A DOG NAMED PRINCE

Chapter One

Dan had been traveling over the high range for several days now and had been slowly moving down into the rolling foothills and could see several valleys far in the distance. They weren’t very distinct, as they were clouded in a purple cast of autumn haze as is quite typical at that time of the year.

He had noted that there was frost in some spots when he got up in the morning, so knew that winter would soon be coming. Then suddenly he reined his horse in as he heard rifle fire off in the distance.

Cupping his hand to his ear so as to hear better. He could tell that there must have been more then eight rifles being fired. Then there was the louder sounds of a couple of shotguns also being fired, followed by the softer bangs of handguns going off. Slowly the firing started to taper off, until there was only a few more shots that were fired sporadically and then all was quiet. Dan decided that he would go in that direction to investigate, but with the utmost of caution.

Dan had to travel quite a ways, as the sounds of the gun fire had carried quite a distance in the still air and especially up into the higher country where he was at the time. Finally, it looked like he had just one more hill to surmount and go down the other side to where the gun battle probably had taken place more then several hours earlier.

He moved slowly, keeping close to a forested area, so as not to show too much of himself and his mount and also to be able to merge quickly into the trees if it became necessary. As the ground started to slope downward, he decided to move into the safety of the trees and as he did this, he dismounted and led his horse downward a ways, until he had a rather clear view of what lay ahead and down into the valley below.

It was then that he saw the smoke and the cause of that being a large fire, but he could not tell what it was that was burning at that far of a distance.

He also heard two more gunshots that sounded like a revolver being fired. Going back to his horse, he tied it to a bush and rummaged in his saddlebags for his spotting scope and as a precaution removed his rifle from it’s saddle boot. Returning once again to where he was able to see the smoke and fire, he set his rifle within easy reach against a rock and then looked through the scope at what was burning out there in the distance.

As he focused in on the fire scene, he saw what it was that was burning. It was the remains of two covered wagons that had evidentially been owned by travelers that must have been heading west, but were camped beside a small stream and had probably been attacked by a band of renegade Indians.

Looking around the area with the scope, Dan could see no signs of life, but then saw a dust cloud farther off in the distance, so presumed that the Indians had left and driven off with all the horses and any stock that the western travelers may have had.

Returning to his horse, he once again mounted up and realized that he would have to ride out in the open to where the remains of the burning wagons were, but he figured the Indians had got what they had come for and left, so he traveled a little more at ease. As he got to the wagons, he saw that they had done their dirty work and left six bodies there without their scalps. In fact it looked like there was a woman and man that had been mortally wounded and then scalped and after the Indians had rode away, the man had regained consciousness and found his wife still alive and he shot her to put her out of her misery and then shot himself.

This must have been the two latter shots that he had heard. Where he got the gun, was a mystery to Dan, as it was the only gun that the Indians seemed to have not taken. Then Dan knew that he had a big job ahead, as he had six bodies to bury and there was just him to be doing it.

It was then that he spotted a shovel over by the fire pit and as he was going over to it he heard a voice call out from behind him. “Hold it right there, mister.”

Turning slightly, Dan saw a youngster of not more the eleven years old with a pistol in his hand, leveled roughly in his direction.

“You better but that gun down sonny, before you get hurt with it.”

“No, I want that rifle that you have and I want your horse too.”

“Why you young fool,” Dan said as he turned around and took the gun from the boy. “You can’t go up against a full grown man like that with a gun that doesn’t have any bullets in it.”

“How did you know that it was empty mister?”

“Why, I could see that there were no bullets in the chamber. Now, how come you survived this massacre?”

“They had me hide in the bulrushes in the stream. That’s why I’m all wet.”

“Well, you can help me bury them now. Did they take anybody with them?”

“Yes, they took my aunt with them. She was going to cut her wrists rather then let them take her, but they stopped her and tied her to one of the horses. That’s why I wanted your gun and horse. I was going to go after them to try and save her.”

“Well, let’s get these graves dug and then we’ll see what we can do about that.”

After doing what they could for a grave site for the six people from the wagon massacre and putting up a marker for them, Dan and his young companion set off in the direction the Indians had taken.

Before they had set out, Dan had made sure that the youngster was well equipped for what was needed for traveling out in the open. Also that there was sufficient food taken to feed both of them from what they could find that was left around the wagon site.

Travel was easy, and the trail was an easy one to follow as it was mostly out in the open. For several days they followed the trail, until it started to go into a hilly area, and then Dan started to get cautious. Then he saw the smoke of the Indian village far up ahead. It was then that he decided to turn up into the hills, above where the Indian Village was and work his way downwards as close as possible to see if he could find out where they were holding the white woman captive.

It was going to be getting dark soon, and Dan could see that they were preparing for a large celebration down below at the Indian campground. He had found a place where they were well concealed from their view. With his spotting scope, he was finally able to find where they where holding the white woman. It wasn’t hard for Dan to understand as to why they would want to kidnap a woman like her from the wagons, as she was a very beautiful woman from what he could see from that distance.

As he watched, he saw one of the native women go over to talk to her, and she kept glancing back over to the circle of warriors around the fire. Then she moved off out between some of the tepees that were close by. He watched, but could not tell where it was that she had gone.

Then Dan saw the woman return, and she had a knife in her hand and Dan was sure that she was going to do the woman harm. He drew his rifle up into position and was uncertain as to what to do, when he saw the woman look over to the fire pit to make sure that she wasn’t being observed, and then she cut the bonds holding the white woman fast, leaving the knife in the white woman’s hands. When this was done, she once again withdrew to the safety of the tepees from where she had come. It was obvious that she wanted the white woman to escape.

