Chapter 25

The house was strong built and clean kept. The furnishings looked hand made by a master woodworker. There were fine rugs under the furniture in the main room and in the kitchen the floor had been smoothed down with a wood plane making the finish smooth and flat. The board floor had been scrubbed and mopped so many times the wood was nearly faded out white.

Hilda Ehrlichmann was a fine cook and had prepared a feast for their supper. They had pork loin, cooked cabbage, field peas, mashed potatoes, boiled corn and fresh bread. Most of the food had been cooked the night before and warmed up for the meal.

Tom and Cal ate until they were stuffed. The two young men had made many meals of jerky and leftover biscuits and Jackrabbits since they became friends. Food like this was a rare treat to them and they made the most of it. Hilda, and her son and daughter were proud to see them eat like this too.

As they ate, the family of German immigrants told of the land they left to come to America. They told of the hardships and oppression they and their families had endured until they and others came here to make a new life in a new land.

They had been proud stewards of the land in the region of Germany near the Russian border. Now they had homesteaded land in Kansas and found this climate and soil to be close to what they worked in the old country.

The soils here were suited for the hard red winter wheat being grown in Europe. The corn made good crops and with a few rains along during the growing season, they would have bountiful harvests.

Rudolph Ehrlichmann had come to Kansas with his wife and two small children to make a new life.

They had just gotten their homestead built and barns built, as well as the land worked where they could make a living, when Rudolph died with fever and chills after working in the cold and wet weather, to repair the barn that was damaged by a storm.

After much pleading for the two young men to sleep in the house, the Ehrlichmann family finally gave in and watched as the they walked into the early darkness toward the barn.

“Tom, I need to be with a woman. After seeing Helga’s shirt pushed out and her big teats almost bustin’ through that thin shirt I feel like I’m about to bust out too,” Cal admitted as Tom laughed at his friend.

“Hell Tom it ain’t funny, you said you done been with a woman, felt her body and kissed her lips. I ain’t even met one that would have me yet, I don’t reckon.”

“It’ll happen Cal, and when it does you’ll just need to slow down a bit and let it all happen, don’t get in a rush and spoil things.”

“Well I’m ready for it to happen soon, or I’m gonna go get me one of them whore’s like was over in Dodge to take some of the pressure off.”

“Cal you want to be careful doing that, I heard tell of some boys coming up with some awful sores in some private places after they laid with them whores a day or so,” Tom told him.

“When we get settled down in a town again for a few days, we’ll try to find you a woman that’ll give you some of what you need to take that edge off.”

“It sure as hell won’t be none too soon either, just thinking about a woman gets my thoughts all bent out of shape. Seeing Helga and her mom over there with them big teats stuck out in front like a bulls horns don’t help none either.”

The next morning at daylight Hahn went to the barn to call Tom and Cal for breakfast, but the two riders were already saddled and gone.

They continued to ride east staying on the property line separating the fenced pastures and the cultivated crops on the farm land.

Before mid morning the two riders came to the town of Hill City where they looked up the sheriff. Sheriff Grafton had gotten the telegraph from Sheriff Wade down in Ellis County.

Sheriff Grafton swore the two riders in as his deputies in Graham County and gave them each a hand written paper signed by him to prove they had jurisdiction in his county.

After exchanging stories about the fence cutting, telling the sheriff where it was, and the evidence at the scene Tom and Cal had witnessed the day before, they thanked the sheriff and rode on out of the small town.

Sheriff Grafton was in agreement with the two new range riders, the farmers were being set up to look as if they were the trouble makers.

Looking at the maps and trying to keep up with the section lines and property lines proved to be more than they had counted on. They knew they were coming to the east side of Graham County where it joined Rooks County.

The county line was laid out in a near perfect line running north and south at least fifty feet wide with the road in the center.

Looking at the maps once more to get their bearings, they rode east along the trail that once again separated property.

On the south there was fenced property on the north there was farmland. The grass seemed to be over grazed along the pastures here and Tom looked through his scope at the countless head of cattle that were continuously walking and searching for forage.

