Gone to Kansas Ch. 04

It didn't take a genius to figure out Charlie and Clive were the most likely to be responsible. There was no way they wouldn't notice over half the herd gone. If they were innocent, they would've reported to Aunt Helen that cattle were missing.

That evening over supper I told Aunt Helen the bad news about her cattle herd being less than half the size it should've been.

Aunt Helen was madder than a hornet, she said that Charlie and Clive never mentioned cattle missing to her. "Zeb, what do you think I should do about this?"

"Well, there's nothin you can do about the cattle that are gone, I don't reckon they're anywhere around by now. If it was me, I'd hold on and just build up the herd. Come this fall we'll do a roundup and cut all the bull calves. Then come summer we'll drive them to Baxter Springs and sell them. I'd advise you to keep all the heifers to start buildin up you herd. It'll take a few years, but you can overcome this Aunt Helen."

"Sometimes I think about just walkin away from this place, just sellin it and movin back to Missouri, I don't know Zeb, I just don't know. Ranchin sure seems to be risky business in these parts."

"Yeah, you've sure had your share of bad luck," I said not knowing for sure what the right thing for Aunt Helen to do was. The rest of the evenin was spent talkin about back home and what momma and my sisters had been up to. I turned in fairly early that night, I had a new focus for the next few days, I was going to look for signs of cattle rustlin.

The next day found me scoutin the unclaimed ground off of our Northwest corner. I soon found out why no one had claimed that land, it was rough as hell and didn't have much in the way of water on it. I didn't know exactly what I was lookin for but figured there had to be some clues as to what was goin on around here.

Later that day I came across a valley that dead ended; it had a creek that went across the opening of it and there was a makeshift fence made of split logs that closed off the entrance. I rode on through the opening, the grass had all been grazed down close and there was fresh and old cow shit all over, it appeared someone had held a decent amount of cattle there, that or small bunches of cattle many times. I rode to the back; the valley had a dead end to it and had high rock walls on the sides. It made a great natural corral that could hold a lot of cattle.

I rode back to the entrance of the valley and found a well-worn trail leavin it, I figured to follow it tomorrow and see where it would take me. It was too late to mess with today, so I turned and headed for the ranch.

That night at supper I told Aunt Helen about the makeshift corral and that I intended to see where the trail leavin it led. Aunt Helen looked to be in thought for a bit then said, "Zeb, I have somethin of Tom's that might help you with your search, I'll see if I can find it."

"What is it Aunt Helen?" I asked while workin on my supper.

"Tom had a lookin glass thing; I think he called it a telescope. It helps you see things better at a distance, makes them look closer than they are."

"Yeah, I've heard of them but never looked through one, I could see where it would come in handy."

"Oh, here it is," said Aunt Helen, taking it from the top of the cupboard and handing it to me. I extended it open and looked through the lens. It was almost dark outside and looking through it in the cabin made things look out of focus since it was a close space.

"You just keep that Zeb; I don't have any use for it."

"Thank you, Aunt Helen, I can't wait to try it out tomorrow."

The next mornin Aunt Helen made me a couple of sandwiches, I had one for breakfast and saved the other for lunch and was out the door. I wanted to have as much time as possible to scout out that trail.

I rode to the entrance of the valley that was used for holdin cattle, I found a heavily used trail leading South and started followin it. I rode for several hours and traveled about eight miles. I figured I had to be gettin close to the border. The trail was still easy to follow, and I went another couple of miles, it was still mostly open range here and I didn't have to worry about fences.

I figured I had to be in the Territory by now, I was still followin a cattle trail, it was mostly going South but once I got into Indian Territory it started veering slightly to the East. The land I was on belonged to the Osage Indians; I hoped I wouldn't have any trouble with them. I figured with all the whites going in and out of their land they were fairly used to it, and it probably wouldn't be a big deal, I hoped.

About a half hour later I saw a building out in the middle of nowhere, I rode close enough to take a good look at it with my lookin glass and could make out a sign that read "Trading Post", looked to be a couple of horses tied up out front as well. I didn't know what to think of that, way in the hell out in the middle of a prairie, sure didn't seem like it would get much business. I sat there and thought about my next step.