Seeing this, Dan called the youngster over to him, and told him that he had a very important and dangerous mission for him. He ask him if he had a knife on him, and when he was told that he had a belt knife on him, Dan told him that he wanted him to sneak over to where the six Indian ponies and horses that they had stolen where, and cut their lines and mount up on one of the horses and yell and scatter the ponies and ride like heck around the camp out to the valley and wait for him there.

“You can ride a horse bareback can’t you?”

“Oh yea, there’s Bess, one of the horses that they have there. I’ve ridden her bare back lots of times.”

“Good, when I hear you start, I’ll be ready to start my own little fireworks.”

As the lad took off into the dark, Dan moved off down into the valley. When he was still up on the side of the hill, he dismounted and began cutting off large strands of dry grass and bunching them into long large strands which he then tied tightly to the ends of his lariat. This then he tied to his saddle horn at the middle. He tested the wind once again, and knew that it was just right and then silently moved into the place and position that he wanted and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long for what he was expecting to hear. There was suddenly a hoot and a holler and a loud commotion as six Indian ponies and lots of horses and one horse ridden by a young boy were suddenly turned loose in the dark. This was soon followed be the confused shouting of a bunch of wild Indians that did not know what was going on. And to top all this off, in the opposite direction there were several shots that suddenly rang out and fire was seen to be rising into the sky from the tinder dry grass out in the valley and the fire was starting to come towards the Indian camp and the tepees.

Dan was there, and had lit his torch and had dragged it through the dry grassland and as the one had burned out, used the other bundle to continue on with, causing a wall of flame to suddenly erupt in the valley, which soon moved in the direction of the Indian Village.

There was confusion as the Indians tried to find their runaway ponies in the dark and then suddenly knew that they had to fight the fire with the blankets or whatever they had to save their village. But they failed to notice that there was a break in the wall of fire for a while and through that opening passed two objects before it also was suddenly closed up with the wall of fire.

Dan met the youngster on the valley floor, and after a quick search he was able to locate where the two women had escaped to. With the help of the youngster, who was able to convince his aunt that Dan was there to save them, they got up on the horses with them and moved away from the Indian encampment and the raging fire.

Later, many miles down the valley and up on the side of the hill, Dan called a halt to their running from the native village. He found out that the woman taken from the wagon group was Ryann Oxford.

“They were going to rape me and then turn me upside down and burn me at this stake and watch my hair burn for some reason.”

That’s some sort of tradition for them. I read about it once, but I forget what it was about now.”

“Well I’m sure glad that you saved me.”

“You can thank your nephew for that, if it wasn’t for him being left behind, I wouldn’t have known that you had been taken away.

“Well, I owe my life to both of you and to my native friend here. She cut my bonds to let me get away. Why did you do that?”

“I knew what they were going to do to you, and I couldn’t let them do that to you. I would have rather that you killed yourself then to have seen a beautiful woman like you to be burned at the stake with your blonde hair burning and then having them pile on more wood to make your flesh burn. I gave you the knife so that you could run and kill yourself rather then to die such a horrible death. When you would kill yourself, I would have had to kill myself also, as I would have had to suffer the same fate in your place, so I was prepared to die also.”

“What are you going to do now”?

“I want to go with you people, till I can find my own people. Those are not my people back there. I can’t live with people like that, that steal and kill innocent people.”

“Dan, where are you going?” Ryann ask of him.

“I’m headed to Utah.”

“What’s so special that you’re headed that way?”

“My uncle has a large ranch up there and he wants me to help him run it. Says he’s getting too old to handle it by himself.”

“What about your wife, is she coming along later?”

“No, I’m not married. Guess I never got around to thinking that way.”

“What about young Jeffery there. He’s got no parents now, and you’d make a good father image for him. Any chance of you taking him along to that ranch where you’re going. It’s either that or I have to take him with me and put him into a boys home someplace. I don’t even know where I’m going myself right now, seeing as to how my parents were just killed.”

“I suppose he could always earn his keep on the ranch and hopefully there would be a school nearby where he can continue to get an education. He showed good spunk in wanting to take me on in saving your life and then cutting those ponies loose while I set that grass fire, giving you the cover that you needed to get away. Ok, I’ll take him with me to the ranch and look after him. But only under one condition.”

“What’s that, Dan?”

“The ranch is just over that next range of low mountains there, and he pointed back to where the Indian encampment was. I want all of us to go there, so I don’t have to leave you ladies out here in the middle of nowhere or in some strange town, not knowing what has become of you, as far as your safety is concerned. Besides, we could be getting our first snowstorm any time now, even though the weather looks good.”

“If that’s what you think would be best Dan, I don’t think that we’re in any position to argue with you at the present. How far is it to this ranch of your uncles?”

“It’s about another three days travel from here. We’ll stay here tonight, and tomorrow night we should be able to be in the little town of Nelson. We’ll stay there overnight and then on the second day after that we’ll be able to get to the ranch. We better try to get what sleep we can, so we can get an early start in the morning.”

Dan rummaged in his saddle bags to get what food he could to get them something to eat and then he tied the horses a short distance away. Picking a spot for himself, he tried to stay awake as long as he could to make sure that there was no sneak attacks from the Indians.

In the morning, he awoke with a start, as there was a jay bird that called out in a raucous voice from a tree near by and he realized that his bones were cramped from the chilly night. He had given up his tarp, and bedroll for the others to use and only had his horse blanket to have kept him warm during the night. He woke the others and soon had them ready to move on, as he didn’t want to risk making a morning fire to eat by, as the slight smell of cooked food would travel far and they were still up wind of the native village.

