“Never… not after what he did to me. I will just have to deal with the problem, when the time comes,” Callie stated hotly.
“I guess you are going to have to discover for yourself what a bad idea this is. If you run into trouble, you are going to be on your own.”
“Your herd won’t be very far away, will it?” Callie asked.
“Nope, I’m heading towards Missouri with my herd. It’s somewhat farther, but I’ll get a better price, since they won’t have to be sent by rail, into Missouri.
“Won’t your cattle lose too much weight, traveling that far?” Callie asked.
“We plan to grain them, along the way, which will not only keep them fat but will make them want to stick together, in order to get fed.”
“Seems to me; you would lose as much money on buying grain, as you would lose taking them to Kansas,” Callie reasoned.
“I would, if it weren’t for the fact that we grow our own grain for our cattle.”
“Well, I guess that makes sense, then,” Callie shrugged.
“Since I can’t change your mind, I guess I will get back to my own ranch, where the boys are waiting to head out.”
“I’ll see you when we all return home,” Callie replied.
“If you actually do return,” Hank mumbled.
“I’ll be coming back. You don’t have to worry about me,” she insisted.
“Let’s hope so.”
Hank turned his dark-colored horse, and gave it a kick, spurring it into a gallop in the direction of his own ranch.
“You ready?” Mr. Daniels called, over to Callie, who was standing with the reins of Blaze in her hand.
“I guess so.”
She turned to Calvin and gave him a friendly smile.
“I appreciate you coming. I guess you can stay in my old cabin until I return. There should be plenty of food and whatever else you need.”
“I’m sure I will manage,” Calvin mumbled.
Callie wondered if maybe Hank was right. She was putting her and the children in danger because she refused to marry someone, she didn’t love. She was willing to risk everything, because of her stubborn pride. She may not return to her new, beautiful house, and even if she did, she still had more challenges ahead. Callie was almost starting to feel overwhelmed.
With resolute determination, she swung up on Blaze’s back, riding over to the chuck wagon, to make sure that Beth was ready, thinking how much responsibility she was putting in Roletta’s young daughter’s hands.
The chuck wagon was a smaller version of a covered wagon, which held all the supplies they would need along the way. They would kill a couple of young steers for fresh meat, to add to the beans, onions, carrots, potatoes, along with makings for biscuits and griddle cakes, when the time came.
Attached to the back of the wagon, was a tall wooden box filled with shelves, covered by a door, which fastened to the top of the box. The door could be folded out and propped up by two legs, which made it into a table, where Mr. Daniels could prepare the food. Attached and tied above the box was a rolled-up canvas that would be pulled out and stretched over the table, to shade it, fastened to two long poles that held it up. The shelves were filled with tin plates, a coffee pot, cooking pans and skillets, along with other things used for fixing a meal. On either side of the wagon was a large barrel, filled with water, which had removable lids.
The babies were sleeping, soundly in one crib again, which Callie had Mr. Daniels put into the back of the wagon, and they seemed happy to be sharing a crib together, even if it was more crowded. The two would have to remain in the crib for most of the journey, except when the group stopped along the way to eat, or sleep.
Maybe she was biting off more than she could chew, Callie thought, but if she didn’t do it, she would lose everything. Even if she agreed to marry Hank, she would end up living on his ranch, instead of in the house, she had gone to so much trouble to have built the way she wanted it. If she married Cooper, the ranch would belong to him, and she would end up having little say about how things were run on her own ranch. No matter how she looked at it, the future seemed uncertain.
Callie glanced at the team of four mules, which would pull the wagon, and worried whether Beth could handle all the lines?
“Are you sure you can drive the mules?” she asked Beth, asking herself if she should just call off the whole thing, and sell the ranch to Hank?
There were more steers to get to market than were driven out the year before and fewer capable riders to control them. The bellowing of the cattle permeated the air, as dust started drifting up and filling the sky around them, once the cattle started moving. At the moment, all the children, including Beth, looked happy and excited about the adventure ahead, with smiles stretched across their faces, while they whistled and whooped at the cattle to get them moving, sometimes swinging a rope over their heads for added encouragement.
“I can do it, Mama,” Beth assured Callie.
It was the first time Beth had called her mama, and it warmed Callie’s heart. She realized she was the only mama these children would ever have, and now she was putting their lives in danger.
