Chapter 28

Day 127 - Saturday, September 4, 1847

When we took off on our first circuit this morning, Kate asked if she could ride with Sam and me. "What about Stu?" I asked.

"Angie is going to ride with Stu and I don't like her mouth. I still want to do my part though."

"Do you think Angie and Stu have a thing going?" Sam asked.

"I think they do. Not that I'm jealous or anything. I just don't like to be called a floozy or a bitch."

Sam and I laughed. "I don't think I would either," Sam said.

A little while later, Sam asked, "So, what did you think of Ed kissing you?"

Kate laughed. "Well, it sure got my mind off of chewing up that Angie girl."

"Well, you asked me something the day we met and I didn't give you an answer. I'll give you the answer now. The rest of us wouldn't mind having a fourth."

"You mean..."

"Yes."

"And have ye talked to the other person?"

"That's up to you."

"Sure and I'll have to have a wee talk, now won't I?"

Sam laughed. I knew what Sam was talking about, but I pretended I didn't. I didn't know how I felt about the whole thing, but I had made up my mind I wasn't going to jump into or be pushed into anything I wasn't ready for.

I was afraid she was going to have that talk with me right then, but we were cresting a hill and down below us were half a dozen men, driving about thirty head of cattle. I didn't even think, I pulled my revolver and let out a whoop. I started down the hill toward them as fast as Hawk would carry me.

Sam and Kate were right behind me. The first man who looked up was one of the men who had been with Clifton the other day. He pulled his pistol and fired one shot up the hill before he lit out. The rest of the men saw us and took off as well. None of the three of us were firing as yet, but Hawk was gaining on them quickly.

That little filly of Kate's was quite a horse. She was keeping up with Hawk, but Sam was rapidly being left behind. I tried to time Hawk's movement and fired at the last man in the group. My first shot missed as did my second. It's not as easy firing from the back of a running horse as you would think. I fired again and for a moment I didn't think I had hit him, but then he slumped in the saddle and before the horse had covered another twenty feet, he let go of the reins and tumbled to the ground. The other riders didn't even slow up.

I figured one was enough to make my point, so I started slowing up. Kate fired one more shot and I saw one of the men grab his shoulder. Kate pulled up beside me and we watched the rest of them ride off.

"Nice shooting," Kate said with a big smile.

"You didn't do badly yourself," I grinned.

Sam caught up with us and said, "There's going to be hell to pay now. One killed and one wounded."

"Yeah, I know. Let's get the dead one loaded on his horse. We'll see if Maddie or Angie either one know him."

Kate helped me get the dead man across his saddle and I tied him on. The ride back to the ranch house seemed a lot longer than the ride out had seemed.

Angie did, indeed, know the dead man. "He's my cousin Ralph," she said with a disgusted look. "We're in for it now, you know."

"I'd reckon we are," Rawhide agreed. "Wasn't no getting around it though."

"What do you think they'll do now," I asked Angie.

"It depends. If my pa has his way, they'll probably try to ambush us while we're riding out checking on the herd. If his brother, Mose, gets his way, they'll probably attack the ranch. Their other brothers just kind of go along with Mose or pa."

"Maddie says they have a lot of hired men. Are they likely to follow your relatives if they attack us?"

"Probably so. Most of them came from the same area my family came from. They're cut from the same cloth."

"Rawhide, we've seen what, about three hundred of your cattle?" I asked.

"About that."

"Do you think that valley right behind the ranch house would support that many cattle for a couple of weeks?"

"Yep. A month at least. The grass is really good in there."

"Why don't we drive all of the cattle into that valley? It'd be a lot easier to keep watch over them and we wouldn't have to worry as much about being ambushed."

Rawhide was nodding. "Sounds good. Gonna be a little hard to get them rounded up and still leave enough people here to guard the house though."

"I think that if we do all we can for the rest of the day we can get half or more of them in there before nightfall. I doubt seriously that there is going to be an attack on the house today."

Everyone agreed with that, so I said, "I think Mina or Maddie on should stay with the house and keep food ready for the rest of us."

"I'll keep food ready," Maddie said. "I'm used to doing it during roundups and the like."

"Okay, most of the cattle are in three groups. I'd say break us up into three groups, but one of them would be small enough that I don't think they could handle that many cattle, especially since some of us have never worked cattle before."

"Let's make it two groups to get the first two herds in," Rawhide said. "Ed, I'll ride with you, Sam, Cassie, Delia, and Kate. The rest of you can go with Stu."

"Okay," I said. "That puts an experienced cattleman with each group. Rawhide, why don't we take the herd in the farthest valley?"

