Chapter 41

The rain continued until late in the day with periods of heavy downpours and a steady drizzle in between. Just before sundown, the clouds in the western sky broke open into a reddish spray of colors on the horizon.

The dirt street in Hays that had been dry with dust blowing into the stores and homes, were now sloppy and muddy as the horses plodded through the deep puddles. The teams of horses pulling wagons were trying to get footing in the slippery mud and the ruts from the big wagon wheels got deeper and deeper. Now instead of dust blowing up from the street and into the stores, people were tracking in mud, as no one bothered to clean their boots off.

Tom and Cal made another trip to Wong Lee’s and left their wet and muddy clothes.

The next morning early, Tom and Cal rode east along the tracks and found where the horses had entered the brush after the train robbery.

They tried to follow the horses’ tracks from the day before, but there’d been too much rain and water was standing all over in big puddles throughout the brush thicket.

Tom did find the place where he’d found the man lying face down the day before, he could see where the brush had been broken over and a few tracks where the men from town had gotten the body up on a horse’s back. Other than that, there was no sign left of the train robbers or the other horse.

Tom and Cal rode a wide circle from this point, hoping to find something. Cal hollered at Tom and as they met, Cal held up a faded shirt that was wet, muddy and torn.

“I found this over toward the tracks hanging on a bush near the edge of the thicket. I didn’t see any sign of tracks of any kind around it though. I reckon it could’ve been there for a while, or maybe it was something to do with the ruckus out here yesterday,” Cal said.

“We may never know the truth about what went on out here Cal, but there’s some things sticking in my head about all this that don’t fit. One thing is the Slaughters were not what I’d call real smart when it comes to planning and working things out. Then the more I think on it, maybe they just got it in their heads they could pull this thing off and it got ‘em killed trying.”

“I reckon we can turn our badges in to Sheriff Wade and collect our pay. We need to get our clean clothes and head on out to the Bar Y to set with the boys a while. After that I’m about ready to ride on out from here Cal, we been here too long and it’s wearing on me,” Tom said.

“I know the feeling Tom, sure has been some trying times since we first got up here to Hays and Ellis County ain’t it? But then we had some fine times up in Osborne too didn’t we?”

“Yep, I’d kinda like for it to all be like it was up in Osborne, but I reckon we bring some of it on our selves Cal, we can’t just turn our backs on folks that need help.”

“I’m proud to be a part of what you do for folks Tom and proud that you’d even let me ride with you. I’ll be kinda glad to get back to just riding and looking again for a while too. Not wearing a badge is gonna feel different, ain’t it?”

They turned in their badges and collected their pay for the three weeks they rode for the different Sheriff’s. Sheriff Wade made sure they got all they had coming, and told them that he’d collect from the other county Sheriffs later.

True to what they’d told the Hanks brothers, they went down to the bank and opened an account in the name of Eagle Creek Cattle Company.

They figured they may as well start some where being partners. Each one kept ten dollars to live on until they could find some kind of work along they way.

Sheriff Wade had walked down the wooden sidewalk with them and stood outside the bank until they came out.

“Tom, Cal I reckon I’m gonna miss you two like you were my sons I never had. I know you’ll be back this way now, after putting money in the bank here. You two fellers ride easy on the trail and try to stay away from trouble,” Sheriff Wade said as they shook hands.

“Sheriff, it’s been a good experience working for you up here,” Cal said as he led his horse over and stepped into the stirrup without getting all muddy again.

“Tom I reckon I ought to be calling you Sky, but you’ll always be Tom Cooper to me. I’m proud to tell folks I met you and know you personal.”

“Sheriff, you take care of yourself and we’ll ride back this way in a month or so. We’ll be heading back up to the Dakotas before the snow flies. I’d think real hard about that gold if the marshals never come calling for it. A man could get some nice range land for them bricks laying in there.”

“I’ll think on it Tom.”

Tom clicked his tongue and his big horse came to stand next to the walkway. He slid his leg across the saddle and they rode down the muddy street then turned north toward the Bar Y.

The Yancey family and the three Hanks brothers had made it back to the Bar Y from their trip to town. They all pitched in and quickly got the wagon unloaded and the team unhitched and put in the barn.

Mrs. Yancey held Rope the whole time to keep him from getting stepped on as the rest of them walked back and forth to the house from the wagon, unloading the flour, corn meal, lard, and a big bag of sugar. Then from the wagon to the barn to unload the sacks of feed for the calves, and a few sacks of salt.

When she placed Rope on the ground, they were all standing around talking. The little runt of the litter went into a running fit. In and around their feet, racing across the big barn yard and back, yipping and barking as he ran. He ran under the corral fence and through the legs of the calves penned up in there. There was a scramble to get away from this little terror as he ran back and forth, at them then back to the family that was laughing at his antics.

Tag squatted down and called him, “Rope, c’mere boy,” and clapped his hands.

