The Gathering Ch. 04

At first light the next morning Josh and Red wrapped the bodies, using the men's slickers and saddle blankets and buried them in a shallow grave at the edge of the clearing. They took the saddles and bridles off the three worn out horses and let them go. Dillon's horses were unsaddled and he made rope hackamores to lead them back to Winterborn. Then they broke camp and headed home.

By the end of the first day, after ten hours on the trail, Dillon was running a fever and looked a little grey. Josh asked if he wanted to rest a day but Dillon said no. "I want to get back to the ranch; I can rest when I get there."

Red looked at Dillon's wound and cleaned it again. He put some more of the aloe salve on it and wrapped it with a fresh bandage made from his bandana.

They crossed Black Squirrel Creek late in the afternoon of their second day. Dillon was almost reeling in the saddle but refused to stop and rest. They had made better time on the return trip because they didn't have to follow the trail of the outlaws.

Ethan was the first to see them. He'd taken to riding around the ranch house with a rifle across the saddle in front of him. "They're back," he yelled at the house and spurred Shelley out to meet them. When he got close he saw that Dillon was injured. He quickly took the lead ropes of the three stock horses and turned them into the corral.

Dillon dismounted and almost fell but Red caught him and helped him into the house. "I'll take care of the horses," Ethan offered.

Red smiled at the youngster, "Don't you want to hear what happened?"

"Yeah, but the horses need tending to first," Ethan answered. "I'll hear about it later." He led Buck, Diablo, and Jasper over to the corral. He loosened their saddle cinches on Diablo and Jasper and fed and watered them. Ethan unsaddled Buck, brushed him down, and led him into his stall; making sure that he had fresh water and feed.

Dillon sat on a chair in the big kitchen and Sarah tended to him. She embarrassed Dillon by making him drop his pants so she could get at the wound. Dillon's leg was a little swollen and the area around the hole was red and angry looking. "Might have some infection in it," Sarah said. "Good thing you used aloe or it'd be a lot worse."

Danni made a poultice using wet tea leaves and dried mustard seed. As she put it on the wound she said, "This will draw the poison out. We'll leave it on overnight and clean the wound with coal oil tomorrow morning."

Looking up at Dillon she said, "Now tell us what happened. It's obvious you caught up with them and got your horses back."

"First, how's Oso?" Dillon asked.

Sarah handed Dillon a small glass of whiskey. "Drink this," she ordered with a grin. "It can't hurt and might even help some. Oso's just fine. The Doc was able to get the bullet out of his shoulder. He said that you're quick treatment of the wound kept it from becoming infected. Oso's sleeping on the sofa in the office right now. He'll be up and around a little later."

"Here, have some of this soup," Danni said. "And then we going to give you a bath and put you to bed. You smell like horses and sweat."

Josh chuckled and Red laughed out loud. "It's hard to take a bath when you're trailing outlaws," Red offered.

"You two don't smell any better," Sarah told them. "Red, soon as you get home you take a bath. You hear me?"

"I know; me too," Josh said to Danni before she could say anything.

An hour later Dillon had eaten and taken a bath; he'd refused to let Sarah or Danni help him. But he was careful not to get his injured leg wet. Dressed in clean clothes, he sat in his big chair in the living room with his leg propped on a foot stool. Oso was healing but was still weak; he sat on the sofa across from Dillon.

"So, tell me what happened out there," Oso requested. Everyone gathered in the room to hear Dillon's story.

Dillon explained in detail about tracking Simpson and bracing them at their camp. "I tried to bring them back but they decided to make a fight of it." Dillon paused for a few seconds. "Red, Josh, and I buried them in that clearing." Looking at his friends he asked, "What happened back here after I left?"

No one spoke for a few seconds and then Danni said, "Ethan?"

The youngster cleared his throat. "I did like you told me Dillon. Told Miss Sarah and Miss Danni to come help Oso and rode as fast as I could into Fountain for the doctor. I told Sheriff Kennedy about the raid and he came out with the doctor."

Ethan stopped for a minute. "While I was in town, I sent a telegram to Ma and Elizabeth and let them know we wouldn't be comin to Colorado Springs and why. I didn't want them worrying when we didn't show up. Then I rested Byron for an hour before I came back to the ranch."

