Chapter 27

The next morning I woke knowing there'd been yet another delivery during the night. I even knew what had come, and I was very pleased. I was also pleased that I woke before Lanita, who was asleep on my chest as usual. I wiggled to wake her up and grinned wide when her eyes opened.

"Good morning my little princess, how did you sleep?"

"Very well," she said, "Especially with this nice fur for comfort," she explained, rubbing her hand in the hair on my chest, and then laughing.

We were surrounded by sleeping naked women so we got to enjoy wiggling and squirming until we woke them too. Finally Nita rose to sitting and looked around.

"Lanita, where is Nosey, didn't he sleep in here with us last night?" she asked.

"You know he didn't mother. He was keeping watch outside with Buster, Red, and Buttercup," Lanita said.

"I'm sure he was protecting us," Nita said.

"In a way they probably all were, except maybe Buttercup. I doubt anything can sneak up on the cashda or the donkeys," I said.

"But wouldn't they just run off if they sensed something coming that was dangerous?" Shaeta asked.

"Nosey might, but I doubt it from the way he hangs around Lanita. Buster and Red can't get away fast enough with those hobbles, so I think they would start causing a commotion."

"You are probably right, but it is time to get up and get moving. Something seems odd though," Katia said.

"I believe you are right, and if you sense what I already know, you are going to be happy soon," I said.

"Happy about what?" Katia asked.

"Let's get dressed and go see."

So we did, and it didn't take long. We went back behind the hut before they even headed out to cook. The saddles were sitting up on end with the pads and blankets for each laid over their tops.

"What is all this?" Nita asked, since she was the first able to get her wits together and form a question.

"They are called saddles. You put them on the cashda's back, fasten the girth strap, and then you can ride with much more comfort and stability. I will have to tell you more about them after breakfast," I said.

Lanita and I took a swing by the privies and then headed to see Buttercup and the whole gang. Nosey told her hello in his normal braying way and Buster and Red even gave us a little snort before they went back to pulling up grass. As we left Nosey came with us.

We went to our log sofa and sat down to join Denac. When I told him about the saddles and explained what they were for he was anxious to see them himself. He also had a question.

"How many of them are there?"

"I counted and there are eight, one for you and one for Jekaycey, one for me, and one for each of my mates and Lanita. The other one is all disassembled so it will be easy to see how they are made. They can be copied that way.

"There were also adjustable halters and other things for putting on the horses' heads instead of the halters that we have been making. They will make our hunting trip much easier. In fact they will make everything to do with the cashda much easier."

"That is good. Riding on Buster's back is not the most comfortable thing. If these saddles help it will be much better. Still, even if we didn't have them, riding a cashda beats walking every time," Denac said, and smiled.

I smiled too, because the food arrived about then. It was apparent that my mates had taken the time to let Jekaycey in on the saddles' arrival. She was curious now too, but they waited patiently while we ate.

After we'd finished and the bowls had been taken care of we all went back to the saddles and I explained everything I could. I showed them the example for making more and explained about the tree, and told them it was made of thin wood covered in wet rawhide that was sewed together and then allowed to dry. We also found a few essential tools for helping to make them.

There was even a partially made bosal, mecate, bosal hanger, and brow band to show how they were made, and of course a setup to go with every saddle. Denac's saddle was the biggest one I'd ever seen. That was only right though, because Denac was the biggest man I'd ever seen and Buster the biggest horse, or cashda.

After show and tell was over, Denac held Buster and I showed him how to place the blanket and pad and then how to saddle him up. Next we looped a lariat around Busters neck, just in case, and put the headstall, browband, and bosal on him and then I made my first try at tying the mecate's reins and lead rope knot, damned if I didn't get it right.

We finished up with Buster by making adjustments to the fit of his headgear, making sure the bosal hung correctly and that the rein was just right for Denac to use. Since it looped from one side of the bosal's heel around and over the saddle horn and back to finish the knot and make the lead rope it was a little bother, but we got it done. For now we coiled the lead rope and tied it to a saddle string.

We repeated the procedure on Red and then went back to Buster. Denac was very appreciative of the stirrups. He could now mount Buster on his own, though it took a couple of tries before he decided I was right about putting a foot in the left stirrup and then hopping up, concentrating on pressing up with that foot and not trying to pull yourself up by your grip on the saddle horn and cantle.

The saddles were all double rigged and I was thankful for that, but I knew I'd have to keep an eye out to make sure everyone got the front girth tight enough and kept the back one loose enough.

After attaching my best riata and the handy rifle scabbard that came with my saddle, I put the M1 in it and we mounted. We were off for the rodeo grounds then. Actually, I hoped that today's rodeos were few and far between.