CHAPTER TWO

It was just about dusk when they arrived in the small town of Nelson. It was just a typical western cow town with the main street running down the centre and two side streets running parallel to that.

Dan went past two drinking establishments that seemed to be doing a fair amount of business, until he came to an eatery.

“You can all get down here, and I’ll take the horses up the street to that livery there for the night. Go in and order what you want and I’ll be right back and order my meal myself.”

Taking the reins of Bess from Jeffery, Dan proceeded down the dusty street to the livery stable and after removing the saddle from his horse and putting in a place provided for it, told the hostler to give both animals a rub-down and a good feeding and have them ready for travel in the morning. Taking his rifle and saddle bags, Dan retraced his steps in the direction from where he had dropped the others off, but then saw the hotel and decided that he may as well reserve two rooms for the night right then to make sure they were available.

Finding that there were two adjoining rooms available on the second floor, Dan paid for them and then went to join the others at the eatery. Entering the place, he found them at a table, but there was only Jeffery and the Indian woman there. Dan looked at both of them and then at the table, and saw that there had been nothing ordered as of yet and there was no sign of Ryann in the room.

“Where’s your aunt, Jeffery?”

“Ask her.”

“Do you know where she is?”

“I go in back to out house, and then she go out there. But she been gone long time. Me begin to worry that some thing wrong. She should have been back long time ago.”

Dan dropped his saddle bags where he stood and handed his rifle to Jeffery and told him to hold it for him. Then drawing his pistol and checking the action to make sure that it was working properly, he re-holstered it and quickly strode to the back door. Opening the door slowly he slipped out through the narrowest opening possible and ducked behind some crates that were there.

He immediately took in the scene a little farther out that was in front of him. The out houses were there, but between them and himself was a man and a lady. The lady being that as Miss Oxford and the man, with his back to Dan, was the reason that she was being detained. Using what packing crates that were there, he snuck up quietly, so that neither of them knew that he was there, until he was within arms reach of the man and he could easily hear what was being said. “Come on honey, let’s go over to the bar and I’ll buy you a drink and we can get together for a good time tonight.”

“I told you, No. Now leave me alone or my friend will come out here and wonder where I am.”

“I don’t think you have a friend, you’re just bluffing. Come with me and I’ll be a real friend for you and show you how to enjoy life.”

It was then that Dan made his move. He drew his gun and at the same time that he thrust it deep into the cowboys side, he grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled back slightly with his left hand with it.

“If you want to enjoy the rest of your life buddy, I’d advise you to do exactly like I say. Don’t move a muscle, as this pistol has a hair trigger and any reflex on my finger will make it go off and then you’re a dead man. First of all, I want you to take your hand off of the young lady. -- Good, but remember, as I let go of your hair and take your gun, you can’t move as fast as my trigger finger. So if you try, you may live a few seconds or minutes after my gun goes off and during that time, think of what a fool you were for trying such a stunt as that. Now apologise to the lady and then get out of here.”

“I apologise, Miss. I was lonely and needed a friend.”

“I understand, but I wasn’t the one.”

“You can pick up your gun at the Sheriff’s office at noon.”

As the cowboy moved quickly off, without as much as a backward look, Dan escorted Ryann back into the restaurant, where they sat down with the others and ordered their meals.

“Thanks for rescuing me Dan. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t have come along. That’s the second time now that you’ve saved me.”

“You were doing all right out there. He didn’t know that you still had that knife on you.”

“How did you know that I still had it with me?”

“I felt it when I helped you off of my horse tonight. Beside, I figured that you still had it all the time any ways.”

“Weren’t you afraid that I’d stab you in the back and ride off with your horse?”

“Never crossed my mind. All I was thinking was that I had to get three people to safety as soon as possible and the best place for that was at the ranch. So that’s what I’m doing. After the waiter brings our meal, I’ve got two rooms reserved for us over at the hotel for the night and after a good nights sleep we’ll be on our way and in another day and a half will be at the ranch.”

As the group was eating, Ryann said to Jeffery, “Dan and I have talked it over and I decided that you’ll be staying at the ranch there with him from now on, seeing as you don’t have any parents any more.”

“But what about you, Auntie. I want to be with you.”

“I’m afraid that will be out of the question. I have my own life to live and will have to move on. I’m not sure where I’ll be going yet.”

“But why can’t I go with you?”

“Jeffery, we don’t have any money and I can’t afford to be feeding you or pay for a place for you to live. You either stay with Dan on his uncle’s ranch or I’ll have to put you in a boys home somewhere. I’m sure that you won’t be wanting that, now would you?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Well, it’s settled then, you’ll be going to the ranch with Dan. I promise that I’ll write to you and see how you’re doing.”

After their meal, and as they were walking to the hotel, Dan told them to wait, as he walked across the street to where the Sheriff’s office was, so that he could turn over the gun that he had taken from the cowboy that had accosted Ryann. With that taken care of, he rejoined them and they went on to the hotel and up into their rooms.

The next morning there was a definite chill in the air and Dan knew that he had to do something about the meager clothes that the women and Jeffery were wearing.

After breakfast, he went into the towns bank and after verifying his identity and that he had an account with the same bank branch in Lawrence, Kansas, he was able to draw out the amount of money that he was after. Then he herded the group into the General Mercantile and outfitted them with the necessary clothes that he felt that they would need for the next little while to get over the mountains to the ranch, as it was going to be a cold trip. He also wanted some more blankets and food supplies.

Dan was thinking of getting some more horses, but decided against it, as the two that they had were carrying the additional load all right as they were, as they were traveling slow and easy.

