Spirit Horses (9 page)

The old man continued, “They say the Shoshone keep
watch over the herd most of the time. They’re supposed to have a special
relationship with the horses. The Indians would be your best bet to find the
herd, but I doubt they would tell a white man where they are�—�especially
now. I found out there’s been a couple of fistfights in town between some of
the Shoshone braves and Nethers’s son and friends. The scuttlebutt is that Bo
Nethers and some of his cronies are the ones that took the three mustangs to
the killer market a few weeks ago. The Indians don’t come to town much, so I
don’t know if they came looking for trouble or just ran into it by accident. If
I were you, I’d be careful about going out to that reservation right now. If
you ask me,” he added, “I think those horses should be left alone. There’s
plenty of grass up there in the spring and summer for both cattle and horses.”

Shane took a sip of his coffee. “Looks like I’m
stepping into a real hornet’s nest! This may not be the best time, but I still
plan to turn that mare loose. I guess I’m a little worried now that she might
get caught again, and wind up at the killers. I wish I knew how she ended up
all the way down in Tennessee at an auction.”

“No telling how that happened,” Mr. Jensen shifted
in his seat, “she might have been hard to break, and one of the ranches sold
her to a trader. She’s lucky to have made it to you and not the slaughter
house, that’s for sure.”

“She was kind of hard to start, but once I got her
trust she proved to be real trainable.”

“Maybe you ought to just take her back home,”
suggested Mrs. Jensen.

“No, ma’am. This is something I need to do, even if
I have to keep a check on her for a while to make sure she stays free.”

“Well, if you end up extending your trip, you’re
welcome to use our spare bedroom,” she insisted.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m fine at the motel.”

“Suit yourself, you know you’re always welcome.”

“Thanks again,” Shane said as he headed out the
door. The information he obtained tonight was interesting as well as valuable.
At this point, he was leaning toward a trip to the reservation in hopes of
finding someone who might help. The fact that the Shoshone were on guard about
the brewing situation concerning the herd was a complication he wasn’t sure how
to get around. On top of all this, he needed to be certain the mare would be
safe from the trappers, once he did set her free. For tonight he hoped he could
get some sleep. He knew tomorrow might be a long one, and he wanted to be
rested and ready for anything.

***

Shane woke to find it raining with a slight chill in the air. Although
he slept well, he was now battling that empty feeling with which he usually
started his days.

“Shake it off, Carson,” he mumbled. “Get your ass
up, put on a smile, and see if you can figure out how to find those mustangs.”

He really wasn’t sure what his next move should be.
Trying to hire a guide was still an option. He just didn’t know whom he could
trust.
     

So, he got out of bed this wet Wednesday, cleaned
up, and went to the diner. About halfway through his eggs and hash browns, he
overheard some young men talking at the next table.

“The trap gate is open, and we’ll have nine riders
trying to push the horses into the canyon.”

“This time we should have enough people to get a
bunch of them,” another claimed.

“I’m taking all six of my catch dogs,” a third guy
added. “If
any Shoshone are out there, the dogs will keep them busy. If that
doesn’t work, we’ll scare ’em off with our rifles.”

As the men threw down their money on the table, the
group made arrangements to meet at the canyon Saturday afternoon. Shane
couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. These assholes were planning on stealing
some of the Indians’ wild horses this weekend! He wasn’t sure what to do. Maybe
he should ease over to the sheriff’s office and tell him about this after he
finished eating.

As Shane filled the deputy in, he soon realized this
man didn’t care about the situation.

“I have no jurisdiction on the reservation; the
Indians have their own police for stuff like this.”

Shane felt a surge of frustration and snapped, “So
call them and tell them about it!”

“I’ll try and do that later,” the deputy said as he
leaned back in his chair.

Shane looked at him in disbelief. “That’s it! That’s
all you’re gonna do?”

“Look mister, if the mustangs are off reservation
land, then it’s legal for those boys to take them as far as I’m concerned. Besides,
those horses are hard to catch. They’ll probably avoid the trap anyway.”

“I just told you the plan was to go on reservation
land and drive them down to a trap on the Shoshone’s land! That can’t be
legal!”

The deputy stood up and leaned into Shane’s face.
“Sir, I told you I don’t have any jurisdiction out there. I’ll consider
contacting the tribal authorities later to tell them what you overheard�—�while
you were eavesdropping.”

Shane gave the officer a “go to hell” look. “If
someone gets hurt this weekend it’s on you!” With that he got up, pushed his
chair out of the way, and left.

The deputy stood and followed Shane out to his
truck. “Look, mister,” he said, “there’s nothing I can do. I don’t know what
your interest is in all of this, but if I were you, I’d put some serious
thought into keeping my nose out of it!”

Shane looked straight ahead, nodded slightly, and
drove away.

“Damn,” he thought out loud. “It looks like these
mustangs are the center of a lot of controversy around here.”

Chapter 7

He went back to his room and flipped on the TV as he tried to figure
out his next move. For now all he could do was hope the herd could avoid the
trap on Saturday. It didn’t take long for him to get bored, so he walked back
over to the diner for a cup of coffee. As he sat at the counter, he kept
stewing over his conversation with the deputy. He didn’t hold out much hope
that the guy was actually going to call the reservation police and contemplated
calling them himself.

