Jackie made an observation. “This trail is new. Look! There aren’t any old hoof prints. We had a frog strangler storm the other night, and that would have left some water in the bottom of the hoof prints. Every print is sharp and freshly made.”
Tom said, “That means we have two different rustlers or the one who’s rustling found a better way to get the cows to their destination.”
Kate said, “We might as well get this over now. What’s the punishment for stealing our cattle? If it were a cow or two, I’d vote for telling them to stop or get shot the next time. These guys are stealing dozens of cows.”
“We shoot rustlers and warn Joe Blow, who takes a cow to feed his family. Later, we’ll try trading beef for things we need,” Tom said.
Everyone agreed.
The trip would have been a three to four-hour ride if the terrain was flat and if they didn’t have to wind through the thick brush and trees. Several of the hills were steep, and the horses needed a breather at the top. They found several streams along the way and made sure to water the horses. Tom pointed out all the cattle tracks congregating around the streams.
Granny B said, “We could follow the trail of cow patties to the rustler’s home.”
Tom joined his grandma and rode beside her. “Are the two cabins close together? I’m guessing the rustlers are using one of them for their base of operation.”
“One’s on the northwest end of the valley up in the hills. The other is at the bottom of the valley on the southeast end. If they’re there, they’ll be in the one at the bottom of the valley. The cave is behind the one up in the hills to the northwest. I’d planned to scout the rustlers and set up camp in the cave, if that’s okay with you?” Granny B said.
“Sounds like a good plan,” replied Tom.
*
Chapter 12
Granny B’s land – Granny B’s cabin in the valley.
It took five hours to travel the nine miles up and down the hills above Ashland, Oregon. They stopped about a quarter of a mile away from the valley cabin so they could scout the area to avoid stumbling into the rustlers. Tom took Jackie to check out the place while the others hid in a large stand of trees.
Tom and Jackie left their horses to cool off and walked into the woods where Granny B had told them to go to find the cabin. The trees were thick and the brush thicker as they fought their way toward their goal. Unexpectedly, they came to an old road. Tom stuck his head out of the brush far enough to tell there hadn’t been any vehicles or footprints in the dusty trail.
“This is an old logging road. I’m happy there aren’t any tracks on the road. It probably leads us to the cabin, but let’s stay in the woods,” Tom whispered.
They heard the mooing of the cattle before they saw the cabin or the cattle. A clearing opened up in front of them with hundreds of small trees and a hastily built corral full of cattle. Tom counted thirty-one cows and a bull. “Well, now we know where our cows went. Let’s move around the cabin to see if anyone is inside or in the barn.”
When their line of sight cleared the end of the cabin, they saw a large camper behind the place. “That’s been there for a while from the underpinning and ragged awning,” Jackie observed.
Tom watched the trailer for a few minutes, but was distracted by the sound of horses whinnying in the barn. “Something’s disturbing those horses,” Tom said.
Jackie looked over Tom with her hand on his shoulder. “That should bring the thugs to the barn.”
A few minutes later, a man came out of the trailer rubbing his eyes and buttoning his shirt. “They were asleep. Resting from an exerting night stealing our cattle, I’ll bet.”
The man wasn’t a ranch hand judging, from his do-rag, tattoos, and biker’s wallet on a long chain. He entered the barn and immediately yelled at the horses to shut up. Tom could hear the horses kicking the stalls and was confident the man was beating the poor animals.
Another man and a hard-looking woman came out of the trailer, stretching and yawning. The man stopped by the front of the trailer and relieved himself. The woman yelled at him. “You dirty asshole! Now, we’ll have to smell your piss every time we walk by the front of the trailer.”
The man smiled, walked up to the woman, whispered in her ear, and then slugged her on the jaw. The woman hit the dirt hard. She shook her head and got up to her feet, but was a bit unsteady. Then without warning, she drew a hidden pistol and shot the man twice in the stomach. She did an about-face and waited on the other man to run out of the barn. He ran up to the man who was now moaning unintelligible words. The man yelled, “What happened? Who shot him?”
The woman waited until the second man bent down to listen to the man and then shot him in the back until the revolver was empty. The man suddenly raised a gun and shot the woman. She stumbled and fell on top of the man. All three moaned as they were dying.
Tom and Jackie looked at each other. Tom exclaimed, “Dang, that was the easiest thug elimination process I ever saw. Did Darwin stick his thumb on the scale?”
Tom and Jackie laughed until they heard the thundering noise. The gunfire had caused the cattle to stampede, and they broke through the flimsy corral and headed southeast, down into the valley. Tom and Jackie were dumbfounded.
