The Gathering Ch. 03

By woodmanone copyright October 2010

Reading Chapters 1 & 2 will give you a better feel for the characters and the events that have led them to this point.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. Constructive comments and/or emails are appreciated and more than welcome.

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A slight noise interrupted the confrontation causing the five gunmen to turn toward the side. They saw a man with steely eyes staring back at them. Surprise showed on their faces; they hadn't heard Dillon ride up.

"You can have the one on your end Dillon," Red replied.

"Get off our land and keep moving," Josh ordered.

"Too late for that now," Red responded. "They'll just wait and bushwhack us along the trail or maybe here at the house where the kids could get caught in the crossfire. I say we take care of them right now."

"That's right Josh," Dillon agreed. "These skunks will keep coming at you until they get you and your family or until they're stopped. Now's as good a time as any to finish it."

Stillwell and the others realized they had no choice but to try and kill Josh, Red, and Dillon. The man closest to Dillon started to turn his horse with a pistol in his hand. Before he could get face to face with Dillon a rifle shot rang out and the man was knocked out of his saddle. Dillon turned his attention to the next man and shot him in the head. By this time the other three, including Stillwell, were all lying on the ground. Their horses bolted and were running away.

Red heard a horse coming fast and looked behind Dillon. Dillon turned and saw Elizabeth riding at a high gallop toward them; she had her rifle lying across the saddle in front of her. Red chuckled and Dillon smiled with pride.

"Fine shot Elizabeth made Dillon. She's about as feisty as Sarah," Red remarked with admiration.

"Sometimes she's got too much spunk," Dillon replied with a smile. As Elizabeth pulled her horse to a stop, he said, "Thought I told you to stay back there girl."

"But you didn't say I couldn't help out, so I made my shot from over yonder," Elizabeth said as she walked to Dillon and put her arms around his waist and her head on his chest.

He hugged her to him. "You did fine Honey."

Sarah and Danni came running out of the house, holding their own rifles. There was smoke flowing out of the barrels. "Are you okay?" Sarah asked as she came to Red and Danni went to Josh.

"We're fine," Red replied and Josh nodded. Red continued, pointing at Dillon and Elizabeth, "Looks like our guests just paid for their lunch."

Josh looked down at Danni and asked, "Where are the kids?"

"I told John to keep them in the house," Sarah answered. "He's got them playing hide n go seek."

"Let's drag the bodies behind the barn and wrap them in a ground cloth," Josh said. "We'll round up their horses and put them in the small corral. After lunch we'll ride to town and tell the Sheriff to come get the bodies and their horses." His face was red with anger as he added, "Don't want them buried on our land."

"Sorry Dillon, guess we'll have to put off the horse trading for another day," Red remarked.

"We can come back tomorrow or the next day," Dillon replied. "Your ladies don't seem too upset about the shooting." He nodded at Danni and Sarah with admiration.

"There's been a few other...err...incidents during the years," Red responded. "They're veteran soldiers by now. But it will take a little cuddling tonight to settle them down. He smiled and added, "Me too."

"Well if you've a mind to Dillon you can ride your pick of the horses and come with me into town to see the Sheriff. That'll give you a real feel for the animal," Josh suggested. "While we're gone I'll send a rider over to the Maggie M and have Jerry bring over the two horses he's willing to part with. They were both sired by his Morgan; either one would make a good horse for Elizabeth. You can spend the night here and go back in the morning, if you've a mind to."

"I reckon I could stand another afternoon in town," Red agreed.

Before Josh could say anything, Sarah spoke up. "You're not going off and leaving us here alone Red McCall. Either you or Josh are going to stay right here."

"Yes em," Red replied. Turning to Dillon he said grinning, "See told ya, she's feisty."

Josh and Dillon walked back to the corral and the horses he had available. "What kind of horse are you looking for Dillon? That animal of yours has the looks of a good one."

"Buck's one of the best horses I've ever owned. I've had him since '64 and rode him a lot of miles since then. But he's going on 15 and I'd like to give him some rest; wouldn't mind breeding him too. If we find a ranch I'll need more than one horse anyway."

"You talked about a ranch at the diner yesterday," Josh said. "Up around Colorado Springs you said. You know there's a good ranch for sale not far from here."

"Where's that?"

"Coming out here if you'd turn west at the big bluff it's about 3 miles; just this side of the mountains," Josh answered.