I figured I'd just ride on up and see what this here tradin post was all about. It was a decent size place with a covered porch and several hitchin rails out front. I tied up and went in the front door. I got inside the doorway and stepped to the side, outta the daylight into the shadows and let my eyes adjust to the dimly lit interior. The store looked to have various things for sale such as dry goods and there was a rack of guns on the wall, most of them looked like they had been pretty well used up, it would be a desperate man that needed to rely on one of them to save his life. There were knives, pistols and tomahawks for sale as well.

In the middle of the store, on the back wall was a bar with a white man for a bartender. Sittin on one of the barstools was an older Indian wearin leather britches and a white man's vest, with no shirt, he had long gray hair, his face was wrinkled and weathered, he looked to be 80 years old, but he was wiry and appeared to be in good shape. He looked to be drinkin whiskey out of a glass.

On the far end of the store were tables, set up for drinkin or eatin at and there was an Indian girl, probably in her early twenty's sweepin the floor. She kept her head down the whole time, kinda reminded me of a whipped dog. I guessed she'd seen her share of trouble workin in a place like this.

About that time the bartender yelled at the girl, "You got that food cookin yet squaw." I saw her nod her head to the man, and she disappeared to the back room where I guessed the cookin was done. The old Indian never paid me no mind, he looked like he was far away, lost in his thoughts, that or he was already drunk on his ass.

I grabbed a seat a couple of barstools down from the old Indian and asked for a beer. The bartender got it and placed it in front of me without sayin a word. He was an older guy probably late fifties with a pot belly, chew spit had discolored his gray stubble at the corners of his mouth brown, his clothes were filthy, and his hair could supply enough grease for fryin a damn chicken. When he walked by, I could smell his stench, it damn near made my eyes water.

When the bartender came back by, I introduced myself as Billy, "don't know of anyone hirin right now do ya? Kinda lookin for a place that don't ask much questions about the past if you know what I mean."

The barkeep looked up at me, "No, don't reckon I do, but if you're here at the right time you might find what yer lookin fer, or.... maybe not."

"Well, could you tell me where I might find the Miller brother's ranch, word is they're lookin for hands."

"The Miller brothers, are you stupid boy? Ain't no way I'd tell you how to get there even if I knew. If they want you, they'll let you know where to go, you don't just go ridin in there on your own accord, ya hear."

"Yes Sir, well what if I left word with you that I was lookin for a job, could you get a message to them for me?"

"Boy, you sure you got what it takes to ride for that brand? You look a little wet behind the ears to me."

About that time a man came in, he looked hard eyed and mean as hell, he appeared to be forty or so years old caryin a rifle, he had a huge knife on his belt and was wearin a wore out hat. He was a fat ole bastard, probably about six foot tall and weighed a good 275 pounds. I was beginnin to think I needed to quit bathing if I was going to fit in at this place, me and the two Indians were shapin up to be the cleanest people this place had ever seen!

The man grabbed a chair at one of the back tables and said, "barkeep, where's your little bitch that serves the food around here! I been in the saddle all damn mornin, I'm hungry, and I don't intend to wait much longer."

"Calm down Hoss, I'll get her, just settle down, we got deer stew today and it's damn good if I do say so myself," said the bartender as he went to the back to get the girl.

They both came back out, the bartender goin back behind the bar and the girl bringin a bowl of steamin hot stew and a big chunk of bread for the man they called Hoss. The girl was gettin Hoss set up with his food and he told her to get him a mug of beer to go with his lunch. She came up to the bar, she was a fairly homely lookin girl, not ugly but she just didn't have much in the way of looks. I noticed some bruises on her arms and one on her cheek. I had to wonder about her situation here, I guessed it wasn't a good one.

The bartender gave the girl Hoss's beer, and she took it to his table, settin it down and walkin away to the back room.

Hoss began eatin his stew and I ordered another beer. The old Indian man set his empty glass down on the bar with a loud smack and asked for a refill. The bartender filled up his glass and since I'd heard him speak English, I figured I'd try to strike up a conversation with him. Maybe he'd have some information for me.