"You did a good job Ethan. I'm proud of you," Dillon told the boy. "I hope you didn't hurt Byron, running him that hard."

Ethan smiled. "No sir, he's fine. He was kinda mad when he saw the doctor and the Sheriff ride out; he wanted to go too. I don't think he liked me makin him rest."

The boy cocked his head and started toward the front door. "Riders comin," he said as he picked up a shotgun propped against the door frame and stepped outside. He came back inside, "It's Sheriff Kennedy and Doc Riley."

Ethan motioned the two men into the house. "Dillon's back," he said to the Sheriff. "He's been shot Doc."

Doctor Riley was a whip cord thin man with a fringe of grey hair around his bald head. He was jovial and outgoing but brooked no nonsense from his patients. They would do exactly what he ordered or he'd know the reason why. Not many dared to cross him.

Nodding at the others in the room, Doc Riley quickly went to Dillon. Riley ordered him to drop his pants. Dillon asked Sarah and Danni to leave the room. They laughed and refused to go and Dillon got embarrassed all over again. Riley pulled off the bandage and the poultice and examined the wound. Dillon squirmed and grunted as the doctor pushed and prodded around the holes in his leg. Riley dampened the poultice with a little water and put it back on.

"You ladies did fine. No need for me to do anything more," he said. "Leave the poultice on overnight and then clean the wound with coal oil tomorrow morning." He washed his hands and said to Dillon, "I suggest you stay off that leg for four or five days. Give it a chance to heal up some. After that you can walk around a bit, but no riding for at least two weeks. If it gets real red and sore send for me."

Dillon frowned. "I'll rest tomorrow and maybe the next day Doc but I've got a ranch to run. Can't afford to let things go; especially with Oso down for awhile."

The doctor stared at Dillon with disapproval on his face. "Mr. Gallagher, you served in the Calvary with the rank of Captain didn't you? Dillon was surprised at the question but nodded. "Sheriff Kennedy told me as much. As I understand things, Captains were required to follow orders. Is that right?"

"But Doc, I need to......."

"Is that right Captain Gallagher?" The doctor asked again, interrupting his patient.

Dillon sighed and answered, "Yes sir, it is."

"Then consider my suggestion an order," Doc Riley said in a tone that left no room for argument.

The doctor and Dillon stared at each other in sort of a battle of wills. This is a hard man when need be, Doc Riley thought. He smiled to himself, I bet he didn't take well to orders he didn't agree with back then either. Dillon started to speak; he was going to tell the doctor what he thought about his orders. Another voice spoke up before Dillon could say anything.

"I'll see that he follows your orders Doctor," Elizabeth said as she and Eleanor strode into the room. There had been so much going on that no one heard them ride up.

Elizabeth walked over to Dillon and knelt by his side. "You'll do that for me, won't you Honey?"

Dillon looked at his wife as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. He was a hard man and had done a lot of hard things but making Elizabeth unhappy wasn't one of them. Dillon smiled, reached out and touched her cheek. He nodded and she put her arms around him. For a couple of minutes there was no one else in the room for them.

Doctor Riley nodded seeing that Dillon would listen to his wife. Don't make any difference whose orders he follows, Riley thought. Just as long as he takes it easy on the leg for a while. The doctor crossed to the sofa to examine his other patient.

"Your shoulder's healing well considering it's only been a few days," Riley told the big man. "I'll give you the same orders I gave Dillon. Take it easy and don't overuse your shoulder for at least two weeks. Then you can start getting your strength back in it. But don't overdo it. You leg's healing too, so just take it easy."

"I'll see that he follows orders Doctor," Eleanor said. Turning to Oso she added, "You're not too big to turn over my knee if you don't behave young man."

"Si Senora. I will do as you say," Oso replied with a smile.

Elizabeth stood and went to Ethan. She and Eleanor both hugged him. "Thanks for sending the telegram little brother," Elizabeth said.

Sheriff Kennedy had smiled and taken his hat off to greet her when Eleanor entered the room. He put his hat back on and walked over to Dillon. "Care to tell me about Simpson and his gang?" He asked with a grim look on his face.

Elizabeth and Eleanor drifted over to listen as Dillon retold the story to the sheriff. "I tried to bring them back. They didn't want to come and made a fight of it." Dillon paused and added, "I'll draw you a map to where we buried em."