Late the next afternoon, they came upon a deserted miners cabin with two double bunks inside and a metal cook stove in serviceable condition. As soon as Dan got a fire going in the stove, he went out to look after the horses, after having brought in some water from a stream that flowed near-by, as the women started to get a meal going and got the place ready for an overnight stay.

There wasn’t any lanterns around, but Jeffery had started a fire in the fireplace and it would do for some light when it got darker, but first there was the problem of the smoke that they had to contend with until the fireplace chimney was warm enough to start drawing the smoke up the chimney on it’s own. In the meantime, he had the two small windows and the door open wide to try and get the smoke out. Dan had noticed that there was a good pile of wood outside the door, so that they would be warm enough for the night. Soon they were able to close the windows and door and it started to get nice and warm inside.

“You did very good at lighting that fireplace, said Dan. Looks like you’ve had experience at doing that.”

“I’ve done it lots of times on the trail. That was one of the jobs that I had to do every time we set up camp.”

“What else did you do?”

“I had to help look after some of the horses at times, to help the men as they unhitched them. Then as we traveled, I had to keep a stick in the spoke of the wagon wheel as I walked along side, and keep track of how many times it turned around each day. That way, they got to know how far that they traveled that day. Every time I got up to fifty, I’d let Aunt Ryann know, and then I’d start over again.”

“By golly, I can see where you’ll really be handy on the ranch at that. We’ll have to see that we get you a pony of your own for riding around. How does that sound.”?

“You mean it. A pony with a saddle?”

“Out here on the open range it’s a necessity. I’ll teach you how to ride properly and how to look after your pony properly.”

“Did you hear that Auntie, Dan’s going to get me a pony.”

“Yes I heard, I’m happy for you. It’s something you’ve always wanted.”

“It sure is. I can hardly wait.”

CHAPTER THREE

In the morning, before they left, Dan made sure that there was sufficient dry firewood brought inside and had Jeffery see to it that there was also some kindling for the stove and for the fireplace. They were coming close to the outer perimeter to his uncles ranch holdings and it would be just over the next low range of mountains that they would be on his range, from the information that had been sent to him.

Dan had only met his uncle a few times, and liked him from the first time that he saw him, but he had never been to his uncle’s ranch. In fact, he had never been this far west in his life. His parents had a small ranch in Kansas, and when his Dad had died and then his Mother soon afterward, his uncle had ask him to come out to Utah to help him run the ranch out there with him. He knew that it was a much larger spread and he had heard his mother mention before she died that he was losing a lot of his stock for some reason.

As soon as things had settled down, he had sold the ranch and deposited the money into the bank and then headed out west. That’s when he ran into this small group of unfortunate travelers. Dan didn’t push the horses too hard, but in the long run they were able to cover a lot of ground as the traveling was easy, even though he made sure that they stopped fairly often for rest periods. Soon he was able to see some white faced steer behind a barbed-wire line fence, and he knew that he had reached his uncles property fence line.

Turning to one side, he then followed the fence for some distance, until he found a place where he could undo the fence and let the horses through, as evidentially this had been done previously by the looks of the trampled ground between two of the fence posts. Then replacing the fence strands once again, he remounted his horse and had them follow him on the other horse, and after many more seemingly endless miles of riding he could see some smoke rising off in the distance which he was hoping would be the main ranch house.

Sure enough, as they drew closer, he could see that there was a barn and several other buildings around it and off to the side was a sprawling ranch house with a bunk-house and cook house near by.

They were evidentially coming in from the side to the ranch buildings and had to ride around the split rail fencing that was being used for some of the local stock pens around the ranch yards.

There were quite a few of the ranch hands that were watching one of the others trying to break in one of the horses, as they were sitting on the top rail of the fence or looking through it, and Dan figured that it must be Sunday, which would be a day for them to be able to entertain themselves.

As they rode on by, even though there was one paddock area between them, Dan couldn’t help but to see them look in their direction, especially with Ryann riding on the horse behind him.

Then Dan headed straight for the main ranch house and stopped in front of the hitch-rail that was there. As he got down and tossed the reins loosely around the cross bar, and then turned and was helping Ryann down, he heard the screen door to the main house open and close behind him and turning around, he saw his uncle coming down the short steps towards them.

“Well it’s about time you showed up. I’ve been worried about you. But I didn’t know that you were going to bring along your whole family?”

“I just met these people back along the trail a bit. I’ll explain that to you a bit later. But right now, I told them that they could stay here for a while.”

“If you told them that, then it’s all right with me. Come on in and we’ll get every one settled and I’ll have the cook get a meal going for every one. It’s so good to see you again, Dan. You’re just like the son that I never had.”

“Well. here’s the grandson that you never had. He lost his parents out on the trail the other day and I told him that he could stay here with me. Of course I had to bribe him with a pony and a saddle, if he’d stay on and help out around here. His name is Jeffery.”

“Hi Jeffery. I’m Andy. Andy Hanks,” he said, as he held out his hand for Jeffery to shake it. “We don’t have any ponies on the ranch here right now, but this week there’s a stock sale in town and I’m sure there will be a pony or two there for you to choose from. I remember seeing a nice saddle at the saddlers a few weeks ago that would be just the thing for you.”

“Andy, this is Ryann and another native lady, whose name I haven’t learnt yet. Perhaps you could show them where they will be sleeping so that they could freshen up a bit before they eat.”

“I’ll do better then that. My sister Ruth is staying here for a week and I’ll have her take care of that” After calling his sister, who appeared from a rear room, he explained to her what he wanted and she took them to the rear of the house. “I better see about that supper now and then about your horses. If you’ll just wait for a while, I’ll be right back.”

