“When you going to bring ’em down?”
“Tonight, just after dark.”
Win looked surprised. “Tonight? After dark?”
“Yes.”
“Uh, pardon my askin’ you this, but why the hell would you want to move five hundred head of cattle at night?”
“It’s probably safer that way.”
“Safer? To move a herd at night? Through a narrow pass in a high ridge?”
“I thought you said it would be easy bringing them through the pass,” Hawke said.
“Well, yeah, I did say that. But I was talkin’ about bringin’ ’em through in the daytime when you can see what the hell you are doin’.”
“There’s a full moon tonight,” Hawke said. “It will be moon bright.”
“Still in all, it’s not like bringin’ ’em through in the daylight. What do mean when you say you think it would be safer to bring ’em down in the dark?”
Hawke took the final swallow of his coffee and looked for a long, appraising moment at Win and Eddie.
“Safer, because there is less chance of us getting shot.”
“Less chance of getting shot?” Win gasped. He held out his hand and shook his head. “Wait a minute, hold it. I ain’t goin’ to have nothin’ to do with stealin’ no cows. What’s this all about, anyway? I’ve never knowed Mr. Dorchester to swing a wide loop.”
“No,” Dorchester said, “and I haven’t started now.”
None of them had heard Dorchester come into the dining hall. Now they all looked around at him.
“They’re my cows, bought and paid for,” he continued. “With a bill of sale. You boys are back, I see.”
“Yes, sir. We just talked to Hawke, and he hired us back. I hope that’s all right with you,” Win said.
“Yes, of course it is all right,” Dorchester said. “I’m happy to have you boys back. And are your saddlebags filled with gold?”
Win and Eddie shook their heads contritely.
“We didn’t find nothin’ up there,” Win said.
“Not even so much as one little flake of yellow,” Eddie added.
“Well, I’m glad you both have it out of your system and have come back. I was left pretty short-handed. I hope some of the others will come back as well.”
“Like as not, they’ll all be comin’ back sooner or later,” Win said. “Soon as they discover there ain’t no gold up there, they’ll come back wantin’ to work.”
“And I’ll hire them.”
“Mr. Dorchester, if we ain’t stealin’ them cows, why is it we’re going to get ’em at night?” Win asked. “And what did Hawke mean when he said that we might get shot at?”
“Yeah,” Eddie added. “I’m not all that anxious to get shot at.”
Dorchester told them the story of two men riding up to confiscate Roy Hilliard’s ranch. He told them how Roy tried to resist, how they shot him down and then served Mrs. Hilliard with the paper that said she no longer owned the land.
“They gave her twenty-four hours to get off her property and take her livestock with her.”
“Twenty-four hours?” Eddie said. “And her just a woman? Now, just how the hell was she s’posed to do that? Excuse my language.”
Dorchester shook his head. “No need to apologize, I feel the same way you do about it. So, I bought the cattle from Mrs. Hilliard.”
“You bought the herd while it is still up there?” Eddie asked.
“Right,” Dorchester said.
“So now you want that herd down here.”
“Right again,” Dorchester said.
“So, if you bought the herd, why don’t you just go up and get it in the broad daylight?”
“There is a question of who actually owns it,” Dorchester said. “I’m afraid that the Sweetwater Railroad Company believes they own the herd, and they probably have it guarded with orders to shoot anyone who attempts to take it.”
“Excuse me for sayin’ this, Mr. Dorchester, but that just don’t make a whole lot of sense, you buyin’ a herd that you ain’t even got yet.”
“Events may yet prove you right, Win,” Dorchester said. “But Mr. Hawke assured me it could be done, so I am putting my trust in him.”
“You still want to help me bring the herd down?” Hawke asked.
Win scratched his cheek and, after pausing for a moment, nodded in the affirmative. A broad smile spread across his face. “Always did want to try myself a little cattle rustling.”
“This isn’t exactly rustling,” Dorchester said.
“Yeah, I know. But it’s close enough. Count me in, Hawke.”
“Me too,” Eddie said.
“Thanks,” Hawke said.
“Hawke, could I speak to you for a moment? Outside?” Dorchester asked.
“Sure,” Hawke said.
“Hey, Cookie, you got ’ny coffee left?” Eddie asked, starting toward the kitchen. Win joined him as Hawke followed Dorchester out onto the front porch of the cook shack.
“Bailey McPherson is the Sweetwater Railroad,” Dorchester said when Hawke joined him outside. “I spoke to her today.”
“So she’s the one responsible for taking Hilliard’s and Miller’s land?”
“Yes. And 144,000 acres of Northumbria.”
“What?” Hawke gasped.
“That’s what she said today, and she has government papers to back her up. In addition to that, the land she is taking will leave the rest of Northumbria isolated from water. And not only Northumbria, but the entire valley. And without water, my ranch, and everyone else’s ranch—and farm in the entire valley—will be worthless.”
“Are you going to fight it?”
“Yes, of course I’m going to fight it,” Dorchester said. He took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair. “I just don’t know how to fight it.”
Chapter 18
UPSTAIRS IN HER ROOM AT THE GOLDEN CAGE, Lulu lit a candle. Then she poured some water from a pitcher into a basin and, taking the water with her, stepped around behind a screen.
Rob Dealey could hear the splash of water as Lulu began her ablutions. He looked at the bed. It was made, though somewhat crookedly.
Rob had come up to the Sweetwater Mountains with seven other men from the Northumbria. They had come, in the words of one of them, “bright eyed and bushy-tailed,” to make their fortune in found gold.
But none of them had found gold, and now there were only three of them left. Micah McGee and Billy Pearson had left first, saying they were going back down to Texas. Eddie Taylor and Win Woodruff were the next to leave, pulling up a couple of days ago. They were going to go back to the ranch and see if they could get their old jobs back.
Well, that was good for them, he thought. They probably could get their old jobs back. But Rob he knew that he couldn’t. He had been the foreman, and Dorchester told him on the day that he got paid out that he would not be able to return to his old job.
He was a fool to have left. As foreman, he was getting almost twice as much money as the others. And he had a position of respect. Now he grubbed around in the mud and the mire, searching for gold.
What a fool he was to have left, he thought again.
