Chapter 3

The two bounty hunters had spent their first night on the road in a hotel over a saloon. At least they had a bed, but they had to share it. Yecch! Oh, well, it did beat sleeping on the hard ground. At least, breakfast was passable and there was plenty of coffee.

After a couple of hours on the road, Ada came to an abrupt stop. A naked, unconscious man was lying in the road. He was bleeding from a scalp wound that looked to be fairly recent. Hank and Bill jumped down from the buckboard and rushed to see what they could do to help the unconscious man.

As they bent over the man, a bullet kicked up the dirt between them. A young girl's voice shouted, "STAND UP, AN' STICK YER HANDS IN THE AIR!"

A pre-teen girl holding a rifle came out from behind some rocks and said, "Ya leave my pa alone! Ya've done kilt 'im an' robbed 'im! Ain't that enough devilment?"

She came between the men and Ada, and stood with her back to the mule. Fortunately, she wasn't pointing the rifle directly at the men, because she pulled the trigger when Ada head-butted her in the back hard enough to knock her to the ground. Ada then stood over the girl with her lips drawn back in what had to be a vicious snarl. The girl swiveled her head enough to see the mule and fainted. Ada truly looked frightening!

Bill grabbed the rifle, while Hank rushed to check on the girl. Once he saw the girl's condition, he turned to Ada and tipped his hat "Thank you, ma'am. We're much obliged!"

The mule nodded her head and looked as if she was saying, "You men! I constantly have to look out for your asses! Humph!"

Seeing that the girl was OK, Hank turned back to the unconscious man to see what he needed as first aid. The man looked like he would be OK as soon as the bleeding stopped, so Hank pressed his reasonably clean handkerchief to the wound and held it until the blood clotted. The man had no other obvious injuries, so Hank and Bill lifted him to a blanked on the bed of the buckboard.

They returned to the girl to see what she might need, but she was awake and staring alternately at the men and at Ada. "Mister, that's a fierce mule ya got there! Will he bite me?"

"Not ifen ya don't point another gun at us. Ada is a lady an' she's mighty protective.

"Is there a good place we kin take yer pa ta git 'im fixed up? It looks ta me like he jus' has a scalp wound and will be OK pretty soon, 'cept fer a powerful headache."

"Our ranch is jus' over there a piece. I 'spect ma kin fix 'im up once we git him home. Let me git my hoss, an' I'll lead ya to the house. Oh, I'm sorry. My name is June Ashton and that there's my pa, Hamilton."

"Pleased ta meet ya, Miss Ashton. I'm Hank Prescott, and this here is Bill Jones."

They followed June to the ranch house and were introduced to her mother, Mary. Hank and Bill carried Hamilton to his bed while June told how she had just ridden up and had seen two men kneeling by her father, had fired the warning shot, and had been attacked by a fighting mule. Hank then told their side of the story.

Mary thanked them for bringing her husband home and invited them to dinner as soon as she had seen to her husband. Hank and Bill gratefully accepted the invitation, since a home-cooked meal was always welcome. One of the ranch hands was looking after Ada and June's horse, so Hank and Bill were free to relax in the cool of the parlor.

While they were waiting for dinner, June regaled them with all the news of the area, including that there was a lot of local trouble with road agents. A person wasn't safe on the roads, lately. The attack on her father was a good example of the kind of thing they were suffering with. The local gossip was that more than one person was responsible for the attacks, but Mr. Ashton had doubted that. The attacks were always from ambush and on single travelers, so one person could easily be the guilty party. Normally, the victim was killed by the ambusher, so Hamilton Ashton was remarkably lucky.

Mrs. Ashton came in and said that her husband was now awake and OK, except for the monumental headache. She had given him some extract of willow bark and he would try to sleep until supper. Mrs. Ashton invited Hank and Bill to stay for supper and spend the night, since she knew her husband would want to thank his rescuers personally. She didn't have to twist their arms, they still vividly remembered their hotel room of the previous night.

Mrs. Ashton went to the kitchen to check on dinner, while June showed the men where they would sleep that night. They went to get their carpet bags from the buckboard, and dinner was ready when they got back. The dinner was the usual large noon meal of a working ranch and was attended by the ranch hands and the house staff, as well as the family and guests. In all, there were only 14 people at the table, since Hamilton was finally sleeping and Mrs. Ashton thought that was what he needed more than food. She would feed him later if he was hungry before supper.

Both Hank and Bill were well served by their gracious hostesses, Mary and June, and enjoyed the meal. Desert was apple cobbler, a treat neither man had enjoyed for years, so this was a special meal savored to the fullest, literally.

They spent the afternoon with June, being shown every nook and cranny of the Rocking HA ranch. They both would have been bored but for the youthful enthusiasm of 11-year-old June. She was a joy to be around, and they were actually disappointed when they had to stop for supper.

At supper, June practically monopolized the conversation extolling the virtues of Ada. Hank had ridden Ada that afternoon, saying that Ada's feelings would he hurt if she found out that he had been riding a mere horse when he could have ridden her. Everybody wanted to know why he used a mule instead of a horse, and this gave him the opening he needed to tell his favorite story of Ada frightening off the bear. Everybody but June laughed at the story; she was convinced that any story about Ada's pluck and bravery had to be true!

Hank was afraid that he had accidentally caused a problem: June now wanted to trade in her horse for a female mule. "Mr. Hank says that mules are a lot smarter than hosses an' girl mules are smarter than boy mules. I want a girl mule to ride. I think that she could he'p keep me out of trouble." The latter statement was made with an absolutely straight face, though her eyes showed that she was trying to make a hard-sell point with her parents. Her father said, "We'll see 'bout it."

Hamilton Ashton was duly appreciative of the help he had received from Hank and Bill that morning. He didn't know who had ambushed him, so he wasn't any help in pinpointing the likely culprit. He couldn't even say where the ambusher had hidden to get off the shot that had knocked him out, instead of killing him. His horse had come to the corral that afternoon, so they didn't even have that as a clue. Regretfully, Hank and Bill would just have to pass on this one.

They were really sorry to say goodbye to June the next morning after breakfast. They had gone about 3 miles when Bill's hat went flying and a shot rang out. Without urging, Ada broke into a run, and they left the area as quickly as Ada could move the buckboard. Hank stopped Ada as soon as he was sure that they were out of range, and both men rushed to saddle and mount.

Bill had spotted the telltale plume of smoke from the rifle, and they rode to that location as quickly as they could. Of course, the shooter had left, but he left tracks and one ejected cartridge case which Hank picked up.

Bill made use of his spectacular tracking abilities and readily found the trail left by the assailant. His horse had left the site at a run, but soon dropped back into a walk, as if the rider hoped that his followers would get close enough for another shot.

Bill commented, "It looks ta me like this here galoot is trying ta sucker us into being a target, again. Two can play at that game. I don't think he is as good a shot as he thinks he is, so let's sucker him. You drop back an' watch fer 'im ta shoot at me. Then we'll rush 'im from different sides. He's shore ta panic an' we'll have 'im. What cha say?"

"Bill, I don't cotton ta makin' ya a target. Other than that, I like the idee."