Chapter 10

The door to Bill's office was open when she led us there and as he noticed who it was he was up out of his chair and around his desk to say hello. I put my hand out to shake before I remembered it wasn't a custom here. I held it out until he shook and decided it was gonna be a custom around me. I introduced him to Amos then and we all finally sat down and had a little talk.

I noticed Bill had put on some weight and was no longer the scarecrow-looking thing he had been when he ran the stable. He also seemed to have calmed down quite a bit. I figured it was the three wives working his ass off at night, but I didn't tease him about it, yet.

"How have we made out since I left, Bill," I asked.

"Better than I could ever have imagined. For the first month or so I tried to over manage the place, but after Ben, the overseer got enough of it he sat me down and gave me a good talking to. He told me you'd left me here to be the idea man and he was to take care of the details. He also encouraged me to go ahead and marry the house girls since it would help me calm down.

"I took his advice and things have been doing well since then. I am glad you're back now though, because lately we've started having trouble with Mr Blanksdale. He came into town about two years after you left and seemed nice enough for a year or so.

"Lately he has been rather standoffish and he has been hiring more and more men. The rumor is he is dealing in slavery. No people have gone missing from here and really not from any of the nearby towns, but last year we started missing cattle and so we built the new fence all around the place.

"I suppose we needed a fence all along and it was a good enough reason to put it up, even though it was expensive. It cut down on the number of cattle we were losing for a while, but lately we've started losing some off the very back of the property, and we've found the fence torn down in small sections seven times now."

"It sounds to me like you've expanded the land quite a bit," I said.

"Oh we have. No matter how many cattle we raise we always seem to be able to sell them for a good price. People have been moving into the area. I think many of them are moving away from areas of more slaver activity.

"That's why I'm glad you are here. Do you think you can help slow down the slavery issue around here?" he asked.

"I can give it a good start at least. But not today. Have you got room in the house for Amos and me to stay or are you going to make me sleep in the stable again?" I said.

"Of course we have room in the house. Martin had twelve bedrooms in this house. We've left his in the same shape you left it and it's ready for you right now. My wives have it cleaned once a week, though there's never much to do except dusting.

"There is another bedroom near it for Amos to use," Bill said.

"Surely your wives must take up some of the bedrooms, and your children," I said.

"My wives had me combine two bedrooms into one for us, and they did the same for the children, but it's taken three for them by now. It seems taking out the walls makes for much more room than you'd think. We only have two maids though, and of course Kala is still the cook and she has a helper now.

"They all have their own rooms of course, but they are on the first floor and not up on the second floor with our bedrooms," he said.

"Well, could you get someone to show us to our rooms. I'm afraid I don't remember the way."

"I can show you, they're just upstairs," Bill said, and then he led us out.

He left us to get settled in and it didn't take long, since I hadn't brought any of my extra clothes with me and Amos didn't have any extra clothes. We headed back downstairs in a minute and I could at least find the kitchen.

"Hero Jack," Kala said, when we walked into the kitchen, "Wanda told me you'd showed up like a stray dog or something."

"Yes, and we're just as hungry. This is Amos, my Companion, and we're here to beg for a bite to eat before we have to get to work," I said.

"Do you want a full meal, or just something to tide you over until lunch? I've got plenty ready to feed hungry men, especially since Wanda gave me the warning."

"Just about half a meal will suit me. What about you Amos?"

"Half would suit me too. We had a big breakfast," he said.

On a cattle farm I should have expected beef, and Kala didn't disappoint us. She put a roast on the table and mashed potatoes, pinto beans, and some fresh bread. We ate more than we should have, but we didn't completely pig out. We bragged on her cooking most of the time we were eating and it was some to brag on too. We finally got up and I wanted to go take a nap, but we didn't.

Instead we headed outside and I happened to see Ben, the overseer I'd left in charge before.

"Howdy, Ben," I said.

"Why, Mr Hero Jack. It's good to see you," he said.

I introduced him to Amos then and after a little chatting I asked him if he had a couple of good horses we could use while we were here.

"Of course I do. The one you took off the former overseer has been kept in a stall since you left and only ridden for exercise between breeding times since. I'll swear the damned thing gets bigger every month and it ain't all fat. We've got some of his sons around too and they're all broke to ride.

"That horse is not only big, it puts big on his get too. Some of them are bigger than he is. Come on, I'll show 'em to you," he said, and led us into a nice big barn that wasn't here when I left.

"Who does your leather work here now, Ben?" I asked, as we were walking into the barn.

"We've got three younguns tending to it now. They've mostly just picked it up as they went along though. They can't do nothing fancy," he said.

"Well Amos is an expert saddle maker. Maybe he'll have time to show 'em a thing or two before we have to leave."

"It shore would be a big help. They're all good boys, and handy with their hands, they just don't know much," he said.

We'd made it to the stall the big horse was in by then and Ben had been telling the truth. The horse was about fifteen and a half hands tall and he likely weighed twelve hundred pounds by now.

Ben showed us what he said was the best stallion out of him then and he was even bigger. He wasn't as stocky as his daddy, but he was half a hand taller and there was still plenty of meat on him.

He showed us the tack room then and Amos was looking over the saddles right away. Ben left us to it and Amos had to ask me something right away.

"Why are the cantles so high and wide on all these saddles? A couple of them look like they're made decently, but the cantles are so high and straight up and the pommels almost look like boxes on some of 'em."

"They're to hold the riders in. They do a lot of fighting from horseback, at least some men do, and I don't think they realize they're supposed to hold on with their legs. Oh, they know how to ride all right, but they don't seem as keen on gripping the horse's barrel with their inner thigh muscles."

"Sounds like you need to teach 'em to ride more than you need me to make saddles," he said.

"Well, I figured if you taught 'em how to make some good saddles the riders would eventually learn how to hold on, or else they could just keep on climbing back on," I said.

"You have a real point there," he said, and laughed.

We saddled up ourselves and headed back into town. There were a few things I needed to get out of the vault that I hadn't wanted to pack out to the place on my back.

As we rode out the gate I could see three mounted men about a mile up the road between us and town. I wondered what the hell they were doing just sitting their horses in the middle of the road. I guessed we'd find out when we got there, and it wouldn't be long.

"Remember, Amos, you're supposed to hang back and only offer logistic support," I said.

"Damn if that's so. You're going to have to race me there or I'll get 'em all," he said.

"Don't jump to conclusions. They might have ordinary reasonable business on the road. It is a public road you know."

"Well you're the one who got me started thinking they were there to fuck with us. From the way you talked I thought you recognized them," he said.

"Well, it does look a little funny with them just sitting in the road waiting like that, but we'd better at least give them a chance to explain themselves."

We turned and headed their way. Before we were half way to them I saw they were getting a little nervous and sitting twitchy in their saddles. As we got closer it was obvious they weren't going to move out of the way.