Here he came in a dead run and leapt right into his arms, trying to lick his face and wag his tailless hind end.

This brought another round of laughter and the girls had to hug the little puppy as a reward for his show.

Mrs. Yancey took him around the back of the house and put him down on the porch, then she went in and fixed him a plate of meat scraps and bits of left over biscuits. She poured another bowl full of milk and took out to him as he stood on his hind legs and barked when he saw and smelled the food.

Rope tore into his first meal on the Bar Y like he was a starving wolf. The kids laughed as they watched him gobble up his food.

“This’ll be where we feed him, it’ll be easy just to bring the food out from the kitchen and he’ll get used to eating here,” Mrs. Yancey told them.

Clyde Yancey walked out of the barn.

“Saddle up and let’s go move some of the cattle from the east pasture down to the south end before sundown.”

Mrs. Yancey came out to see them off. “You want to leave Rope here with me, he may get stepped on out there with all the cattle and horses.”

“We’ll watch out for him,” The five young wranglers said.

Bobbi grabbed Rope and swung to her saddle with just her left hand as she held onto him tight.

“He can ride over there with me, then we can let him run and get used to all the cattle being around.”

When they got over to the east pasture Clyde opened the gap to let the cattle out into the lane. They all spread out and rode to the back side and started driving the cattle to the gap. Bobbi jumped from her horse and put Rope on the ground as they all rode behind the small herd.

One calf broke from the herd and ran right by Rope, scaring him so bad he ran under the barbed wire fence and struck a trail for home.

“Some cow dog he is,” Cole said.

Tag was so disappointed that his dog was scared of a little calf that he could’ve cried. But he didn’t.

“Well, he’s never been around ‘em before, he’ll be a good’un, you wait n see,” he told them.

“He can be trained, if he’s got it in his blood,” Clyde told them and Tag felt a lot better then.

Back at the house, Berty Yancey was checking an old settin hen to see if she had any little ones yet. She didn’t latch the gate to the chicken pen and when she turned around the chickens were out and scattered all over the barn yard.

“Confound it I’ll never get all them chickens back in that pen.”

About that time she saw Rope come racing across the yard and up on the porch of the bunk house where he lay at the door shaking.

“Rope, what’er you doin back here, did them old cows scare my little boy?”

He heard her voice and stood up. When he saw her, he took off to her in a dead run, right through a bunch of chickens that were pecking the ground between him and her.

The chickens thought he was chasing them and flew into the air and ran like crazy to get away. Berty Yancey stooped down to pat Rope on the back, then she knew she had to get them chickens put up before they got too far off.

She got some corn and scattered on the ground near the gate then she walked off to let them start pecking. She took off chasing them and trying to get them back to the pen and looked up to see Rope as he chased the chickens that tried to get away. He chased every last one of them right back through the gate, then ran circles around Berty’s feet until she stooped down and picked him up to hug him.

“That’s my little boy, you did good, let’s go see if we can find you something good to eat, but first I better fasten that gate or we’ll be doin gthat again.”

When her crew came ridin in thirsty, hungry and covered in dust, Tag was the first one to the house to see if Miss Berty had seen Rope. She was sitting on the porch reading and Rope was at her feet until he saw Tag, then he yelped and ran to him.

“Where’d you run off to Rope, you got to learn to be a cow dog or they gonna rag you ‘n me both to death,” he said as he hugged him and let him lick his face.

“What happened Tag, why did he run back home?” She asked.

“When Bobbi put him down to let him run some, a calf ran by him and he took off like it was a bear.”

“Well, he was just scared out there his first time, he’ll be OK once he gets used to all the cattle being around, you’ll see. You should’ve seen him run the chickens back in the pen when I left the gate open today.”

“Really, hey Cole did you hear that, Rope put the chickens in the pen for Miss Berty, I told you he’d learn.”

“Well, I reckon you done bought a chicken dog ‘n not a cow dog, huh,” Cole teased.

“Coleman Hanks, you hush. Rope will be a good cow dog, you’ll see,” Bobbi grabbed the puppy up and hugged him.

“Come with me Rope, we’ll show’em,” she said as she walked out to the calf pen.

Bobbi bent and stepped through the rails of the corral where the calves were, the calves came right to her thinking she was feeding them. She held Rope and let him smell the calves and see them next to her. She squatted down and put him on the ground, still petting him as he looked at the calves, shaking.

Bobbi stayed with him and petted him until he was OK with her not petting him. When she stood up he stood against her leg, wanting her to pick him up. She stood there and talked to him, then she took a step and he followed. She took another and he followed.

Bobbi walked backwards to the rail fence and Rope followed, then she walked back to the calves and he followed her.

Now she ran to the fence and he ran with her, then she ran back to the calves and he ran with her.

That was enough for the day and she walked over to the fence and stepped between the rails as they all watched what she did.

“You did good Bobbi you’ll have him where he’s not scared of them calves in no time,” her Pa said.