"Howdy mister, names Billy, I'm new to these parts, what's your name?" The old guy looked up from his glass and just stared at me, or more like through me, never saying a word. Well, that didn't go like I hoped it would. I was beginnin to think comin to this place had been a bad idea, it didn't appear I was even going to get someone to speak to me much less get information.

I had just finished my second beer, paid the bartender and figured it was time to get outta this shithole and come up with another plan. When Hoss yelled at the Indian girl, next thing I know he'd grabbed her by the hair and was draggin her up close to his table, shovin her face into his bowl of stew. "You dumb little bitch, there's still bones in this stew, I damn near lost one of the only good teeth I got left!" Hoss yelled, still manhandling the poor girl.

I got up from my stool and walked over to them, Hoss was so preoccupied with yellin at her that he didn't notice me, the girl was in tears and was beggin to be let go, saying she was sorry and that he was hurtin her.

Hoss slapped her so hard she went flying across the room, landing in a heap on the floor, not movin. I'd had about all I was gonna tolerate, I grabbed Hoss by the shoulder and spun him towards me. I could see he was in a rage, but I wasn't goin to stand for no one beatin a woman. "Mister, it appears you need some learnin on how to treat a lady!"

"Boy, that's just a damn squaw, who the hell do you think you are layin hands on me, I'm a gonna rip your fuckin head from your body boy."

I'd already done more talkin than I intended, and it was time to get to work on this fat bastard. I took a quick step to the side as he took a big awkward swing at my head. It looked to me like Hoss wasn't one to let get ahold of you due to his size, but he sure didn't appear to be very skilled in fist fightin.

I smiled at him and that really pissed him off and he lunged for me tryin to grab me in a bearhug. I sidestepped that as well and he went runnin past, I started to move around him throwin little jabs not really even tryin to make contact, he took several more swings without touchin me and I could see Hoss was already gettin winded.

Hoss took another lunge at me, and I split his cheek open with a right hook, he came at me again and I took a punch to my right shoulder, he was gettin desperate and throwin wild punches. I ducked in and put my head to his upper chest and began workin his sides and kidneys, then broke away and got some distance, and some air, that dirty bastard stunk to high heaven. Ole Hoss was loosin steam and he knew he didn't have much left in him, so he tried another lunge to take me to the ground where he figured he'd have the advantage.

When he came in, I tried to move outta his way, but he got his hands on me and took me to the ground. Luckily, he was so winded by this point he didn't have the strength to keep me there. I broke free and jumped to my feet, before he could get all the way up. He was on one knee and about to stand, breathin hard, when I kicked him hard, right in the side, I figured I'd probably broke some ribs with that kick.

Hoss went down and I jumped on him, straddled his waist and pummeled his face with my fists. His lips were split open, he had a broken nose and it appeared I might have knocked out the last of his front teeth, not that there were many left to begin with.

Hoss stopped movin after a bit, it looked like I'd knocked him out. I got up off of him breathin hard from the fight, I heard the sound of hammers being cocked and I turned to see the barkeep with a cut down double barrel shotgun pointed right at me.

"Son, I think you made your point, but you need to go, don't be comin back ya hear." Said the bartender as he motioned me out the door with the shotgun.

"Easy there mister, I'm leavin, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't point that thing at me though," I said as I was backin away towards the door. Once outside I grabbed up the reins of my horse and climbed back in the saddle, I was about to go when the old Indian man came outside. He walked about halfway to me and stopped.

"Names Standing Bear, why did you help that girl?"

"Pleased to meet ya Standing Bear. I stood for that girl because she was bein mistreated. Ain't no cause for a man to abuse a woman like that, if ya ask me."

He just nodded his head and went over to his horse and saddled up. I figured he'd said all he was gonna say so I turned Ed and started to ride off. It wasn't long and the old man was ridin beside me.

"I'm curious, why would a man who stands up for Indian girl be lookin for the Miller brothers," he asked.

I figured I'd take a chance and tell the truth to Standing Bear. "Well truth be told my name's not Billy, it's Zeb. I just came to Kansas not long ago to help my aunt on her ranch. Seems a couple of her hands mighta killed her husband and stold a bunch of her cattle. When I showed up, they left the place. I've been tryin to find them. Their names are Charlie Price and Clive Baker, I figured they might be in with the Miller brothers and was hopin to find them there.