As Dan waited, he had a chance to look around the living room of the house that he would be living in from now on. It was a large room with a fireplace at each end. One of these was going at the present time to take a bit of the chill out of the air. There was a large couch in front of the fireplace and two chairs on each side of that. Each had very thick cushions on them with blankets at the side, so that if it was necessary a person could cover themselves up on a chilly day or evening.

Dan noticed the nicely hung pictures and Indian blankets on the walls, between the windows. Then he noticed something else also. It was a golden brown colour and was on the floor. There was a slight movement to it, as it watched him move from place to place. But mostly it’s eyes were on that young boy at the far end of the room. Dan was sure that it had probably been watching Jeffery ever since he had come into the room.

Dan thought he’d find out something. “Jeffery, have you ever had a dog?”

“No, my mother was allergic to them, so I couldn’t have one.”

“Well, why don’t you get down on your knees and face me and wish you had one and say to me, as you slap you thighs, “Here Boy” and see what happens.”

“What for, that’s foolish.”

“Never mind, just do it.”

“Oh all right.” Jeffery got down on his knees and faced Dan, and was unable to see the golden brown thing that was hidden there that had it’s eyes on him. As he slapped his thighs with his hands and called out “Here Boy,” a streak of golden brown with four legs tore across that living room so fast, giving out a couple of loud yips, as it went, that it couldn’t stop when it collided with Jeffery at the other end, and they both went tumbling over together on the rug that he was kneeling on.

Jeffery was so surprised, but still managed to be able to put his arms around that dog as it went for his face and tried to lick him as much as possible. For any one to look, it would have been impossible to tell which one would have been the happier, Jeffery or the dog.

Then Ryann and the other ladies came in to see what all the commotion was about, just as Andy came back in through the front door. “What’s going on here?” ask Andy.

“It looks like your dog and Jeffery just decided to get to be friends.”

“Why that useless cur. He just lazes around all day. Only time he gets up is when he wants to eat or wants to go out.”

“Well, I think he’s going to have a change of life. You should have seen him when Jeff just called him just now.”

“Seems like the boys got a nickname already does he. Well if the dogs taken after him so much, and his name is Prince, he’ll have to be the one to look after him then.”

“I told him that he’d have duties that he’d have to be doing when he got to be living on the ranch. So that will be one of them.”

“Good, now maybe that dog will earn it’s keep also. Come along and I’ll show you and the boy where you will be sleeping. There’s two bedrooms on an upstairs section that would work out just swell for both of you. They have an outside balcony that you can go down to the outside from also.” Andy showed the rooms to the both of them, and Dan was very pleased with the arrangement. With Jeffery close by, he would be able to keep a close eye on him and the rooms were very spacious and had a very good view of the ranch and countryside and the mountains in the distance, off to the west. These mountains were much higher then the ones that he had crossed to get here earlier. Then there was a call from the dining area that their meal had been set out and they were to come there for their supper. As they arrived there, Dan noticed that no matter where Jeff went, his new friend Prince, was right there by his side.

There wasn’t much talk during the meal, as the ladies were tired from all the traveling that they had been doing since they had to escape from the Indians and wanted to retire to their rooms early.

Andy and Dan, with Jeffery and the dog, went into the living room and Andy sat down in his favourite lounging chair and Dan sat close to him on the couch. Jeffery went over to the fireplace and looked at it and turned to Andy and said, “Sir, your fireplace is dying down. Is it alright if I put another log into it.?”

“That you may, my son, in fact put two in there. It’s getting mighty chilly in here and the ladies could use a little warmth for the night.”

As they watched him do this, Dan looked over to his uncle and saw him keenly watching the boy as he put the logs into the fireplace, as he was doing such an excellent job of it. “It looks like he really knows what he’s doing.”

“He’s a smart boy. I’ve found that out in the few days that I’ve known him. You tell him what you want done, and he’ll go out and do as you ask him. That’s why I had no doubts or fears about telling his aunt that I would look after him here on the ranch.”

They watched in silence for a while then, as he laid down a short distance from the fireplace, but able to catch the warmth from it’s heat as he gazed at the flames and Prince laid down with his body pressed up tightly beside him and his jaws resting on his paws and yet able to look at Jeffery with his eyes.

“By golly, I think that dog has just been waiting for that boy to be coming here all this time.”

“I think you’re right. I saw it as soon as I came in here this afternoon and saw that dog looking at Jeffery. He didn’t know the dog was here, so I had him call out to him, and boy, that’s when the match-up first started. Now, nobody better come between him and that dog, or there’s liable to be trouble.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised at that.”

“Dan, speaking of trouble, I’ve got a bit of it here on the ranch and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“You mean about some of your herd going missing?”

“Yes, how did you know about that?”

“My mother told me before she died. Well now it’s my business too, so don’t you worry about it, but keep your eyes and ears open and don’t say anything. Have you told anybody that I was coming here to help you run the ranch?”

“No. I did mention that I was expecting a visit from my nephew some time.”

“Good. That should give me enough cover for now. I’ll have to talk to Jeff and the ladies to back up a story that I’m going to give them, to give me some more cover. Let it be known that I’ll be moving on with the ladies, but that Jeff will be staying on with you here permanently. Let’s say that you’re his great uncle.”

“What’s your idea behind all this, Dan. Why all the secrecy?”

“Uncle Andy, does your crew have any idea as to what’s happening to your lost portions of your herds over all these years?”

“No, and stop that uncle stuff. You’re a grown man now. They don’t know any more then I do. We’re just not coming up with the count that we should be coming up with. It’s as if we’re being bleed off on a yearly basis.”
“When is this happening?”

“I don’t know. When we go to gather a herd for a drive to the stock yards, it’s always less then I figure it should be. It’s coming so that I’m almost breaking even with my expenses. I just can’t keep on going this way.”