Sheriff Kennedy waited for a bit after Dillon finished. "I'm glad you weren't hurt anymore than you were Dillon," he said. "You were lucky. I'll telegraph Marshall Baker in Colorado Springs and tell him about Simpson and his men. If he wants the bodies he can come and get them. Far as I'm concerned, let em rot in the ground. I'll head back to town with Doc."

"How's that new boy doing, Danni?" Doc Riley asked as he packed up his bag. "He get over that croup?"

"He's fine Doc. Come out for supper sometime and see for yourself."

Later that evening Dillon asked Elizabeth how Tillie was doing. "Is she going to stay in Colorado Springs? You know she's welcome to come live with us."

"That one of the reasons I love you; you're always concerned with family," Elizabeth replied and kissed him. "She said she going to stay put; all her friends are there ."

*****************

Dillon and Oso took it easy for the two weeks that Doc Riley requested. Mostly it was because Elizabeth rode herd on them. Every time one of them tried to do too much, she would get a look on her face that made them slow down again. Eleanor had returned to town as soon as was sure that her two "boys" were going to be okay.

It was close to six weeks before Dillon could ride for more than an hour without his leg throbbing. It took about as long for Oso's shoulder to gain back its strength. Slowly and with a lot of scolding from Elizabeth to take it easy, both men regained full use of their limbs. Josh and Red had sent a couple of their hands over to help with the ranch work while they were recuperating.

Red was at Winterborn helping with the spring calf season. It's a start and we'll add more cattle as we go along, Dillon said to himself. Red and Dillon were resting their horses, watching as Ethan chased down a couple of strays.

"You're good friends Red," Dillon said. "Not many would help someone as much as you and Josh have."

"Mostly it's payback. I seem to remember a man and his wife stepping in to help us. Besides, we Irish have to stick together, don't you know." Red spoke in a put on Irish brogue. "The Irish clans control most of Chico Basin; it's almost like County Cork back in the old country."

"What do you know about the old country? I thought you were from Texas," Dillon said.

"My great grandfather came over from Ireland back in 1810 and settled around Amarillo," Red replied. "I spent a lot of time with the old man when I was a boy. He told me stories about Ireland and his life there." Red paused for a bit remembering happy times and then with a smile added, "The old man spoke with an Irish brogue so thick I could hardly understand him."

Dillon smiled at Red's story. "Sure and I think we'd better get back to work," he said in a brogue of his own.

After lunch Red asked Dillon if Josh had talked to him about a trip to Cripple Creek to round up wild cattle. "It's the quickest way to build up your herd."

"He mentioned it. Said it was rough country and a tough, dangerous job. I think we'll just buy cattle when the ranchers cull their herds and see what can be done that way," Dillon replied. "What with the profit from selling the Triple E and some other money, we can take our time and build slowly."

"Glad to hear that. I didn't look forward to combing that maze of arroyos and scrub brush again. Too damn much work for Mrs. McCall's little boy. I'm a gentleman rancher now."

"Well we wouldn't want you to work too hard now," Dillon said laughing.

Once Dillon and Oso had completely recovered they started visiting the ranches in the area around Fountain and even Colorado Springs. Good grazing land was at a premium around Fountain and the Chico Basin. Ranchers would sometimes cull their herds to decrease the number of cattle and avoid over grazing the land. Several ranchers had stock for sale, mostly due to a better calving season than expected. Winterborn was able to increase the size of their herd, taking advantage of the bargain prices.

Dillon had an idea about breeding cattle and discussed it with Josh and Red. He wanted to buy two or three pedigreed Hereford bulls. Most of the cattle being raised in the west were off shoot breeds from the Texas Longhorns and wild cattle. These animals were hardy and could stand up to the winters in Colorado and the trail drives to the railheads.

"We've got a railhead close by at Colorado Springs," Dillon explained. "So there's no need for long trail drives which burns weight off the cattle. By breeding the white face bulls to our range cattle we can get heavier animals and with the short distance to the railhead they wouldn't lose much weight. These heavier cattle would bring better prices."

"It's worth a try," Red agreed. "We might not get more than one season out of the bulls though. I don't think they can live through one of our winters. From what I hear, they're not as tough as our range cattle."