Standing Bear didn't say anything to this, and we rode on in silence for a few minutes. "I know these two you speak of, both very bad men, they do not ride for Miller's though. I have seen them drive cattle to Millers to sell but they do not stay."

"You don't happen to remember the brand on those cattle, do ya?" I asked.

"Yes, it was a circle with part of it missin with a rocker underneath."

"I thought about that for a bit and made a C shape in the air with a rocker underneath, like this I asked?" He nodded his head yes.

"Yep, that's my aunt's brand, about how many head of cattle did you see them movin?"

"They were by themselves so they only moving about a dozen or so cattle, but I saw them many times. Hard to tell how many cattle they got all together."

"Do you know where I might be able to find them at, seems they just disappeared," I said.

"No, but they sometimes stop at Trading Post for food and drink."

"Well thanks for the information, I reckon I'll head on back to the ranch, it's getting late."

Standing Bear nodded and cut off to the South not saying anything more to me, I turned and went North, thinkin as I rode. Looked like I wasn't any closer to figurin this out, other than Charlie and Clive weren't stayin at the Miller's, I was beginnin to believe the Indian was right, that they weren't part of the Miller's, but probably just sold the cattle to them for fast money.

On my way back I came up with another plan, I was gonna move all the cattle closer to the ranch. With there bein less than half the herd left it would be safe to put them on the closer pasture without risk of runnin out of grass through the winter. This would allow me to keep watch over them easier, I figured Charlie and Clive might decide to come back to get what was left and I'd be watchin for them.

Over the next couple of weeks, I got all the cattle moved closer to the house. I had them on some pasture that was only a ten-minute ride to the Northwest from the house. There was a natural pond in that area, and I figured the good grass and close water would keep them from roaming. Where I had them at was in a low-lying area with some overlooks that I could keep watch from. I was gonna camp out on them cattle and see if the boys made an appearance.

A little better than a month had passed since Charlie and Clive had pulled out, with no sign of them since. I would leave out in the mornins before daybreak to get to my spot and watch over the cattle, stay all day and not leave until right at dark. I was a week into this routine with no sign of them yet. I spent a lot of time daydreamin about Emma and wishin I could go and see her, and just wonderin what she was up to....

********

"Emma, I was thinkin about headin back to Baxter Springs in the next few days. I need to look into gettin a stud horse and some mares so I can get back into the horse raisin business," said Ben.

"Do you have that kind of money Pa?"

"Yeah, when the bank took our place in Tennessee, I owed a thousand dollars, I had eight hundred saved up. When I went to try to extend my loan, I told the banker man I had $800 of the money, but just needed a little more time to come up with the other $200. He wouldn't give me the extension I needed, and we lost the farm. Then my cousin offered us this place with the agreement I could pay him when we got back on our feet. I sold all our mares and stud horses along with the cattle and everything else we weren't going to bring along on the trip here. I got $1400 for all of that. I figured it would be easier traveling with just a wagon and buy new breedin stock once we arrived."

"Pa, you could have paid off the farm with part of that money."

"Yeah, I tried to do that, but the banker wouldn't take it, he said the time had passed to make it right. Honestly, I think he wanted our place for his own, and when the opportunity arose, he jumped on it."

"That's not right Pa, what an evil man!"

"Well Emma, that's how the world works sometimes, there's no shortage of bad people out there. Anyway, let me finish where I was going with this. After buying everything we needed for our trip here we still have about a $1000 left for us to buy some livestock. Baxter Springs is bigger and has a lot more to offer in the way of livestock than what we could find in Coffeyville."

"Sounds good Pa, what are we gonna buy first, cattle or horses?"

"I'm thinkin we'll go to Baxter Springs first and get us a good stud horse and six mares. That'll give us some decent income in a couple of years. We also need to get cattle right away, we'll just git those in Coffeyville though. Besides I don't wanna have to drive cattle the fifty miles from Baxter Springs, we'd have to hire a crew of men if we drove them that far. You and I can drive about fifteen head at a time from Coffeyville. I wasn't planning on gettin more than one bull and about twenty-five head of cows. Take us about two trips to get em here I reckon."