Dillon thought for a few seconds and replied, "Might be worth looking into. Don't know if Eleanor would want to live here though; she got an idea about teaching school. Why's it for sale?"

"Feller named Tom Anderson owns it. Says he's getting too old to ride the range anymore and wants to get out. His boy was killed on a cattle drive last year; there was a stampede and his horse went down right in front of the herd. Tom and his wife sorta lost heart after that; said they've had enough and are going out to California."

The two men came to the corral and climbed up to sit on the top rail. Diablo and two other horses came over to greet them. "They're looking for treats," Josh explained as he handed each of the horses a piece of apple. "Hello Diablo," he said as he scratched the horse's ears. That big grey is Balin; his name is Cheyenne for warrior. He's one of Diablo's sons out of Lady, that grey mare over there."

"I know that Diablo isn't for sale but what about that roan over there?" Dillon asked.

Josh smiled, "If I sold Itsa, Diablo would be real put out. So would Danni; she's dang near made a pet out of him. He's another one of Diablo's sons."

Dillon and Josh talked about the merits and breeding lines of a few horses. Danni had come to join them and after listening to them for a few minutes she went into the barn. She came out leading a buckskin filly.

"This is Sandy, she's yours if you want her," Danni said. "Sunny there is her sire and Red's quarter horse, Queenie, is her dame."

Josh was surprised; Sandy was sort of Danni's pet. "I thought you said you didn't want to sell Sandy."

"Men, you don't listen," Danni was grinning. "What I said was that I didn't want to sell her to just anybody. I wanted her to go to a good home. Sandy would be a fine horse for Elizabeth."

Danni turned to Dillon. "It's my way of saying thanks to you and Elizabeth for helping Josh and Red."

Dillon looked at Danni and with a small smile said, "Thank you. Elizabeth will be tickled pink. Back in Arizona she rode one of the stock horses. She's always wanted a horse of her own."

"It's settled then. Josh, you and Dillon work out the money details," Danni ordered. She went back to the house leading Sandy.

The men watched her walk away and Josh said, "She always full of surprises." He chuckled and added, "That's one of the reasons I love her."

Dillon nodded his understanding. Turning back to the corral he said, "Could I ride Balin into town?"

Josh nodded and they saddled Itsa and Balin. Diablo pushed against Itsa wanting to be saddled. Josh had to push him out of the way. "It's worse than having a bunch of kids," Josh remarked. "If I ride Diablo too much Itsa pouts and if I ride Itsa for more than a day Diablo gets surly. I should'a raised chickens instead."

Dillon had to laugh as they rode up to the house. As he said good bye to Elizabeth he told her, "I'm going to send a telegram to your mother and ask the family to join us in Fountain. Eleanor should look at some of these horses and there's a ranch available I think we should see too."

"Did you see my horse? Danni said she's a real good animal," Elizabeth said excitedly.

"She ain't yours yet. Josh and I have to agree on a price for her."

Josh winked at Elizabeth, indicating that the price on Sandy wasn't going to be a problem. "We'll be back by early evening," Josh said. "If we've got time we'll stop over to Anderson's place and let Dillon take a look. Don't worry if it's after dark before we get here."

They rode at several different gaits traveling into Fountain. Josh wanted Dillon to see how Balin handled himself. They started at a fast walk and after the horses warmed up they kicked them into a trot, a cantor, and then into a gallop for a short stretch. Josh could see by the look on Dillon's face that he was impressed with Balin.

When they rode into Fountain, Dillon went to the telegraph office. He sent a wire to Eleanor care of Ted. Dillon asked the clerk to make sure the message was delivered as soon as it got there. He hoped to get an answer before leaving to go back to the Josh's ranch that afternoon. Leaving the telegraph office they went to see Sheriff Kennedy.

"Howdy Josh," Kennedy said as Josh and Dillon entered the office. "Surprised to see you in town two days in a row."

"We've had a hell of a day out at the ranch. By the way, this is Dillon Gallagher. He and his family are thinking about moving here."

After greeting Dillon Kennedy asked, "So what happened out to your place?"

Josh started the story of Stillwell and his men's attack on him and Red. Dillon added things as Josh explained the gun fight. "We wrapped the bodies and put them behind our barn. Sheriff you'll need to come out and get them pretty quick."

