice the work on the ranch than the other hands. I’m all the time having to smooth things over between the hands and Pa after he has had one of his rants. I’m sick of it. I run into Johnny  Bricknell sometimes. He always buys me a drink and I never have enough money to return the favor. It galls me considerable.”

“That’s too bad. Do you know anything about mules?”

“No, not really, but I could learn. I do know cattle and horses really well, you know that.”

“Would you mind taking orders from Johnny, he’s about four years younger than you?”

“I can take orders from anyone. I’ve had twenty-eight years of taking orders from Pa and haven’t bucked him until a few months ago.”

“All right, I’ll put you on. Do you have your warsack with you?”

“I’m traveling light, but I do have what I need till I get to town. Ma gave me a twenty-dollar-gold piece as I was leaving so I’m good till payday.”

“Find Johnny and tell him you’re his new man. He now does the hiring of my crews.”

End Part 1

Ferris Town

Part Two

Happyhugo

 

Dave Ferris & Teresa Gonzales

~~Western Side of Ferris Town~

Part 2: Chapter 1

Dave Ferris———————————

I was late getting to the bank to cash my first check working at Randy Palmer’s ranch. I was pretty excited about this for this was a bigger check than I ever received from my Pa. Randy paid all his help with a slip and they had to go into the bank to receive their money. It was a Saturday afternoon late, with me being held up working at gentling a horse. I worked longer at it than I knew. Realizing how late it was, I beat it for town.

I slid the horse to a stop in front of the bank and headed up the steps, elbowing a puncher out of the way as I went through the door. I hesitated right in the middle of three men with guns drawn, realizing the bank was being robbed. I didn’t really stop and dove for the big island along the right wall.

This was what customers used to make out their papers for putting money in or taking it out at the teller’s window built along the back of the lobby. The man I had elbowed aside, fired at me and tagged me in the leg. I unlimbered my colt and shot the robber who was waiting on Banker Simpson who was filling a sack from the teller’s trays. Two tellers were also huddled behind the counter at the far end.

The outlaw who shot me in the leg was nervous. He was shouting they should get out, now! I turned around and peeked around the end of the counter I had dodged behind. I had a good shot while this robber who had shot me was arguing they should leave. I plugged him and turned my attention to the three bank staff including Simpson. I hadn’t had time to observe anyone else. The one I had shot at the teller’s window gave a death rattle. That was two dead. I could hear some shuffling around and heard a woman whimper.

“Hey, you, cowboy, come out of there where I can see you. I’ve got a woman here in my arms and I’ll kill her if you don’t show yourself.”

“You’ll kill me if I do. I’m happy right here. The whole town will be up in arms after hearing the gunfire. Why don’t you give up, you haven’t killed anyone?” I again peeked around the corner. I could see the woman being held tight with some arms around her. I couldn’t see the man’s face because he kept the woman in front of  him. The woman was violently rolling her eyes. From this, I realized one outlaw was sneaking up on the other side of the counter I was behind.

Probably the robber was going to shoot blindly over the top and hope to hit me. I watched and I could see the barrel of a gun ease into sight over the top edge. When I could see the pistol grip and fingers around it, I took careful aim and fired. The pistol went flying and a bloody finger dropped down onto the floor next to me. The outlaw fell to the floor on the far side, holding what was left of his hand. His head came around and looked at me.

I spoke, “Fella, you had enough? You need a doctor. Leave by the door and I won’t shoot you.” The robber struggled to his feet and was almost to the door when the outlaw holding the woman shot the wounded man in the back.

I spoke, again, “You’re a cold-blooded bastard.”

“Yeah, so they say. Nothing has changed, I still have the woman. Who are you anyway?”

“Just a cow hand. I just went to work for a new outfit and came in to get my first month’s pay.”

“Well, you’ve raised hell with my plans for the day. You do know that the first person through that door is going to get killed, don’t you?”

“Guess it’s up to me to stop you. How many shells do you have?”

“Enough to kill you, and anyone else I want to. Maybe I’ll start with the banker but I can get him anytime. Maybe I should figure out how to take this woman I’m holding with me. She’s a nice armful. She looks Mexican, though. Do you know her?

“What’s her name?”

“What’s your name, girl?”

“Teresa is my name. I’m a school teacher.”

“I’ll bet there are a lot of little kiddies who are you going to miss you if I kill you.”

“I’m sure they will. I’ll bet they remember me a lot longer than they will you, if you do shoot me.”

I eased out just enough to where I could see Teresa’s face. The robber was still not in my sight. He was shielded behind her. She could see my face, though. I hoped she could read lips. I kept mouthing, “Faint,” until I was sure she got the message when I held my hand thumb down and quickly slapped the floor. I braced my good leg against the edge of one of the panels and got ready.

Teresa made a little sighing sound. I pushed as hard as possible against the panel edge and slid out beyond the counter. The robber didn’t let Teresa drop and he leaned forward and followed her down still trying to stay hidden behind the fainting woman. The top of his head made a nice round target. He toppled over backward.

“I don’t know who you are, but you can come out now.”

“The name is Dave Ferris. I think I’ve seen you out at the Palmer ranch. I just signed on a month ago.”

“I was told Randy had a new hand.”

I didn’t rise because I didn’t know if I could. Simpson came over. “Oh my God, you are injured, someone  bring a chair.” There was a pool of blood that had leaked from my leg, and the strain from pushing out where I could see was bleeding heavily again.

Sheriff  Brodeur came in and spoke to Simpson, while surveying the lobby. There were four dead outlaws, and me, wounded. There was blood everywhere.

I was a bit dizzy when Simpson and the sheriff lifted me into a chair.

The sheriff concentrated on talking with Simpson for answers. “I don’t know how that man did it? He got wounded first off. Guess, it isn’t too bad, but all the same, I could see him lying on the floor and he kept staring at Miss Gonzales. All she could do was roll her eyes.”

Just then the doctor came in and looked at me. Teresa was hovering around after binding up my wound with her shawl. “Nice job, Teresa, you must have learned that from your mother. You, young man, certainly can be congratulated for wiping out this gang.

“Doc, it wasn’t me, Miss Gonzales was warning me by rolling her eyes, telling me what was going on. Otherwise, I would be dead and she would have had to deal with the robber all by herself.”

“That isn’t the way it happened at all. He told me to faint so he could get a shot at the last one. I wouldn’t have thought of it by myself.”

“That’s just details. I’ll order a buggy and have you delivered where ever you are living.”

“That would be at the Palmer Ranch.”

“I thought your name was Ferris? Don’t you want to go out home?

"No, but you could send someone out to tell my Ma that I’m going to be fine and the wound is minor.

Teresa spoke, “Tell her also that Mr. Ferris has a nurse and is being looked after. I’ll drive him in the buggy to the Palmer ranch. That is my home, too.”

The sheriff had been taking this all in. “I guess I got the story straight. You killed three of this gang and wounded one before he was shot by his own leader.”

“I guess, but the real hero is Miss Gonzales.”

“You two can figure out who did the most. It all came out right, anyway.”

“Sheriff, could you lend me four shells for my gun. There is only one bullet left in it and my shell belt is empty. I was going to buy a box with my first paycheck.” 

“Sure, I’ll give you a box. Pull around by my office as you are leaving town and tell the jailer to give you a box.”

Teresa declined having a driver when I wouldn’t lie down on a blanket in the back, and she insisted I sit on the buggy seat. Not much was said on the hour and half drive. A couple of times I got dizzy and she held me from tipping out. I was thankful when we pulled into the ranch yard.

On arriving, Teresa wheeled the wagon in front of the ranch house as Randy and Sheila were coming out. Randy stood there looking surprised to see his hired hand with her. “What’s going on, Teresa?”

“The bank was being robbed when Dave came in to get paid. I was the only other person in there at the time. Dave broke up a robbery and saved my life. He was injured and needs a bed and care. I’m putting him in my bed.”

“No way am I getting into your bed. I’d never live it down.”

“Dave, let me help you into the house. I want to hear all about it. How did you get wounded?”

“Well, I was hunting for a place to hide and couldn’t find a place that would hide all of me. That’s about it.”

By this time three of the hands came out to the bunkhouse and were listening to Dave. Teresa handed the reins to one of them.

“Bull, Dave shot and killed three of the robbers and wounded the other one. He saved my life and maybe Simpson’s. He may have been only one man, but in my book he was a whole posse. He did more than ten men could have done.”

“Listen, I couldn’t have done it without Teresa. We worked as a team and kept our heads.”

“How come you came out here rather than going home?”

“Sheila, this is my home. I’m hoping I can stay on the payroll until I can get back to work. I can mend harness if nothing else until I can get on a horse again.”

“That’ll work. What about your folks?”

“I sent word to Ma that I was okay. I didn’t want her to worry.”

“That’s good of you. Look, if you don’t want to use Teresa’s room, there is a small bed in the parlor we use when some of the crew is hurt or sick. Would you use that?”

“I guess I can do that. I hope I’m not too much trouble.”

“No trouble at all.”

It was the next day about ten when my parents arrived. Ma hugged me, where I was sitting on the porch. Ma went inside the house and Randy saw that Pa wanted to talk to his son so he went inside too. Pa was pretty quiet, just asking, “How are you doing, Dave?”

“Fine Pa, I’ll be back on a horse within a week.”

“I guess you turned the town upside down with your goings on.”

“Just trying to save some lives, including my own.”

“You should hear Simpson singing your praises.”

“I hope he is singing praise for Teresa, she is the one who made it all possible.”

“Oh, yeah, the Mex school teacher who was there at the time. He was saying something, but I didn’t pay attention.”

“Pa, she saved my life and she also stopped me from bleeding to death when it was all over. She even offered up her room to me when we got here, but I wasn’t that badly hurt so didn’t take it.

“You be careful, Dave, she may be making a play for you. You know how them Mexicans are.”

This made me mad, which wasn’t unusual. “Pa, we’re done talking. I know how this Mexican woman is. I’m so lucky to have her for a friend. I’m glad you came to see how I am, but you and I have different ideas about people. Miss Gonzales is one of the finest people I know.”

“Yeah, I can see how you feel about her. She did save your life. When are you coming home? You being gone has made me short-handed.”

“I’m not coming back. Randy pays me better than you do your help. Here I’m just an ordinary hand and being paid more than you ever paid me. ’Sides that, Randy looks at what a hand does, not the color of his skin is or where he came from.”

“You don’t change at all do you, Dave?”

“No, I don’t and neither do you.”

“We are what we are.”

Teresa came out and joined me and Pa. Teresa was a beautiful woman of twenty-two. I was twenty-nine and had lived and worked on a ranch all my life, but I was intelligent and was now reading everything I found in the books that Randy had concerning most everything.  

Pa was almost tongue tied when Teresa spoke to him directly. “Mr. Ferris, Dave saved my life yesterday. He is a good man. Not many men would face four outlaws with only five bullets in his gun. I didn’t know that’s all he had at the time and I was puzzled why he waited so long and to make every shot count.

“For your information, I did what I could knowing the only way I was going to survive was to put my life in his hands. I’m so glad the town is named after you. Dave’s heroism will live on forever. He deserves every bit of it.”

“I’m glad you survived, young lady.” Teresa had said what she wanted to say and went back into the house.

“Pa, she did her part in making sure both of us survived. I was watching her closely while she was being held. She signaled me by rolling her eyes that there was another robber advancing toward where I was hiding behind the counter. I figured he intended to shoot over the top of my hiding place at me lying on the floor.

“I was ready for this when the gun came into sight. I shot and blew the gun out of his hand, taking some fingers with it. The robber screamed and headed for the front door. His boss shot him in the back and killed him.

“Then all I had left to deal with was the boss of the gang holding Miss Gonzales. It was my turn to signal her. The robber couldn’t see me, but she could from where she was in front of him. I mouthed for her to faint. When she pretended to, he apparently didn’t want to just let her drop leaving him exposed. He kept holding onto her as she fell. The only bit I could see of him was the top of his head, but it was enough.

“I just reached my gun around and drilled him right through the top of his head. Miss Gonzales rushed to me, using her scarf and bound up my leg. The banker could see everything that went on, and explained to the sheriff how things happened. Miss Gonzales got a buggy and drove us both home.

“Why didn’t she bring you to our ranch? That’s your home.”

“No Pa, this is my home for now. It is where I’m working and I knew Sheila and Randy would take care of me. They are treating me very well, too”

“Would you come home for a Sunday dinner next week? I think we should sit down and talk. Your mother is hardly speaking to me and she told me she is the one who told you to leave. That hurt.”

“Pa, Ma didn’t tell me to leave permanently. She said to get out into the world and get an idea on how things really are. I’m almost thirty-years old and things are no different now than when I was eighteen. It’s also time I found a wife. That’s also something Ma said.”

Pa’s face flushed and looked at me. “Your Ma has got a point. I waited for your Ma until I put together the ranch. She was good enough to wait for me.” Pa acted like he hated to say something. “You know, the ranch will be coming to you someday.”

“Pa that’s news to me. You’ve never said.”

“Well, I’m saying it now. You get well and we’ll talk.”

“It will be awhile, Pa. I’ve signed on here for a year and I’m going to honor it.”

Sheila looked out the door, “Dean, you’re staying for Sunday dinner. We’ll eat in an hour  when the family is all rounded up. Teresa is here with the kids. Johnny will be in off the range. He’ll collar Ralph and will make him eat in the house today. Randy, you make sure Dawn, Junior, Hank and Hannah behave themselves, and you too, for that matter. Kate and Shannon will be over for cake by the time we’re finished.”

Part 2: Chapter 2

I didn’t make it working the full year for Randy as I had promised. Pa had a stroke the following spring and Ma asked that I come home and take over running the ranch for her. “Ma, I was going to marry Teresa when the year was up. We are in love. How’s that going to affect Pa if I bring a lowly Mexican girl home? I mean, will it be so bad it will kill him?”

“What were you going to do when the year was up about her then?”

“Have it out with Pa and if he still spoke against her, I would have told him to go to hell.”

“Will Teresa treat Dean with respect after what he has said about her?”

“I will guarantee she will. She has been brought up with Sheila and Randy Palmer. Her mother, Nina, is a well respected nurse when needed. Everyone shows respect for everyone else over at their ranch. Pa’s crew here is pretty rough and I won’t have any one on the place that won’t show Teresa respect. That goes for Pa as well as the crew.”

“You’d threaten to fire the crew if that happens and threaten your father if he says anything  even as sick as he is?

“I wouldn’t just threaten, I’d fire any one of them. For Pa if he objects, I’ll build him a little shack out back and he can live by himself. He has to understand he isn’t in charge any longer. It’ll be tough on you at first, but I’ll bet he won’t want to live by himself for very long.”

“Dave, Dean can understand you if you talk to him. He might even get his speech back and be able to walk again someday. Talk to him first, please? I’ve been with him a long time. It hasn’t been easy, but he is my husband, and remember he is your Pa.”

“Sure Ma, don’t worry, I was just remembering how he is, I’ve learned a thing or two over at the other end of the valley. We’ve just never got along, but I won’t kick him when he can’t defend himself, although I’ve wanted to in the past. When’s the best time to talk to him?”

“Tomorrow morning when he is the brightest.”

“Alright. I’m going in to see Teresa tonight and ask if she will come out first thing in the morning. You might talk to her about us getting married. I guess it had better be in town. I’ve made a lot of friends with the farmers and they’ll want to be there. Sheila and Randy will help. Patty Palmer will be Teresa’s maiden of honor. It’ll probably take a month to get the wedding organized. You know Ma, our getting married is going to bring the whole valley together. It could have happened back at the time when the town was named for Pa, but better late than never.”

“How do you figure that, Dave?”

“Ma, I’ll be the in charge here and Teresa is as much a Palmer as Patty is; you’ll see. I won’t be throwing my weight around, and we’ll all get along better.”

 "I hope so. Maybe you can teach your father a thing or two.”

“Maybe.”

I headed for town. It took an hour and a half at a steady jog. Randy was waiting for me at the auction house office to find out how bad Dean was. “Randy, I’m afraid I’m done working for you. I didn’t want to be. I’d never been treated so well until I came asking you for a job.”

“How is Dean?”

“Randy, he can’t talk and he can’t get out of bed. But the doctor said there was a lot of hope he will get better if Ma keeps him calm enough. She said for me to take over as the manager with the understanding that I’m taking over permanently. I’m a little worried about bringing Teresa home with me. I’m having her come to the ranch tomorrow morning and we will be talking to Pa about me and also about Teresa. I figure she can charm Pa somehow. She charmed me and she and Ma have been getting together here in town when the chance presented its self.”

“Dave, I’ve been really glad you’ve had almost a year working for me. You’ll have wonderful wife soon, and we’ll give you any help if you need it. Don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Randy, I won’t. The town was named after Pa but we all know this is your town. I want our end of the valley to blossom like it has on your end. That’s what I will be working toward.”

“Dave, that’s high praise for me to live up to. I know you’ll do your best.” Randy stuck out his hand and I shook it.

I headed over to the school house to talk to Teresa. “Hi, Honey, I guess you know my Ma sent word that my Pa had a stroke a couple of days ago. I just saw Randy and told him I had to go home because Ma needs me to take over running the ranch for her. The doctor was there this morning and said he thought Pa could get better if he had good care, so Ma is going to turn the ranch over to me and she’s going to care for him. She’s got directions to follow.”

“I know. The doctor has already seen Mama about helping Mable nurse him. Now that Montana isn’t here working for Randy, he drives Mama around.  She’s back to nursing when someone is sick.”

“Great. I asked Ma to get with you and talk about us getting married. I’d like to be married by this time next month.”

“That’s only a month before we were planning it anyway.”

“You do still want to marry me don’t you?”

“Of course I do. Dave, do you think your Pa will give you any trouble. He doesn’t think much of my people.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know you that well. I should have insisted that Ma invite you for Sunday dinner more often. He can’t object now, he can’t even talk. I told Ma you would show him respect even when I don’t think he deserves any.”

