Chapter 1

I came down off the mountain, hearing gunshots at home. I was looking for one of our cows hidden in the woods to have her calf. I found her and left her alone. I would return her with the rest of our five head a few days from today.

I had heard shooting at home about the time I found her, and I was anxious about it. We had threats ever since Pa had bought this sweet little bowl of land in the valley between the hills. It was an entire section with a small pond right in the center of the property.

Pa figured we could raise twenty or twenty-five head of beef long with crops and have a nice farm here. Ma was sick with heart trouble, and we knew she wouldn’t live too long. Ma and Pa Jenkins and I first lived in the wagon when we came here last fall. I slept under the wagon some and then in the shed for the horses until the cabin had a roof.

Pa and I built the log cabin during the winter and a shed for the five bred cows we had when we arrived. We had a work team and two saddle horses. I was their fifteen-year-old son, Matt.

Things had gone well for us, and soon, the cabin was up and tight. Pa was one of the handiest men who accomplished many things. We had left the town where this dream Pa and Ma had held for years in their mind of a place like what we were building. A doctor had promised Ma that she would last at least five years if she took it easy.

Pa had saved enough money to buy what we needed, and the five head of cattle were all he and I could handle as we traveled the 800 miles to get here.

I came down from the hills and looked toward where Pa was plowing a vegetable garden patch. The team was down, sprawled out, shot dead, and Pa was lying on the ground. I looked and could see three men high tailing it toward the woods on the opposite side of the valley. I studied the riders to lock them into my mind. I studied the last man riding a light-colored horse.

I recognized the horse and man as the rancher who had threatened us about taking up the valley. He was a rancher, Weatherly, who held rangeland on the other side of the hills. It was too far from where I was located for the gun I carried to be effective. I hadn’t heard that many shots—only three. They must have rode up to Pa, shot him, and then killed both horses, but I couldn’t tell.

Maybe they didn’t know that I was included in the family. I had never met Weatherly personally, but I was out when he approached Pa with his threats. He may have known about Ma, though, and she may have not come out to meet him. He didn’t worry about killing Pa, just killing out of hand and riding off. Pa had been no danger to anyone today because he wasn’t armed.

I stopped long enough to put Pa on my horse and led it to the cabin. I found Ma lying on the floor under the window. She was gasping for breath, clutching her chest. “Matt, I think I saw that Rancher, and I think it was the one who was upset we bought this land. The man from the other side of the hills, I’m sure it was the same horse he rode. Pain hit when I saw our horses go down, anyway, and I guess I felt it was the end of me.

“You pack up and get out of here, or they will kill you too. Please don’t bother with Pa and me, someone will find and bury us. You become a good man and don’t try to get even. You’re too young now to go after them. You’ll be just getting killed yourself.”

I stayed holding Ma, and she lasted about two hours before she shuddered and lay still. I didn’t go out and stir around at all. I watered my horse when it was dark and got the other one out of the shed. I put Pa’s saddle on his. I wrapped my Pa and Ma in blankets, loaded them, and headed for where I could easily dig alone now in the lantern light. Ma and Pa went into the earth with a prayer over them.

Back at the house, I gathered food, a rifle, a six-shooter, and two sacks, one of food and ammunition, and personal papers. I found Pa’s spyglass, making sure the strap was good enough to hang from the saddle horn.

I lifted the stone before the hearth and removed a copy of the deed to the land and the money in the cache. I took a glass jug, filled it with coal oil, and took two canteens for water. I also wrapped up a few of Pa’s tools and packed them on the extra horse.

I didn’t weigh much and hadn’t yet experienced my full growth, but I was strong from working under Pa’s direction and often did a big day’s work.

I didn’t cross the land but went around the valley to where I had seen the three riders enter. I let Pa’s horse have its head, and it followed the trail where the horses had traveled several hours before.

The horses did as I hoped, never hesitating to continue in the dark. I had never ridden this way before. After a few miles, I came out on the other side of a hill and could barely see a lantern glowing in the open valley. I traveled around, not going out into the valley and away from the buildings. It was getting streaks of light in the sky when I halted the animals and made camp in a little glen. There was enough browse for a few hours— now it was time for what I was planning.