Jortah and Jonalton were the first to greet us when we rode up, but they didn't have a cashda in the chute yet and all the others joined them. They were amazed by the saddles and some of them even noticed the hackamores. Questions came hot and heavy for a few minutes, but I made them stop when they started asking where this stuff came from. It was a need to know thing, and they didn't need to know.

"I want to assure you that everyone will have a setup just like it soon. My mates and some of the others are probably already copying the examples we have. In fact, Denac and I will be heading out in the morning for thaka hunting and I know that some men already left after breakfast for the same thing. We are going to need many more hides to make our tack."

"We also need all of you to continue what you are doing. We will need two of the large cashda to take with us when we hunt. All they need to be trained for is pulling a travois, but Jonalton will need to show them how to follow on a lead rope behind a rider on another cashda first," Denac said, explaining.

They nearly ran from us then, hurrying to their jobs. I had to call Jortah and Jonalton back to talk with them further.

"The first thing is to take one of the mares that will already lead and walk her with a longer rope. After you think she is used to it, one of you should mount up and take the rope to start leading her that way. We will need two of them ready by tomorrow morning. Don't forget to use whoa every time you stop. I'm hoping that they will stop where they are when you say whoa and not come up to you."

Denac and I left then. They could do this as well as we could and I wanted to get in more practice with our mounts. We kept at it until we thought it was nearing time for lunch, and we went back to camp to see if we were right.

We were. Denac and I hobbled Buster and Red and then found our logs. Lanita was waiting for us and I pulled her into my lap. Nosey went off to visit Buster and Red and our mates arrived with food shortly.

"Mother told me that you were going hunting tomorrow, Daddy," Lanita said.

"Yes, Denac and I need to bring back some thaka so there will be plenty of hides to make saddles and hackamores," I said.

"Do you think you can catch a mate for Buttercup?" she asked.

"I hadn't even thought about it, but I'm sure we can. In fact, after the hard work your mothers did on the lariats we might even be able to bring back a grown thaka or two. If I can rope a mother, she will have to follow me back and her calf will follow her," I said.

"That sounds like it could be ever so much fun, but will the grown one be nice?" she asked.

"Not at first. I'm sure it will have to be hobbled or tied all the time for the first little bit, but after a while it might come to like it here, if not we will just eat it," I said.

"At least it would be fresh and tasty that way," she said, and laughed.

Denac and I didn't tarry after lunch. We removed the hobbles, tightened the girths and mounted, heading back to the horse canyon. Our ranch hands were just finishing their meal when we got there.

I noticed right away that all the grown cashda were out of the pen, and that one of the yearlings was in the chute now. Before I could even asks, Jortah told us that they had two mares they thought were ready to pull travois. He pointed them out, they were both tied to the snubbing tree.

Denac and I rode over and dismounted. We tied one end of my lariat to one of their halters and then Denac mounted and I handed him the other end of the lariat.

"Lead out Denac, and we'll take it to the main camp. It will probably take the women some time to fashion something to use for attaching the travois."

I mounted to follow and we were on our way. We even had no trouble crossing the river.

Back at camp it didn't take long to get my mates, Jekaycey, and Matita started making a wide strap to hold up the ends of travois poles by running it over Matilda's withers. All that was left was cutting a couple of practice poles and adding a band to the harness to go across Matilda's chest. Caltort had come over and he said he'd put a travois together for testing use, so Denac and I went back for the other mare, Gertrude.

When we were back at camp with Gertrude we found that Caltort and Jagbac had nearly finished the first training travois, and that it was already on Matilda and the pulling harness was finished. They had even put on several small cross members across the travois poles to keep the skin from dragging the ground.

"If you are going to bring back thaka, those braces will probably be needed, and the extra weight won't mean much to the cashda," Caltort said.

"I think you're right."

"Should I make another one for the other cashda?" he asked.

"I don't think there is a need. We will be taking the travois cashda with us when we go to hunt, and dragging empty travois out would be too much trouble. We'll just take the harness they are making and throw a travois together if we have something to bring back.

"The one you made will let us teach the cashda how to pull it and it will make a good pattern for the ones we'll no doubt need to make after Matatu gets to go visit his vision site and comes back anxious to move us all," I said, and then he laughed with me.

After I mounted Red, Shaeta handed me the end of the long lead rope and I led Matilda off. She was a little skittish about the travois following her so closely at first, but it didn't take her long to settle down. I returned after about fifteen minutes of practice.

Lanita was standing by Denac when I got back, so I told her to hop on the travois and see how it rode. She was happy to, but when I took off with her, Nosey noticed that she was leaving and he brayed loudly and then trotted to catch up. We were barely out of the camp before every one of the youngsters had rushed to the edge to watch.