“I’ll be nice to him. It must be awful to be the way he is after the way he was normally.”

“Teresa, we haven’t talked about whether you are still going to teach school after we are married. I’d like to have you not, but I know how much you enjoy it.”

“Dave, I’m going to be a full time wife to you. I’ve already discussed it with the school superintendant. He has a replacement lined up and I can leave anytime. The school has got so big with all the kids in school with those out in the valley. There are some kids that haven’t had much schooling from your Pa’s end”

“That’s good, maybe there will be a chance to have a smaller school on this side of town. Hey, I can ride out in the buggy to the Palmer ranch with you today and get my things. Can you get tomorrow off? I’m talking with the our crew and Pa in the morning. I wanted you there if possible.”

“I’ll let you know when you pick me up this afternoon. I think it possible.”

“Okay, see you then. I wish I could kiss you.”

“Stop it, Dave. You get me so flustered I won’t be able to teach this afternoon.” I laughed and reached out and let my hand slide down from her shoulder to her hand and squeezed it. “Go!”

I picked Teresa up when school let out and we headed for the Palmer ranch where I had been living for the last eleven months. “Dave, I can go with you to see Mable tomorrow. I have to come back and work Friday and then I’m all done teaching. They do want me to teach some next year. It won’t be here.

“As long as you are taking over your home ranch, do you think I could open a school house there? There’s going to be eight children from the ranchers that live up in the hills beyond your place and the youngest have never been to school.  None of them will be over fifteen years old. Most are under ten. The county will build the schoolhouse and I’ll be right close to you.”

“If it will keep you near me we’ll plan on it. It will be my ranch to say and to do with me as manager.”

“Your father won’t let you when he gets well.”

“It’s up to you to charm him. He can’t curse you because he can’t talk. Look how you charmed me.”

“Well, I’m not going to charm him like I charmed you.”

“You had better not.” Teresa giggled.

I gathered up my warsack and the few personal things I had at the ranch. Teresa was going back to town with me and stay in her room overnight and then ride out to the ranch in the morning on her horse. I would go on with the buggy tonight and stay with Ma and Pa and be ready to address the crew in the morning. Randy’s crew hated to see me leave and the young kids of Randy’s and the married hands hated to have me leave too. I had made friends of them all.

There was a long discussion with Randy and Sheila about the two of us getting married. “I’ll be in church Sunday and talk with Mable. Teresa, do you want a small, intimate ceremony? What about you, Dave?”

“As long as Teresa is there I, don’t care. Actually if she wants a small wedding, I’ll go with that.”

——————————————

Teresa pulled into the Ferris ranch about 9:30. She was riding astride wearing a divided skirt. She had left town at eight. My crew of nine, were standing around the yard smoking cigarettes, waiting for they didn’t know what. They did know it concerned Dean, their boss.

I came out when I heard the horse come into the yard. Teresa swung the horse around so she could dismount. I was there to give her a hug. “How is your Pa this morning, Dave?

“Holding his own so Ma says.” I turned to the crew. “Men, I’m going to be talking to Pa concerning the ranch. Ma wants me to take over managing everything. When I do, I will be your boss for good. You’ll be working for me and not Pa. I’ll be back out with orders for the day. I’ll tell you how Pa takes this and some other changes that are being made.”

I guided Teresa up onto the porch and through the door. Mable spoke, “In the bedroom, Teresa.  I don’t think you’ve been beyond the dining room the few times you were here. Dave, your Pa is awake.”

The bedroom was large and Ma had placed chairs for the three of us. Teresa came in and went right to Dean’s side where he was laying on the bed. “Mr. Ferris, I’m so sorry you are sick.”

Pa’s eyes bored into hers and then they looked for Mable. He struggled do say something to his wife. “Dean, Dave will explain. Now you stay calm like the doctor told you to.”

“Pa, you know Ma can’t handle the ranch and take care of you too so Ma brought me home to be manager. Teresa is going to be here with me because she and me are going to get married within the month. Ranching is a full time job, you know that, and I can’t go running off courting, so she’s going to be in the small room upstairs. When we are married she will move into my room”

“Dean, you’re going to see Teresa’s mother, Nina, here during the day. She is going to help me care for you. The doctor said you could get better if you do as she says. Nina has been nursing off and on for years. You must know that Teresa is a school teacher and it was something she loves doing, but she loves Dave more, so she will be living here with him. They will be sleeping upstairs

“Nina, her mother, will be here during the day until you get better. She will be cooking some special food we have never eaten. According to her they are good for cleaning out your arteries and will get you back on your feet sooner. We all are going to do our damndest to see that you do.

“Not much will change with the ranch. If the crew will work with Dave, he’ll keep them on. He knows they are a rough bunch so he is going to have to go some to fill your shoes. Just so you know, I’ve given my share of the ranch ownership to Dave so he is equal in all things with you.” She looked at Dave, “You want to say anything, Dave?”

“I didn’t know about owning half the ranch, Ma?”

“That’s so you won’t be running off again, and too, I’m thinking of your father.  He has been getting stressed out with the ranch and all. I knew something like this was going to happen and it did. I guess I’m glad you brought Teresa home with you. Every man needs a woman. Your Pa did, and although difficult at times, we’re still together.” Ma leaned down and kissed Pa. “Dave, he’s getting tired, so you better go out and speak to the men now.”

Teresa spoke to Dean. “Mr. Ferris, it’s too formal calling you that. Mable, what do the men call him?”

“They all call him Dean.”

“Okay, until Dave and I get married, that’s what I’m going to call you. That’s because I’ll be helping Dave and Mable. Dean, I hope, that’s okay with you. Someday you may want me to call you Pa like Dave does. I don’t remember my own father too much. Mom and kids were thrown off the Bricknell ranch after my own Pa died.” She turned toward the door.

I led the way out to the porch. Teresa had on brightly dyed light wool jacket with the color brown predominant to match her divided skirt.  Her shawl, which had been wound around her neck when she arrived, now was hanging loose over the front of her.

I came down off the porch and stood facing the crew who had come closer. The roughest one had a surly look on his face came the closest. He was new to me and we had never met, “Who’s the Mex chick? I don’t know as I want to work where  Mexicans are living.” He was staring right into Dave’s face.”

“I don’t know you, but I know one thing, you don’t work here anymore, you’re fired. Pack up and get out.”

“Dean hired me and he’s the one to fire me. I was hired on as his straw boss. You can’t fire me. You’ll have to throw me off the place.”

Dave said, quietly, “You’re packing and I’m packing. Back off. I said you were fired, and that’s the end of it.”

Sam Ogden, the oldest hand that worked for Dean, shouted, “Hey, Buck, Dave will kill you if you draw your gun. At least give the rest of us time to get out of the line of fire. You may not know it, but Dave took on four bank robbers a few months ago. He killed three and wounded the other one. Reports said Miss Gonzales helped.”

Sullen now, and more than a little worried, Buck turned this over in his mind. He said. “I guess my mouth got me into some trouble. I do need this job.

I stared him down. “You know what you have to do then.”

Buck was puzzled about what Dave meant. Teresa was standing near the edge of the porch, looking at Buck. Buck removed his Stetson and walked close and looked up at her. “Ma’am, I’m sorry.  There was no excuse for what I said. If my mother was here and heard what I said about you, she would have me out to the woodshed. Would you speak to the boss for me, please? I really am a good hand.”

Teresa studied Buck and decided, “Lesson learned. My soon-to-be husband doesn’t shout like his father and you’ll find if he says something he means it the first time he says it. There is no second chance. You’ll find him different than his father and I think you’ll find this will be a good place to work after Dave has been boss for awhile. You’ll find he is a good hand himself. Ask the older men. When Dean was trailing cows to Kansas, Dave was there. I was young at the time, and the drover who was in charge was Randy Palmer. He always said Dave was one of the best.”

Buck didn’t know what to do. Hat still off, he turned and faced me. “Boss, I know cattle and I know I’ve lost the straw boss slot, but I’m asking to stay.”

I glanced at Buck, nodded and then turned to the rest of the crew. “Alright you men, let’s go down to the corral and you can fill me in how the ranch is and what needs doing. I assume you haven’t started branding yet, but Pa should have it all planned out. I need to know these things. Buck, if you’re the straw boss, you must know where we are concerning the cattle. You can fill me in.” Buck started to thank me but I waved him off.

I began asking about the ranch. My first question asked, “Are the biscuits that the cookie makes just as hard as ever? If they are, I’ll have Ma or Teresa down here to teach him how to make something we don’t have to swallow whole ’cause we can’t chew them.” Everyone laughed.

Except for the last year I had lived all my years on the ranch. I figured Buck was worth keeping. He knew where most of the cows ranged on the different parts of the ranch. Buck described their condition and how the feed was. This was a big ranch and for all of Pa being difficult to get along with, it was reasonably well run. I knew if this was a happy outfit, it would be a great place to live.

Nina Gonzales arrived after a bit with Montana driving her in a gig. Teresa was glad to see her mother and Mable served a sweet bread that Teresa had helped bake. Montana came into the bunkhouse where I was still questioning the help about the ranch. Teresa came out onto the porch and sat down while Nina and Mable cleaned and bathed Dean. This was going to be a daily chore until Dean got strong enough to get out of bed.

Montana stayed with the Ferris crew when they went to the cook shack for coffee and a piece of bread and hank of beef which comprised the noon meal if there were hands on the home place. The evening meal was the big meal of the day.

I went up and sat on the porch with Teresa. She said, “Mama and Mable said me taking care of your father at this point wasn’t necessary. I’d take care of you if you were like your Pa is.”

“I know you would. You’ve already taken care of me when I was injured.”

“How are you getting along with your father’s crew?”

“Good. I think I got control and you helped when we had the set-to with Buck. I’m glad he is still here. I think he was trying to act like Pa would have. When I quick-like acted the way I did it was all over. You finished it with his image still intact.”

“We do make a pair. Are you going to ride beside me when I go into town this afternoon?”

“I don’t think I will. Maybe Montana will ride your horse and you can ride in the gig with your Mama. I’m coming into town Saturday with the buckboard from here to load your things and we’ll get you moved in by night. You know I’m going to be sleeping across the hall from you, but I’ll be good.”

“I know and I’ll try to be good too. Remember, I’m considered an old maid by most people and I have to catch me a man somehow. I think we had better discontinue this discussion.”

“Four weeks from tomorrow it will be moot anyway. Teresa my love, are you going to be happy here? I worry a little about Pa upsetting you and you wanting to leave.”

“Dave Honey, I’ll have him wondering how he ever got along without me being here by the time you and I are married. You’ll see if I don’t. I love your Ma already. Of course I’ve always heard from Randy how great you and Mable were ever since he rescued the cattle herd the time your Pa got hurt. That was what— ten years ago?”

“Yeah, I think so. What a lot of changes there have been in the ten years. You grew up into a beautiful lady and look at me, the same old puncher only ten years older.”

“It hasn’t been a waste for you. You are intelligent and now running the biggest ranch in the valley. You’ve got respect of everyone in town and the other end of the valley for saving the bank from being robbed. Johnny Bricknell thinks you are quite a guy. Starting about when we are getting married, Randy told me he was making Johnny foreman of the ranch under him. Don’t tell anyone, but Patty Palmer is awful sweet on him. She is just waiting for him to talk to Sheila and Randy for her hand.

“That’s one of many reasons Randy is making Johnny, foreman, so Johnny doesn’t feel he isn’t good enough for Patty. I heard Randy and Sheila talking and they didn’t know I was around. Please don’t tell anyone.”

Teresa————————————

Montana came up and sat on the porch talking with me. “I think Dave is going to be fine with his father’s crew. Were you here when he first talked to them?  Something went on, but nobody will say what it was.”

“Montana, it wasn’t much. Buck, didn’t know Dave at all and Buck made some remarks about me being Mexican. Dave, just said Buck was fired and stood ready to face him. I was scared for a minute, but some of the old hands that knew Dave, warned Buck what he was facing. Dave said to do what he had to do. Buck figured out that an apology to me was in order. I accepted it and it was all over.”

“And Dave is going to keep him on after insulting you?

“That’s right, Montana, Buck did what he had to do just as Dave told him to. It was a good way to handle the whole incident. Dave told me later he was okay with how it played out.”

“I wondered what went on. Things were pretty calm with all the crew.  I guess Dave is going to be a good manager.”

“Dave is more than manager. Mable gave Dave her half of the ranch. I don’t know how Dean feels about it, but Mable did it right in front of Dean.”

“Well, the word is that Dean thinks the world of his wife, so it should be fine. Teresa, Honey I’m going to miss you terribly.”

“I’m going to miss you too, Montana. You’ve been a great stepfather. I’m pretty old to be getting started with a husband and all, but I waited for love.”

“You didn’t wait as long as me. I was fifty-two before your Mama collected yours truly. Best thing that ever happened to this man. I might not have done it then, but Randy told me to go for it. That Randy Palmer is the best thing that ever happened to hundreds of people.  When he crawled up out of that creek with his belly hanging open and near drowned eleven years ago, the world changed at that moment, I swear to God!”

Dave——————————————

My Teresa went to work turning Pa into something people would like if he ever got well. She would go into his room with a book in hand. The first time, she stated, “I get more out of a story if I read out loud. You’ll just have to bear with me.” Ned Buntline’s dime novels were found everywhere and Teresa would read them to Pa. Whenever she got hold of a newspaper she would read the news and then tell him how she felt about what she had just read.

One Sunday afternoon Teresa had her brother, with his guitar, and another with a squeeze box, play while Nina and Teresa sang Mexican love songs where Pa could hear with the window open. This was usually the day when the crew was in from the range. I was there right at the front and proud as hell.

Neither of us wanted a big wedding, so the preacher came out from town and married us. Pa’s window was open to the porch and he could hear the ceremony.  Everyone stood in the yard and watched us getting married. Teresa’s mother Nina, and Montana, with all her Teresa’s brothers and sisters were there. Randy and Sheila came with all his family. Patty Palmer was Maid of Honor and she was excited, knowing within a year she would be married as well.

The women provided a meal cooked over the open fire with the crew helping.  We had beer and there was a bottle that made the rounds. Songs were sung and everyone was mellow. I had a pair of horses hitched behind the house  and Teresa and I slipped away to spend a couple of days in a small glade that had a spring. When we returned, Ma had moved Teresa’s larger bed into my room with her clothes hanging along side of mine in the closet. I moved another bureau from Teresa’s old room.   

———————————

After a while, Pa got his voice back just a little, Especially when I was listening to him.  Little more than a noise at first, he kept uttering  “sa” and no one could figure out what it meant. He struggled to explain to me and I would give up. A month later Pa said what sounded like “reesa.” That one was close enough for me to figure out!  Reesa from then on became Teresa’s nickname on the ranch.

The school committee came out to investigate having a one room school built, installing Teresa as the teacher. Teresa had picked a spot where there was some shade from a single tree and there was enough flat land for a play yard. The committee needed a deed. I told them to make it out and I would sign it. I told them Pa was sick, but Mable could sign his name.

The following morning, the committee sent out a load of lumber and two carpenters. They had the plans and it would be the same as the school built near the  Bricknell ranch at the other end of valley. The carpenters were hoping to get it built by September

I said to one of the carpenters, “You boss the job and I’ll give you my crew for three days to help put it up.” It was all completed except for the chimney. I sent men out to scour the fields for stone to build that with. It was ready for students two months before Teresa moved her desk in. I went into town and talked to Brad  Bricknell who was running the hardware store and purchased a cast-iron chunk stove and donated it to the school.

“I don’t want you getting cold, Sweetheart.”

The children that were going to school were coming from the four small ranches in the hills. Ma took Teresa around for them to meet their teacher. Most were shy and seldom had gotten to town for school. There were two fifteen year-old boys that would be her students and one fourteen-year-old girl. One of the boys was over six foot tall and heavy after doing ranch work.

I worried, having the large boy in the school room with Reesa. “I can handle him, I promise. I’ll do with him like you did with Buck. Face him and back him down.”

I was shocked, “You can’t shoot him. There would be hell to pay.

“You didn’t shoot Buck, did you? Stop worrying. I’ve been teaching for two years now and have never had any trouble.” I shook his head, not convinced.

One of the hill ranchers asked if the kids up in an old logging camp were coming down to be taught with theirs?

Neither Teresa nor I knew anything about any strangers living up there on the ranch. “I guess we better go check them out.” We rode up that way the next day.

It was a poor camp and the strangers were two married men, one single man and six kids who were living there. They were highly suspicious of me and they had long rifles displayed. “What do ’yer want? We’s ain’t botherin’ no’s body.”

“It doesn’t look like you’re living too high on the hog, either”

“So?”

“So, I claim this land. My name’s Ferris, Dave to you. This is my wife Teresa. She’s the local school teacher. One of the other ranchers said there were children here old enough to go to school.”

“Got’s no money to send ’em to school. We’s from Kaintuk and just barely holdin’ a body  tuhgether. You’s goin’ to make us’ns move?

“Can’t tell yet. Why don’t you tell us your story?”

I could tell these eleven souls were hard luck people. There are always people like this in every community. Unschooled and always asked to move on when away from home, they had no chance to rise above their poverty. Only one of the women could read and write and she tried to improve the children’s speech a little.

She was the one to take over talking to me. “Please, can’t we stay so our kids can just learn a little? It’s too late for the rest of us, but for them’s, they have their whole life ahead of them.

Teresa looked at me and indicated I should give them a chance. “I’m thinking on it. How are you people related?”

“Two brothers and Jake, he’s a cousin with no woman. There was about twenty of us’uns, but cholera took some of us. That was two years past. Two of the girls don’t have no pappy or mama, but they’s family.

“You got animals? I don’t see any around.”

“We have three horses and we have two good carts for our belongings. The horses are down in a glen south of here. If we have to move, we’ll be walking while the little ones can ride.

“What are you using for food?”

“We eat whatever is moving, and if we have the shot to bring it to the pot.”

I had to ask, “Beef?”