The problem with over grazing was more evident here, where the spring rains had not been enough to spur re-growth.

Tom and Cal were on a trail that, according to their maps would lead them to Stockton in Rooks County. The trail was well used from the looks of the wagon tracks as well as horse and rider tracks.

Here, as over in Graham County, there were fences adjoining farmland. Riding east on the trail to Stockton they came to a trail that cut back south from the main trail. Here there were many tracks where some one had driven cattle west on the trail then turned them south on the other trail.

The tracks were fresh as if made during the night or late in the day before.

Tom told Cal he was gonna ride south a ways to see if he could tell where the cattle were driven and why. Cal rode on east to see where the cattle had came from and the two riders were going meet back here later.

Tom rode at an easy lope on his big horse and soon saw where the cattle had been driven through a gap in the fence. The fence was now closed and there were no riders to be seen.

Tom rode back the other way to meet Cal. When he got to the place where they had split up he didn’t see Cal in any direction, so he decided to ride east, the way Cal had ridden when they split.

About two miles up the trail Tom saw Cal sitting on his horse facing out toward the corn field on the opposite side of the fenced pastures.

As Tom rode up beside him, Cal pointed out to the edge of the corn field where a dog lay dead. From the looks of the ground and the corn stalks around in a circle, there had been a pretty good tussle of some sort. There were what looked to be parts of a shirt scattered all around and foot prints of small bare feet. There were boot prints also and from what Cal and Tom could tell, it looked as if someone had a pretty good scrap out here.

Where did the dead dog and the torn clothes come into the picture they wondered. Tom stepped off his horse and walked a wide circle from where the scuffle took place. He saw where two sets of bare foot prints had left the area. Tom walked along the corn rows for a ways following the foot prints, they were about a dozen rows out from the trail and heading east.

Tom walked back out to his horse, swung to the saddle and took his telescope out to scan the horizon above the tops of the shoulder high rows of corn stalks. He didn’t see any movement but did see a scope of trees in the distance to the east. The line of trees looked to be a small river or creek that ran from north to south across the trail ahead of them.

The two riders walked their horses slowly now, looking for any movement or any sign of more struggles in the edge of the cornfield.

Tom saw his horses ears perk up and turn as if hearing a sound in the distance. He looked at Cal and they both nodded to where the cornrows ended near the line of trees. Ahead they saw where the creek crossed the trail in a low water crossing. The trees lined both sides of the creek and the water was flowing in ripples across the sandy bottom. Tom heard a sound coming from their left as they neared the low water crossing. He motioned to Cal for to stop and dismount.

Cal looped the reins of his horse over Tom’s saddle horn and Tom patted his horse on the neck as they left them there and made their way toward the trees. They heard the sound again and looked at each other, it sounded like a muffled moan or a groan of pain. They were nearing the source of the sounds now and kept low in the corn stalks as they slipped closer and closer.

Cal tapped Tom on the arm and pointed to where four horses were tied to the small limbs of a fallen tree. The tree trunk lay parallel about three feet off the ground and looked as if it had been uprooted in a storm. Whatever had made the sounds was near the tree trunk, but hidden from Tom and Cal by the branches of the tree top lying on the ground.

They eased more to the side in order to see what they were walking into. There in front of them were three men, their pants and boots off. When Tom and Cal moved just a bit more they saw a young girl with her hands tied over the top of the tree trunk, her legs spread very wide and ankles tied to small bushes. They looked closer and saw the legs and feet of another girl on the opposite side of the tree that looked to be tied in the same manner. The girl nearest them had what looked to be part of her clothes tied around her head covering her mouth.

One of the men had just backed away from the nearest girl, they were talking turns raping her. Cal eased back around to where he could see down the other side of the tree top that lay on the ground. There he saw another man naked from the waist down standing between the outspread legs of a younger girl as he held her hips. The men were busy taking pleasure from the bodies of the young girls. They never saw Tom as he eased up behind the one standing farthest away from the tree. Tom slipped his knife from its sheath and with his right hand slipped it around the mans neck, pulling it tight enough to make him bleed. As he did this he drew his Colt and thumbed the hammer back.