Josh thought for a moment and said, "Won't make a difference, we'll let em breed during the spring and summer. When the weather gets bad we'll round the bulls up and drive them down to the ranch and put em into a sheltered corral. We can hand feed them until spring and send em out again. The calves will get some toughness from their mamas and will handle the weather just fine."

They contacted a cattle buyer in Denver who directed them to a breeder of prize winning Hereford's in Nebraska. It was decided that Red and Charley White would make the trip east. Charley was the ranch boss at the Lazy L part of the Chico Basin Cattle Company and knew more about cattle than anyone in the county. Both the herd from Winterborn and the CBC's herd would benefit from the improved breeding so they decided the two ranches would be partners in any bulls they purchased.

They would take a train from Colorado Springs to Cheyenne. That spur line joined up with the Transcontinental Railroad and they would travel east to Ogallala to meet the breeder.

"Why travel by train?" Oso asked just before they left.

Red smiled and replied, "Using the train we can get there, buy the bulls, and be back before we could even get to Ogallala on horses. "It'd be a hard ride on us too," Red added. "I've never been one to put in more work than necessary. Don't see the sense in it."

Josh chuckled at Red's statement; Dillon laughed too. "You're one of the hardest working men I've even seen Red," Dillon said. "I don't think you're happy unless you're putting your hand to something."

"Don't you believe it Dillon," Red replied. "If I had my way I'd just watch everyone else work. I'd sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and my feet propped up." Red grinned. "But Sarah won't have it. That woman keeps me jumping all day long."

Oso, Dillon, and Josh laughed at Red's complaining. They all knew that Red was the first to pitch in with the work and the last to quit.

"We'll drive the bulls slow from Colorado Springs back here to Chico Basin," Charley added. "After a couple of day's rest we'll turn em out and let them do what bulls do best."

"I figure we'll have about two or three months for them to breed before we bring em back to the corrals," Josh said. "We should start seeing the calves next spring but it'll be a couple of years before we can ship any of them."

Red and Charley were met by the breeder when they arrived in Ogallala. He drove them out to his ranch in his wagon and showed them the six animals that were available. They picked a five year old named Lucifer and three year old called Monty. "We can use a bull at each place for a season and switch them around," Charley said. "We'll stay away from interbreeding that way."

An agreement was reached for the two bulls after about 30 minutes of negotiating. Red always thought he was a pretty good hand at dickering, but he had to admit that Charley was a master at the art. The breeder had one of his hands take Red and Charley back to town and they arranged for transportation of the bulls. Lucifer and Monty would begin the train trip to their new home and new duties the next day.

*********************

It was late September and Dillon and Elizabeth were hosting a party to celebrate the finish of this year's cattle drive. Winterborn hadn't made a drive this year; Dillon wanted to build the herd for another season. The Chico Basin Cattle Company had another very profitable drive. Dillon and Oso had helped with the drive to the railhead in Colorado Springs. Now it was time to relax and enjoy themselves.

"It's nice to celebrate after a good season," Dillon told Elizabeth. He laughed and said, "I just hope we don't run out of food for all these people."

"I think that whole steer cooked on the spit will take care of them," Elizabeth replied.

Everybody that we know is here, Dillon thought. Must be near 30 people. Charley White and the four hands from the CBC are here. Bill Sanders and his sister Nancy Larson from the S Bar S came by. Jerry brought his young lady friend and her mother; they lived in Fountain. Eleanor invited her gentlemen friend; Sheriff James Kennedy. Elizabeth told Dillon that her mother and Kennedy became friendly and were spending time together in town.

Then we have the Irish, Dillon continuing his thought. There's Daniel and Maggie Maguire, Danni and Sarah's parents. Their son Jacob made a surprise visit; he'd been in Denver going to school. Dillon smiled, and of course there's the Kelly's and the McCall's and the Gallagher's.

"The Irish really do control Chico Basin," Dillon told Elizabeth. He was sitting on the top step of the porch and she was leaning back against him. They were watching Josh and Red's children playing in the yard.

"We'll be adding another Irishman to the group in a couple of months," Elizabeth said proudly. She looked over her shoulder at Dillon and he bent down, patted her growing stomach, and kissed her.

"And that's just a start," he replied smiling at Elizabeth. They looked at each other for a few seconds and turned back to watch their guests.

"Red was right," Dillon said softly. "It is a gathering.

The Gathering of the Clans."

The End