Chapter 9

We had ridden a couple of more miles when it dawned on me that one or more of those would-be rapists could have a bounty on them. OK, that settled it, at the next courthouse we found, I was going to pick up a set of wanted posters. That night, I explained to Sally and Jane what I had in mind.

It seemed to me that we could keep an eye out for wanted men as we traveled, and any we found could be turned over for the reward. Both women thought that was a great idea, so that became our plan.

The place where we were staying did not have a courthouse, but the next town we came to did have one, so I went in to pick up a set of posters. The clerk was real helpful, and he advised me to skip the posters without a picture. I agreed with him when he explained his reasoning—it was too damned easy to make a mistake when all you had to go by was a short and not necessarily accurate description.

When I returned to the ladies, they wanted to see the posters, too. There was no reason they shouldn't see them, so we took some time out in a restaurant to look them over. By the time we got through all of the posters, it was time for lunch, so we ate lunch where we were. A stew was all that was offered, but it did taste pretty good, so we figured that we had come out ahead. That stew and coffee would surely hold us until supper time.

We were too far from the next town to hope to make it before dark, so we started looking for a place to camp. We had just started to eat when we were hailed from just outside the ring of light from our campfire. It was the voice of a teen aged boy, so I made sure that my gun was handy and invited him in.

"Thank ya, Sir. I wonder ifen I could beg a cup of that there coffee I seen ya'll drinkin'? It's been a while since I had a good cup of coffee, an' I'd be much obliged ifen ya'll would part with a cup."

Sally was always goodhearted to a fault, so she said, "Certainly, you kin have a cup. Ya're welcome to supper, too, ifen ya haven't eaten yet."

"Ma'am, that's right generous of ya. I really would appreciate a plate of whatever ya'll are havin'. It looks mighty good, an' I ain't had nothin' but a scrap of rabbit fer a couple of days."

That was enough to trigger Sally's mothering reflex, and she fixed the boy a heaping plate of the antelope roast and pinto beans that we were all having. The boy tore into the food like he was starving, and Sally beamed at him as he gobbled down the food. Nothing pleases a woman more than to see a man dig into her cooking.

The boy was so hungry that he ate a second helping before he slowed down enough for us to ask his name. "Jimmy Bradford," he answered as he stared at Jane. Of course, she was staring right back, so I guess that made it all right. It was obvious that the two teens were taken with each other, and neither Sally nor I were upset, pending finding out more about the young man.

He claimed to be an orphan who had just lost his job at a cattle ranch after a fist-fight with the foreman. He wouldn't say what the fight was about, but he was such a handsome kid that I could imagine a couple of possible reasons. Anyway, we invited Jimmy to spend the night in our camp and to ride along with us the next morning if he was interested. He had trouble breaking his attention away from Jane long enough to say that he was delighted to accept my invitation.

I'll say this for the boy—he was no slacker. He was up with the rest of us and helping with the chores as if he had been with us for years. Naturally, he offered to drive Jane's wagon, and I agreed after getting the OK from Sally. Actually, I felt a lot safer with another male along to watch after the women while I rode on a scouting/hunting jaunt. I rode in with a antelope for supper just before time for the midday halt, only to find Jimmy and Jane sitting so close together that I wondered if it might actually be painful if either one thought about that.

We stopped for lunch and to give the animals time to rest. Jane had made a trip into the bushes to relieve herself. She was only out of sight for a moment when we heard a blood curdling scream from her. Jimmy and I jumped up to run to her aid, and that boy was two steps ahead of me by the time we had gone 20 feet.

We found Jane facing a cougar that must have weighed several hundred pounds. I had no idea that the damned things could get that big! Jane was pointing her Colt at the beast, but that small bullet was not likely to do her much good. The cougar looked like it was about to leap, and Jimmy didn't hesitate. He pulled a .44 Remington Army revolver from its holster and blasted away at the cougar.

The poor animal didn't stand a chance! The six balls from the Remington tore its chest to shreds. (The Remington was unique in that it was safe to load all six chambers of the cylinder.) It was not necessary for me to shoot, though I had my own pistol ready if it was needed.

The moment Jimmy stopped shooting, he was hit fully in the chest by a nearly hysterical woman. The hugs and kisses might well have killed a lessor man, but Jimmy withstood the onslaught remarkably well, I thought. After only a few moments of surprise, he holstered his gun and returned the hugs and kisses.

Sally showed up just as Jimmy fired his last shot, and was a witness to the rest of the encounter. Sally probably knew before I did that we had found our future son-in-law! It took both of us to pry the two lovers apart, but neither one was much embarrassed by that. Jane was nearly 12 years old by then, and almost into prime marrying age, so we knew that she was going to have the final say-so on whether she and Jimmy got together. And that did not appear to be in much doubt! Sally was going to have to explain the facts of anatomy to Jane, so that she understood that she needed to wait a few more months before she and Jimmy slept together. Jane had just had her first monthly bleeding episode, so she probably figured that she was a full adult.

Meanwhile, I was going to have a conversation with Jimmy to make sure he understood all the implications of sex with Jane. I just hoped that the kid was as smart as he was good looking; otherwise, I just might have to shoot him. (Grin!)

Jane still had not relieved herself, so Jimmy and I turned our backs while she shit. The poor girl was too scared to be embarrassed, though I figured that she would be later. When she finished and cleaned her hands, we all went back to camp to get the tools necessary to skin that cougar. His skin was too valuable to be left to the scavengers, though the rest of his body would be left for them.

Jimmy dragged the dead cougar's body farther from camp, but it was too late in the day for us to worry about trying for a few more miles before dark. As a result, we spent the night where we were. That gave plenty of time for Sally to talk to Jane and for me to talk to Jimmy. The boy, who was 16 years old, was as smart as I gave him credit for, and he understood why he could not sleep with Jane for another six months or so. He said that he had not realized that she was so young, but he would be careful now that he knew what the score was. I was pretty sure that Jane would start acting married now and want to boss Jimmy around, so I warned him of what to expect and not to be too upset about it.

That cougar was enough make me grateful that we had the mules with us. They were better watchdogs than dogs were, so I was sure that we would receive ample warning if a wild animal approached our camp at night. Those mules were almost as good in warning against two-legged intruders, too.

We told Jimmy about our interest in picking up any bounties that fell our way, and I showed him the wanted posters that we had. He was very interested in the possibilities of bounty hunting, especially since he had practically no money of his own. I told him that he need not worry about that too much, since we already considered him to be a part of the family, even if it was unofficial.