I slept some, not at ease, missing my Ma and Pa. At full light, I could see stirring around the ranch buildings. Smoke was coming from a chimney near the bunkhouse, and I could see men heading for it. That must be a cook shack. There was no smoke from the ranch house, and finally, I saw two men come out carrying rifles and go into the cook shack. They were all in there for the greater part of a half hour.

Suddenly, they trooped to the bunkhouse. They came out with rifles, mounted the horses, and emptied the corral. I could make out the ranch owner on his light-colored horse. Didn’t I wish I could shoot and kill with certainty? I wasn’t sure and didn’t know much about guns, so I sat slumped in the saddle.

A man came out of the cook shack with an old dog. The dog was so old he could barely move. The man walked with him and threw a blanket in the sun for the dog to lie on. He then turned and walked into the big barn and was gone for fifteen minutes. The barn doors opened from the inside.

Soon, a pair of led horses wearing harnesses came around the side of the barn and backed into the barn. The man drove out, sitting on the seat of a spring wagon, and headed off across the land toward where I knew the town lay. That had to be the cookie after supplies.

When he was gone from sight, I rode toward the barn and inside onto the barn floor. The barn was half-full of hay. A big freight wagon was on the other end of the barn floor, and I saw a stabled team of big workhorses through a door. I loosed these and led them out, waving my arms until they went out into the fields. I debated shooting them but decided not to, and the same for the old dog.

I was surprised to see another stable beyond the house, blocked from my sight by the more oversized barn. I glanced in and saw stabled riding horses. I let these loose as well.

I pulled the bottle of coal oil out of the saddle pocket and went into the hay barn, splashing some coal oil on the hay at the top of the ladder. I saved some for the bottom near the floor. I closed one big door, and when I threw a Lucifer into the soaked hay at the bottom, I closed the other big door. I mounted my horse and returned to the glen to get my other horse.

I walked him into the rushing crick and downstream, reaching some stony ground. I was trying to hide the horse tracks just for a while. I reversed and rode him up through a pass between the hills. Just before I entered this, I turned and looked toward the ranch buildings. The fire showed through the roof, and fire ash was in the air. I had seven hours of daylight left, and I used it all. I could go upstream or down if I found a crick where no tracks would show.

By the next day’s evening, I was more than a few miles away. I had made no contact with anyone, but I knew it wouldn’t last, and I was right. I was tired, and I had pushed my horses. I woke up when someone was speaking. “Hey, Kid, what are you doing camping here all alone? It’s a good place; my friends have used it before.”

I had a story ready. “I was run off when a big ranch drove us out. Parents are both dead. I thought of a whole lot of things to get even. I know little about guns and stuff like that, and I’m only fifteen. I figured I would get on with a ranch somewhere where I could learn about things and get a little age. I should know enough by the time I’m not a kid anymore.”

“Well, son, that sounds like a good thing to do. Four of us here have a small ranch. We could teach you some of what you need to know. It’s off the beaten track, and we only go out to sell our beef. That’s where we have been and are heading home. You can follow along with us if you’d like.”

“I’ll do that.” These men I had hooked up with traveled fast, and I couldn’t guess how far we traveled. It didn’t matter. On nights when we stopped, I helped with camp chores and spent much time rubbing the horses dry. I didn’t say much, and the four men didn’t either. Sam, Mike, and Rick might be ten years older than I was. Rocky had to be Pa’s age, well into his Forties. We headed into the uplands finally.

Rocky declared we were almost home. I saw a cloud of smoke rising from the tree tops the next mountain over, but I didn’t mention it. It must be we weren’t alone in this area. We pulled into a good-sized opening with cattle grazing. I estimated it held about 300 head, and more of different-aged cattle. The cabin was rough but large enough. It was old, though. The horses had a three -sided shelter. It looked like I had to build my own for my two animals. I’d have it done by snowfall and have a place to sleep.

I was tired and late getting up. I was the last one to hit the bunk last night, too. I saw the horses cared for like I did every night for the previous three.

“Kid, what’s your last name? Pick one out of the air if you don’t want to tell us.”

“Thought about that already. I haven’t heard you say what yours is either, so I expect you have one that you use different than what you were born with,”

I paused and said, “I’m using Abbot, my mother’s name, but I don’t mind you calling me Kid.” I hadn’t spoken about whether Abbot was my first or last name.

