Rebellion in the Valley (11 page)

He whistled.

“Whew-wee, that’s a dandy! Set Tobias back a
few coins, I reckon! How long have you had it?”

Relaxing a bit, Hailee smiled this time when
their eyes met.

“Just since this morning. He left it in an
envelope with a letter,” she started. “Tobias said he wants to talk
to Daddy.”

The cook, old friend, and wise man
nodded.

“He aught to do just that. You know your
daddy don’t wanna step in the barn one day and get an eye full of
something he ain’t ready for; he might be feisty about the news for
a while, but he’ll come around,” Richard tried to comfort. “Best
for Tobias to step on up to the plate and ask for your hand. Best
he get it over and done with as soon as he can.”

Hailee blushed. Her hand?

Richard caught the look on her face and shook
his head. One eyebrow cocked upward, he looked her square in the
face.

“What? Now don’t you tell this old man you
didn’t think Tobias was leanin’ that direction. A fella looks at a
beauty such as yourself, he’s got marryin on his mind.”

“I don’t think I was looking at it that way.
Not really. No boy has ever been interested in me before - I don’t
know what to do now!”

The old friend reared his gray head back and
ripped out a good old belly laugh on that one.

“Girl, are you serious? No boy has ever
looked at you? You can’t be meaning that.”

But soon as he asked, he saw the blank look
on Hailee’s face; she was oblivious to all those other boys who had
come calling on her in the past.

“Well, Hailee, I got one thing to say to
you,” Richard told her with a more serious tone in his voice.
“Tobias ain’t a boy. He’s a full grown man with full grown ideas
and ways of thinkin’ about certain matters. Are you ready to be a
grown up woman and meet him in those ways of thinkin’?”

“Richard, what happens now?”

He nodded for her to follow him to the table
and reached for the deck of cards someone left there from the night
before.

“We play gin rummy. Just let the cards play
themselves out, Hailee. If it’s a good game, you’ll come out of it
just fine. Now get on out there and get my eggs, girl. I’ll whip
you at a round or two of cards when you get back,” he winked.

Chapter 10

A
couple of days after the wagon wheel marks disappeared up at
the Red Bone Ranch, the group of men found themselves looking down
a seventy-five-foot embankment in Puma Canyon, located not more
than three miles from their home.

Duffy shrugged a thumb downward. He shook his
head.

“That creek’s got a lot of water flowin’
since that rain storm came in the other night, and that’s a good
sign. Critters follow the flow of water, ya know. What do ya think
we oughtta do, Boss?” he asked, not really listening for an answer
from anyone.

Bruce shrugged a shoulder in response.

“We go on. I came to get me a cat, and I
ain’t goin’ home unless I have me a pelt to hang on my wall,” he
asserted.

The men nodded in agreement.

Another hour up the canyon path, the
ranchers-turned-hunters pitched tents and ate hot beans under the
twinkling stars, which gave off just enough light to see by.

Bruce finished sopping up the last bit of his
food with a chunk of Richard’s sourdough bread when he caught sight
of Tobias all hunched up over a writing tablet on the other side of
the campfire. He looked involved in his thoughts; probably, knowing
how thorough the man was, he probably kept a diary of their every
movement while tracking the cat. Good man, that Tobias.

He waited until the pencil slid back into a
coat pocket and the tablet shut before calling his fellow hunter
over to his side of the fire ring.

“Come get your coffee cup refilled, Tobias. I
don’t reckon anyone else is gonna have any more and it ain’t that
good after it sits a while.”

Tobias obliged.

“Keepin’ track of what we’re doin’ out here?”
Bruce inquired with a nod of his head toward the tablet.

Tobias didn’t want to lie, but the fact was,
he had been writing to Hailee, and yet, he wasn’t ready to say
anything to Bruce about the situation. The timing wasn’t right and
he wasn’t about to say one word about his feelings unless they were
words said in private.

Glancing around at all the other men, he
answered in softer tones, “Well, no, Boss. I had another project I
was workin’ on. I reckon we’ll remember where we are in the
morning, so there really ain’t any need to record where we slept
last night or where we’re going tomorrow. Least ways, that’s how I
see it. But I can write it all down if you want me to, though,” he
mentioned off the cuff.