“What about your neighbor. Is he losing any of his herd also?”

“He says he is, but I kind of have my doubts. Both our cooks are Chinese and they meet in town once in a while and compare notes and things are going alright over there from what I’m told. His ranch is smaller and the land is poorer and he’d like to get ahold of my spread if he could. Offered to buy me out at a ridiculously low price, but I just laughed in his face and walked away.”

“Where is his place?”

“It’s north-east of here. Why are you asking?”

“Oh, I was just curious, that was all. When we came across the last low mountain range, your fence line was the first one that we came across.”

“That’s because from there, up into the mountains it’s all open range. Not much good for ranching. Some mining going on up there.”

“Is your fence line in good shape from what you know?”

“Yes, I make sure that the crew checks it once a week and it’s been solid all the time.”

“Where do you drive your herd through it to the market?”

“I’m lucky there. The main trail to Boise runs right along my lower fence

line, where I go into town, so I just have to drive them out to there and then out onto the trail for two hundred miles into the railhead holding pens. I hardly lose any along the way unless they stampede during a storm or for some other reason. I used to loose some to the occasional renegade Indians driving some off for themselves.”

It was then that Dan noticed that Jeff was starting to doze off there with the dog at his side. “I better have the boy take the dog outside for a while and then take them both up to his bedroom. I’ll take them up by way of the outside stairway, so we won’t have to come back in through the house. I’ll see you in the morning then.”

“Ok, if you need anything, I’ll be up for a while longer.”

CHAPTER FOUR

In the morning, Dan was up before the others and found his way to the cook house and had the cook make him a cup of coffee. It was evident that the ranch-hands had already been feed and given their orders and were out of sight preparing to do them.

There was only one other person in the cook house when Dan sat down to have his coffee and as he was drinking this, the man came over towards him.

Dan saw that he was wearing a pearl handled revolver at his waist and also had on leather chaps, so knew that he was preparing to do some rough riding in the brush around the ranch.

“Howdy, you wouldn’t be Andy’s nephew by any chance would you?”

“Yes, I would.”

“Well, I’m Casey, his foreman. I heard that you were coming here to visit him. He didn’t say that there would be a whole family coming.”

“Oh, it was a surprise to him also. His great nephew, Jeffrey, will be staying here. It’ll be good company for him.”

“What about the two ladies and yourself. You planning on staying around?”

“No, I’ll probably be drifting off after a while, but the ladies will probably be here for the winter anyways.”

“I don’t like the fact that those ladies will be here alone, even if the old man is in there with them. I’ve got some young cowboys here and they don’t see a woman very often and things can get out of hand real quick.”

“Well you just remember to tell them that if they so much as to touch a hair on either one of those ladies heads, there won’t be a rock, big or small enough, that they could travel to for the rest of their lives that they could hide under, that I wouldn’t find them and do the wrath of my justice against them, and that goes for anyone else in the area also.” Dan watched the expression on the man’s face as the meaning of this sank in.

“What about when they go into town, what then?”

“That same situation will apply there. We’ll be going into town today, and I’ll be dropping the hint around. I won’t be that hard to get a hold of, and that lady is very special to me.”

“Oh, Dan.” It was Andy who just called out from the doorway and stopped him from having to continue from having to say any more. “I see you met my foreman, Casey. Good man there. Don’t know what I’d do without him.”

“Yes I have. Just let him know about the ladies and Jeff. Are they up yet?”

“I just hear them stirring around now. Thought I’d come over and order breakfast for them. Have you eaten yet?”

“No, I’m just on my first cup of coffee. Thought I’d have a look around before it was time to eat if I had a chance, to see what the ranch was like.”

“You do that, and Casey, could you have one of the stable hands hitch up the larger carriage for me. There will be five of us going into town in it this morning. We probably won’t be back till some time in the afternoon.”
“Ok, I’ll do that. See you again later, Dan.”

“Yes, I’ll be around.”

After he left, and Andy talked to the cook, he came over to Dan and sat down with him with his own cup of coffee. “Well how did you make out with my foreman?”

“Alright. He was quite interested in knowing what my plans were, as to how long I’d be staying around here.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Told him that I would be here just for just a short time. But he won’t know it, but I’ll be staying right here on the ranch, but out of sight. After I get the ladies and Jeff settled in and get to know the lay of your ranch, I’ll be camping out there in the mountains someplace and keeping a daily watch on things as long as the snow holds off.”

“There’s a map on the wall of my study that you can look at that shows you the lay of the ranch and the line camps. It will show you the other ranches in the area also on another map that’s there.”

“Good, right now I’m going to go out and walk around and see what’s around here while the cook gets that breakfast made up and the ladies come out for their breakfast.”

“Ok, the breakfast will be in the dining room of the ranch house,” Andy called out to him as he left by the back door of the cook house.

As Dan was looking around the ranch yard buildings and property, and was getting some suspicious looks from some of the men that were still left there attending to their duties around the ranch. He noticed that the Chuck Wagon was being prepared for duty, and knew that it wouldn’t be for the annual cattle drive to market, so it must be for the branding camps of the heifers, that would be taking place soon.

This was confirmed to him, when he saw Casey carrying several branding irons from one of the tool sheds and giving them to the fellow that was busy loading the wagon, to store them in there. Suddenly Dan had thoughts to himself about the cattle that his uncle had been missing, but his thoughts were interrupted when Jeff came running up to him and telling him that it was time for him to come for breakfast.

