Chapter 20

They searched through the wagon after finding the baby to be sure that she was the only one left alive in there. Elizabeth picked up the baby and grinned at Andy. "Well, it looks like you'll have to wait a bit before you can fuck this girl. She's way too small for you right now."

"Elizabeth, that's not funny! I would never force myself on a female, no matter what her age. Please don't say things like that, even in fun."

Andy was so obviously hurt by her little joke, that Elizabeth was instantly contrite. "I'm sorry, Dear. I was only joking. Please forgive me."

"OK, but I'd hate ta think that anybody'd believe that 'bout me."

"Nobody does! Now, please forget my stupid effort at being funny, and let's see what we can do here."

They went through everything that they could find on the wagon, but nothing told them the names nor where the family had come from. They did find a family Bible, but it had several bullet holes through it, making the family tree recorded in it totally unreadable. It was as if the Bible had been selected as a particular target for the shooting, once the family was dead.

They had found a spade in the wagon, so Andy dug a common grave for the 4 bodies, and they were buried with a minimum of ceremony. Fortunately, the mules were not injured, so Andy led the wagon back to the herd while Elizabeth took care of the baby. Andy reported to Josh, and two of the women took over the baby and the wagon while Andy and Elizabeth returned to their scouting duties. The rest of the day was uneventful, and they returned to the trail herd as soon as they had found a good place to spend the night.

By supper time that night, the women had already worked out a new schedule for their activities. They had decided that 4 of them would service the men each night while the rest spent their time taking care of the baby, whom they had decided to name Mary. The women had completely taken over the feminine duties of that era, and no man was stupid enough to argue with them!

The next morning, things had returned to more or less normal. None of them would ever admit it, but the men were relieved that they would only have one partner at a time at night. Two women at a time could be fun on occasion, but it turned into work when it had to be done every night!

For the next few days, the routine worked itself out, and there was nothing out of the ordinary to come up during the scouting trips. Everybody was getting to be damned sick of the cows, and the feeling was probably reciprocated, though the cattle didn't talk about it much. It was a good thing that they were only a few days from Sedalia. Fortunately, they had plenty of drovers on hand, so Josh was able to ride ahead to Sedalia to arrange the sale of the cattle. Andy went with him, since they were now in well-traveled country and there was no need for a scout. Andy was to provide the security of a second pair of eyes and a gun, since it was not safe for a person to travel alone, no matter how tough he might look. Andy would also have an opportunity to see the workings of a cattle sale, so that he would know what to do when it became his turn to run a trail herd.

They arrived in Sedalia fairly late in the day, so the first thing they did was take a room at the Drover's Hotel near the stock pens and the railroad. Actually, the whole town was near the stock pens and the railroad and smelled like it! However, any man who had driven cattle all the way from Texas was so used to the smell that he probably wouldn't notice it unless it was brought to his attention. Josh was delighted to find that they were the first ones to arrive with a herd this season, and they should get top dollar for their beef.

After they checked in, they went to the barbershop for a bath, a shave, and a haircut. Man! Prices had really gone up: 35 cents for the full treatment! Oh, well, it only happened once a year, so it was a treat. Just to be on the safe side, Andy stood guard while Josh bathed, and vice versa. By the time they were through at the barbershop, it was time for supper, so they went to a restaurant for supper: steak and beans, with many cups of coffee. This was a high class place, so they had clean napkins, but they paid for the added service: 50 cents for the meal and 5 cents extra for the coffee. Andy wasn't sure he wanted to get used to this level of high living, since it would disappear until they got home, again.

Josh took time for a cigar, and they talked for a while before visiting the saloon where the stock brokers congregated. There was no point in getting there before 8:00 PM, none of the brokers would show up until after then. At last, it was time to visit the saloon and start talking business, so Andy made sure that his LeMat was fully charged and free in its holster.

The two men ordered a beer, and Josh asked about the cattle brokers. The bartender pointed out three men, none of them known to Josh. Josh and Andy walked to the table, and Josh said, "Good evein', gentlemen. I'm Josh Hopper from Texas an' this here is my son, Andy. I hear that y'all might be interested in buyin' some cattle my outfit has a few miles out of town."

All three men rose to greet the two Texans, and they engaged in small talk for a few minutes, before getting down to business. Josh told them how many cattle he had and their general condition. He asked if any one man wanted the whole lot, or did they want to share the burden. The herd was larger than any one man wanted to commit for, so all three formed a simple buying cartel to take all that Josh had to offer. They dickered for a while before coming to a tentative price, based on the condition of the cattle when they were actually delivered. Since these were all longhorns, they did not fetch the best possible price, but Josh was happy, and Andy was flabbergasted at the amount of money involved. They were going home with over $3,000 for their cattle; no wonder there was so much interest in driving cattle to Sedalia to sell. Of course, this was the premium they got for being the first herd to arrive.

A preliminary contract was drawn up and signed before the night was over. Josh stood for another round of beers, and he and Andy left for their hotel room. They wanted to be up early to return to the herd with the glorious news.

Everybody was stunned at the amount of money offered for their cattle. No wonder there were so many rustlers around. In fact, that night, the women who weren't fucking were standing extra cautious guard duty, and the men made sure that their guns were as close to hand as were their women. There were no problems that night, but nobody begrudged the extra wariness.

They pressed the cattle a little bit and pulled into Sedalia that afternoon. The cattle were theirs for one more day, since they would not be driven into the pens until the next morning. No sleep and no sex that night! Everybody was afraid that something would go wrong, so they all stayed remarkably alert, though there was a lot of coffee consumed before the sun finally rose.

They actually had more cattle than they realized when they got the final count. It took almost all day to get the cattle driven into the pens and counted; there had been no break for lunch, so everybody was hungry, tired, hungry, dirty, and hungry. Amazingly, the women wanted to bathe before they ate! The men were dumbfounded by that, but went along with it for fear of causing a lot of unnecessary trouble.

The Hoppers took over the barbershop while the women bathed. Will and John bathed before the women, then got their shaves and haircuts while the women bathed. The barber got a show at one point when the dividing door came open, but John only suffered having a gouge cut out of his hair; luckily, no one was being shaved at that time.