The click of the hammer being backed was unmistakable and the other two men turned quickly. The one still behind the girl looked over his shoulder. When he saw Tom standing there, he whirled to grab a gun from a holster that was hanging on a limb of the tree trunk.

“Back away from that girl, before I kill you,” Tom said in a growl.

The man was just pulling his gun from the holster when Tom shot him in the back of his knee, sending him twisting and falling as the front of his knee joint exploded when the .44 slug came out through his knee cap. Cal had made it almost to the man raping the girl on the other side when he heard Tom speak. He slipped the barrel his Colt under the man’s ear.

“Move back real slow and lay on the ground, or I’ll kill you where you stand,” Cal told the man. Tom held the knife to the man’s neck, “Get on the ground next to your friend,” Tom said to the man that had been next in line to rape the girl. He pulled the knife blade slowly across the other man’s throat, slicing it open, but not deep enough to kill him.

The man grabbed his throat with both hands and fell to his knees, blood running through his fingers and down both arms

“Cal, you get your man?”

“Yep, the sick sumbitch don’t look so big and bad now though.”

“Get him around here with these three, then cut these girls down.”

Cal walked the man around the tree top and made him get on the ground next to his friends. Tom handed his knife to Cal, and he cut the ropes they had used to tie the girls hands together across the low tree trunk. The girls fell to the ground under the tree and crawled to each other, sobbing and crying as they hugged each other. Tom and Cal took the ropes and tied the hands of the three men behind their backs.

Tom whistled and his horse came running to him with Cal’s horse beside him, the reins still on the saddle horn. Tom opened his bed roll and took his oilskin drovers coat and his rain slicker out, handing them to Cal so the girls could cover themselves.

Tom stood over the four men on the ground.

“If any of you so much as wiggle your ass, I’ll make another shit hole next to the one you got,” he growled.

Tom went to one of the cowboy’s horses and took another rope. He tied the end to one foot of the first man, then used a double half-hitch on the man’s other foot with about two feet of rope between his feet. He used the same rope to loop half-hitches over the three men that could walk, tying them together as a chain gang. Tom took a ball of small rawhide lace from his saddle bag and picked up his knife as he walked to the creeks edge. He soaked the rawhide in the water and came back to where the men were.

Cal was trying to find out what he could from the young girls. They were still sobbing and crying out of control. Tom walked to where the wounded man lay crying and as he bent double to hold his leg just above the knee joint had been. He grabbed the man and flipped his legs, making him roll over on his back. Tom kicked his feet apart, making him scream as his right leg flopped out to the side.

Tom made a small loop with the wet rawhide and slipped it over the man’s bloody balls, then pulled the loop tight, drawing his nut sack as tight as a tobacco pouch. He stripped off about two feet of the rawhide and cut it, leaving the loose end lying on the man’s leg. He took another length of rawhide and looped it twice around the wounded knee and tied it tight, slowing the blood draining from the wound.

“Cal lead one of the horses over here and let’s get this sorry piece of shit in the saddle.”

Cal and Tom grabbed the man and jerked him upright as he screamed in pain. They heaved him across the saddle with his right leg flopping on the off side. Tom grabbed the end of rawhide lace and wrapped it around the saddle horn then jerked the slack out, making the man forget about his knee as he felt his balls pulled toward the saddle horn.

The man scooted forward to get some relief and Tom jerked the slack again and tied it tight. The man was sitting forward as far as he could in the saddle, and still couldn’t get the rawhide to let up any.

“You just sit there real still like cow man, while we get your big brave friends taken care of,” Tom told him.

Cal just stood and stared at the way Tom had tied the man to the saddle, he knew that as bad as the man’s leg was hurting, when the horse started walking, his balls were gonna hurt more.