He was a little surprised to see the rowdy boys
walking back into the diner. Shane figured they probably didn’t have anything
else to do. They were reliving their partying from the night before while
laughing about how two of them had been with the same girl. They were really
trashing her in a loud way, and it was easy to tell that everyone else in the
place was taking offense at the conversation. It was only about eleven in the
morning so Shane frowned and shook his head as he noticed them take out a flask
to start passing it among them. That’s when the owner of the diner slapped his
hand hard on the scuffed-up old counter and yelled, “It’s time to move it
outside. There’s no drinking allowed here.”

The boys chuckled and hollered back, “Don’t worry
old man, we’ll leave. We’re through here anyway.”

“Just get the hell out of here, you boys are bad for
business!” the man snapped.

Laughing and shoving chairs out of their way, the
obnoxious gang went out and leaned up against the front wall of the diner where
they passed the flask among them. One of the boys had pushed a chair against
Shane’s stool on the way out. Shane gave him a hard look, but decided to let it
go.

“Who are those guys?” he asked the man behind the
counter.

“The leader of the bunch is Bo Nethers. He’s a
spoiled, rich troublemaker, whose daddy leases a lot of government property
around here to raise cattle. The rest of the group are boys who grew up in the
area. They’ll hire on as ranch hands from time to time, but none of the crew is
worth a damn. They’re always causing problems and looking for easy money. I’d
avoid ’em if I was you. They love to start fights and gang up on people.” The
man continued wiping down the counter, and getting set up for the lunch crowd.

“Doesn’t the law around here handle them when they
get out of line?” Shane asked.

“They’ve got no worries. Whenever they get into
trouble, Mr. Vince Nethers will show up and bail them out. He inherited a ton
of money some years back and controls a lot of the businesses here. Hell, he
owns this building along with the bank and the motel you’re staying in. He’s
not that bad of a guy, but in his mind his asshole son, Bo, can do no wrong.
Uh-oh!” he said as he looked past Shane through the café window.

“What’s up?” Shane asked as he turned to see.

“I don’t know for sure, but those guys just saw
something that caught their attention. All six of them just trotted across the
road. Knowing that mob they’re going to mess with some poor soul.” The young
men moved up the street and out of view.

“You know,” said the man, “those guys are all in
their mid-
twenties. You’d think they might have grown out of acting like
idiots. Some of those boys aren’t half bad on their own, but whenever they get
together with Bo Nethers, they act like damn fools.”

Shane quickly stood, and paid for his coffee. He
wanted to get out where he could see what the boys were up to. Once outside the
door, he spotted them catty-corner across the street, as they leaned against an
old pickup truck. They were still smoking and passing around the flask. Whoever
owned the truck must have been inside one of the stores nearby. Shane sat down
on a park-style bench in front of the diner and watched.

About ten minutes went by, and there was still no
sign of the truck’s owner. The bunch was now passing around a second flask and
seemed to have nothing better to do than to wait around for the driver. Shane
was beginning to guess it was some guy they knew, and when he came out they
would get together and have a good ole time. That’s when he noticed a young
woman walking out of the drugstore just down the street. She was carrying a
small box and was moving toward the truck.

Surely this isn’t who the boys are waiting to
harass! As the girl moved out of the shadows, it all began to make sense. She
was an attractive young Indian woman. He watched as she shook her head slightly
and rolled her eyes when she realized what was going on at her truck. Showing
no fear, she walked up to the motley group. The girl looked one of the boys
straight in the eye as she approached the passenger-side door and sternly
requested, “Please get out of my way.”

The fella stepped aside, then bent down into an
exaggerated bow while she opened the door to put her box inside.

She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes once more
before angrily walking around to the driver’s side, but the boy standing there
wouldn’t move so she could get in. Instead, he swept a disrespectful gaze up
and down her body as he menacingly said, “You’re a damn fine looking squaw. If
you’d come and party with us, we’ll give you a day you’ll never forget!”

If the young woman was scared, she didn’t show it.
Shane smiled after hearing her sharp response, “In your dreams, you creep, now
get out of my way!”

The boys laughed then quickly surrounded her. The
Nethers boy, who seemed to be the leader of the fiasco, grabbed her arms and
pushed his body up against hers, pinning the girl to the driver’s side door.
“I’ll tell you what, you little bitch, you give me a nice, long kiss, then
maybe I’ll let you go on your way.”

The woman, still showing no fear, spit in the boy’s
face as she struggled to turn her head away and get free. Nethers quickly
retaliated to her justifiable defense by reaching up with his right hand and
grabbing her by the throat.

“Let me go!” she hollered while still fighting to break
his hold.

This was about as much as Shane could take. He had
to do something before the girl got hurt. He stood as he mentally prepared
himself for the worst, and then headed across the street.

“All right, guys, you’ve had your fun, now, why
don’t you let her go!” One of the men from the unruly bunch stepped in front of
Shane, cutting him off from getting any closer to the truck.

“I don’t know who the hell you are, mister,” the man
leaned into Shane’s face. “This is none of your freakin’ business, and I’m only
going to tell you once to stay out of it.”

Shane looked him square in the eye. “I’m not going
anywhere until you let her go.”

The cocky young man wasted no time in throwing the
first punch. Shane was expecting it and easily avoided the clumsy inaccurate
swing.

Although the punch had missed its mark, Shane knew
the talking was over and countered with a pounding right blow to the man’s
temple. The guy, being half drunk, lost his balance, fell to his knees, and
crumbled to the ground.