Bruce just chuckled and rubbed his chin.

“Nah. You’re right as usual, Tobias. We come
home with a pelt, we’re gonna remember the story well enough to
tell our grandkids,” he took a slow sip out of his mug. “Not like I
see any of them coming any time soon,” he drifted off in
half-mumbled words.

Tobias grinned into his own mug. If the man
only knew.

The younger man glanced around and noticed
they were the last two still milling about. The fire flickered low
highlights around their boot heels, the fireflies gave evidence of
themselves in and out of the trees.

“Hey, Boss. You ever smear those things all
over your arms when you were a kid? Wake up covered in bug guts the
next morning?” he asked out of the blue.

Bruce choked on his drink and let out a soft
chuckle, obviously remembering a childhood moment or two.

They sat together for a while longer, not
really saying that much, just building on the friendship they
already enjoyed.

Bruce tossed one more log on the fire and bid
Tobias a good night’s rest. He pat him on the shoulder and went his
way toward the wagon, where he slept.

Hailee was the last thing on the minds of
both men that night.

P

“I ain’t doin’ it!” Duffy shouted loud enough
to wake the Rosita cemetery. “I ain’t here to be no errand
boy!”

Bruce lifted his head off his rolled-up
blanket so fast he gained an instant headache from the jerk,
wondering not the first time, what in the world had gotten into
Duffy lately. He’d been behaving like a different person for a
while now. Why didn’t he leave the attitude behind at the
ranch?

When a man gets jerked awake by a grown man
throwing a tantrum, it’s time to start asking questions.

He rolled over, onto his side and pushed
himself into a sitting position on the back on the wagon,
stretching out the night’s kinks.

“Sure wish the day wouldn’t start out like
this,” Bruce muttered.

Jumping down off the wagon, Bruce’s eyes
darted toward the source of the commotion: Duffy riled up over
something or another.

Arms folded over his chest almost like a
three year old and his mouth all shriveled up, the man’s demeanor
made him look ten years older than his actual years.

“Alright, Duffy. What’s got you upset this
early in the morning?”

Duffy wasted no time in telling his
story.

Come to find out, a couple of the men woke up
and someone suggested putting on coffee Then someone else mentioned
a need more wood; someone would have to go fetch a few branches.
And someone had the audacity to ask Duffy to do the fetching!

“I ain’t no errand boy,” he repeated.

Stunned, Bruce shook his head and rubbed both
fists into his eyes. This couldn’t be the same man he felt a
friendship with not very long ago; what had gotten into him?

“Let me get this straight. You wanta eat but
you don’t wanta help. Duffy, we could use an extra pair of hands
out here, and I’d sure hate to see you go on back to the ranch-but
we’re all out here to make one thing happen, and that is to bring
us home a dead cat. Now, you know how I feel about it: ain’t any of
us better than another one out here or back home at the ranch.
Let’s you and me come on back to my wagon and get to the bottom of
what it is that’s got your dander up.”

Embarrassed and humiliated by this point, his
mind filled with excuses he could lay on Bruce. Truth was, he was
just plain sick and tired of never having anything for himself, and
it was getting the best of him.

Having no choice but to watch that danged
Tobias edging his way into the very core of the Johnson family day
in and day out almost had Duffy at his breaking point.

The man tried to disguise his mood and ran a
hand up to the brim of his leather hat.

“Aw, can’t we just forget about this? There
really ain’t nothin’ to it. Just woke up in a foul mood, that’s
it-ain’t no more to it than that,” he lied.

Bruce wanted to believe him. But his attitude
had been increasing to heights that even he couldn’t ignore
anymore.

“Look, Duffy. You and me, we’ve been friends
for a mighty long time now. I’ve tried to take care of you, like
I’ve tried to take care of everyone else on my ranch. Maybe I’ve
done more for you over the years because we’ve been friends. But
that don’t mean you’re any better than the rest of the help.”

His voice trailed off in a mud puddle of
words and humiliating talk.