“No, suh not’s yet, but game’s gettin’ scarce.” Somehow I believed him.

“What have you got for tools besides the rifles?”

“We’s got two good axes. We’s was wood choppers back in the mount’ns. Took it down tuh the valleys tuh sell’s it.”

The woman with the better command of language took over again.  “Here people live so far apart and they don’t like us near the towns, so we end up far out in the hills someplace like here. We work hard all day and it takes so long to take it into town who will buy it. Sometimes it seems better to just sit and hope.”

“What shape are the these buildings here in? I haven’t been up here for a long while.”

“Pretty good considering they must be six or seven years old. Those that still have roofs are almost livable. They didn’t have any foundations so the floors is rotted.”

“Quite a bit of it is salvageable, then?”

“I’d say so.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Three weeks, I’d guess. Days come and go and I can’t say I’ve kept count.  I mean what’s the point?”

“So, you’d like it if the kids got to go to school?”

“It would be an answer from the Lord if they could.”

I turned to Teresa, “What do you think, Reesa?

“My Mama was like these people when Randy and Sheila took a chance on some Mex that weren’t much better off than these.”

“My thoughts exactly.” I spoke to the woman, “If I could make it so your children had schooling, would you work so it happened? I think four cord of wood would pay for them to attend the year. I’ve got some woods that need thinning not far from the school. If you wanted to cut and sell some wood, it’s about two hours to town where you could sell it. Of course there is the railroad that buys cordwood, but that is usually done under contract.”

The kids were suddenly absolutely still. “Mommy, are we going to have to move again? I don’t want to?”

Teresa got down off her horse. “Come little girl, tell me your name. You’re so pretty. No, you aren’t going to move very far.  Maybe you can live close to a school and you can go there with lots of other kids. Would you like that? “I would if they didn’t pick on me and call me horrible names.”

 “I would be your teacher and I wouldn’t let anyone pick on you.”

“Okay.” The little girl was nodding her head that she thought this was a great idea. “Booful, lady, my name is Lizzy.”

The kids all gathered around Teresa and she immediately began asking names and ages. I went over to the men. “Let’s look at these cabins to see what can be salvaged. My Pa had this section cut over seven years ago. The logs didn’t go by the ranch buildings and the only time I come up here is to hunt for deer.

 Again the woman was the spokesperson, “We came up the way the logs went down. We saw a piled up bunch of logs down over the steepest grade with a corner at the bottom. I guess they were on some kind of dray, cause it twere there too. Some horse bones were scattered around as well. You must have sompin’in mind the way you’s actin?”

“Yeah. I was thinking not more than a week ago that there was a lot of wood in the wood lot that is located in back of the ranch house. There are some good straight trees started and the trash wood needs taking out. I could put you to work in there doing that. There’s seasoned wood enough on the ground for the new school house for this year.

“We’ve worked up the wood for the ranch already, but we need more cut for next year to be stacked up and drying. I could pay a dollar a day while you’re cutting that. That’s after you get the school house wood worked up. You’ve got six weeks before school begins to get that done. You got crosscut saws?”

“No, we lost most of our tools when us’ns lost the wagons crossing a river. We lost two of our women at the same time. They’s was driving.

“Well, I’ll take it on myself to get you outfitted. Can you make it down to the ranch for breakfast?  I’ll know about what I want to do, by then. We’ll see if we can’t help you people out. Maybe if you men would eat in the cook shack with the men, my Ma will feed the women and kids in the house. Ask the kids to be fairly quiet because my Pa has had a stroke and he’s in the front room.

“We’s  a lot of trouble, hain’t we?

I offered, “Don’t let it bother you. My wife and her family grew up poor and there was someone that came along to help lift her mother up the same way as we are trying to do for you. Maybe I ought to get your names before we go any further with this.”

“Sure, we’uns have the name of Bruce. It’s a clan name. I’m Boyd, that’s James an cousin’s named Jake. The women are Margaret and Minnie, They be sisters like we be brothers. Minny has some schoolin’ so she talks better than the rest of us.”

“Well, I better get back to the ranch. I talk every evening with my men so I always know what’s happening. See you a breakfast.” All were standing watching us as we mounted, waved, and turned our horses toward home.

“Tugs at your heart when you see people so poor. It sounded like they started out okay, but have had more than normal streak of bad luck. We’ll see how they work out. They’re coming down for breakfast and I’m showing them where to cut wood. Do you remember how your family pulled apart that shed and made do to live in until things got better for you?”

“Yeah, but I missed most of it. Sheila let me live with Patty at the ranch with Randy and her.”

“I was told about when you moved in with Sheila and Randy.”

“When are you going to tell Dean about this?”

“I’m just telling him I hired some people to clear the poor trees out of the woodlot so the timber can grow better. You can mention that four cords of the firewood are for you to warm the school house. I swear Pa loves you as much as he does Ma. You said you were going to charm him and you have.”

“I told you I could and I never lie. I love you and that’s no lie either.” I reached over and held Teresa’s hand until the horses drifted apart.

I went into the bunkhouse after supper. “Men, I found some people up at the old logging camp. I hired them to cut and split wood. They’re going to be in the woods the other side of the new school house. I said they could tear down some of those logging shacks on top of the hill and use them to build something to live in for this winter.  They have six kids who are going to school.”

“How many of them are there?”

“Three men with two married to sisters. They’ve had a lot of hard luck. They lost some of those they started out with crossing, a river, and some got sick and died. They are as poor as anyone I have ever met.”

“Where are they from?

“They said the mountains of Kentucky. Not many of them can read or write and the kids have never been to school. The men are coming in for breakfast and the two women and the kids will eat in the house.”

“Why are you feeding them?”

“Because they are hungry, that’s why.”

“That bad?”

“Yeah, that bad.”

I went back to the house and went into Pa’s room where Teresa was reading to him. 

“Dear, did you tell Pa about the woodchoppers I took on?”

“No, you tell him.

“Pa, I hired three men to get up wood for the school house and then cut wood for the ranch for next year. Two of them have wives and they have six real young kids, maybe six to ten years old. They’ll be building shelters out of those old logging camps. I told them they could tear down what they needed from them. Just thought you should know.”

Pa’s eyes looked at me. Then he looked back at Teresa, and then at the book in her hand. “Dave, go away, Dean wants to hear the ending of the book. I’ll be out in fifteen minutes.” So much for me worrying what Pa would say.

Teresa and I talked with Ma when Teresa came out of Pa’s room. “Ma. can you make pancakes for the kids in the morning? I suspect these kids have been on a meat diet and are sick of it by now. Probably by the looks and from what was said they never were able to get really enough of that either.”

“Dave, don’t bother your head. Reesa and I will take care of them. I just opened a new jar of sorghum so there’s plenty of that too. I’ve got some side meat and I’ll put some on their plate when I serve them.”

“The two wives need fattening up too. I’ll bet they will be here early.”

We went upstairs early and were asleep soon after. I woke up as the sun was coming up. I first looked in on Pa. He was awake and I said good morning. Pa raised his right hand just a little off the bed and wiggled it a little. “Pa, you’re getting better. The doctor said it would be slow but a month ago you couldn’t move at all. I’ll going to ask Ma to ask the doctor if the punchers can move you out onto the porch some days. It would give you a little bit of fresh air.” The hand came up and wiggled more vigorously. Pa certainly wanted out of that bed.

I went down to the cook shack and got the first coffee out of the pot. The men came in slowly.  All were having their first smoke of the day. I had never smoked and was glad I hadn’t caught the habit. Everyone ate and I asked Buck what was planned for today. He explained he was moving a herd of cattle from one  side valley to another.  “This is the herd we are getting the car-load of cattle from that ships on Friday.”

“Good. Next week we’ll plan on shipping two car loads. I’m going to need some extra funds soon.”

“You’re setting up those woodchoppers then?”

“Yeah, that is if they look like they are good workers and will stick to it. I’ll know in a few days. If they are what I think, then I’ll go ahead and really see that they get settled in. We’ve got thousands of acres and letting them use forty won’t harm us a bit.”

“Dean wouldn’t do that.”

“Probably not, but I think he might change. Oh, Buck, leave one hand here. I’m going to see if it is okay to bring Pa out onto the porch. He needs to get out of the house for a few hours. He was moving his right hand this morning so he is getting better.”

Just then Sam, the hand who did barn chores came in to eat. “Dave, you got company coming. There are five people walking and the three horses look like they’re covered with kids.”

“Good, I figured they would be early. You can meet them before you saddle up and head out.”

Part 2: Chapter 2

The horses came slowly into the ranch yard. The kids on the horses were looking around at everything. They were staring at the crew where they were bunched together. I stepped forward. “Teresa will be right out. Get the kids down from the horses. She and my Ma are making flapjacks”

Teresa came hurriedly out of the house. “Oh, I’m so glad you came. I was hoping you would. Breakfast is all ready and Mable is frying the cakes now.” The kids didn’t wait for help, they just slid down and headed for the porch. “Come Margaret and Minny, Dave will see to the men.”

The three men tied the horses to a hitch rail and turned to me, “Boyd, James, and Peter, these are my hands I use for working cattle. I won’t name them all. Buck Johnson is my straw boss. He’s the big man off to the right. These men here are all named Bruce. I suspect they originally came from Scotland and are here by way of Kentucky. I’ve hired them to cut wood for the school.” He let the choppers know. “My men just finished helping the carpenters build it.

All three men said, “Howdy.”

Buck spoke, “Come on men we have cattle to move. Pleased to meet you fellows, we’ll be seeing some of each other.” I led the way toward the cook shack and they paused to watch the men mount and ride off.

There was a stack of tin plates and tin cups at the end of the table. There was also a tray of table ware if a person didn’t have their own. Knives came out of their sheaths. “Coffee is in that pot on the table. Help yourselves.” There was a platter of steaks and a platter of fried eggs and a plate of corn bread. There was a tub of butter. “We keep a Shorthorn dairy cow so we make our own butter. The kids will have milk to drink, they might like that. I’ve eaten, but I’ll drink another coffee.”

The three men dug in, not speaking because they were too busy. Finally, “Ben’ a long time since I set to a table with that amount of food on it. We’s thank you’s.”

“Okay, I got a patch of woods close by up behind the new school house. Back in the middle there is an open glade that’s almost flat. It would make a good place to build homes for you. I don’t want it clear cut. I want to save the trees that will make timber.

“Okay, that’s where and how.  Now I need to know what you need for tools. I’ve got some here at the ranch you can use. You said you have axes? That’s good and I’ve got two crosscut saws.  There is a half dozen splitting wedges, but only one hammer. We’ll get another one the next time in town. I’ve got one team of draft horses and there is a dump cart that will work for moving wood where you don’t have to travel far. There are a couple heavy wagons we use for hauling supplies from town.”

“What’s the name of the town? We’s ain’t been there yet?”

“It’s called Ferris Town. My Pa had it named after him ’cause he owns the most land and has been here the longest. You’ll find the whole valley doesn’t belong to Pa.  The other side of town belongs to a man, name of Randal Palmer. I just got done working for him because Ma wanted me here to run the place when Pa got sick. It’s a good thing I’m here in charge or you wouldn’t be sitting here eating. My old man hates everybody, or did. That’s why I was working for somebody else. We just couldn’t get along.

“What’s happ’n when he gits on hisn feet again?”

“That’s my problem. My Ma sided me and she will again. That’s the way it’s going to be, so trust me. Now, have you got anything to tear apart those shacks up there to build your shelters with?”

“Nope, we’s don’ts even have us’n a nail hammer.”

“Well, I think I can scare up a couple of those and a couple wrecking bars. Save the nails into a bucket if they can be reused and maybe one of your women can straighten them. Can you build your own cabins?”

“Yeah. They might notten look like much but they be comfy. You gotten an adze? I use one on mountain and built homes before.”

“I think there is one around here. You’ll have to put a handle in it. There is also a broad axe for dressing timbers too. That has the handle in it.”

“Left or right sided?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea. I’ll hunt it up and you can tell which it is, I can’t.”  Boyd nodded.

Teresa——————————

In the kitchen, the six children were seated around the table. Mable and I were cooking pancakes. Each of the kids had a glass of milk. This was a real luxury. The four girls sipped theirs while the two boys began drinking as fast as they could. Minny was there standing behind them. Her hand came down on their shoulders, she whispered to make it last. Mable was at the stove and I was holding plates for Mable to put one slice of thick bacon and two pancakes on each. She handed them to Minny and loaded two more and handed them to Margaret.

When I had two more filled I went behind the kids and we set them on the table in front of the six eager children. There were two pitchers of sorghum and the mothers put it on the kid’s pancakes. Margaret was watching to see how much I poured and she poured the same amount. This was a delicacy and to be portioned.

The kids had another round of pancakes. I spoke when they finished, “Children, go out the back door and you can see a building a little way off. That is where you will be going to school. The door isn’t locked. Go look inside. The desk on one end is where I will be sitting.

“On the left as you go inside there is a little place separated off where I bring students who have attained a certain grade. I’ll be teaching all six grades. But there are no students this year in third grade.  So sometime in the day I will be there with you. While I’m there, the rest of the students will be studying at your desks.

“I’ll feed your Moms and then we will come over so they can see it too.” I told the two women a little bit about how I came to be interested in Dave. “Dave is older than I am. He came to work on the ranch where I grew up with my friend Patty, who wanted me to live with her when her Mom married. Patty’s father had died some time before and this person came into her life after he was injured.

“My family lived in town before that and we weren’t very popular because we were Mexican and poor. I have two brothers and two sisters. You’ll meet my Mom in about another hour because she nurses people and she is helping Mable take care of  Dave’s Pa.”

Minny asked, “How did you meet Dave?”

“My white knight you mean? Oh, I was in the bank after school one day. Four men came in to rob the bank. I was the only customer at the time because the bank was almost ready to close for the day. All of a sudden the door burst open because Dave wanted to cash his paycheck before the bank closed. The robber at the door shot Dave in the leg and he dove behind a counter. The leader grabbed me and held me in front of him to protect himself. Dave shot another robber at the teller’s counter.

“The leader motioned for the one other robber to lean over the counter and shoot Dave from above. Dave could see my face where the leader was behind me for his own protection. I was able to warn Dave by rolling my eyes what was happening. Dave rolled onto his back and when the robber stuck his gun over to shoot, Dave shot his hand off.

“The leader was still holding me and told Dave to come out where he could see him or he would kill me. Then Dave was the one rolling his eyes. He wanted me to pretend to faint. I finally realized that was what Dave was rolling his eyes for me to do. I suddenly dropped on the flour which exposed the last robber and Dave shot and killed him. I ran to Dave because he had been bleeding all through this and tied up the wound enough to stop the worst of it. That night I gave Dave a ride to the ranch where Dave worked and it just happened to be in the home where I grew up.

“I surely believe we were in love before we got there. I know I was. I worried a little because I was Mexican, but Dave didn’t care. He was at the ranch working and I would see him every time school wasn’t keeping. That was until a few weeks ago when his Pa got sick and Mable asked him to come home and run the ranch here. I think he is doing very well.

“At the Palmer Ranch, Dave was just a puncher, but he learned a lot about different management styles how to run a ranch. Dave manages the ranch a little different than his Pa did, but he learned all of the basics from his father and both systems put money in the bank. I quit teaching when Dave came back here and we were married a month later. I’ve been helping Mable until school starts.”

Minny asked, “Would you give me some pointers to teach the kids so they can catch up with the other students. Our children just never had a chance to go to school. Margaret might be able to educate herself some too. She feels so inadequate and I only have a little schooling myself. I have concentrated on learning to speak from listening to people I meet. We both are shamed.”

“Of course I will. You’ll be close and when I’m grading papers, I’ll help.”

Mable said. “Why don’t you two ladies go see to your kids for a few minutes while we tend to my husband? We have to feed him real slow so he won’t choke. Teresa’s mother will be here soon and we give him a bath.” 

The two left by the back door. Mable turned to me and hugged me. I was surprised. “What was that for?”

“Teresa, I love you for saying how Dean managed the range and you didn’t say Dave was better at it. I did get awful frustrated the way Dean did things often times, but I have to defend him.”

“I would do the same.”

Mable had been making corn meal gruel and she put it into a bowl. I would help get Dean sitting up and would hold him while Mable spooned food into him. There was one slice of thick bacon left. I thought a minute and then took it over to the counter and pounded it with the potato masher until it was a fatty paste. “I’ll bet Dean can swallow this and he will like the flavor. He must be so sick of gruel. We should try to do this with other foods.”

“You really care don’t you?” I didn’t have to answer because I saw Nina, my mother, from the window, arriving. She was alone today. Montana must have had something else to do. Mable waved me out to meet her.

Then she proceeded to tell Dean what her daughter-in-law had told the two women about his management who were guest for breakfast. “She didn’t say you were better or worse than Dave, just different. I thought that was sweet of her. And too, I’m going to be feeding you tastier food because she cares.” Dean’s face moved and the right cheek almost made it up into a smile. Dean was getting better.

Outside, I was telling Nina about the woodchoppers, their wives and the six kids I was going to teach. “I’ll have to go into town and clear it with the commission. Dave charged them four cords of wood for payment so the kids could come to school.”

“And I’ll bet Dave is paying them something to do it too, isn’t he?” I nodded. “Dave learned that from Randy Palmer. Christ, think what Randy has done for the town and the valley over the years.”

“Mom, I’m so proud.”

“You should be, girl. Well my patient is waiting. Where is Dave?”

“He is up in the woods with the men who are going to chop wood. The rest of the family are out in the new schoolhouse. I’m going out there now.”

“This family, what are they like?”

“They are dirt poor and totally uneducated. It is going to be a struggle teaching them anything. No, I shouldn’t say that. The two mothers want their children to advance and know they can’t without knowledge.”

“You’ll come through. Look where we were when Sheila and Randy were both injured and I was hired to nurse them. Now we have another person who thinks along the same lines in Dave, your husband.