“Okay, Kid Abbot, it is. Why don’t you go out and look the cattle over? The boys and I usually meet together when we first get home.”

“Good enough. Make sure you tell the boys I want to stay with you. Tell them I won’t be traveling often to town or anything. That’s for a while until I learn how to protect myself. I’m pretty good with a rifle already. I’ll get out my handgun, and someone, maybe you, will teach me how to use it. Someday, I expect to want to use it.”

“You killed anyone, and the law is looking for you?”

“No, I haven’t killed—yet. That’s for the future. I did something that caused someone a lot of hurt though, and they likely will want to do me in.”

“Okay, fair enough. What have you got for a weapon?”

“Besides my Winchester, an almost new Colt .45. I have a few boxes of shells too.” Rocky nodded. I went out and watered and fed the horses, saddled my own, and headed out on the range.

I was gone for more than two hours. When I came back, I could tell the men in the cabin were happy and had a few drinks. “Kid, we talked about you living with us for a while. We also discussed what we could teach you. We are an easy-going bunch and haven’t been too happy in the real world; all of us are having troubles at different times. We caution you that if we have anyone visit, please don’t answer any questions about us that are put to you.

“At times, we leave the place for a few days. That keeps us from being bored, but you don’t seem to be the type who would rub us the wrong way. We will be showing you how cattle are handled while being watched over.”

I interrupted, “My Pa and Ma bought a piece of land about twice the size as this one. We were getting it going, and then they died. Pa was breaking ground for Ma’s garden. If you are ever in a town with a blacksmith, maybe you could get a plowshare. I can build a plow beam and carve out some handles for it.

“One of those satchels I have has Pa’s tools in it. I have a little money for the share and the bolts to put one together. You could buy some seeds, and we can have some fresh vegetables to go with our meat.”

“Kid, I know you will earn your keep and more. We are tickled we ran into you. Make a list of what you need to make a garden and one of us will get it for you. You could go to town yourself, you know?”

“I’d rather not. I can draw you a picture of what I need if it is something that a smith has to make.”

“It sounds like a plan.”

It took a few days to decide what I needed. In the meantime, I had two men scouring the woods for a dead oak tree that wasn’t lying on the ground. When they found one, I had them hook a rope to all the straight pieces and drag them to where I could use them. It was a young tree about 13 inches at the butt and nine at the top. The grain was straight, and I had five eight-foot logs to make timbers and boards.

Rocky said, “I see your tools and don’t know what half of them are for. How in hell do you know what they are used for?”

“My Pa was a wheelwright and manufactured wheels for wagons going west. He also had a forge to shape all the iron for the wheels. He and Ma thought they would go west after a while when they heard back from some neighbors about what a rich piece of land could produce. It was last spring in March when we started. Ma was the one to decide Pa. I was interested and damned excited about it myself.

“We found the land okay, not knowing Pa had purchased it through a land company. All our dreams ended a few weeks ago. I’ll get a little older and able before I am finished with what happened. As I said, I depend on you to teach what I need for that. In the meantime, I’ll push my loss to the back of my mind and bring the hammer down on someone who deserves it later.”

“Kid, hate is driving you, I take it?”

“As good a reason as any, if you say so. Oh, I will need a mule to do the plowing with. Do you think you can find one with a harness? I could make the harness, but that’s better done in the wintertime.”

“I’ll find one, or maybe a single workhorse.”

I still did most of the barn chores and began working on the plow frame. I made wooden wedges and was preparing to split them into boards and dimension timbers. I made the beam first and then made the frame where the handles fit into notches. Rich and Mike headed for a town where they knew of a good smith.

I made a list of other items I wanted to build. I had enough money to buy a harrow to cut up the sod after plowing if they could find a General Store that had one in stock. I offered to pay, but they guessed they could scare up the money for what I needed.

Otherwise, I’d have to have a smith make the metal disks. Pa had never made one, so I didn’t have much of an idea of how to begin building it. The last thing I wanted on the list was iron to make into a ring so I could make a wheel for a barrow. That would save a lot of carrying stuff if I had any luck with the garden.

Two men took off early the next day and said they would be gone for at least three days. It allowed time to for me to check out the smoke I had observed the day I arrived here. I did morning chores, saddled my horse, heading for the mountain that rose next to this one. I figured it must be four or five miles. I was just curious and didn’t anticipate any danger.