Later, after they had all arrived in town, Dan went to the General Mercantile with them, and made sure that they understood that they were to buy the clothes that they needed for themselves to last during the winter. He ask Ruth to see to it that they did as he ask and then he went to the manager and told him that he would be back to pay for their purchases. Andy was with him, and after a few glances and a hand shake, the men were able to leave with Jeff following them.

“Well Andy, as Dan looked over to him, and gave hum a wink, as they got back to the buggy, we’ve got a good couple of hours to kill while the women are in there, with nothing to do. Any thing else that we need while we’re in town?”

“Not that I can think of. We may as well go in and get ourselves a couple of beers while we wait.”

“Dan, what abou--

“Not now Jeff. Don’t you know enough not to interrupt when adults are talking.”

“But you prom--

“Jeff , didn’t you hear what I just said.”

“Dan, we can’t go into a bar and leave the boy outside. What say that we go for a ride in the buggy to the far side of town so you can see what’s down at that end.”

“Yeah, we could do that. Get in the back seat Jeff and call your dog in there with you.”

As Dan tied his horse on behind the buggy, Jeff reluctantly got in to the back seat and called Prince up to the seat beside him. As they rode away down the dusty street, Dan looked back and saw that Jeff was kneeled down on the floor and hugging Prince around the neck.

“Jeff, if you’re down there like that, you’re missing all the buildings and people here in town. You’ll never know when something nice comes along that you might like to see.”

“I don’t care.”

As they rode on a bit more, Dan said, as he held a finger to his lips. Stop here for a while Andy. I want to look at something over there.

“Now that’s a nice one right there. Just about the right size, nice colour too, with that blaze. Nice and sturdy standing there.”

Suddenly there was the neighing sound of a pony and Prince jumped down from the buggy, upsetting Jeff, as he also heard the sound and in his confusion tried his best to find out the direction that it had come from.

“A pony.” He shouted as he suddenly spotted the animal behind the corral fence, as he quickly stumbled from the buggy. Prince was turning circles around himself, yipping all the time, as they both made their way toward the stockade fence.

It seemed as if it was love at first sight for all three of them, as Jeff reached in to caress the ponies muzzle and Prince sniffed at his legs. At times the pony itself would toss its head high in the air and then settle down again to let Jeff scratch her behind the ears.

“You knew all along we were coming here. You were just kidding me weren’t you, uncle Dan?”

“Why, I don’t know what you’re talking about. We just happened to stop and see this nice pony and next thing we know, you jump out and fall in love with it. Oh, yes, I did promise to buy you a pony, didn’t I. Would this little runt do you?”

“She’s not a runt. She’s a beautiful pony, and I love her.”

Just then a man came along that seemed to be connected with the stockade yards.

“Can I help you folks?”

“Yes, we were wondering if this pony was for sale?”

“Well, that depends. This is a very special animal and the owner will only let it go under certain conditions.”

Dan watched the look on Jeff’s face as he suddenly had a downcast look and he shuffled with his shoe in the dust as his head was turned down suddenly, but not before he saw the disappointment in his eyes.

“What are these conditions that the owner has laid down about this pony?”

“Let’s go in there where the pony is and I’ll explain that a little better to you.”

As the man led them up to a gate and opened it for them, allowing them to enter the stockade where the pony was, the pony itself turned and pranced to the far end of the large corral and turned around several times and then kicked up its hind feet in a seemingly playful mood before coming trotting back to the group. Jeffery had been watching all this, but still with a rejected look on his face and a bit separated from the others.

All this changed however, as the pony came right up to him and put her muzzle between his arm and body and lifted her head to bring him up a bit, as if to say, “Come on boy, cheer up, we’re going to have a great time together.” And it worked, as Jeff immediately began to smile once again and he gave the pony a hug.

“It looks like those conditions were just met. The owner wanted me to be sure that whoever got that pony would give it the love that it deserves, and that boy sure fits the bill for that.”

“I’ll put the halter on her and you can take her along, after I give you a signed release for her.”

“But you haven’t told us how much she cost yet. What do we owe you?”

“Oh, you don’t have to pay for her. That’s what I told you, she’s a special pony. The owner had her for his son, but he died before he could even ride the pony, and he moved back East. He left her in my care with enough feed and care money to look after her till I figured that the right person came along to claim her. That pony and boy found each other, and I sure as the devil have no intention of keeping them apart. Instead of me putting the halter on, you help the boy put it on, seeing as to how it’s his pony now, and I’ll go and get the release form for it.

As he left, Dan took the halter, with attached reins, which was hanging at the fence gate and walked over to Jeff. “Here Jeff, do you think you can put this on your pony by yourself?”

“My pony, you really mean it, she’s really mine?”

“That she is. We just have to get a saddle for her now.”

“Yes, I can put it on. I had to do it for some of the horses some times.”

Dan watched him, as he did this and saw that he was doing it all right.

“Tie her up beside my horse behind the buggy and then lower the back curtain so that you can watch her when we go back into town and back to the ranch. We’ll be going back as soon as I sign the papers for the ownership for her.”

As soon as this was taken care of, they headed back into the main part of town and stopped at the local saddlers that Andy had told them about previously.

“Yes, it’s still here.” Andy said as they went inside. “That’s the one that I figure that would be just right for Jeff. It’s got tool engraving and it’s good quality.”

Jeff went over to it and had a good look at it and then put his hand on the seat of the saddle as he ran his other hand over the side of the saddle and down towards the stirrup. Dan watched as he ran his fingers gently and lovingly over the engraved leather of the different parts of the saddle. Dan went right over to the sales clerk and told him that he would purchase the saddle and a saddle blanket. After they had that tucked away in the back of the carriage, Dan told his uncle that he wanted to stop at the Gun shop to pick up some more ammunition for his guns, as he was running low. He told them to wait outside for him, as he wouldn’t be that long.