I could hear children reciting the alphabet when I got near the school house. I opened the door and looked in. Minny had written the alphabet on the small blackboard that was in the alcove. There was a big blackboard for the whole class on the other end of the room. I had left a small piece of chalk that she had used to see if the board was dark enough. Minny’s face got red when I stepped in and she almost dropped the chalk.  “I was pretend to be school teacher so my kids know how to act.”

“That’s fine. That will help a lot on the first day. I have no idea what the other students are like. Okay, I have a few minutes and I’ll be your teacher today just like I will be in a few weeks. First you must remember to address me as ‘Mrs. Ferris’ while in school. Minny, you demonstrate.

“Okay. Mrs. Ferris, what is the lesson for today. Mrs. Ferris, I have to go to the bathroom. Mrs. Ferris, Jimmy is picking on me.” Minny laughed. “Kids, you should always speak to your teacher with respect.”

“That’s good Minny, and when I speak to you children, I’ll always use your name so you know I’m speaking directly to you. I may be asking a question and I want only you to answer it. This is the way it should be while in and around the school. If you are down at the ranch house or I’m at your house, I give you permission to call me Reesa because I’m your friend. Lizzy, can you remember that?”

“Yes, Mrs. Ferris.”

“Okay, Children, I have time, let’s walk up into the woods where your parents are going to be building you a home. It’s hot and there is cold spring where we can get a drink of cold water. Children, class dismissed.”

Margaret said, “The kids is going to love you’s and they be loves going tuh school. This be importan’ to us’ns.”

I explained, “I always wanted to be a teacher and with the help of some people, they made it possible even though I’m Mexican. I can see why you want an education for your children and someday one of them may be a teacher like me.”

The group walked up and into the woods. About three hundred yards they came to an opening where the saddled horses were hitched. Beyond that they came to a spring. It gurgled and bubbled over some stones for about fifty feet before disappearing into the ground. Everyone got down to drink from the tiny stream.

Minny said. “We didn’t have water close by where we lived near the top of a mountain. We had to lug water for everything. Our washing was done right at the brook. Summertime we spread our clothes out on the rocks. Washing in the winter was a real chore. That’s the way our folks did it and we did the same. Thinking back, we should have done different, but I really don’t know how.”

I asked, “Why didn’t you move your house to it?”

“Couldn’t. Steep slope and big boulders. Our only land for garden goods was down on the other side. Will we be able to have enough land to grow garden goods?”

“I’m sure Dave will make sure you do. How else will you will be able to feed yourselves. Food here is pretty inexpensive because the other end of this big valley is mostly farm land. My mother has a farm, and so doesn’t one of my brothers. I have one brother who works for Randy Palmer and a sister who is married to one of his hands.  I’m sure growing your own food of what you like is better.

Dave————————————

Just then the Bruce men and I came walking out of the woods. “Hi Teresa, I’m letting these people build their house here. There is everything they need. There is even a garden spot through the trees a little way. The soil is rich and dark and should grow great crops. There is a swamp over on the eastern edge of the woods. There are a lot of reeds in it. They tell me that Margaret weaves baskets with that type of reed. I’m sure she can sell whatever she makes to give them a little more income.”

Margaret immediately wanted go look at them. Teresa wanted to see her mother so she headed back to the ranch house on foot. I said I was going to search out tools and load the buckboard with them. The kids could ride in that and not have to walk up into the hills. They would be tired. It had been a busy day for them.

Teresa put meat, potatoes, flour, and a hank of bacon into the wagon. All would be working at salvaging the camps and would make a load for a bigger wagon as soon as they finished the salvage. They hitched two of the Bruce’ saddle horses to the buckboard. They would use a heavier team and wagon of mine to bring the salvaged lumber down from the logging camp.

“What do you think of the men Dave, now that you have been with them for awhile?”

“I think they are intelligent enough, just uneducated. What about women?”

“The same. They’re going to be right with the kids teaching them what I lay out. I suspect they will be the smartest kids in the school by the time the season ends. I think the mothers will retain much of it too.”

“How is Pa this morning Teresa?”

“Better, Dave, I believe. I think we will carry his bed out to the porch this afternoon. He should enjoy that.”

“Okay, Teresa, I’m going into town this afternoon and pick up some tools for the Bruce brothers for when they start cutting wood. I’m hoping I can catch Randy in town because I need to ask him something.”

“What?”

“It’s about the last cost increase to ship the cattle by rail.”

“The  railroad raised the shipping rate again and the shippers are passing the cost onto us.”

“The farmers are in the same pickle. Maybe Randy can come up with something.”

“I’m sure Randy will find out if this is local or country wide. Hey, I think I’ll ride in with you. I’ll get the new children listed for the new school year with the school commission.”

“Good idea, I’ll enjoy the company. Let’s get Pa out onto the porch. I’ll round up the hand that is supposed to help me. If Ma wants him back inside before we return he and the cookie can do it.”

This was done and a half hour later we were riding for town. The buck board wasn’t available, so I took a pack horse with us. Pa was sitting in an overstuffed chair on the porch. Ma was sitting right by him singing a song.

Randy was just going across the street to the bank when he saw us come down the street. We swung our animals in beside him.  Randy noticed we had a pack animal with them. “Hi Dave, and how is married life?”

I answered, “It’s the best, Randy. I came in to see if you were in town. I wanted to ask you about the latest raise on shipping cattle. It leaves no profit to ship cattle with the railroad any longer.”

“Hey, that’s a coincidence. I’m going in and talk to the bank about it. Simpson holds the paper on Stark who owns the railroad. You can come in with me. How is Dean?”

Teresa answered, “A little better. He calls me Reesa and everyone on the ranch is calling me that. Calling me Reesa was the first word we could recognize of him speaking, so we could understand him. His right side is getting so he can move his hand and arm and he can almost smile.”

“What do you mean, Dean never smiles?”

“He does if Reesa is with him. I’m almost jealous. She’s got him wrapped around her little finger. She’s a wonder, not just to me, but to everyone.”

“You two are a perfect couple.”

“Dave, I’m going to go hunt up the school commission about the six new students. I’ll be over to the diner getting some lunch.”

“I’ll see you there, Sweetheart.” Reesa turned and went across the street.

Randy questioned me,” Where are the new students coming from? I haven’t been informed by the commission yet, and I’m on the school board”.

I explained to him that I had found a bunch of squatters on the ranch, holing up in the old logging camp. “There are eleven people in all and six were school age. Reesa needs wood to heat the school house this winter, so I took it on myself to charge them to cut four cord of wood in payment for the kids going to school. I’m giving the county the wood.  Also my crew helped put up the schoolhouse. There are those hill people above the ranch too. To consider too, Will you back me on this, Randy?”

“Sure, sounds like a deal for the county. Teresa may make a little more by having more students, so you’ll get some back that way. That’ll be a long way for these kids to come from the logging camp to the ranch If they stayed up there in winter time.”

“Randy, they won’t be living there. I’m letting them have the forty acres to live on where they are right back of the new school.  There’s wood there to cut. They’re hard up. Long term, I think I’ll come out ahead on this.”

“It sounds like something I would do. What are they going to do after they get the school wood cut?”

“They’re cutting my wood for the ranch when they finish with the other. After that I’m letting them cut and sell wood here in town. If you know of anyone that needs wood cut, and have woods, they could move onto the lot and cut it. That would save them from cutting wood and then looking to find a buyer.”

“Dave, I’ll ask around. Not many people like to cut wood. It is a lot of work. I remember that’s what Teresa’s family did to earn money.”

“These people are worse off than Nina’s family ever was. They’re really poor, but after what they have gone through, I have faith they’ll rise above where they are now.” I paused and asked, “What are you going to do about the railroad? You said that was what you were talking to Simpson about.

“Come inside and listen.” Randy opened the door and we went inside the bank. He noticed that I looked around. I could still see the bullet holes that peppered the walls. I shook my head in remembrance.

Simpson invited us into his office. “Randy and Dave, how’s things with you Dave?  I’ve heard you’re running the ranch for your Pa. How’s he doing?”

“Pa’s getting better. Teresa is helping with that a lot. She is caring for him almost as much as Ma is.”

“Good, move. I’m glad you two got together.” He turned to Randy. “What do you need, Randy?

“It’s about Stark and the railroad. He has raised his shipping prices on everything he’s carried in his cars three times in the last six months. The rumor is that he has been gambling and making up his losses by raising the rates. Is that true?”

“I don’t know about why, but he has been in for a loan occasionally.” Simpson winked at me.

“Mr. Simpson, as you know I’ve put the money I’ve collected from my various endeavors into actually having control or owning the land East of town and the whole length of the valley. I believe I have been a good steward. If the rumors are true, this seventeen mile stretch of railroad track is totally owned by Stark. I’m afraid that some day he is going to sit down at some poker game somewhere and lose that railroad at the table.

“I built a road with my mules so the first farmer who produced more than they could sell here in the valley could move it out to a wider market. I was making some money, but I could see that goods could travel by rail cheaper than I could move it. It was me who basically brought in the railroad and I gave them the land to lay tracks on.”

“You should have sold them the land.”

“There wouldn’t be a railroad here if I had done that.”

“True, I knew that. So what are you going to do?”

“Take the railroad away from Stark.”

“Impossible! First of all he isn’t the one you gave your land to and I’ve seen the deed that was given to Stark. I hate to say this, Randy, but you’re screwed.”

“Am I?” Randy had a folder with him and opened it now. “Sir, take a look at this. This is an addendum to the original deed. Apparently the first owner didn’t include it in the deed to Stark. Or if he did, Stark is ignoring it.  I’ve discussed this with Judge Cramer who made out the original deed and he says this is the addendum and is still viable. The two witnesses each one of us had are alive, and I have talked to one of them and he remembers reading it.

“Mr. Simpson, I hope you haven’t been the bank providing loans on the strength of that incomplete deed.”

“Oh, my God.”  Simpson’s face turned white and he was shaken as the facts of the enormity of the situation sank in and took hold of him

“I’m not going to ask you how much you or if you actually did lend Stark money. I’m not going to ask if some banker lent money on the rolling stock and equipment. I’m asking if it was more than it is worth? A locomotive engine is pretty expensive. Hell, I’d hate to have to buy a single passenger car.

“Randy, the bank that lent money did it only on the rolling stock, and I suppose the bank can sell it to recover what is owed if the bank called in the loan. What about the land that was once yours before you gave a deed to it to the first railroad?”

“Oh, according to Judge Cramer, he assured me that the land would come back to the original owner, which is me. I would have to find someone to run the rail line if enough rolling stock could be found to put on the rails. Just an added fact, the rails are part of the land and can’t be removed because when they were spiked down, they became a fixture.”

Upset, I asked, “Randy, tell me right now what triggered this so the land should come back to you?”

Randy laughed, “Okay, Dave. The addendum states that if the operator of the rail line that is running on said land and raises the costs of shipping more than ten percent in one year for other than a national disaster, the original deed and agreements are null and void. My accounts say the costs have been raised three times in the last year. 

The first raise was five percent six months ago. Three months ago it was raised six percent which triggers the clause, and two weeks ago there was a notice declaring as of next Monday the charges were going up eight more percent. So I’m claiming the land be returned to me because of the exorbitant increases that were well spelled out.”

I stared at Randy, just shaking my head. Just then a bank clerk came and knocked on the closed door. “Mr. Simpson, there are some men here saying there was a meeting here in the office. Is there one?”

Simpson looked at Randy and Randy said, “There is a meeting that I called in your interests.”

Mr. Simpson, told the clerk to let the men in and the four men filed in. Mr. Simpson stuck out his hand, “Welcome, Judge Cramer, am I ever glad to see you. I think there are people here who are a hell of lot more intelligent than I am. I hope the bank comes out of this solvent.”

“Hi, John, yeah we’ll see what we can do. I think we can clear this up if we can keep it quiet for a few days. I caution everyone to not speak about this.”

“Judge, meet Dave Ferris, I don’t think he is involved in this but he is the largest landowner in the valley, I think you were just leaving weren’t you, Dave?”

I was standing, “Yes, I was, and for everyone’s information, I don’t talk about anything to anyone.”

Mr. Simpson said to the Judge, “Judge, Dave is the one who saved my bank from being robbed a few months ago. Except for the robbers, he is the only one who was injured.”

“Son, I heard about your exploits. I was hoping someday I would meet you and could shake your hand. Good work.”

“Thank you sir.”

I dodged around the crowded room quickly, stepping across the lobby and was out the door. I practically ran into Teresa who was waiting for me. “Hi, Dave, you look excited. Did Randy give you any information about the railroad shipping costs?”

“He’s working on it.”

“Is that all you have to say?”

“Yes, for the time being, sweetheart and it is being worked on.”

“Okay, it sounds important, though.”

“It is. Let’s get something to eat and then I want to buy some tools and some extra food. We have more people to feed. Tell me how you made out with the school commission.”

“I’m glad I came in. I have good news. That Perkins’ boy who was so big, ran off and won’t be in school according to his parents. The fourteen year-old-girl is boarding out and going to school here in town. The other fifteen year-old-boy is really studious and I was warned I would have to challenge him to keep him from being bored. Dave, I love a challenge.”

“You’re up to it.”

“I hope so. His nickname is ‘The Brain’ and that gives me pause. I’m glad he is coming. He is the one who is transporting the rest of the kids in a buckboard until snow flies and then they all pack onto a one-horse sled. You’re supposed to stable the horse during school hours.

“I can do that.”

Randy—————————————

In the bank, Randy was explaining how he was to get control of the railroad. “Mr. Simpson, to protect your position I would suggest Judge Cramer freeze the railroads title to the rolling stock and equipment. I doubt there is much beside those for assets.

“What about you, Randy?”

“There is a request in place. I was waiting on you for you to request the same. Just to help things along I’ve had notices printed up announcing that whatever item a notice is tacked on is bank owned, per order of Judge John C. Cramer.  He will send a telegram to the sheriff at the other end of the line to post these as soon as the sheriff receives it. I have a deputy standing by to do the same here in Ferris Town.” 

“This seems too simple. Why didn’t you come to me before this?”

“These other three men who came in with Judge Cramer are lawyers. One is hired by the railroad and the other two are mine. I don’t know all the ins and outs, but they all say this is legal. It has something to do with the railroad commission who regulates these things. I saw Judge Cramer when the last raise was announced and he took it from there so the railroad wouldn’t be shut down and cease to operate.”

“So who is in charge? I don’t know anything about running a railroad.”

“Mr. Simpson, I’m covering the cost to keep it running temporarily until we can hire a person to take over, manage it, and run it for either you or me with my land and rails, and your equipment, put together. I’m hoping the rates will be able to go down to the level before the last three increases. The best thing for both of us is to sell it all to another railroad. That way you would get your money back and I’d make a little on the sale. I’ve made money by having a railroad here in the valley so when I come to sell the land again, I can cut it to about the cost of the rails spiked down to the ties.”

“What happens to Stark?”

The Judge answered this, “If he wants to take it to court, his only option is to bring suit if he bought not knowing about the addendum.  His suit would be against the company who sold the railroad to him. Not your problem because neither of you are culpable. I’ll tell you this, there are more crooks that are railroad barons than in any other business. They are always trying to screw the other guy.”

Judge Cramer looked at Banker Simpson and Randy Palmer. Then he said, “Okay it looks as if Randal Palmer has the land back in his hands and Banker Simpson has the collateral that the bank lent on to satisfy the loan on the rolling stock it made coming back to the bank. There has to be quite a bit of legal paperwork to transfer all of this. Things are never as simple as one could wish. Palmer has retained me to do this.

“I have looked at paperwork that Stark filed when he purchased the railroad. I suspect he’ll run before the investors that were in with him can catch him. At present, he is the one who is totally in charge. We do have to bring him in and get him to sign everything over to Palmer and the bank. Randy do you know where he could be found?”

“I’ll go get him. He came in on the train just before I headed to the bank, but I made one stop. You know he has always wanted to meet Sheila so I took him to meet her while she was visiting my office. I would bet he is still there.”

Simpson asked, “How can you be so sure?”

“Because he is in my office talking to my wife. He might be a little upset when he found I had locked the door on both of them when I left. Sheila said she could keep him calm. If he did get out, there are some of my hands hanging around. I’ll be back in twenty minutes with him.”

As Randy went out the door he heard Simpson ask if anyone cared for a drink. He kept a bottle in his desk.

Dave——————————————

Randy walked fast toward his office looking for us. We were all finished and ready to mount up. “Teresa, can you spare Dave again? In fact would you mind going along home. I need him at the bank and I don’t know how long we’ll be.

“This must be important?”

“It is. It is about the railroad.”

“Oh yeah, that’s one of the things Dave came to town for. I’ll even take the pack horse. It’s all loaded.” Unheard of, something like this happening in public, Teresa hugged me and swung into her saddle. Both our faces were red. I handed Reesa the lead to the packhorse and said she would see him at the ranch.

“What’s up, Randy?”

“Come over to my office, I have to get a man and head back to the bank. You can help.”

“Who is it?’

“The owner of the railroad. I’m convincing him to sign the railroad over to Simpson and me.”

“Won’t he object?”

“Probably and he’ll be some pissed. I have him locked in my office with Sheila. He’s been in there since I met you the first time when you came into town. Not only that he’ll be leaving town as broke as can be.”

Randy went into his office and unlocked the door seeing Stark sitting in his chair.  Stark was sitting in his chair. “Hi Palmer, I thought you had forgotten me. I’ve been here regaling your lovely wife about some of my exploits. I must say she is a good listener. Are we going over to the bank now?”

“How do you know I had that in mind?”

“Oh, I read one of those notices a deputy was tacking onto one of the hand carts when I stepped down from the train where it is now bank owned. I figure he must have everything tagged by now.”

“Are you okay, Sheila?”

“Benjamin has been a perfect gentleman. How long are you going to be?”

“I have no idea. Are you going out to ranch now?”

“No, I’ll wait for you. We might stop and look at some bushes on the way.” This was a standing joke about the two wanting to make love back ten years ago when they were riding home from town.

