Chapter 30

It took most of four days to move everything important down to the new house. It also changed my mind along with Jasper's and Blossum's about building a store out on our place. I promised both of them I'd ride into town tomorrow and look for a suitable building.

One thing we didn't have to worry about was where my women and I were going to sleep. The big bed in Gorsham's bedroom was big enough for all of us and we gave it a workout that very night.

Juanita and Chiquita didn't take very long to catch onto cooking in the new place, but there was one snag first thing the next morning. It wasn't such a bother for me since I could go outside and take a piss anywhere and so could Buster, but the women couldn't. I to my ass up early and brought them the biggest pot from the kitchen to use as a chamber mug. I promptly went outside once I was dressed and called John Birch into the house and had him study the big bedroom and find the handiest place he could put a bathroom.

After a little quizzing he finally admitted that a couple of his hands knew how to do the plumbing too and he even told me there was a special kind of water tank that could be installed and if you kept a watch on it and kept a fire inside it you could have hot water anytime you wanted it. After going over it some more he said if I put in a windmill and dug a well he could build a large water tank up on a tower that would keep water flowing at any faucet I wanted to put anywhere in the house. I told him to get started on it right away, and reminded him not to forget a bathtub and stool either.

With the dirty details covered now I sat down to breakfast and we had hotcakes and sausage this morning. There was plenty of Maple syrup to go around and I ate until I was nearly sick. When I finally got moving to do something productive I went out and saddled Frank to ride around the new place and take a look.

Like I'd thought at first it was a perfect place for raising cattle. The small river running across the back of the place furnished water for as many cattle as I wanted to raise and it also furnished a barrier to keep the cattle on my land. Hills and ravines took care of most other exits the cattle could take and we only needed about three hundred yards of fence to close the place off good and proper. The fencing was already in place but it could stand a little repair. I let that slide until Remus got back with the rest of he cowhands.

I figured they'd be more than happy to do a little fencing when they got back, especially when they got a look at their new bunkhouse and the large kitchen for feeding them in it. Cookie was already moved into the house for him and he was getting everything ready to start cooking in the new place as soon as possible.

The next thing on the agenda was the waterwell and a windmill for it. It didn't take long looking around in Oregon City to find a well digger and he could also furnish the windmill and piping up to the water tank when it was ready.

By the time the men got back from their cattle drive three weeks later most everything we needed was in place or nearly so, except for the work they needed to do. They rebuilt the small fence we needed and then rode over the whole place looking for problems to cure before they moved the cattle. It didn't take long and a week later they went down and drove our cattle up to the new place and got them settled in.

I even got a new round pen built and finally got a room finished for Jim in the big horse barn. He was as happy as a pig in shit and for a good while he didn't even dodge meals with us at all.

By the time we'd been in the new place for about two months things had settled down and everyone was already accustomed to taking care of their new duties. Our first hint at trouble came when one of the fence riders came to tell me about fifty head of cattle had been driven off up over a small hill on the back side of our territory. It didn't take long for me to ride out and check the spot the next day and I could see where it could be blocked off easily with just a small charge of dynamite. Still, I wanted to catch the thieves first.

I rode directly into town that afternoon and check out the biggest hardware store. As I expected they had telegraph keys in stock and they also had enough wire, batteries and such to erect a complete setup. I bought enough materials for a short telegraph run right away and sent a wagon into town the next day to pick it up.

Remus and I scouted out a place to put a watcher and then the men felled and stripped enough trees to run the line back to the house. It took about a week to teach three of the younger hand enough Morse code to send a signal to the bunkhouse and then we made up a schedule for the watchers to start watching. I also set the charges to close off the way out with only the need of a match.

We got it done just in the nick of time, as they say.

On the fifth night after the watcher was on duty the telegraph in the bunkhouse went off and it said six men were making a gather and and appeared to be heading out on the very trail we'd expected. Remus went ahead and sent the signal to blow the charge when they headed out and then he had the other men saddle up and even had Jim saddle Frank or me to come along if I wanted to. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

By the time we got down there the trail had already been blown and the rustlers were trapped unless they headed down the road out front. They were still up there looking over what had happened and wondering how when we got down there. Of course the cattle had promptly turned around and gone back to what they were doing and they had knocked over four of the rustle's horses on the way down, trampling the rustlers who had been unseated.

We arrived just as the other rustlers were coming down the trail and no doubt intending to ride out to the road. The watcher had emptied the other two saddles when they'd tried to make it past him.

We went ahead and tracked them up the trail and found the four men that had been trampled. They were all still alive when we found them so we tied each one with a lariat and dragged them back down the trail. The two the watcher had shot were already dead when we came up on them but we tied and dragged them too, just for the hell of it.

None of them were alive when we got back to the road and so we dragged them back to the house and left the bodies out near the barn. We had also collected their horses and the four involved in the minor stampede weren't hurt badly.

We shot the shit over things at the hours but pretty soon we all went back to bed. I sent a rider into town the next morning as soon as he could get breakfast and had him give the story to the deputy sheriff. The deputy rode out around noon and we invited him in for lunch. After we'd eaten we took a ride up to where it had all happened and explained what had happened.