As it turned out, he was in there for quite a while, and he came out carrying a long package, which he stored in the back with the saddle. “Looks like you were in there buying more then ammunition, Dan?”

“Yeh, keeping his voice low, so that the boy in the back seat that was looking at his pony couldn’t hear him, I decided that the saddle needed a rifle boot to make it more complete.”

“Did you get something to fill it?”

“A nice new .22 repeater.”

“That’ll go over good with him.”

“Dan, when will we be getting back to the ranch? My pony looks like he’s starving,” called out Jeff from the back seat.

“We’ll be there shortly. We still have to pick up the ladies and the clothes that your aunt bought for you.”

“I forgot all about them. My aunt will sure be surprised to see my new pony.”

“I bet she will.”

During the weeks that followed, Dan taught Jeff how to ride properly and how to use a lariat. Also, he taught him how to shoot, using his new rifle until he got to be very good at it. He taught him the wrongs and rights of the proper use of a firearm.

One evening as Dan and his uncle were seated at the fireplace talking and thinking that Jeff was asleep with his dog by the hearth, he heard him mention, in a lowered tone, that he was going to be camping out on the range for a bit of time to keep an eye on things.

“I have an idea that something is about to happen, but I don’t know when.”

“Have you got any idea as to what’s going on yet?”

“Yes, as Jeff and I were out riding, I noticed that half of the yearlings haven’t been branded yet, and are in a distant valley and the branding irons have been put away for the season.”

“Have any of the crew seen you checking this out?”

“No. I happened to see it in time and checked it out with my spotting scope.”

“Was there a rider there?”

“There was, but I don’t think that he was even from your crew. Probably from one of the rustling gang.”

“Where are they taking them across my fence line?”

“Same place as where I first came across when I first came here. I saw a lot of tracks at that time, and it must have been from last years doings, at the time.”

“So that’s what’s been happening to my stock.”

“It looks like it. I better get Jeff up to bed. I’ll be leaving early in the morning, so you can tell him that I took off for a few days or so.”

As Dan got up and walked over to Jeff, the youngster pretended to wake up from a sleep he was having, but he had heard everything that was said between the two of them. Then he went up to bed with Prince at his heel.

It was two days later and early in the morning when Jeff was up in the hay loft of the barn when two men came in to saddle their horses that Jeff overheard their conversation. “The kids’ pony is out there, I wonder where he is?”

“He must be up at the house getting breakfast. Guess we got to get those yearlings moved out today while the boss’s nephew is gone on some trip somewhere. Foreman said he’d meet us out there.” There was nothing more said, as Jeff heard them saddling up and then one of them said, “You ready, Slim.”

“Yeah, all set. Let’s ride.”

When they had left, he came down and he knew that he had to let Dan know what was happening. He rode his pony fast in a round about way, to where he thought that he might be able to find him. Then he heard a pistol shot just up ahead past some rocks. Tying his pony to a low bush and removing his rifle from the saddle boot, he crouched low and made his way to the rocks so that he could hear and see what was going on.

Peeking through two of the rocks, he saw that Dan with his arms raised, his gun on the ground before him, was confronted by the ranch foreman and two of the hands from the ranch.

“We’ll make it look like an accident. Like your horse lost it’s footing on the trail and you tumbled down the side of the cliff with it. Nobody will know the difference.” Jeff had to do some thing, but what? He had promised Dan that he would not use his gun to shoot anyone, but they were ready to kill him. Then he saw the one thing that he could do to save Dan.

Taking careful aim, he squeezed the trigger and heard a yell and watched as Dan fell to the ground, only to roll and rise with his gun in his hand and cover the other two riders as the foreman was cursing the fact that his hand was broken and his shattered gun was laying useless on the ground. Jeff’s aim had been true and had hit it’s mark.

“You can come out now Jeff and bring your pony.” Dan called out.

When Jeff appeared, the foreman cursed him. “Why you damn kid, where did you learn to shoot like that. I’ll get even with you, you little brat. You busted my hand.”

“Well you were going to kill Dan, and he didn’t do nothing to you, other then try to stop you from stealing his uncles cattle.”

“That’s right. Drop your guns to the ground, including your rifles and then we’ll head into town with the three of you ahead of us, right to the Sheriff’s office. He can have one of his men to come back and pick them up, but where you’re going, you won’t have any more use for them. The judge will have a dim view on cattle rustling and attempted murder and a few other things I can imagine that you’ve all been up to.

So it was that the case of the cattle was solved on the ranch of Dan’s uncle, and as they were riding back to the ranch side by side, Jeff was asking Dan if he thought that his aunt would be mad at him because he had shot the gun out of the man’s hand.
“No, I don’t think she will really be mad in this case, as you probably saved my life.”

“I wish she wasn’t going away in the spring, Dan. Isn’t there some way that you can stop her from going?”

“That decision is up to her Jeff, that’s up to her.”

Dan started to quicken the pace a bit with his horse, as he was anxious to get back to the ranch. He was anxious to tell his uncle that the rustling problem had been solved but there was also a case of a young filly that needed attending to.

He had to pull his collar up on his jacket as it was getting colder and he could see the ranch-house looming into sight with the smoke coming out of the chimneys, meaning that it was nice and cozy inside. Yes, winter was coming on, and that young filly in there was thinking of moving on in the spring, but Dan had started to taking a fancy to her and he had decided that he was determined to see to it that she stay on at the ranch.

“Jeff, do you think that perhaps maybe, if we got a nice horse for her, that she might decide to stay on at the ranch here with us?”

"Hey, that's a good idea.  Let' ask her."

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