Randy and I hustled Stark right along. He was wearing a vest and dress coat and he began puffing for he was quite portly. “No hurry is there?”

“Well, a little bit. I have some lawyers and Judge Cramer in the bank with Simpson to get this all settled.”

“Are you stripping me of everything?”

“Pretty much.”

“Can’t you leave me with something? $5,000 would do it.”

“It doesn’t appear we can, but we’ll see.” Stark’s face fell.

Simpson got up from behind his desk. “Benjamin, I think you need to be sitting down for this meeting.”

“Thank you Mr. Simpson. I take it my sins are coming home to roost?”

“Benjamin, I think your only sin was when you sat down at a poker table and had to come to me for your first loan.”

“That’s true. I had to raise the rates before that which covered my losses the first time.  Before this, I had had an unusual string of good cards. They’ll come again. This isn’t the first business I’ve lost. So where do I stand?”

“The bank is taking over the collateral you put up against the notes. My lawyer’s figures tell me that there is barely enough to cover your losses.”

“What about the land? That wasn’t put up as collateral.”

“I know it wasn’t, but Mr. Palmer is here to address, that.”  Simpson looked at Randy.

Randy’s Lawyer slid a copy of the addendum across the desk in front of Stark. “Have you ever seen this?”

Stark wanted to lie that he hadn’t. He looked at the Judge and the Lawyers. “Maybe.”

“Do you want it read to you?”

He smiled, “Nah, I know what it says. I guess you boys have me cold.”

Judge Cramer spoke, “You know Mr. Stark, I could sentence you to prison for fraud on any one of a half dozen other actions. All it is going to take is for Mr. Palmer or Mr. Simpson to say the word.”

“I’m hoping they won’t. Randy?”

“No, I guess not. The train is going to be able to run and it’s not tied up in a law suit. I’m looking out for the farmers and ranchers in the valley and the railroad might get shut down if a suit is instigated, and they couldn’t get their produce to market.”

Banker Simpson was thinking of what Randy had said. “I guess in interest of the community, the bank will go along with that.”

The Judge asked, “Mr. Stark, have you anything else of value that you could raise a little money on? We do hate to see you leave flat broke.”

“Let me understand this? If I sign over the railroad and equipment to the bank and Randy, then I’m square … and of course, busted?

“That’s right, Mr. Stark.”

“Okay, I do have one asset and I doubt your train will run very long without it. I let out the contract to some woodchoppers and they have a couple hundred cords of wood cut and ready to bring down out of the hills to the rail siding outside of town. That siding has about ten cords now. It takes about a cord of wood to travel the seventeen miles to the end of rail in the next town. You can figure it out.

I spoke up, “I’ll buy the contract for $500 and I’ll buy the cut wood for another $1,000. My woodland belonging to the ranch is right close to town here. I have three young and able woodchoppers to fulfill the contract.”

Stark’s face brightened. Randy asked, “What about at the other end of the railroad?”

“I don’t own that contract and I guess there is about thirty cords piled up there the same as the ten cords here. That’s, already delivered and if you wanted to pay me for it, I’m willing to take it.”

I asked, “How am I going to see what the contract says. I made an offer, but I do need to see what I’m getting into.”

“Mr. Simpson has a copy of it. He wouldn’t lend me any money without it.”

Simpson went to a file drawer and pulled the contract out. “Here it is, Dave. It is pretty standard.” I leaned against the wall and read it.

It was just a simple form and only took me five minutes to read. “Mr. Simpson, I can handle this with no problem. I’m not interested in the other end of the rail line as far as delivering wood. I guess that would be on whoever runs the line.” 

Randy said, “I have that all covered. I’ve had two weeks to finalize the takeover. Benjamin, you shouldn’t have asked to raise the rates that last time. Dave, I’m glad you were here to get in on this. The only thing you have to face now is telling Dean you spent some of the ranches money on some damned fool railroad.”

I laughed, “Randy, it is all covered, I’ll have Reesa do it. He’s like a puppy dog around Reesa.”

Simpson asked, “Who is Reesa?  I thought I knew everyone in the valley.”

“You do know, Reesa. She is the school teacher I just married—Teresa Gonzales.”

“That’s the woman who helped you during the time the bank was being robbed isn’t it?

“That’s right, Judge. After her saving my life, I need to keep her safe the rest of my life. She is something special. She has lived with Randy and family since she was twelve, so some of what she is, belongs to him and his wife, Sheila.”

“Okay let’s wind this up. Mr. Stark, these are the papers we need signed. Randy, how are you and the bank going to run this railroad now that you have it back into your hands?”

Randy, as usual had everything solved before attempting to make a change. He answered confidently. “I went around yesterday and asked the whole crew if the railroad was owned by the bank, would they work for it. They said they would if Rance Goddard was put in charge. He is Stark’s assistant.

“The Engineer, the one in charge of the crew, has been quite concerned because of Stark’s known gambling habit. They were afraid one of the major railroads would gobble this little one up, and they would lose their jobs. I don’t think but what the train will keep to the schedule without missing a run.”

Benjamin Stark made an observation. “Mr. Palmer should be taking on the big boys in this industry. I would bet on him to become a winner. I guess, or should I say hope, you are all done with me. All I need now is a horse to get me out of town.”

I spoke , “Mr. Simpson, would you withdraw $1,000  dollars from the Ferris ranches’ account to pay Mr. Stark for the wood and the $500, woodcutting contract?”

Mr. Simpson said, “I will do that. This actually went better than expected. Randy, you scared the crap out of me when you first came in. The bank has its loan secured and has collected title to its collateral. I think the bank can find a few pennies as a reward for making the transition so painless. I will come up with a like amount.”

Randy laughed, “Oh hell, I feel the same. Give Benjamin $1,500 from one of my accounts as well. That isn’t the $5,000 you were hoping for, but close. I’m hoping you don’t visit Ferris Town again. Be assured that the bank, of whom I’m one of the directors, will make sure it doesn’t give out loans to someone who plays cards at the poker table.”

Benjamin Stark arose and made his way to the door after collecting the $4,500. He paused, “Thank you Gentlemen, for letting me leave with a stake big enough to begin again. Good day to you all.”

The Judge stated, “I hope he gets out of Ferris before he sits down with that large a stake. He might walk away with the whole town. You should have made that a prerequisite.” Everyone laughed and the meeting broke up. Simpson offered a drink, but Randy said Sheila was waiting on him and it would be dark before they got home.

 Part 2: Chapter 3

I mounted my horse and took off for home. I still had to face Pa with what had happened today. So far he seemed to be okay how I was managing the ranch. I was planning out how I could present my actions. I wasn’t too worried. There was the woodland that belonged to the ranch. There were thousands of cords that could be cut. It wouldn’t be a big income stream, but steady.

I didn’t intend to have the timber land clear cut. I figured that the ties under the rails of the railroad would eventually rot, so I intended for when they began to deteriorate I would have ties available for their replacement. I had worked closely with Randy for almost a year and knew how his mind worked.  Prepare for the now, but look at the big picture. So any tree that would make a railroad tie wasn’t to be used for firewood. I would try to get Pa to understand this.

I pulled into the yard. One of the hands came out and took my horse as I headed for the kitchen. Reesa and Ma looked up and immediately began putting supper on the table. They had already eaten. Reesa observed, “You’re a lot later than I expected.”

“I know, but it couldn’t be helped. There was a lot going on. First let me tell you that the cost of shipping our cattle will be going down to where it was months ago. That is going to put ten percent more in the bank than it was on the cattle we shipped just last week. The railroad is now owned by Randy Palmer and Mr. Simpson’s Bank. Randy will be the one who manages the railroad crew. I guess they will collaborate on everything else”

Mable asked, “Are you involved in any way?” 

I hesitated to answer, but then said, “Yes, and Pa won’t like it. I bought the contract for cutting wood for the railroad.”

“For how much?”

“$1,500 dollars. There is some wood already cut and stacked. I haven’t met the woodchoppers yet. I’ll ride up there to see them tomorrow. I may put them onto the wood lots here on the ranch or I may just use the Bruce men. It’ll take a while to recover the cost, but then our only income won’t be just from cattle.”

“Dave, your father is awake. You had better tell him now. If you wait until tomorrow that will upset him the fact that you waited.”

“How is he doing, anyway?”

“Getting him outdoors today made a big difference to him. That’s why he is still awake.”

“Good, you know Ma, Pa and I were at odds over a lot of things, but it was depressing to see him just laying bed unable to move.”

“Think how it was for me?”

“I know Ma.” 

I headed for the bedroom as soon as I finished eating. Reesa followed me in and sat in the corner. “Hey, Pa, you’re looking pretty bright tonight. I’ve got some things to tell you. You know the shipping fees for the cattle that have been increasing wildly? I went to town to see Randy Palmer because he was the one who brought the railroad in several years ago. Anyway, he was doing something about the increase today. Seems when he deeded the land over to the original builder there was a clause that there couldn’t be more than a ten percent fee increase in a year.

“That was triggered last week, so the land came back to Randy automatically when he raised the rates over ten percent. Randy had the present owner in his power so he was clearing it up legally today.  Also Simpson at the bank had lent considerable sums to Stark, owner of the railroad rolling stock. Simpson foreclosed today and as long as Randy had Stark in hand, he took over the rolling stock that was collateral for the loans.  

“Rail service isn’t even going to be interrupted and the train is running tomorrow as it should be. What I’m saying is, the the last two increases were wiped out when Start asked for the third increase this year, he was in default.

“There was one asset that Stark still owned and I bought that from him before he left. It is the contract to cut firewood to run the train. There is some wood already cut and the contract was up for sale. I used the ranches money to purchase it. Lord knows we have hundreds and hundreds of acres of woodland we can cut west of the home ranch.

“Figuring in the cost of everything, I believe I can recover what we paid for it within a year. After that it would give the ranch income every year. We’ve had bad years when cattle weren’t bringing much. We know the train will run and money from that would be insurance for us survive.”

Pa made some noise and I took it he was in agreement with what I had done and was a good move, although I couldn’t understand Pa’s effort at words. “Anyway, Pa, the shipping cost to send a car load of cattle has gone back to where it was months ago. That’s a total of ten percent more money in our pocket. I have decided to ship two carloads of cattle instead of one this month. Also it looks also as if we can get along without one of the men. Sam was going to leave anyway, so I’m not replacing him. Is that fine with you?”

Pa nodded and I continued, “I’ve got in mind there are other ways of expanding the ranch. Randy has taught me to look at the whole picture to improve one’s station. He tells me you have done really well to settle this end of the valley and keep such a large land area under your control.

“He warns, though a person can’t just hang on without looking ahead. I’ve thought about what we have here and I’m trying to think of different ways to solidify our hold on it all. I’m hoping you’ll get well and get back to taking control of raising cattle. That will allow me to look around for different opportunities. Randy went with bringing in farmers. I don’t see that as an option here. We don’t have the flat land or the same good soil for crops on this end of the valley. Better not to attempt it.”

Pa  again made motion with his hand this time that he approved. “So, Pa, that’s where we are right now. I’m heading out in the morning and will be gone all day to look at the cordwood I purchased to run the railroad with. I’ll give Buck his orders before I go.

“I’m going to have Reesa ride up to the old logging camp and see how the Bruce choppers are doing tearing down the old camps for salvage. They should be about done. The day after, we’ll see about getting what they salvaged down so they can begin building homes for themselves to live in this winter. I’ll be in and talk again. If not, I’ll have Reesa keep you posted. Good night, Pa.”

I paused at the door for one more glance at Pa. He raised his hand in acknowledgement. Reesa went over and patted Dean on the shoulder and tucked the blanket a little closer. She then followed me out.

That night as we snuggled in bed, Reesa said, “Dave, Honey, you’re a good son. You’re keeping your father notified about what is going on. You’re also boosting his moral by including him in the ranch workings and telling him he is expected to return to being in charge. I was afraid when I first came, he would give up. When he gets back to being well again, there is no way he will return to the sometimes unlikable person he was.”

“You’re doing your part as well, Reesa. He dotes on you and his eyes lit up when you came in after me. That is the same way yours lit up when I came home tonight, so I know just how he feels. Love you, Sweet. God, am I tired. Another busy day tomorrow.” I leaned over for his goodnight kiss and was immediately asleep. Reesa was too

In the morning, I woke up with Reesa wrapped around, and over me. “You can’t get up until you make me happy we are married.” Later, but not much, “I’m happy now.”

I quickly went down to breakfast.”Morning Ma, thanks for having breakfast ready. I have a long ride today. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. I’ll talk to Buck a minute before I leave. Oh, one more thing, Reesa is riding up into the hills. Make sure she puts on her pistol and that it is loaded.”

“Are you expecting trouble?”

“I can’t think of any, but I want her safe.”

“Does she know how to handle a gun?”

“Yeah, Montana made sure of it. He would go to the ranch after he moved in with Nina and teach her and Patty. Both are good. Have you got a couple of biscuits I can take with me? I won’t be where I can get anything before I get back.” Twenty minutes later I was on a horse and jogging along toward town. I cut off to the wooded land to the south and up into the hill country. I was soon in heavily forested land.

Thinking to himself, I had better go in and talk to the Federal land agent within a few days. Randy Palmer had put his money into buying land outright, but I thought I would just get rights to cut wood and timber, and make sure I had control of the water.

There was no doubt eventually the Federal Government would want to take over the open land. Ranchers would have to lease it if they wanted to use it. I would ask about that when I came down out of the hills today.  For today, I would come down on the other side of town, where the train stopped to load the tender with wood for the daily run. I passed the boundary that marked the ranch to the east and cut further up into higher ground. A half hour later I could hear axes working.

I paused at the edge of a the edge of the opening of the cut over timber land. There were stacks and stacks of piled cord wood. I sat there watching the three choppers, leaning on the horn of my saddle. It took twenty minutes for one of the choppers to spot him. Work stopped and he urged his mount forward. “Men, howdy.”

“You lost? Don’t often see a man on a horse up here.”

“No, I don’t think I’m lost. Are you the crew cutting for the railroad?”

“Yeah, we work for Ben Stark.”

“Stark’s gone. I bought him out.”

“He leave any money? He owes us.”

“He didn’t say anything about that.”

“He was up here three days ago and paid us up, but owes for what we’ve chopped since.”

“That’s why I’m here. How many cords you got stacked up?”

“Two hundred and seventeen. Four of those haven’t been paid for.” Dave nodded, indicating he would accept their figure.

“Who moves the wood down to the landing?”

“We do. We get a dollar a cord and you furnish the mule. We do need a better mule. This one is done. One cord goes down everyday so’s you know we can ride on the wagon after working all day and we’re some tired by then. One day a week we just move wood because the railroad uses more than one cord a day.”

“Do you know where Randy Palmer’s office is on Main Street?”

“Yeah, we see him out and around and always he says hi. You might tell us your name seeing as you are our boss.”

“The name is Dave Ferris. My Pa runs the Ferris Ranch.”

“I’ve heard of it and seen some of your hands in town. They have a reputation for being tough and quick on the jump. Been told to stear clear of them. Never had no trouble, but always been careful when in the same bar and they come in .”

“From now on, go up and introduce yourselves, and I’ll tell them to buy you a round. Do you men have families?”

“We never been so lucky. If and when we have need, we pay for it.”

“Maybe you’ll have some luck. I just married my wife a few weeks ago and I’d about given up hope.”

“How’d you meet? Maybe I can use the same line.”

“I hope not. We met while the bank was being robbed. That was a few months ago.”

“Oh, I place you now. You had a bit of tangle with some bank robbers.”

“Yeah. Tell me your names. I have them from Stark but can’t put a face to you.”

“I’m Mike Bascomb, that’s Red Tyler with the red hair, and the big guy is Samson, at least that’s what he goes by. Samson, what’s your moniker?”

“Sam.”

“Sam don’t talk much, he sure do know how to cut wood, though.”

“What about the mule you say you need. What’s the matter with it?”

“We been borrowing it. It was sickly today. That’s why we want a new one.”

“Okay, I can do that. In fact, see Randy Palmer and tell him what you need. He raises mules and will fix you up.” The men went back to work and I watched them for another while.

Finally I waved and headed down to inspect the wood yard at the landing.  Reaching there I could see this was a big enough area to stack all the wood I had purchased from Stark. I knew I wouldn’t get paid for it until the wood came down and was on the landing.

Randy’s office door was open and he saw me come in. “Dave, come on in, I was just thinking about you. How’s the wood chopping business?”

“Good, I think, I just came down from the hills. I’ll tell you something, I sweat some last night. I bought two hundred cords of wood without verifying that there was any such amount.” I paused and then grinned, “I think I got a little bonus. According to the woodchoppers there is a total of 200 cords that I bought and paid Stark for. The choppers have cut four more since Stark last paid them and I told them to continue cutting. I believe they are pretty honest. Would you pay them out of your office here? I’ll set up an account to draw on.”

“Tell you what, I’ll keep the books on your wood, but I’ll give them a slip to present to the bank. That’s the way Stark paid all his men. What else can I do for you?”

“Mules, I don’t know much about them. The choppers have been bringing wood down one cord at a time. The mule wasn’t with them today. They said it was sickly and borrowed to boot. I suspect it is just old.”

“You’re right. A cord of wood was all it could handle. I’ve seen it work.”

“Let me ask you another question; could a bigger wagon that would carry two cords be handled with two good mules?”

“Not sure, it might strain them some. Why are you in such a hurry to sell the wood?”

“Not really, but winter is coming and there will be wood left in the woods cut and stacked. There is room to stack what I have and more in the wood yard. I’d feel better if it was out of the woods, Of course once it is here on the ground it is the responsibility of the railroad to pay for it. Would the railroad take possession?  I could wait for it to be paid if it was a problem.”

“Dave, the railroad is solvent and yes the company would pay at the end of the month for what was brought down and stacked.”

“Good, I can tell Pa we have money coming, end of another month. I’ll need two mules for that. Do you have a pair I can buy?”

