Slowly but Surely Ch. 03

Red and I took the train down to Laramie and put the money for Circle R in the bank, keepin' enough for funds for the ranch to operate on 'til next spring. I sent a telegram to my rancher friend that was keeping my cattle and asked him to ship them to Walcott to arrive in mid-September. When it was time, I'd ride up with a couple of hands and several packhorses and drive them back. They all had my Box SR brand, including the new calves.

Pete had said okay to my mixin' my stuff in with his. We agreed that instead of doing a lot of extra work I'd take one out of every ten calves branded the next summer. We'd talked a couple of times and he realized that if I couldn't stop the rustlin' in a year or two then it wouldn't make any difference if I started my own ranch. I had my eye on the area between the sand hills and the pond with the hot springs, and northward from there. The summer range in Shipman Park was big enough for both our herds.

We hadn't had much trouble with rustlin' before the drive. I think the extra men had protected our herds. The Bar J northwest of Pete's place had lost over two hundred head. I hoped that our fight on the Platte had broken the gang. I was lookin' forward to seein' Klein again.

While I was at the bank I deposited my own money, a couple thousand dollars, in the bank. I kept just what I thought I might need for a while. I did buy a new saddle, feelin' galled a bit at what MacPherson had so disparagin'ly said about my old one. The new one was a double rigged saddle with the cinches crossed underneath.

I also got a new rifle. Considerin' the amount of varmints I might be shootin' I felt I deserved the best. The only question was which type of varmint I'd be shootin' at the most, the two or four legged kind. I bought a Winchester 94 lever action. It used the new .30-30 smokeless cartridge. The rifle and cartridge had both just came out and were much better than anything I'd seen before.

Last, but far from least, I found a very nice gold ring for Roxie. I hoped she would be proud to wear it.

There was a much shorter trail back to Walden, though it was suitable for a cattle drive. It went from Laramie to Woods Landing, up to Kings Canyon and down to the Circle R. It was an easy three days ride. If'n I'd been in a hurry I could have made it in two. I sure enjoyed that ride. It was cool up in the mountains and the area was as pretty as anything I'd ever seen.

I stopped by the springs with the small waterfall on the way back. I wanted to get the dust of the trail off and put on clean clothes. I hoped I'd be able to see Roxie right away after I got back to the ranch. It was late afternoon when I arrived at the springs, so I decided to stay there overnight. In the morning, I shaved with care then jumped in the pond. Without the snowmelt, the water was pleasantly hot. What had been a waterfall before had slowed down to a trickle.

When I finished foolin' around in the hot water, I put on the new shirt and pants I'd bought and had wrapped so carefully. I also had a new hat and boots, both of which I'd started wearin' at once to break them in.

I arrived at the Circle R to give Pete his cash and to see what was goin' on. Things were quiet so I grabbed a beef sandwich and then took off for the Zell's ranch. I saw Clem by the corral so I stopped and shared a smoke with him. I told him about the drive and my hope that the rustler's were out of business, but I might need his help in roundin' up Klein. Clem felt Klein wasn't smart enough to do it on his own and that there must be someone in the background.

After I was finished with bein' polite, I asked him, "Is Roxie around?"

He laughed, and said, "You didn't fool me with all that makin' nice. I know you didn't come over to see me. No, she's not here. She left a while back to go for a ride. We didn't expect to see you for a couple more days."

Saying "so long" to him, I took off. It made sense they weren't expecting me. I hadn't known about the trail from Laramie which had saved me a lot of time. Of course, I had no idea where Roxie might have ridden off to but I'd nothin' to lose by takin' a chance. I decided to head on over to our picnic spot and see if she might be there. If not, I'd just sit down and relax a while. Even if she wasn't there she could still swing by on her way back to her place. I had time on my hands and no plans.

It was as nice a day as we'd had all summer. It was warm enough with a cloudless blue sky that seemed to go on forever. As I got close, I could hear the murmur of bees and startled a couple of big Jackrabbits out of the brush. I came to a clearing just before the grassy, shaded area we used for a picnic and saw two hobbled horses. One I recognized as Rosie's mare but I'd never seen the other one. It was a large bay with fine features and good coloring. It was at least as large as Dirty Red, maybe larger. Feelin' strange, and knowin' that was no ladies horse, I kicked Red and we moved to the bank of the river.

What I saw so stunned me I was speechless. Roxie was layin' on a blanket and moanin. A man was kissin' her and the hand fondlin' her breast told me this was nothin' innocent.