“We’re gettin’ up,” Dooley said, waving his arm as in a motion to stop the haranguing.
Leaving the two men to get dressed, Turley hurried over to the ranch office to knock on the door. He entered when he was invited.
“Yes, Mr. Turley, come in. Coffee?” Houser offered. A bluesteel pot sat on a small stove, the aroma of the coffee perfuming the office.
“Yes, sir, I don’t mind if I do.”
Houser poured two cups and handed one to Turley. “Now, what can I do for you?”
“First thing is, Kenny, that is, Prosser, he’s pulled all his cows off the Pine Flats, so if you want I’ll move some of ours onto it.”
“Whose cows would we be moving?” Houser asked pointedly.
“Your cows,” Turley corrected hastily. “It would be your cows.”
“Very good, Mr. Turley. All right, have some of the men divert a portion of the herd to the new grazing.”
“Yes, sir. And now the second thing is, it looks like maybe somebody has been rustlin’ Twin Peaks cows after all. I been keepin’ a pretty good count of the young ones, most especial the ones that’s less than a year old. Damn if they ain’t been nigh on to fifteen or twenty of them been took, just in the last few days.”
“I have suspected as much,” Houser said.
“Yes, sir, well, it might be some of our own people.”
“Why do you say such a thing?”
“I don’t know. They’s somethin’ goin’ on with Carson ’n Hastings, somethin’ that don’t seem quite right. They laid out, real late last night, ’n just a couple o’ nights ago, they was out real late, too. So, it’s got me to wonderin’. I mean, how is it that they’ve got enough money to do that ever’ night? I’m thinkin’ ’bout firin’ ’em, if you want to know the truth.”
“No, don’t fire them now. Later, perhaps, if they give you any more trouble beyond their nocturnal habits. But they have been here more than most of the other hands, and they know the ranch intimately. I think there is something to be said for experience.”
“Yes, sir, if you say so.”
When Ben Turley went back outside, he saw three men come riding up toward the house. He stepped over to meet them.
“Can I help you men?”
“Yeah, we come to work.”
“All right, dismount, and we’ll talk.”
“Talk about what?” one of the men asked.
“Why, talk about you workin’ here, of course. I’m the foreman.”
“No need to talk to you,” one of the men said. “Houser’s the one that owns this place, ain’t he?”
“Well, yes, but as I say, I’m the foreman, and that means that I am the one you need to talk to, if you’re plannin’ on workin’ here. That’s ’cause I’m the one that does the hirin’ ’n the firin’.”
“You ain’t hirin’ or firin’ us. We’ll be workin’ for Houser.”
“We all work for Mr. Houser,” Turley said, his voice showing his irritation. “But like I said, I am the foreman.”
“It’s all right, Mr. Turley,” Houser said, stepping out of his office. He looked up at the three mounted men. “This is Mr. Knox, Mr. Malcolm, and Mr. Dobbins. I did get those name right, didn’t I, gentlemen?”
“Yeah,” one of the men answered. He was a big, brutish-looking man, clean-shaven and bald so that his head looked like a cannonball sitting on top of a short neck. “I’m Knox. ‘Hard Knox,’ they call me.” He grunted a few times in what might have been a chuckle. “This here is Malcolm, ’n this one is Dobbins.”
“Mr. Knox is quite correct, Mr. Turley, I did hire these men,” Houser said. “Please find billets for them.”
“All right,” Turley said, a bit chagrined at being left out of the hiring. “Come with me, I’ll show you where you’ll bunk, then we can ride out ’n take a look at the herd.”
“There is no need for you to take them out to the herd. They won’t be subject to your orders. And they will not be working as cowboys. Mr. Knox, Mr. Malcolm, and Mr. Dobbins will be supernumeraries to the outfit.”
“They’ll be what?” Turley asked, not understanding the word.
“It means that they will not be involved in the day-to-day operation of the ranch. They will be working directly for me. As I get more settled here, I intend to get quite involved in all the activities going on in the valley,” Houser said. “You, yourself, Mr. Turley, have pointed out the lamentable fact that I am losing cattle to these smaller ranchers.”
“No, sir, now, that ain’t what I said. I didn’t say nothin’ ’bout it bein’ the small ranchers that has been takin’ the cows. I just said we’ve lost some of ’em.”
“And who do you suppose took them?” Houser asked.
“Well, I . . .” He didn’t want to accuse Slim and Dooley, who had been employees for some time now, in front of these three men who had just arrived. “I don’t rightly know who it is that’s took them. It’s just that I know most all the small ranchers, ’n I just don’t think it was them that took the cows that’s missin’.”
“Perhaps it is the result of rustlers and not the small ranchers themselves, but ask yourself, Mr. Turley, if we are the victims of, let us say, self-motivated and independent rustlers, just who would be their market? What use would the independent rustlers have for the cattle they are stealing from us, if not to sell them to the smaller ranchers? I intend to investigate this problem, and whether it turns out to be rustlers, or small ranchers, my inquest may well put me at risk. I have hired these three gentlemen specifically to provide security should there be any attack against my person. I am sure that, under the circumstances, you can understand why my personal bodyguards should be answerable to me, and to me, only.”
Turley nodded. “Yes, sir, I understand,” he said.
“Good, then that means we’ll have no problems.