“Raoul and Ralph have been working with a fine pair of medium sized ones. They are pretty docile and should be just what you need.”

“I’ll need at least one more for the ranch and maybe two. I’m planning on keeping the Bruce men busy and I’ll need mules for them. I shouldn’t need that for a few days until I see what’s needed. I’ll tell you when to deliver the mules as far as town, and I can send one of the Bruce men to pick them up.  I’m going to build a wagon with a rack on it that will carry two cords at once out at the ranch. I’ll bring that in and hitch the two mules to it when it is put together.

“While I’m here, would you give me the specifications on railroad ties? The Bruce men are cutting the school wood and next year’s fire wood for the ranch. I’ve turned over forty acres of mostly wooded land to them and I don’t want to cut something that would make a rail tie into firewood.”

“Good thinking. Sure, I’ve got the specs right here. There can’t be much deviation on the finished tie or they will be rejected.”

“I didn’t ask, but you are in charge of the railroad now, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, Simpson talked me into it. It’ll be something new and I’ll play with it until I get sick of it and then find someone who is experienced to take over.”

“I’m glad. This valley knows that you’ll do great with it. I and everyone else has the most confidence in you.”

“Thanks, Dave. When do you want the mules? I can deliver them to the ranch. I’d like to see Dean. He would be glad to see me, wouldn’t he?”

“Yes, bring the pair of mules to the ranch and it surely would make Pa’s day. I guess I’ll get along home and see Reesa.”

“That’s an unusual nickname.”

“I’ll tell you how it came about again. The first sounds Pa made was ‘sa’ and we couldn’t figure it out. Pa was acting he wanted ‘sa.’ A few days later we made out ‘reesa’ and got onto he was trying to say Teresa. He was asking for her. If he gets better, it is all because of her.

“She is making his life bearable by keeping him interested. She reads and talks to him. She told him all about growing up Mexican and how she was treated and then coming to live with Patty at your house. He probably knows more about you than I do by now. Everyone at the ranch uses Reesa for a nickname and it makes Pa happy. The doctor says he may come out of this quite well, but it will take a long time.

“Reesa is a joy to have around.”

————————————

Before I reached the ranch house, I could see Reesa coming down from the North in back of the new school building. I stood in is stirrups and waved.  Reesa did the same and then we kicked our mounts in the ribs and raced for home. Reesa beat me by a few lengths and she was waiting for me as I pulled up while she was already off, hitching her horse.

“Hi, Sweetheart, how was your day?”

“Dave, it was great. I really like those people. I never saw anyone work harder than they do. They’ve got the old cabins torn down and the salvage sorted into piles. The poles used for the framework and rafters are all sorted by length. The back of the cabins were just slabs. They don’t think that those can be of any use. There is however, enough boards sawn for both the sides and ends. There will be enough to build a home big enough for all to live in. They said they would have to rive new shakes for the roofs, though.”

“The material is ready to be brought down?”

“I’d say so. They asked if they could use the ranches’ big farm wagon and a pair of horses the next two days. Boyd Bruce is going to begin squaring timbers for the foundation just as soon as they have what they saved piled up down near where the building is going to be. They said they would have shelter within the week. They said they hoped you wouldn’t mind them doing that first before they started on putting up the cordwood for the school. I told them to do as they planned. How was your day?”

“Good, Reesa. That Stark whom I bought the wood and contract from, was at least honest with me. There was even a little bonus in an extra 13 cords already cut and piled. Randy is in charge of the railroad at present and I told him I was bringing all the wood down out of the hills. I will get paid as soon it is down and piled at the landing. I think I can go into the winter with this operation giving us a little surplus.” 

“Quite the businessman, aren’t you? I’ll bet Dean will take notice.”

“I’m just following how Randy does things. Of course I have Pa looking over my shoulder. I’m trying to prove myself to him so that when he gets well and returns  in charge of the cattle, he’ll let me look for more opportunities to make this place pay. Randy has made his end of the valley pay by turning a lot of it into farmland. I can’t do that here because the land isn’t that good. Cattle will always be our main operation, but that isn’t to say that we can’t supplement our income in other ways.”

“What do you have for ideas?  You must have something in mind.”

“Yeah, I have, but it might not work out. It will take awhile to put together. Right now it is just an idea. Back up in the mountains to the West there is a valley with some flat land. There are many big springs in it and the hills come close together on the south end. I think a dam could be constructed at the juncture to back up the water and make a pond.

“The land falls away so it might be possible to build a water wheel to run a saw mill. The land flattens out below where I believe the mill and pond can be built. Later, if some of the land was cleared, it might be turned into cow range. For now it would be a good place to set up a sawmill.

“Wood ties for the railroad are always going to be needed, and what wood is there, can be cut into cord wood, if it doesn’t make lumber. There is always a sale for charcoal at so much a bushel. This is on the far reaches of the ranch and it has been seven or eight years since I’ve been up there.

“We’ll ride up there when things get settled down. I also have to see how much wooded area is left for the railroad wood choppers. They have permit to cut that section of timber for the railroad. I’m going into the land office for what I need to cut here on the ranch. I’ll ask about filing on the timber for logging permits. I’m going to file on that pond sight anyway in case someone else has the same idea. I think that is the only water on the ranch that hasn’t been filed on so we will gain control of most of the valley West of Ferris town.”

“Are you going to bring those wood choppers in to cut on the ranch?”

“Yes, starting at the town boundary coming toward the ranch.  I’ll use the Bruce choppers to work in a different area; maybe up in the hills I was just talking about. I’m not going to cut willy-nilly and I want to have a buyer at hand for what we produce from the mill before we start.”

“Dave, I want to ride over every bit of the ranch with you. When we have a son, I want to be able to tell him all about how his father and mother planned for his future.” We had been standing in the yard talking and now I followed Reesa up the steps onto the porch. “Mable must have supper started. Go talk to your Pa while I get it on the table.”

I walked into his Pa’s room. He heard me enter and opened his eyes. “Pa, I’ve been riding all day. I checked out the wood and woodlot I bought yesterday. I guess Stark was afraid to be nothing less than honest with me. He knew who I was and had heard about that time I had trouble in the bank. I actually made out pretty well.

“There is another thing I thought of that will make us a few bucks just as soon as you get on your feet and can take over the cattle again. You know that valley up in the far reaches of the ranch where that swift running creek is?  Well, how about putting a saw mill in there? The railroad is always going to need ties. If we cut trees big enough to get one tie out of it but not big enough for two, there is always cord wood and maybe charcoal. On the sides of the steepest mountains there is big timber. In the valleys there is a lot of old growth trees. There are a percentage of the trees that will saw out furniture grade.

“I don’t think wood for the boiler to power the train will be a safe long-term deal. Back east they are moving trains with coal as more and more mines open up.

Pa looked mystified I explained, “Randy was talking about that with Stark. They guessed it would be within the next five years. That’s okay. We’ll still make money on the wood contract. I’m looking at supplying railroad ties. That’s why I’m thinking about having a saw mill right in the middle of our woodlands.

“When the wood market goes to hell we’ll saw ties and I’ll find someone to make charcoal. That’s a market that will continue. Charcoal is easier to work with than coal in certain businesses and will always be in need. So overall, to me a sawmill makes sense. We have the forest of mixed woods we can use for the market for ties and lumber, and wood for charcoal. However making charcoal is labor intensive . I’ll look into any way.

“We have wood choppers that are all pretty young. We can buy mules from Randy.  All we would need is some people to build a dam and run the saw mill. I’ll begin asking around.”

Pa looked half-way convinced. I continued, “ I need you to get well to take back the cattle business. Hell, our prospects are just as good here in this end of the valley as Randy’s were when he started at his end.” Pa’s faced twitched and the smile that had been small because of his illness was definitely much bigger. I took Pa’s’ hand and could feel a little strength in it.

Reesa asked how things went with Pa. “Good I think. Pa was interested and I got a bit of a smile, more than yesterday in fact. I grasped his hand and I swear there was some pressure applied. You know I really feel he is going to get well.  I’ll bet by next spring he will be back on a horse.”

“Dave that is wonderful. That should be about the same time you and I’ll have a child. I’m looking forward to it so much.”

“You’re kidding me!”

“No, Mama said I’m pregnant. After she counted the days going backward. I’ve been made so happy, I haven’t kept track. I’m not telling anyone yet and don’t you either. I’m hoping it isn’t a false alarm.”

“I have faith in Nina.”

“Better to have faith in yourself. You did it to me.”

“Um. I think it takes two.”

Just then Ma came in as I was kissing my pregnant wife, both of us so happy with Reesa’s condition. Reesa flushed and I stammered, “I talked to Pa about expanding and building a dam up on the Northwest slope.  I think that is about in the center of our woodland. There is a bit of flat land there for a mill site.

“The dam won’t have to be very big. To pipe the water down to a water wheel, should be easy. An Engineer will have it figured how much water is needed to turn the wheel. The pond is the reservoir and once full it will guarantee enough that the wheel will turn as long as the valve is open  It is very steep getting down to the mill site and that is where the power comes from. If the wheel needs to stop from turning there is a valve to close the pipe at the pond.”

“Dave, how do you know that?”

“I worked for Randy Palmer and he had all kinds of books around. I guess I read them all during the year I worked there. Now I have to find an engineer to see if it is feasible to build a dam and water wheel. I will need a mill and men to operate it. We have six choppers now, but I may need more to keep up with the railroad contract and cut timber for the mill.

“I’ll talk to Randy because he knows how and where to start on something like this. More importantly, it is the who to hire. The Bruce’s come from a depressed area and may know some families back there, who would move out here and take up chopping for us.

“Dave, how are you going to finance this?”

“I don’t know yet. I wish Pa was able to talk. For all his miserable way of acting, he is a good cattleman and always has been solvent. I’m showing a little more profit right now, but that comes from being able to ship the cattle at the reduced rail cost. We made a lot of money on the last two carloads. The hands are working better since Pa isn’t here to holler at them. I’m down two hands and the work is still getting done with no complaints at all.”

“Dave, Mable gave you her half of the ranch and she didn’t see that it upset Dean

 that much, either.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––

e next year brought many changes to our life. Randy Palmer helped a lot by giving me advice and even co-signing for a bank loan after the mill engineer helped me write a loan proposal for putting a saw mill on the back side of the Ferris property. There was no land suitable for homesteading. Logging off the mountainous land was inherently dangerous for it was steep and treacherous.

Always, I was thinking of putting in a saw mill on the backside of the ranch. With the pair of young mules, the choppers for the railroad were gaining on delivering the stacked wood to the landing near the railroad. I was paid when it arrived. It wasn’t that much income, but it was a start. I just needed a larger operation of some sort.

Randy contacted lumber mills and asked about timber companies known for outfits that lumbered in areas such as we had. After talking to a half dozen, it came down to Matthew Hodges and his family of two sons. He came and spent a week in the woods, cruising the timber and the landscape. I had Randy Palmer with me when it was time to hire. Hodges was just finishing up a logging operation and was looking to finish out his life before retiring with one more sizable contract that would last from six to eight years.

Randy had done a lot of inquiry into Hodges’ reputation and found it solid, advising me to sign him for the contract.

Hodges worked on a different way of pay on a logging contract. Rather than I paying him the cost to set up. He took on all the cost of setting up the mill and the cost of the men and equipment who worked directly for him. Timber was figured at so much a thousand feet as it was sawn. It was up to me to remove the sawn lumber, the slabs, and sawdust as it came from the mill. It was my job to stick the lumber into piles. If there was a market for green lumber that was sold, it was up to me to deliver it directly to the railroad. We then would split the income in half for every thousand feet.

It was up to me to move everything away from the mill i.e. the sawn lumber, the scraps (slabs and edgings) and the sawdust. That needed for me to have my own  crew to do all of this and I paid for all the cost attributed to this operation. Hodges did have a pipe coming from the mill to blow the sawdust a great distance and my only concern was to keep the sawdust pile from getting too large, for it would generate heat and could combust and catch on fire.

Hodges built a mini train track using railroad wheels that held the flat trucks to push the piled sawn lumber out to where this lumber would be stuck up in stacks if no immediate market for it. I had a market for about half of this of the green sawed lumber. At this point, my crew would load this onto a freight wagon and go directly to the railroad spur. The train would hook onto the loaded flat cars at the railroad spur and deliver it to where ever it was destined for.

This was spelled out in the contract before the water wheel was built and the sawmill was constructed. The logging permit was for ten years with the chance for renewal. I wanted the young straight trees left so in thirty to fifty years, the timber would grow and worth that much more.

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A road had to be blasted to get the mill machinery in to the Mill site and to get the sawn lumber out. The road into the back country was fully as good as the road into town because of the heavy travel. A few of the mill workers were married and those who were, built homes with a garden spot. None of the choppers in the woods were married. They who worked cutting trees closest to the mill lived in a bunkhouse. The crews who were further out had slab shelters with a cookie to feed them.

There was a decent mill site to set up the mill and there was a place where the creek could be dammed for water to run the mill. It didn’t have to be very large because there was plenty of water in the creek that went on past the mill site. Water

was diverted to the small pond and then there was attached to a mill race that went down to the water wheel.

In the woods, Matt engaged a person to come mark the trees to be cut. Very seldom marking the sections for clear cutting the timber lots. There was some fine hardwoods that were furniture grade, plus softwood for construction, and of course  the steady market for ties. The soft woods were used mostly in home construction. Matt knew the market and would saw a log for that particular buyer. With a large log it was sawn into dimension lumber of various sizes and always a few boards of different widths. Always the same lengths.

There always the chance of where wood and logs were skidded out, the terrain would wash and over time deep gullies would be created. It became the norm to ditch these places to undisturbed ground to prevent this from happening. Many loggers would figure this was a waste of time and not bother, but I was planning on this being my future. Those same loggers wouldn’t be returning to these timber lots. I figured I was young enough and would at sometime in the future have this area logged off again.

Randy had been selling goods out of his auction barn for several years now. With him being tied in with the railroad as he was, he knew what would sell and what wouldn’t. Ties for the railroad was a commodity that would sell. I had a steady sale for firewood for running the train which would last for another four or five years. Coal would then be used for the trains operation and wood to fire them would be closed out.

Randy was much interested in my project and we talked often, he coming out to the Ferris Ranch to give me advice. I was now half owner of the Ferris ranch thanks to Ma and it was with little trouble to secure a loan from Simpson at the bank. Randy also stood behind me and I did have to hire a crew. Not much was said to my Pa but Ma kept Pa fully appraised of the progress. He was told that the whole operation was right on track and by cold weather logs would be coming into the mill and sawing would begin.

I did have some sleepless nights. I, of course was still managing the ranch operation as well, and I depended on the cattle crew to see that work was done and the cattle were taken care of. Buck, the straw boss was the newest of the men working on the ranch, he who had given me a little trouble when I first came home to take over when Pa had his stroke. The rest of the crew were long time hands. There wasn’t the drama that had made the men unruly when Dean was in charge.

There was always Ma anyone could go to and these were the same hands who had gone up the trail to Kansas, years before. She certainly knew what running the ranch entailed.

Matt calmed my nerves, “Dave. don’t get uptight about this operation. I know you are green at managing an operation as big of this. It will take only a short time to learn the ropes. It won’t take long and then it is just putting out the fires as they come up. I don’t really mean fires but all of sudden you will be short a man and you have to get a job done  because there is something right behind you more pressing that needs doing. I think you can manage.

“I heard about you going into the bank and coming out almost whole a few minutes later. When I heard about that, I knew you could handle this with no trouble.”

“Thanks, Matt. I’ll do my best so it won’t hold up your end of this job. My Pa now, was always pretty damned excitable and look where he is now. I worked a year for Palmer and I think I understand what you are saying"

Matt Hodges had his experience, and a signed contract. This was to be his last operation before retiring. He came with everything. The mill, equipment, tools and with everything to set up logging in this new location. His mill hands were experienced and had been with him for years. The horses, skidders, and the timber cutters in the woods, were the same. It took almost two months before we sawed the first log. I listened and learned but had no real idea of how all this could come together.

“Matt, would you sit for another little time and run this all by me again? Give me an overview how everything comes together?”

“Okay Dave. I’m going to be having my wife living here in town and my two boys are working in the mill with me. You own the standing timber. When the logs are sawed into the best use for them, then we each own half the lumber. I’ll help with providing the names of buyers of the sawn lumber whom I know. That will be your market.

“If we have to cut trees to get to trees that have saw logs, you get some wood choppers to harvest these and the tops that we leave. That will keep a two or a three man crew busy behind us or ahead of us, I don’t expect any money from your cordwood market. That’s between you and your own choppers. 

“The sawdust and shavings that is made can be sold as well. If you know some one who has an ice house near a pond, they can build an icehouse and keep ice most of the year using sawdust for insulating the ice. That’s a by-product as well. There are also slabs and edgings that are another by-product. These all can be bundled and sold as firewood. You wouldn’t get as much for this as you would for cordwood, because they have a lot of bark on them. You could even donate it to some of the poorer families who can’t afford solid wood for heat.

“Now you have some level land near and below the mill and the land is open. If you had some wagons, the sawn lumber could go right onto a wagon and the same with the slabs. Take these wagons right out of the area loaded with the sawn lumber directly to the train. The sawdust will be blown out to the further edge and blown into a pile. You’ll have to not let the sawdust pile get too large, because it generates heat and will catch fire if it is too big and sits too long.”

Matt grinned “I guess you have never seen a mill set up with a water wheel. The water wheel is outside the mill and water comes down the race to turn it. The arbor is a long metal shaft going through to the other end of the mill house, set at right angle to the waterwheel.

“There is a belt-pulley with a long leather belt that turns the gears that runs the big saw. There can be any number of pulleys on the arbor that run a clipper, an edger, and a planer which is to plane finished lumber. That won’t be in use for awhile. A fan sucks the sawdust from the different parts of the operation. That is driven by the another belt from a pulley on the arbor. The sawdust is delivered a great distance through a pipe to the sawdust pile.