Tom looked to where the two girls were still huddled together and crying, their sobs were not as bad now and he walked over to them.

“You girls walk up stream a ways and wash yourself up the best you can and we’ll get you home.”

The young girls looked up at him and without a word got up and walked around the fallen tree top and out to the creek. Tom and Cal made the other three men stand up. He tied a rope to the saddle of one of their horses. He tied this rope to the one that had them shackled together.

“Where are you men from and who do you work for?” Tom asked.

None of the men spoke and Tom took a small limb from the ground and whacked it across the last man’s ass that stood in line tied to the others. He jumped and glared at Tom but said nothing. Tom walked to the first man in line and whacked the small limb across his privates as hard as he could. The man doubled over and screamed.

“We can go on like this until one of you talk, or I can get tired and hit that horse across the rump and watch as the three of you get dragged a ways by the feet.”

Still none of the men spoke.

“Cal c’mere and put your Colt in this man’s ear, if he so much as flinches, kill’m,” Tom said in a low voice.

Cal backed the hammer of his Colt and stuck the muzzle to the man’s ear hole.

Tom took the rawhide lace and went to the creek to wet it again. He came back and made the first man spread his feet as wide apart as the rope would allow. Tom knelt down in front of the man and jerked his balls down hard and wrapped the rawhide around the top of his ball sack tight. Then he cut the lace and tied it tight. The man was screaming the whole time but was afraid to move with the Colt in his ear. Tom walked to the second man and tied his balls up like a drawstring sack also, then the third man got the same treatment.

“Tom I ain’t never seen a man get his balls tied up like that, what’s gonna happen when that rawhide dries?” Cal asked his friend.

“I reckon they’ll lose’em Cal, they’ll just rot off in a few days.”

The three men all looked at Tom but still said nothing. When the two young girls came back from the creek, they looked at the men with disgust and anger. Tom and Cal walked the girls away from the scene and tried to get the story from them. The girls were still very emotional and could hardly tell of the way the men had come upon them in the corn fields as they pulled the tall weeds from the corn.

Though two years apart in age, the two sisters were both about medium height. Their long hair down on their shoulders, bleached nearly white from many days in the sun. They both had small teats for their age and hardly any body hair. The girls told of hiding when the men first rode by, then their dog ran out and started barking at the horses. The men were laughing and chasing the dog out in the tall corn when they saw the girls. They got other ideas then of ways to have fun. The dog was shot when he bit the first man that stepped to the ground. Then the others got off their horses and told the girls to strip off their clothes.

When they refused the men ripped their clothes from them, the girls broke free and ran through the corn naked with three of the men chasing on foot and the fourth bringing up the horses. When they ran to the end of the corn rows the men caught them and tied them with their hands across the tree trunk and spread their feet and tied them wide apart. That’s when they started raping them, laughing and slapping them as they had their way with the young girls.

“What’re your names and where do you live?” Cal asked.

“I am Elka and this is my younger sister Erika, we live across the creek about a half a mile that way,” she pointed.

“How old are you girls?” Tom asked.

“I am fifteen and Erika is thirteen.”

“We’ll take you home, then take these men to town and turn them over to the sheriff,” Tom told the sisters.

“Our Papa and brothers will kill these men for what they have done to us,” Elka said bitterly.

“I can’t say that I’d blame them either, but we have to turn them over to the law,” Cal said.

“The law won’t do anything, these men ride for the McDonnough Ranch,” Elka said as she looked again at the men.

“Who owns the McDonnough Ranch, do you know?” Cal asked.

“We don’t know the owner, we have never been bothered by these men before, but they all have MDR brands on their horses.”

“When we get to Stockton we’ll meet with the sheriff, then maybe ride out to the McDonnough Ranch for a visit, first we’ll get you girls home so you can get something on besides those long coats. You girls ride a horse don’t you?”

“Yes Sir,” they both answered.

“Then mount up on two of those horses over there and we’ll get this little cowboy show moving down the road,” Tom said.