Like everyone else? My ranch? The rest
of…the help?

Bruce could see the day had gotten off to a
rotten start and he didn’t know how to fix things, make them
better.

Tobias wandered closer to them in case Bruce
needed him to lend a hand, but Duffy seemed to resent the younger
man’s presence and made no further comments when their eyes met;
instead, he marched off, fists clenched.

As if to emphasize an opinion of his company
for the day, the grumpy ranch hand refused breakfast, drank no
coffee, and nearly cut the circulation from his horse when he
saddled, making certain everyone knew how disgusted he really was,
by gosh!

The other men, however, would not allow
Duffy’s disposition to wound their spirits as they cut jokes and
ate a hearty breakfast before climbing back on their horses for the
important task at hand.

P

Puma Canyon lent for a calming ride as horse
hooves clamped down over the compacted narrow trail. Orange and
yellow leaves fell from aspen and birch limbs and into the creek
down below in the embankment; chances of the cat living along these
large boulders and drinking from that creek were not only possible,
but probable. Eyes darted from boulder to creek several times over
the course of the morning until the man who rode next to Tobias
began holding his face at a sharper angle, his forehead pulling
together more often and his jaw clenching.

Finally, the man felt the need to break the
group’s silence.

“I’m sure we’re getting closer now, I smell
it.”

Tobias nodded. “I’m with you on that one;
keep your eyes open and fixed, boys. Boss, looks like you’re gonna
have that pelt after all. Maybe even by the end of the day if she
cooperates with us. Then we can all get back to the ranch and
Hailee.”

Once the words tumbled out, there was no
taking them back. His glance caught Bruce nodding his head at the
mention of his daughter.

“I do believe you’re right,” he beamed.
“Let’s get this job done and get home, boys. More than a few days
from my little girl makes a distracted hunter.”

Tobias understood the sentiment and nodded,
wiping sweat from his brow with an absent-minded motion.

Duffy observed Tobias from a few horses back;
something brewing there, he just knew it. The man looked a bit too
nervous for his liking when he mentioned the boss’ daughter; Duffy
cocked his head, narrowing his gaze on Tobias.

He’d suspected something going on between
those two when he walked into the barn and caught them standing all
too cozy. That little moment sparked his curiosity, but now he was
positive those two young 'uns were keeping a secret.

He would find out what that secret was and
put a stop to it, by gosh! Wasn’t nobody gonna take what he wanted,
and Duffy had a mind to have that ranch.

Chapter 11

“G
in,” she stated. “Again.”

Richard slumped over in mock disgrace,
covering his eyes with the cards still left in hand.

“Okay. Let’s make it best out of ten rounds
instead of five; you’ve already whipped me three of those and I
can’t let no little girl be fer whippin’ this old man at a friendly
game cards, of all things,” he winked.

Shuffling the deck, he glanced up at the girl
and then shuffled once more-just to be sure. When the old cook
began to file through his own cards, he scowled and made a sour
face.

“Good thing we aren’t betting anything
tonight - I’d be losin’ my socks!”

She giggled and flipped down two pairs.

“What? Already? You’re killin’ me, girl,” he
teased only half-heartedly.

“We could always leave the game for later,”
she suggested.

“Deal,” he stretched both arms overhead. “And
I don’t mean the cards, either. This old man needs a break.”

“Me, too,” she nodded. “You know what I’ve
been thinking about all day?”

Wincing as he hoisted himself up off the
chair, the man placed a palm against his hip and grunted as he
forced himself to stand completely erect.

“Don’t know what you’ve been thinking about,
but I’ve been spending a mighty long time thinking about the days
when I jumped off my seat without having to make old man faces,” he
poked his tongue out playfully. “Let’s put on a pot of water and
get some potatoes peeled while you tell me what’s been on your
mind.”

“I’ve been thinking I need to keep my mind
occupied,” she glanced back to him as she reached into the cupboard
for the large cooking pot. “And it sure would be nice to actually
have all my yarn put back before I start a project so you people
don’t have to listen to me complain all winter, don’t you
think?”