“The planer is for dry lumber, and the power comes from the same source. I do have a Planer, but there is no need or use for it at present. so don’t even think about it for a couple of years.

“The clipper is two smaller saws set at right angles to the carriage and a certain distance apart from the big saw so when the board or tie comes off the log, the ends are clipped for length. The edger is for boards where you need to discard the edges of the board because they have bark on them. Those boards can be all different lengths and widths and may have gone through both the clipper and edger. Strictly a salvage operation.

“All these extra things you don’t have to attempt, but there are dollars in it. You do have to make sure I have room for the lumber coming off the big saw so many of the extra things are on you. You have to freight it to where it is out of the way, then you can stick and pile it until sold.

“Lumber you can’t sell right off is stuck up with stickers in between each layer of sawn lumber. Each pile of lumber could reach 20 feet high with a good cover on them that will be water tight to shed water from the elements. These piles could last for years if built right, I started this business thirty some odd years ago and this is a good setup. I know what will sell and I saw the logs for the market.

“I’ve been in this business for a long time. It is a good place for me to end up until when I retire. My wife and I want to travel and see the sights and she has agreed to wait the eight years. I have a few bucks banked so we can travel in style as long as we want to.”

“It looks like I’m going to need several men to do all you say needs doing?”

“You will need several, and they won’t make you rich, but there are a few dollars in keeping the men busy on the salvage that isn’t a part of the actual mill operation.   Think of it as a service you are providing to your community here in the town named after you. You will be surprised if you take on salvaging how little your labor cost is.

“By the way, how did your Pa get to have his name on the town?”

“Matt, I guess it is my father who named the town. Years ago Pa was pretty belligerent and was spoiling for a fight with Palmer who came in and bought a ranch that encompassed the east side of the valley. I worked for Randy Palmer as a puncher almost a year until Pa was sick. This is the same man who found you to do this operation I had in mind.

“We signed our contract in his office, and I have known him for several years. Pa got hurt one year taking a herd up the trail to Kansas and had to give it up. Ma and me went on with the herd of cattle up the trail and was having a terrible time. A couple of our hands planned on high jacking the cattle from us and Randy Palmer saved our butt.

“Randy killed the two men and went on and sold the herd for us. He charged us two dollars a head to deliver them and we still took home three dollars more apiece than we expected to get ourselves.

“Pa thought he and Randy would fight over what the town was to be named, but Randy and his wife signed the petition and walked away. That’s how the town was named. I think Pa was more mad that Randy didn’t fight over the name, than if the town was named Palmer. But that’s the way Randy and Pa are. Randy has ended up owning the train and I’m chopping  wood to feed the train.”

“The more you know of  him, the more you will like him. His wife is extremely nice too. If you go to church, you’ll meet her. She and Ma are great friends and will welcome you and your wife. Her name is Sheila. Sometime I’ll tell you how she and Randy met. That’s a bit of history here in town as well.”

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I was glad that it wasn’t me in charge of the timber cutting. Matt had a woods boss who had been with him for ten years or more. This man was the same age as I was. I felt stupid, but he explained everything so I came away knowing a hell of a lot more and this would stick with me for life.

The next week Matt started building the dam for the pond out of logs and stone using dirt packed tight so water wouldn’t penetrate between the logs. These logs were hewed to fit much like if you were building a log cabin. He assured me that this would last the eight years he would be using it and more.

The water wheel was built in place on the frame that housed it. By the time he finished the water wheel, some of the logging equipment began coming in by rail. The men who would assembling it together were the same ones who would be operating the mill.

The timbers that the mill was to sit on, were freighted in from where the mill had been sitting from the previous location that Matt logged off. There was a three man crew of wood choppers cutting down trees to be the first ones sawed to shelter the millworks.

A place was leveled for the barns built to house the teams that sledded or skidded the logs to the mill. A bunkhouse would house the teamsters near the barns. There was a cook shack close to the bunkhouse to feed the teamsters and the mill workers,

The cook was the one to fill covered pails that would feed the wood choppers because they didn’t come out of the woods until Saturday late, They lived in a small shanty on runners that the teamsters would move periodically to keep them near the logging operation. They would halt chopping when their food came to them, sit and eat, and return to chopping. They were paid by the so many thousands of feet that went to the mill.

The woods boss was married and lived in a shanty as you left the open land and entered the access road to the mill site. Matt and his wife lived in town. He had two sons, one of these was training to be a sawyer the same as his father.

Curious, I asked Matt, “Where did you learn to be a sawyer?”

“My father was logging for years up in Michigan. Michigan woods had some great trees but the whole state is being cut by the biggest logging companies. I wanted to be with my wife more months of the year. There, we would be in the woods for all winter and come out in the spring. That was no way to have a family and be happy. Dad, got injured and I brought him out. It was around Christmas that year and I never went back. I started a family and eventually purchased a mill rig. It was a good move and I’ve enjoyed the way my life has been for the last several years.

“I’m glad I found you, Dave.” 

“Me too.” 

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I couldn’t spend all my time with the woods operation. Matt kept me apprised of his progress in getting set up. The teamsters were swamping out roads to the area where they would be first cutting logs.

Water was filling the pond which would power the mill. Thunderstorms were welcomed, for they raised the pond level. There was one down pour that raised it to two thirds full in one week. Then the normal water flow raised it enough during the next week so water was running over the spillway. Everyone cheered when the water wheel began to turn to power the mill  The big saw was now cutting boards and timbers.  They were also building the housing for, the mill, the horses, and the men.

Rail track and flat trucks that fit the rail were furnished as part of the mill. This extended away from the mill to where the stacked lumber piles were constructed. These rails were off the ground some times 8 to 12 feet high. There had to be some frame work constructed to hold the rails the flatcars ran on, loaded and sloping slightly down to the open land where the lumber piles were to be. The trucks loaded with green lumber were pushed along the track by two men. When it reached where the lumber was to be stacked, or shipped out green on the train the truck had to be chocked in place so it wouldn’t roll while it was unloaded.

My three man crew then went to sticking the lumber. There would be one man on top of the load picking up each board and handed up to one of the men on the stack and do the same with the other crew member. They would leave an air gap between the board top and bottom, starting on the prepared foundation. Then a layer of stickers would be placed crosswise to the pile so air would circulate. Visualize every board layer would not be touching another. The one inch stickers kept them apart. A pile of lumber would usually be capped out at 20 feet high.

This was the same with dimension lumber, the thickness the governing factor for each pile. The width didn’t matter as much because of the spacing between each piece. Every outside piece on the pile was directly above the one and below. This  would prevent the wet weather from entering into the stacks. Stickers were generated at the mill because each layer of boards needed stickers placed every four feet.

I was nervous about this because this was at least half my lumber when it went onto the trucks and it was up to me to see that there were always empty flat trucks at the mill for that days production. If there wasn’t, then the whole operation would be shut down and I would have to pay Matt for the downtime. With seven men in the mill, I couldn’t let this happen. The track distance to where the lumber was stuck up would hold at least two days of mill production.

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I went to talk to the Bruce Family to see if any of the men had every worked in a sawmill and were familiar with what went on. All three of the men had worked chopping and one had rolled logs from the skidway to the carriage. All three had stuck lumber. They would work for wages which was about double what they were making  now at chopping and delivering cordwood to folks in town. I then asked if they had anymore of the family back east in Kentucky who would drive freight wagons through town and load lumber onto a flat car for delivery to lumberyards east of our area.

They said they had cousins who had done this kind of work. “I’ll pay half the cost for transportation for two or three men if they want to make the trip. It looks like I am going to need more help. This job is estimated to last for eight years. Farm help is always in demand on the east side of the valley, too. This might be a good place to settle if you think they are better than where they are living now. Write to them.”

\

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I was home with Reesa every night and talked things over with her. She kept at me.  “Make sure you explain everything to your father. Dean is doing remarkably well according to the Doctor. I miss seeing Mama as much as I did for awhile when she was first taking care of him. If he will only rest and stay in this winter, he should be well by spring. You know you should have Buck come in and talk to Dean rather than you telling him about the cattle. You said you were going to have him on a horse come Springtime.”

“I am, Reesa. It has been difficult for me keeping track of two different types of work on that and the ranch at the same time. At least we don’t have the cattle trailing up to Kansas any longer. One or two rail cars a month of cattle and having the money in hand within ten days from when shipped is easier on everyone.”

“Dave, it helps Mable a lot too. You two have been good at keeping track of what is spent on getting this logging and sawmill business going. Is this going to be as good a money making project, as you figured when you decided to go in this direction?

“I am confident it is. Matt Hodges is on top of this, and Randy Palmer is helping me  almost as much as anyone. They both have given me the names of the lumber yards who will buy. The ones who will take green lumber, we won’t even have to stick up. Matt gets his half of the money first when that lumber is sold. We will realize enough to pay for the men working for me plus ten percent. I have to wait for my half until it is sold from the stuck up lumber.

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

 

“Teresa, it is fair. How much money have we had to come up with so far? Not much really. Matt has built the mill and hired and paid the men to get set up. He owns all the horses and equipment. Just the rail to move the sawn lumber on was terribly expensive and Matt paid it all to construct. Matt has to buy hay and grain for his teams, and food for his men. He is very happy that the railroad is so close to transport  the lumber that goes to market. My men are on me paying for that. The train is there to move the farm goods and our lumber going out, and farm equipment, goods and items, for the operation that we need coming in. 

“Then there is a little from the salvage to bring in extra that Matt doesn’t get. There are the slabs that are a nuisance at the mill, but they can be sold on the other side of the town to the farmers who need to heat their homes. There is sawdust that is used for bedding at so much a cord for a dairy farmer. Eventually there will be shavings for insulation in the walls of houses.”

“I wouldn’t use slabs for firewood.”

“No we wouldn’t, but many people would. You’re thinking softwood slabs Remember more than half the timber we are harvesting is hard wood. Those will be the first slabs to be bought. Someone will make a business just buying from us and reselling them. It wouldn’t be profitable for us, But if we got a dollar a cord for softwood slabs and didn’t work to keep them out of the way, that is pure profit. Hardwood slabs will bring us at least a dollar and three-quarters. I’m going by what both Matt and Randy tell me.

“Randy thinks we made quite a deal with Matt. I know we aren’t going to see any great amount of money at first and Randy says I should be okay with that. By next year everything that we sell will be split evenly and that will be in the thousands of dollars for both Matt and us. Matt will be paid back for what he borrowed to set up.

“There also will be ten or more acres of our land covered by stacks of lumber.

“Our two big wagons will take lumber right to the rail siding that Randy has. These are flat cars instead of cattle cars. They won’t take much time at all to load. These won’t have stickers between the boards, If it is dry lumber the buyer might want it stuck up. That would mean it was stuck up twice, once here in our yard and once on the rail car.

Of course the price will be better when the lumber is dry and seasoned, but we will have many more man-hours to pay handling it the second time. It doesn’t take any time at all to stick up a thousand feet of dry lumber with an experienced crew because it is so much lighter than green lumber.

“We claim the woodland as belonging the ranch but we have to pay the Federal government to harvest it. I think with us getting half the sale price with the of the logs is damned good. As Hodges says all the salvage he doesn’t want to deal with does pay some of  labor for the help we hire.”

I did hear back about my request for a couple of relatives of the Bruce brothers to help with moving lumber. I sent back an okay and enough money to get them on a train. I didn’t expect they would drop everything and come west immediately. It was three weeks later when I came in from the range and found two young men, an older man, and a woman, sitting on the porch with Pa.

“Dave, these people are here because they said you had work for them. The father, Henry, is an uncle of the Bruce clan you have out beyond the school house. What are you going to do with them?”

“I’m putting them in the line shack temporarily for shelter that’s between here and the logging operation. We won’t use that line shack until spring, The cattle are on the other side of our range this winter. I didn’t expect there would be a woman with them. That complicates things.”

The older man spoke, “Needn’t be, she sister to the boys, name of Bridget. I’m father to Josh and Earl. Have you got a stove in the camp Bridget can cook on?”  

“There is a parlor stove I bought at auction for the shack. The top slides away and leaves a flat surface. It has a stove lid in the center, and is fine to cook on. Takes a lot of wood, though.”

“That’ll do and I’ll find wood for it. Sis makes donuts and sells them in town. If the shanty doesn’t have a work counter, I can put one up.”

“I don’t think the line shack is big enough for all of you to live in and cook too. I’ll have some boards sawed out and dropped near there. Maybe Sunday your kin can help get something put up where you can give your girl a little privacy and room to make her donuts. Let’s go up there tomorrow morning. There are beds in the bunk house for you men to sleep tonight and your daughter can sleep in the house. 

Part 2: Chapter  4

Reesa was getting heavier and heavier with the baby coming in the spring time. She felt well most days and was able to keep up with the twelve children in the school house. She asked to have a replacement to take over teaching the students by March fifteenth. The school committee sent a replacement out from Ferris town and that teacher would finish out the school year. Ressa would again begin the new year in the fall. The woman teacher stayed in the room which had been Ressa’s until she and I married. She wasn’t there weekends, returning to her family on the other side of Ferris Town.

The six kids who belonged to the wood chopper families where exceptional students. The two mothers worked with their children every night after school so they could learn their lesions. It showed up in Margaret and Minny’s speech as well. Even the men were shedding some of their hillbilly language. The children from the hill ranches didn’t have the drive to learn, why Reesa didn’t know, they received as much and more attention as the Bruce kids did.

By this time Pa was up when Reesa was in the house full time. Pa missed having Reesa read to him, but she took care of that by making him, read his own stories from the books she supplied from the town library. “Here Dean,” she would say, “This books tells about different cattle breeds. Read up on them and maybe you will want to buy a couple bulls that will make our cattle heavier. Dave thinks it may pay off. You can talk it over with him.”

The baby was supposed to be born in the middle of April and it was. I was coming from the saw mill pushing a load of pine boards down the track to be stuck up by the two men from Kentucky, Josh and Earl. Bridget came riding in on a mule. “Hey Dave, your wife is having your baby. I grabbed your Pa’s mule to come let you know.”

“How come you came. I thought this was your day to fry donuts for the town bakery.”

“Pa is frying the last ones. Nina and Mable tell me the baby will be born before you get there. Now you be careful, there’s not that of a much hurry.”

I did hurry a little more than usual. Behind me, Bridget had climbed onto the lumber pile and was helping her brothers stick boards as I mounted my horse. It was a good thing I was sticking pine boards today and not the dimension timbers. Still, boards 14 and 16 inches wide, 16 feet long, and 5 quarters thick were hefty enough.

I slowed down before I reached the house. Pa was sitting on the porch as I pulled up. “Dave, I got me a grandson. Reesa is making me proud. You could name it after me.”

“Sorry, Dad, Ressa has picked another name if it was a boy. We are going to name him Oliver after Ma’s maiden name.”

“Well I guess I can live with that.” I didn’t say anything about a middle name. I’d let Ressa tell Pa that there was going to be Dean after Oliver and before Ferris. I went into the house and into the downstairs bedroom where we had planned for the birth to happen. Ressa looked a little tired but very happy.  The baby was asleep in her arms.

“Dave, I had no trouble at all. I didn’t send word sooner for I knew you were busy, I sent word with Bridget. Mama was here and Mable was standing by to keep Dean from worrying,  I’m glad you came, though. Do you have to go back to work today?”

“No, and tomorrow either. I’m staying home to see my son.”

“Good, tomorrow would be a good day to get Dean on a horse. Mama thinks he is ready. The right side has almost fully recovered and he has his speech back. You can ride out with him to one of the closer herds.”

“Reesa, I’ll plan on it. Bridget has her baking done for the week so maybe she will want to earn wages sticking lumber. She said she had done that before and I could see she has. A good thing she is a big girl.

“That will free you up to ease Dean into taking over the cattle. He has been anxious to get back out on the range.”

“It will do him good if he doesn’t get too hot under the collar like he used to. I haven’t seen any of that since he was able to get onto his feet.”

“I’ve been talking to him about that all the while since he got so we could talk and understand each other. He knows what he can and can’t do when Mama and the doctor explained what caused his stroke, I do believe he has learned his lesson.

“Reesa, I’ll get Pa to come in and see his grandson.”

“Too late, Mama showed Oliver to him right after she and Mable cleaned him up. I hope you don’t mind, but your Pa kissed me on the cheek and has congratulated me already.”

“And well he should.”

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My Pa was a changed man. He had given up losing his temper with the hands and stopped micro managing them. He usually went out in the morning and gave orders about the cattle on the range and returned for a second cup of coffee. Reesa had fed Oliver by this time and Pa would hold him for a few minutes and then leave for where ever the hands were working cattle. I commented on that fact just once, “Hell the men have been with me for years. They know the ranch and they know as much as I do. This sending cattle by the carload is what has improved ranching tenfold.

This left me time to tend to the logging operation. I didn’t go far into the woods very often, for there was no need. Matt talked to me about one change he wanted to make in our original agreement. He hit me with it, when he said, “You know those small trees and short top logs are a bane on our efficiency? Most of them we saw into railroad ties. It isn’t hardly worth bringing them down out of the woods, rolling, the short log onto the carriage, and running them through the big saw. Same amount of work for sixteen foot log with 400 feet of dimension lumber in it.

“Why don’t you see that Palmer fellow you know that has a handle on everything. Have him look for a small steam engine and you purchase a bolter or a short log  mill to saw them out.

“You could use some of your men part time to run it weekends and pay them wages. They could make a little more than them cutting wood and selling it. You could learn to saw the logs into ties yourself. I can break Matt Junior loose to teach you to become a sawyer. The ties are all the same size, because the trains are standard width. My choppers in the woods have been stacking the short logs along beside the roads ever since we started.

“The older logs of that size where we first began cutting need to be picked up. Use two of your men to clean up where they find them by loading them onto a sled and bring them close by your lumber piles. Saw them and stack them and I won’t charge you a penny for them. Your only cost is getting theses logs out of the woods.