Tag walked over to Bobbi and gave her a big hug, she stepped back and looked at him like she didn’t know him.

“Thanks Bobbi, for workin with’m, I didn’t know what to do.”

“I think I need two hugs for that,” she said and he hugged her again, as they all laughed.

At supper that night Clyde talked about the drought and how they needed rain if they were gonna keep grazing.

“It’s gonna rain this week,” Tag said.

“How do you know that Tag?” Clyde asked, as they all looked at him.

“Tom told me it was gonna rain this week.”

“Tag, sometimes grownups say things that maybe they wish would happen instead of making a promise of it happening,” Clyde said.

“Tom said it’s gonna rain, it’ll rain,” he said.

The next morning the Yancey family woke to the sound of rain dripping off the house. During the night, Tag heard the rain dripping from the roof of the bunk house and hitting a tin tub under the drip of the roof, with a steady tap, tap, tap. A big sleepy grin, a hug for Rope, and the two rolled over and went back to sleep.

Clyde Yancey was up before daybreak to sit on the porch and drink his coffee, he listened to the steady drip of the rain off the roof and smiled.

When the first gray light of dawn spread across the overcast sky, he heard the distant thunder and smiled even more. A good soaking rain in July on the Kansas plains was a blessing and most years very rare.

Berty came out and sat beside him in her long flannel night gown and smiled over at him as they sat and drank the hot coffee and watched as the rain came down hard, beating down on the bare dirt of the barnyard and pooling up near the fences.

There were times they could hardly see the outline of the big barns across the way, then there would be periods that the rain came steady but slow.

Berty reached over and took Clyde’s hand.

“Come with me Clyde, this calls for some special celebrating.”

She took his big stoneware coffee mug and placed it on the bench next to hers, then she led him back to their bedroom.

Willa and Bobbi woke up and heard the sounds of rain, they smiled sleepily at each other in the dim light of the room, then rolled the covers back and jumped to their feet.

They both shucked their night gowns over their naked bodies and reached for their clothes that were on the big trunk at the end of their bed.

They went to the back door of the kitchen, not seeing their Ma n Pa, they grinned at each other and giggled. They knew what it meant when a good rain came during the night like this, Ma took Pa back to bed for some snuggling under the covers.

They pulled their boots on and ran through the rain to the bunkhouse. Rope heard the footsteps on the wooden porch and raised up to start growling.

Tag grabbed him and pulled him back down.

“Hush and go back to sleep, that’s just far away thunder.”

Rope heard a noise again and this time, Tag did too. He rolled his covers back and slid his feet to the floor, trying to find his britches in the dim light.

The door burst open and Willa and Bobbi came running in, barefoot and wet from the rain. They had pulled their muddy boots off on the porch and placed them next to the wall so they wouldn’t get rained on.

Tag was sitting there, eyes wide open and naked.

“What’re you doin in here, I ain’t got no clothes on.”

“Well you better get some on then cause you got company, it’s raining,” Bobbi said and grinned at him trying to cover up.

Tag reached over and grabbed his new blue denim waist overalls and pulled them up while keeping hid under the covers as best he could.

“We’re gonna play in the barn today, we always go to the barn when it rains. Ma keeps Pa busy in the house most of the day on rainy days,” Willa said and grinned.

She walked over to the bed next to Tag’s and lifted the covers, then she dropped them and walked over to the other bed. Willa knelt down beside the bed and slipped her hand under the covers. She snaked her hand over until she felt the heat of Ray’s warm sleeping body.

She felt his warm back as she touched him lightly with her finger tips. Then she grabbed him from behind, she never knew he slept naked like Tag was, and grabbed a hand full of naked boy butt for the first time in her life.

Ray came up out of the bed and nearly knocked her over backwards with his feet. He was rubbing his eyes with one hand while trying to find what it was that had grabbed his butt.

He saw Willa next to his bed, grinnin like a possum. Snatching his pillow from his bed, he swung it right at her head. She came off the floor and tackled him right on his own bed. They wrestled around until suddenly they both realized he was naked and uncovered.

Willa got a good look, Ray looked down and got red all over and snatched the covers back up.

“You better get dressed Ray, if my Pa catches you rassling with me while you’re naked, he’ll have your hide,” she giggled.

“You don’t play fair Willa, sneakin up on me in bed while I’m sleepin naked like this.”

“You’re right, and I’m never gonna change either, so you better get used to it Raymond Hanks.”

“Hand me my britches over there ‘n let me get some clothes on before your pa comes in.”

“Pa won’t be comin out here today, Ma’ll have him cornered in the bedroom most of the day, it’s raining a good one.”

“You ‘n Tag get dressed, me ‘n Bobbi’s gonna cook some breakfast, then we’re gonna play in the barn.”

They left Cole asleep and ran through the rain and mud to the back of the house. Willa and Bobbi cooked up a big breakfast and they all ate like they were starved, even Rope.