Chapter 5

The very first sign of winter ending was the melting snow starting to run persistently down from the foothills as the snowdrifts started to break up. Dixie noticed a family of bears down by the river and that was a sure indication that the hibernation period was definitely over.

The farm was fixing to put all four fields into production this spring. They had almost a dozen helpers now who had aligned with Sheriff Dixie and the rest of the sod-busters who fought to stay on their rightful land. Even a couple of the former Rocking "R" bunch had thrown in with them and their guns were a welcome addition to the growing firepower of the farmer side of the range war equation.

Dixie had a high-old time that winter letting Pablo use her body as a tuning fork for his impressive friendly weapon. Everyone on the farm knew she was getting poked nightly by the handsome son of Manuela but it did seem kind of right because the young man had shown his grit in saving Dixie's life and risking his own in defense of the farmer's way of life.

The Mormon family on the adjoining farm had decided to pull up stakes and head further west to Utah territory and the safety of their own kind. Between the Marshall's office rewards for the three murderers brought to justice and her pay as the town sheriff, Dixie was able to raise enough cash money to pay the paperwork on the adjoining farm and suddenly she was the owner of no less than eight fields of about forty acres each. It was a sizable farm although still a drop in the bucket compared to the range owned by the consortium on the Rocking "R" ranch. She decided to set aside a half field for the construction of support buildings for the farm operations and to save the trip all the way into town to get supplies. Some of the workers from the south asked if they could build some small cabins for their families and she figured it would be a good way to insure they had the labor they needed to bring in the crops and take care of the farm stock. She had a fair share of growing calves that had been deserted by their mothers and nurtured though the winter by the riders she had hired to repair and extend the fence around her additional land.

A hard-faced rider came into the yard early one morning asked,

"Are any of those mavericks Rocking "R" stock?"

Dixie answered with the ease of ownership knowing that there was no other brand on their hide anywhere. If she had not saved them from the wolves and the snowdrifts, they would be white bones on the melting snow right now.

"They have only one brand on them, mister. If you have no other business here, I would appreciate it if you would move on and go about your business."

It was a bit harsh but it was the only language these yahoos understood. If you gave them an inch they would take a yard and that was dead certain.

The cool stranger just sat his saddle and hooked his off leg around the horn and rolled him a smoke using only one hand. It was an indication he was plenty saddle savvy and wise enough to keep his gun hand free for an emergency draw if necessary.

"I reckon you must be Miss Dixie that I have been hearing so much about. My name is Luke and I've been contracted to put you face down in the dirt but it don't seem like the right thing to me. So, I am just going to move on out of this valley and find me a more peaceful spot to rest my tired ass. You need to clean that nest of vipers out over to the Rocking "R" before they call in a mess of real nasty characters who don't have any sense of honor about them. They will use those mavericks as an excuse for their wickedness and that's a fact."

The stranger backed out of the yard fully aware that there were a half-dozen guns aimed his way and took off at a sharp trot back in the direction of the railhead and the road to Abilene with lawless streets and wild women.

Dixie was perplexed because she knew the man was right on the money. There was no way this range war would be ended until the Rocking "R" riders were sent to boot hill. The feisty young girl with the ready shooting irons figured there were almost twenty guns out at that center of evil intentions and that unless they did something real fast, it was real likely to be double that when the thaw was complete.

She took quick stock of her available firepower and saw that she had almost twenty guns on her side so now was the best time to bring this thing to a close once and for all.

When she rode over to the Anderson brother's farm to fill Hector and Jethro and their cousin Butch in on the fast-approaching crisis, she took Pablo and Manual with her just in case they met up with any of the yahoos from the Rocking "R". There was a nice-looking buggy in the front yard and she wondered what was going on.

Dixie got her answer real fast when she stepped inside the cabin because both Hector and Jethro were humping a pair of the floozy girls from the saloon right on top of the kitchen table like it was some Kansas City brothel. The girls were all giggles and laughter so it was obvious it was either a lucrative business arrangement or a pleasure visit because things in town were a mite too quiet.

Butch was on his back on the pile of buffalo hides in the corner with a pretty black-haired Senorita between his knees sucking like there was no tomorrow and a tall red-haired whore from the railhead who was tired of getting gangbanged by the sex-addict railroad workers looking to put down lots of track between her legs. She must have been some attracted to Butch because she was giving him the full use of her mouth and tongue in a way that girlfriends and wives portioned out their feminine honey to loved ones when the lights went down low.