"That's good. Maddie, my love, do you think you could whip us up a big batch of johnny cake while we're getting saddled and ready to go? That way we could take it with us and we wouldn't starve before we have one of your wonderful suppers."

Maddie blushed like a school girl, but said she could have something for us to take with us.

We managed to get our herd into the valley by around four in the afternoon. The herd Stu and his group had gone after were already there. We didn't even stop at the house, but headed for where the third group of cattle had been. When we reached the area, we found that they already had them all rounded up and were getting ready to start them for the new pasture.

Since this was the closest herd to the house, we had them where we wanted them before 7:00 PM. We were all worn out, but we had learned a lot about rounding up and herding cattle that day. I knew our new knowledge would help us in the future.

Day 128 - Sunday, September 5, 1847

Today we waited. The area where we put the cattle was bordered on three sides by hills. They weren't so steep a cow couldn't get across them, but with good grass and water in the area they didn't have any incentive to do so.

We spent some time today piling brush across the open side of the pasture. We weren't trying to make it escape proof. We just wanted something to turn back a cow who was grazing, with no particular place to go in mind.

For the most part, the day was tedious. Cassie wanted to ride out and see if we could find any more cattle, but I told her I didn't think it was a good idea and she didn't argue.

We all got together right after lunch and talked about how we could make things safer for all of us if the ranch was attacked. I had watched so many westerns growing up that I didn't want to get into one of those gunfights where thousands of shots were fired before anyone was even hit. I also didn't want to give up any advantage we had because we were in defensive positions.

We decided the thing that would give us the best advantage was to make sure there was nowhere close to the house where anyone could take cover while they fired on us. We spent some time removing wagons and the like from the surrounding area.

The barn was still there, but we put bars across the doors and nailed them in place so that no one could take cover inside the barn. They could still use the barn for cover, but they would have to expose themselves to fire and we'd be waiting for them if they did.

The ranch house was made of logs and it would be hard to set afire. Even so, we brought several barrels of water where we could get at them if they tried to burn us out. The logs of the house also gave us good cover that was unlikely to be penetrated by anything an attacker would fire at us.

All we could do then was wait. We did make a couple of trips out to check on the cattle during the afternoon. To say we were vigilant would have been a serious understatement.

After supper that evening, we all sort of broke up into family groups. Sam, Cassie, Delia and I were off in one corner of the large living room. Jud and Mina came over and sat with us and we were joined shortly thereafter by Kate.

Andy, Sarah Beth and Dalia were in another corner. Stu and Angie were sitting in one large chair, talking in low tones. Even Rawhide and Maddie were sitting close, carrying on an animated conversation.

The kids were sitting in the middle of the floor, playing some kind of game. As long as I watched them, I could never figure out the rules, but Mindy seemed to be winning.

"You know this is a dangerous game we're playing," Kate said after she had joined us.

"I know that," I said. "I just don't see an alternative."

"Well, I don't either, but I am worried some. What would happen to your wives if you were killed, Ed Hill?"

"I'm going to do everything in my power to see that doesn't happen, Katie. If it does, then they will just have to get along without me. You don't know us that well as yet, but Sam is one of the strongest people I've ever met. Cassie is one of the smartest and Delia is as sharp as a tack. I'd expect Sam would help Cassie and Delia until they can make it on their own."

"We've talked about that, Ed," Sam said. "If something happened to you, we'd go ahead and go to Oregon anyway. None of us ever want another man, so we'd live together and support each other for the rest of our lives."

I hugged Sam and kissed her, then I said, "As lusty as you ladies are, I'd think you'd want to find another man."

"You know we can take care of each other in that way too," Cassie giggled. "It isn't as good, but it is certainly better than another man would be."

"Are you telling me that you women help each other out?" Kate asked.

"Yes," Sam said, very seriously.

"Oh, my," Kate said. "I've always wondered what that would be like. The church says it's wrong, but I could never understand why it would be."

"Well, we don't think it's wrong," Cassie said. "We all love each other and we all want to make each other feel good."

"Sure and I've always been one for feeling good," Kate said with a grin.

"What do you do, Kate? Do you make yourself feel good?" Cassie asked.

Katie blushed four shades of red and said, "I think I'd be minding my own business now, lassie."

Sam, Cassie and Delia all broke out in a fit of giggles. "They do a lot of that making themselves feel good too, Katie. Don't let them tease you," I said.

I think that just made her blush worse.

Day 129 - Monday, September 6, 1847

After I kissed my wives good morning, I got dressed and headed for the outhouse. When I opened the back door, I saw at least ten mounted men lined up about twenty yards behind the little building I was headed for.