Kennedy listened without asking questions; Dillon and Josh had given all the information he needed. "Guess that's the end of that family or at least this part of it. The father of the boys and the last brother were shot while trying to rob a bank over to Pueblo two years ago."

"Trash is trash," Dillon said coldly. "And good riddance to them."

The Sheriff nodded. "Well I guess I better get a wagon and head out to your place Josh. Are you boys going back right away?"

"I think we'll stay in town for a while," Josh said. "Dillon is waiting to hear from his family in Colorado Springs. Maybe we'll have a beer or two."

Standing at the bar in the saloon having a beer, Josh said, "If your family starts riding tomorrow morning they can be here by mid morning, well before lunch."

Dillon chuckled. "They'll probably come in a wagon. I don't think Oso will find a horse that he can ride at the livery."

"Doesn't he ride well?"

"That's not it. He......well he's just Oso. You'll understand when you met him," Dillon replied.

They waited for a couple of hours and made a stop at the telegraph before they headed back to the CBC. The clerk looked up as they came into the office. "I was just going to send my boy to find you. I've got an answer from your family Mr. Gallagher."

Dillon took the telegram, read it, and smiled. "They'll start this way tomorrow morning," he told Josh. "They should be here by late afternoon."

After Dillon received the answer to his telegram, he and Josh rode back toward the ranch. It was late afternoon when they got to the turn off for the Anderson place and they decided to pay a call. As they rode toward the ranch house, Josh pointed out some of the creeks and water holes. Dillon noticed a lot of good grass land and an abundance of trees.

They visited with Tom and Julie Anderson for about an hour and looked around the ranch. Dillon asked the price and was surprised that it was fairly reasonable. "I'd like to bring my family over to look at your place in the next day or two," Dillon said. "Would that be okay?"

"Hell yes boy. Be happy to have them," Anderson answered with a big grin.

Saying goodbye, Josh and Dillon rode back to the CBC. After riding for several minutes Josh talked about the Anderson place.

"Anderson's is only about 400 acres but its prime cattle country," Josh said.

"Little small for a cattle ranch if you want to run a bigger herd," Dillon responded.

Josh nodded and continued, "It is smaller than our place but you can homestead the land behind it and make it a lot larger."

"How's that? Homestead?"

"The Federal Government passed the Homestead Act in '62. It says that anyone at least 18 can file on 160 acres," Josh explained.

"That's all, just file a claim?"

"You have to file an application on the land you want, live on it for five years and make improvements. Then you can file for a deed of title. That means that between the four in your family you could claim another 640 acres," Josh told Dillon. "That'd give you over a thousand acres. That ought to be enough for a good size herd."

Dillon thought for a minute and asked, "If it's that easy why hasn't someone homestead the land before?"

Josh laughed. "Anderson's place runs right up to those mountains yonder. And the only pass that can be used to move cattle through the mountains opens on his land. The next closest pass is 20 miles or more away through real rough country. If anyone claimed the land on the other side of the mountains they'd be land locked unless they could work out a deal with Tom."

Now it was Dillon's turn to laugh. "If we bought out Anderson we could connect it to the land on the other side of the pass."

Josh continued, "To satisfy the improvement requirement, you'd have to build a small cabin on each of the homesteads."

"With all that timber on those mountains and along the creek we could easily build four log cabins," Dillon replied.

"Yep," Josh replied. "C'mon let's get home before supper's over." With that he spurred Itsa into a gallop. Dillon was right beside him on Balin. The two horses broke through the trees into the clear running neck and neck.

The men pulled the horses up by the corral. "I think it was too close to call a winner Dillon."

"No, I'm the winner," he replied. At Josh's funny look he said, "I won because I found a damn good horse. If you don't want my first born I think we can make a deal for Balin."

Kennedy, with his deputy Roy driving the wagon, came out from behind the barn. They had the grisly cargo in the bed of the wagon covered with a large canvas. Kennedy rode up to Josh. "Made use of the canvas you had covering them Josh. Hope you don't mind."

"We'd probably just burned it anyway Sheriff," Josh replied with a grim smile.

"Well, get a replacement at Mitchell's and tell him to bill the sheriff's office," he ordered.

"Stay for supper Sheriff," Josh offered. "That goes for you too Deputy."