“We are getting into some really good timber now and there is an immediate sale where most of what we saw will go on railcars and be shipped without we having to stick up. It is a waste of time to run the big saw to saw such small logs. You don’t owe me for too much of the lumber you have been stacking, and you’re getting a considerable amount of income for what we are shipping.

“You know, I might finish logging all your timberland in six years instead of the eight I quoted you. Think about it and talk it over with your Pa and Palmer. Get their slant on what changes you need to do to handle it. My wife is looking forward to when I finish this job.”

Randy Palmer was the person who was the one to help me decide what I needed for a steam engine to power the mill. It came with the drive equipment I needed to pair the mill and engine together, Pa thought the engine way too expensive to buy, but I overrode his concern. It was a unit to last me a lifetime if I hired the right person to run and service it. Here again Matt found this man for me.

 I didn’t explain to Pa that for awhile that I had my eye on another three thousand acres of woodland that were adjacent and south of the acres that we had the logging permits for, we were logging now. This was of different make-up of trees than the mixed hardwood and softwood that we were harvesting. The new timber lot I was looking at had completely burned over about 150 years ago all in one fire. There were great stands of Oak and Hemlock growing on it.This was soe of the better trees for ties.

There was a large section of pine that had been ready to harvest twenty years ago. The huge stand was seeded in from trees of the old growth that didn’t burn. These old trees were now well past their prime and when we cut one of them, the centers were often rotten. This lot was going to be easier to cut as the hills were lower and the slopes not so steep. We wouldn’t be doing as much work keeping the roads in because there would be fewer washouts.

My intent was to go through and thin the stands of trees that would make railroad ties and leave the stands to continue to grow into more valuable timber. I figured I would still be alive for this to happen when my son would be old enough and of the age ready to take over from me. Matt Hodges planned his life that way and it seemed like a good plan for me and Reesa to follow. 

But that was for the future. Reesa and I put that aside for now. We were enjoying our son and I often had time to play with him at the end of the day. Pa did too and Oliver would get excited when he had us both with him. It was difficult for me to understand the change in Pa. It took me thirty years before I could look on him as a person I could live comfortably with and like. I knew it was Reesa who had changed him to what he was now and I loved her much the  more for it. Yes, and she had changed me as well.

The Bruce clan spoke what I called a hill people slang, and I could drop into it when talking to them, and we understood each other. As the schooling of their children took hold, their language was not so grating on a person’s ears. Didn’t matter, I suppose when their ancestors arrived from a foreign land, they were often denied a school and were confined to one small area. They spoke a foreign language and when they arrived, all the good land had been taken up. They certainly were able to understand another. Was I any better? I didn’t think so. It took me awhile to understand Randy when he dropped into his Texan drawl.   

The steam engine came the same time as the small log mill. I had it set up out in the open land close to where we were stacking lumber. I sent wagons, drays, and sleds into the woods onto all the roads where the logs for the big mill were cut and brought down and sawed for the best size and use.

The best use for the small logs were for railroad ties. I put both sets of Bruce men and the railroad wood choppers to retrieve the short logs that Matt Hodges’ crews had left piled to be picked up at later time. There were usually enough men around that would be glad to work for seventy-five cents for a Saturdays work. They could get drunk on Sunday for that amount.

I leased mules from Randy Palmer and even asked some of the farmers from Palmer’s side of the valley for extra equipment, mules, sleds, drays to move these logs down out of the mountains to near the mill. One week we all attacked the roads where these logs were, and cleaned them  up bringing down the short logs off one whole section of one mountain. I’d plan to have most of the logs down by snowfall.

These roads often needed repair, especially where they were washed out by rain and run off from the snow melt in spring. To get to the small logs we often filled these gullies with brush and were able to slide a loaded sled of logs over them. These hills might never be cut over again for a hundred years or more. The landscape was forever changed.

We piled hundreds of these logs on the skid-ways above  my small steam powered mill. We brought some of the two year older piles of slabs that were dry, nearer the firebox to fire the steam boiler. I even found a person who had worked firing a steam engine before. He worked for a farmer part time and agreed to work two days a week working for me. This was all the time I could give to this sideline project, myself. Matt Hodges Junior took two weekends to teach me how to make railroad ties out of these logs.

Often I could use a couple of Pa’s cowboys to roll logs onto the saw carriage if he wasn’t moving cattle. Reesa kept track of all of the expenses it took to make the railroad ties. After our first shipment we figured that it was a fifty percent profit. I didn’t have to pay Matt Hodges any of this. Sawing these small logs was almost a loss to him if  he cut them at the big sawmill. Each mile of railroad took 1200 ties. These ties would last from 4 to 8 years, depending on the species. authors note( treatment of creosote didn’t come into use until the 1920’s and extended the life of a tie to 40 years.)

There was often one or two boards, and even one piece of dimension lumber, ten feet long and two inches thick from each log. Ties were sawn to nine by seven inches, and clipped to eight ft/ five inches long. The boards, if any, were odd in length. but most were the ten foot length for that slab and board that came off in the first or second pass of the saw. We got so after getting experienced with the saw I could make a rail cross-tie in ten minutes or less. I could sell all that I made of ten foot boards  to farmers building a shed or a barn.

I considered this found money. The whole ranch was making money in one form or another. Most of the operations were going along smoothly. Pa was recovered from his stroke and with his changed demeanor due to Reesa during his time of recovery, it was a happy household. Ma was happy and Pa would even listen to her if she had something to say. Before the stroke, he would put both Ma and me down.

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We never had a married cow hand before, but there was a wedding in the offing. Bridget Bruce had been using the cook shack to make donuts and the hands hung around there when not out on the range. We all assumed that it was they being able to snitch a donut, but we knew better when Buck, the ranch manager under Pa now came and asked me if he could build a small cabin to put his bride in.

“Buck, when are we going to meet this new bride of yours?”

“Dave, you’ve met her and you see her every day. She is Bridget Bruce who works for you, and who makes donuts. I can’t really bring her into my foreman’s quarters and winter is coming on soon, so we need a place of our own. The hands said they would help me build something. I’m asking you to donate some lumber. We’ll use slabs if we have to, but the men think you will give me the lumber.”

“Buck, I say you can have enough to build something larger than a line camp. Ma and I will give you a stove for a wedding present. Christ, before we know it all the hands will be wanting to get married and have their own place to live. But I guess that is okay too. Are you married already or just going to?”

“Just going to. You’re invited.”

“Great. Talk to Reesa, she will help set it up. That will be the first wedding here since we were married.”

“I don’t know as I ought to ask Reesa. I said some things to her about her being a Mexican one time,”

“You apologized, I heard.”

“I did when it looked as if I didn’t, you were going to shoot me.”

“Good thing you did isn’t it? You know back then and if Pa was able, He wouldn’t have even given you the chance. He would have drawn and killed you on the spot. Things have changed around here since then.”

“They sure have. Do you think it would be okay to ask you and Reesa to stand with us when this happens? Bridget does work some for you sticking lumber.”

“Ask Reesa, and I think she will.”

We had quite a bash here at the ranch when Buck and Bridget were married. All of the men who worked for me and of course all the ranch hands were here. I did invite Sheila and Randy Palmer, and his family, Matt Hodges and wife, and Matt Junior. Henry Bruce, Bridget’s father, had brewed a barrel of beer and at the last minute, I invited the whole crew from the big mill to help empty the barrel. This brought all the people who worked on the Farris ranch and mill together for the first time in the two years Pa and I had been running the two diverse businesses.

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The northern reaches of the mountains had been logged off in the first three years of Matt Hodges constructing the water wheel to run his mill. Now we were logging in the Southern direction. There were occasions when something on Hodges’ mill would break or wear out and he would have to shut down. His wood choppers continued cutting during this period and his teamsters would still haul logs out of the woods. Every fall, the choppers would move to new stands of timber south of the big mill, building new roads to move the logs.

This gave me the men I used to haul out the short logs, time to stack the logs near the Steam mill. If these logs were all stacked on one skid-way, it would have stretched out for a quarter mile and more. As it was, I had five of these skid-ways built so they were not that far away from the steam engine and mill. We had piles and piles of stuck up railroad ties along beside the road before getting to the Ferris Town limits. The last job of a day was to stack the ties after the day's sawing. These piles were far enough away from the piles of logs so air could circulate around them.

We had customers for the ties almost from the first of setting up the Steam mill.

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Matt Hodges could see the end of his eight years promise coming to the end on this logging permit. He had been working on the logging for me for just over six years. He had pushed his crews, anxious to retire. “You know Dave, looking back at this contract, I never figured on getting this far along so fast. I’m transferring the remainder of this Southern area to my oldest son, Jerry, He has been in the woods with me for more than twenty years and knows the business as well as I do. Is my leaving and transferring the work to him going to upset you?”

“No, of course not. He is as good as Sawyer as you. So when is this happening?”

“The first of the year is the best time, I believe. My wife and I are going back east for the winter and along about June, we plan on traveling to the continent and looking up some distant relatives. I have to compliment you on the way you have helped me, by keeping things going on your end of the business.

“Transferring sawing the short logs to you and your sawmill, keeping the sawdust piles down, the lumber away from the mill when sawed, and the lumber stuck up and out of the way, has saved many shutdowns on my end. It minimized any complications I ran into. Also hiring the semi-experienced crews you hired who had worked around sawmills, and your men chopping in the woods is what did it. I had full crews furnished at times by some of your men any time I had a man out sick or injured. I’ve never had such a mixed crew before that worked so well together in all of the years I’ve been in business.

“The first time I spotted a woman on top of a stack of a lumber pile, I about fell over. How did that come about?”

“That was the day my first child was born. She is the woman who’s wedding you came to. Bridget rode out and told me I had a son, and she filled in when I headed for home. She ended up marrying Pa’s straw boss and still makes donuts for a diner in town. I got the idea from Randy Palmer living on the other side of town. He said if you paid your help just a little better than those in the general area, you would have less trouble. I knew you paid your crews well so I did too. Some of these men were here before you came in to saw timber.

“They were dirt poor and had absolutely no education at all. Those same kids of theirs, are going to high school in town now and earning honors. They tore down and salvaged lumber from a bunch of shanties I told them they could have and got them started.   

“Today those same people have built the neatest of houses. All speak better and go to church every Sunday. The men can’t read or write but their women can. Henry Bruce is uncle to the first hill people who were here before he arrived. The woman I mentioned, Josh, and Earl are his offspring. When I needed more help. I just informed them that I could use a couple more men. I paid half the cost for them to come out from Kentucky and work for me. That’s some of why I was able to help on my end of our association.”

“How old are you Dave?”

“I’m thirty-five. Just before I was twenty-nine, I left the ranch because I couldn’t get along with my Pa. I went to work for Randy Palmer and he taught me all kinds of things. Then Pa had a stroke and Ma gave me half the ranch to come home and run the place. I got married shortly after that.”

“I’ve met your lovely wife several times.”

“Yeah, she is the one who straightened out Pa while he was getting well. It made Pa a different man, one we all can live with.”

“So this has been a profitable undertaking for you and yours?”

“It certainly has and I’m going to continue. I just bought the logging rights to another 3000 acres. Would you listen to me a minute to see what you  think of my plans?”

“Sure. What are they?”

“It is an area south of where you are lumbering now. The woodlot is new growth, not like the old growth you have been cutting. A fire went through and burned everything, maybe a hundred and fifty years ago. Some of the old seed trees remained and the whole lot grew up all at the same time. The trees are fairly close together, tall and straight.

“There is a plywood mill building on the river that’s twenty odd miles from here.  The river isn’t going to help me much except it will power the machinery and the plant. We’ll be thinning the trees, salvaging what we get and leave the remainder to grow. Every twenty or twenty five years we’ll go through the lots again. I find out that a straight log that is suitable to make veneer is worth much more than a saw log. That will be my major market from many of these logs.”

“You’ll be select cutting then?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. Not only that, the mountains are more like hills than the mountains we had on this lot you are cutting, I’m thinking for sawing these logs, I can move the mill right into the woods and use steam engines to power the mill. I can almost make this my life’s work and still have some left over for my son. I was promised that I could renew the lumbering permit after the one I have now ends.”

“Well Dave, it looks as if you’re well set for the rest of your life. Of course you could bull right in and have three or four mills running at the same time. It would make you a damned rich man in short order.”

“Matt. some men would, but I don’t see why I need to. I want more kids and I have to think about them as well. My wife is big with child again. I want to be home and around my wife and children more than I am now. Theses logs going out to the veneer factory won’t be sawed but those 4x8 panels are the coming thing.

“The plywood veneer comes from a straight log mounted in a huge lathe and comes from the log turning, shaving veneer off to a certain thickness. It is flattened and put onto a pallet and moved to a clipper for size. The veneer is fed through a dryer, goes through glue rolls, assembled into five thicknesses, sent to a press, bundled together, and when the glue has dried, clipped again to panels four by eight. Now it is stacked ready to sell and now stacked for sale.

“There are going to be kilns there. I can rent space in the kilns to dry the lumber that I saw. Dry the lumber and I won’t have to wait seasons for it to dry. This will raise the value of the lumber from my mill. I’m sure there will be equipment to plane my product at this mill as well.”

“I’d say you have a great future ahead of you. I’ll come by and visit with your family before I leave. Jerry may be interested in what you are doing. Keep him in mind. He likes this part of the country.”

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When I was forty, I was away from home too much from my family of Reesa and three children. I would often spend three days working in the timber lots. The Plywood factory wanted to buy my logging permits that covered the acreage that was close to their factory. They would buy out my whole operation, including the mill and hire all the men that went ran it. I listened to their offer.

Reesa and I talked. “Dave, our two boys don’t seem to be interested in logging and what it entails. They do like the cattle, though. I think as long as Buck is leaving, you should take that part of the ranch over again. Dean doesn’t show the interest he used to either, and he is getting old. We’ve piled up more money than I ever imaged was possible. Some mornings when we wake up. I’d like to snuggle a bit, turn over and go back to sleep again, It’s no fun with you up and gone.

“I have talked to Sheila and she is happy that Randy is at home more now than he ever was. He has managers for all of his interests that are located in town. She says they often just get on a horse and ride for a few hours in the afternoon. Now that Buck and Bridget are thinking about leaving and Dean is getting old, it is time we took over the ranch again. Our bank account is certainly big enough to educate our three children.”

“Who said Buck was leaving?”

“Talk to Bridget, she was telling me all about it. There is no hurry, just something they have been thinking about.”

“I’ll go tell Buck that I’m going to be his boss again. I hope he takes it all right.”

“He will. I guess, I’ll go round up our kids and see what they are up too. Okay for me to tell them that you are going to be home all the time from now on?”

“Sure. “ I headed for Buck’s house. He and Bridget were sitting on the stoop close together.

“Hey, Dave,  you’re home today. I thought you would be working?”

“Nope, I need to talk to you. You’ll hear it soon, I came to tell you I’m back to being boss of the cattle again. Your job won’t change, I sold out the logging operation, including the big sawmill and all that goes with it. I might on a weekend cut some short logs for rail ties just to keep my hand in. Other than that, I’ll be with the cattle. As I say, you’ll still be boss day to day.”

“Well Dave, maybe not. Bridget has got it into her head she wants to go back east and visit her old home. Not up in the hills, but in the town where she learned to fry donuts. If I like it there and can find a job, we might stay awhile. How much are you counting on me here?”

“Well, with the amount of cattle we are running, I can fill in with a part-timer. The punchers we need are young and all the old ones are just living out their lives in one of the line camps or in town. I’m still young enough to handle cattle so if you make plans to leave, go ahead. I’m going to miss both of you. You’re almost family, you’ve been here that long.”

“You know, your oldest, Oliver, has the skills to make a damned fine puncher. We’ve all been teaching him. I say we, but that’s mostly Dean’s doing. He’s even got your girl swinging a rope, She may make a cowhand some day.”

I did talk to Randy and a month later I was home every night and had unloaded the entire mill operation. What Pa said when I told him I had sold out the lumbering operation and permits I had with on the timber lots, surprised me.

“Dave, you promise to take care of me and your Ma for the rest of our life, and I’ll make a deal with you. Take over the Ranch. Use what money of mine you need to educate your kids and what is in the rest of our account is yours. That’s to pay you for me being so damned cheap and mean when you were a young man. Christ, my face gets red if I think about how I kept you tied to me until you were thirty years old. Reesa showed me a better way. There is no person more wonderful than she is.

“You get me a lawyer and I’ll set this up right. Be home with Ressa and pay attention to your kids.”

“Good, and thank you for the way you are leaving things.”

“Should have wised up sooner. I got to thinking how good Reesa was for taking care of me before I got better. It was her who kept me from being discouraged. This move should take care of a way to thank both of you at the same time.”

“It looks like I came home just at the right time to teach our kids.”

“I’d say so.” The future was looking up. A fine lovely wife and three children for Reesa and I to teach our ways and values. We might even find a circle of friends on the other side of town. Working as we are has kept Reesa and I here and close to home. There are all kinds of doings going on in town now. Randy and Pa are all the time exchanging Sundays to get together after church. Johnny Bricknell and Pattie have four kids and our three love to get together with them. Pa and Ma go with us usually when we visit Sheila and Randy.

This left Reesa and I for some alone time. Not always though. The Bruce’s had come a long way from when we first met them. Reesa taught them all and helped them when they went to the high school in town. She is as proud of their accomplishments as she is of our own children.

The ranch has a lot fewer people living on it than there were in past years. Boyd Bruce and Margaret is the only Bruce family left who are living on the ranch now. They still live in the house they built up beyond the school house.  The small ranchers that went up to Kansas with me with their cattle are all gone now, their the buildings  falling in. Reesa and I have taken to getting on horses and going by there when out riding.

The big mill is gone, the only part left is the water wheel and that is falling apart. The pond filled in and the dam itself is rotted.  Small trees are sprouted in the dirt. We now have tine to explore the old logging roads watching for wild life and flowers. Reesa and I are always happy together and doing this has put a little frosting on top.

The End