"Thanks, but I reckon we ought to get back to town. Got a bit of a ride and I don't fancy being on the trail after dark. See you boys the next time you get to town. Come on Leroy let's get going." Tipping his hat Kennedy and the deputy left for Fountain.

Josh and Dillon washed their hands and faces at the pump on the back porch and entered the kitchen. Danni, Sarah, and Elizabeth were fixing supper and Red sat at the table offering suggestions on how to do it.

"Red if you don't hush up, I'll make you cook all the meals from now on," Sarah scolded.

The ladies didn't realize that Josh and Dillon had returned until they heard them laugh. Danni and Elizabeth came to welcome their men home.

"Well I found a horse Honey," Dillon said. "I'm going to buy Balin." At the look Elizabeth gave him he added, "And Sandy too of course."

"Time enough for horse trading after dinner. You men set the table while Danni and I get the wild bunch cleaned up," Sarah said pointing to the four children playing in front of the house.

Supper time in the Kelly/McCall household was something Dillon, or Elizabeth for that matter, had never experienced. The four children seemed determined to out talk each other and only quieted down when scolded by the parents; the quiet would last about five minutes and then they were off again. The adults were almost as bad but they made a point to pull Dillon and Elizabeth into their discussion.

After supper, sitting on the porch with coffee and a cigar Dillon watched the kids chase lightning bugs. For the first time in his life Dillon began to think about being a parent. He looked at Elizabeth setting with Danni and Sarah and he smiled. We've never talked about children, he thought to himself. Maybe it's about time.

Later Sarah carrying a lamp led Dillon and Elizabeth to the guest house that had been converted from one of the bunk houses. "This place will keep you from being overrun by that zoo up at the big house," she told them while lighting a coal oil lamp. And with a small laugh she added, "It'll give you some privacy too. Breakfast at six, if you care to join us."

Going to bed Dillon put his arm around Elizabeth and she put her head on his chest. Nows as good a time as any to talk about having children, Dillon thought. Before he could say anything Elizabeth spoke up.

"Dillon, have you ever thought about us having kids?" Elizabeth asked in a rush. Maybe I could've been a bit more tactful, she thought. When she heard Dillon laughing, she sat up to look at him.

"I was about to ask you the something Honey," he replied still chuckling. "We sort of got married in a fever and never talked about things much. What about you Honey, do you want to have kids?"

"I asked you first."

Reckon one of us has to say what they think first, Dillon thought. So here goes. "Watching Josh and Red and their families and the way you were with their kids got me to thinking that you and I should have a real family," Dillon answered.

"Guess great minds think alike. I was thinking the same thing," Elizabeth admitted with a grin. "When do you think we should start our family?"

"Right now is fine with me," he replied with his own grin. "Though we might want to find a place to live first."

Elizabeth laid down putting her head back on Dillon's shoulder. "Let's not wait too long. Okay?"

At breakfast during the normal circus of the kids and Red, Josh turned to Dillon. "I forgot to tell you. Jerry sent word yesterday that he'd bring his horses over here tomorrow or take them into town if you'd like. He was tied up doing a repair job on the dam and couldn't get away until then."

"Dam?"

"Yeah, several years back Red came up with the idea to build a dam and back Chico Creek up into a lake," Josh answered. "Gave us a good watering hole for the stock."

"And our farmer here dug some canals for irrigation and we grow a lot of feed for the cattle," Red added. "The feed sure comes in handy when we get a real cold spell or lots of snow."

"You're not going back to Fountain to meet your people until this afternoon, right?" At Dillon's nod Josh continued, "Let's take a ride over to the dam site and let Red show off a little. It'll be a good chance for you and Elizabeth to get know your new horses."

Danni joined the conversation saying, "Why don't we pack a picnic lunch and all go? We can take lunch to Jerry and his crew too."

Josh nodded and replied, "Good idea. I'll go hitch up the wagon so we can take the kids."

William, Josh's boy butted in and said, "I want to ride, don't want to sit in a wagon."

John and Daniel quickly joined in, "We want to ride too. We want to ride too."

"Okay, settle down," Red told them. Turning to Sarah he said, "We could ride double with them, it's an easy trail over to the dam and it's not very far." She nodded.

Josh, Red, and Dillon went down to saddle the horses while the ladies put together food for a picnic in three baskets. Dillon was surprised that Red saddled Jasper, his big black stallion. He'd heard the stories about how mean and contrary the horse could be. Dillon asked Red about it.