Callie couldn’t even see Mr. Daniels and Connor, who rode at the head of the herd, in order to make sure they went in the right direction, while Ina and Tommy rode on either side, to keep strays from leaving the group. Before them, grasslands stretched out in all directions, dotted with scrub brush beneath an endless blue canvas sky.
It was too late to call the drive off, so in spite of her trepidation, Callie gave Beth a proud smile.
“I’m sure you can, honey,” she murmured.
Callie wished she hadn’t burned all of Chet’s clothes. She could have done with a pair of his denims. Instead, she wore a royal blue riding habit she had brought with her, which had only been used to ride side-saddle in the park, during a life that was simple and riding a horse was done for the pure pleasure of it. By now, she had gotten used to riding astride, ever since she had ridden with the Indians, and then back with the drovers. For the last several weeks, she had been out on horseback, getting prepared for the cattle drive, so she was feeling relaxed and assured in the saddle, certain she could make the long ride into Kansas.
She remembered when she had met Chet in Dodge, and how hopeless her life had seemed at the time. Now she felt a different kind of hopelessness, mixed with a smidgen of optimism. She was determined to get the herd to the stockyards, but once she returned, back to the ranch, she wasn’t sure what life held for her.
They managed to get through the first day without incident, merely pulling their bandanas over their faces to block out the dust, and keeping the cattle moving in the right direction. Now Callie discovered why Chet wore leather chaps over his denims. All the sagebrush they rode through, grabbed at the material of her riding habit, snagging the thread, and in some cases, putting holes in the skirt. When they finally camped, Mr. Daniels said he would take the early watch, to make sure the Cattle didn’t get spooked in the night, and she could take the last watch.
After they ate the meal, Mr. Daniels had prepared for them, Callie, along with all the children, crawled into their cot-rolls, more tired than they had ever been in the past. They all fell asleep immediately.
Callie was jerked to her senses by the feel of a hand on her shoulder. She gave a reactive yelp until she realized it was Mr. Daniels, shaking her awake.
“Your turn,” he mumbled and gave her an encouraging wink.
She sat up and put her boots back on, then put her foot in the stirrup of her saddle, and swung her leg over the rear of her horse.
“Just keep riding on the outside of the herd, to make sure there are no wild animals or, heaven forbid, Indians, lurking around. It seemed pretty peaceful while I was out, and the full moon will help you to see better, only be careful, that you don’t spook the cattle into stampeding if you actually have to shoot at something.”
“I just hope I don’t have to shoot at anything,” Callie said i
n an unsure voice.
Keeping the cattle going in one direction, was one thing, but looking for dangers in the night, and then not being able to fire upon the dangers, for fear of starting a stampede, was unnerving to Callie.
Slowly, she started out on the perimeter of the herd. Most of the cattle were lying down, and Callie realized they must be pretty tired themselves. In another day or so, they would have to drive them to the closest river, in order to drink. Then Mr. Daniels could also fill the barrels with water again. The moon sent eerie shadows, cast by sagebrush, tumbleweeds, bushes, and cactus, all about the landscape, and it was hard to tell if a bush was really a bush, and not some crouching wolf, or other kinds of predators. There was also the danger of rattlesnakes that would be slow-moving in the cooler evening, and could possibly be stepped on by her horse, causing the snake to strike out, unexpectedly. Her only real experience of the wilderness was when she had been with the Indians, but they had been in charge at the time and seemed to know what they were doing. She was completely inexperienced, she grumbled to herself, so why did she believe she could make this drastic trek through wild lands? She had to keep trying to convince herself that she could.
Callie remembered the songs the drovers had sung when they camped along the way, back to her ranch. The children had learned all the words and often continued to sing those songs, while they played together, or did their chores. She found herself humming the tune of one of the songs, and then she began to sing. It seemed to calm her, and she had been told that music calmed the cattle as well, so she started singing louder.
By the time the sun rose, Callie was still singing, and feeling a lot more comfortable about everything. Maybe they would all make it through after all, she comforted herself, as she came to the camp-site, where Mr. Daniels was starting to fix breakfast.
Once again, they started out on what appeared to be another clear day, but by noon Callie could see dark clouds on the horizon. She urged her horse forward until she had caught up with Mr. Daniels.
“Do you think it’s going to rain?” Callie asked, feeling worried about what they would do if it suddenly started to pour.
Mr. Daniels took his hat off and swiped his plaid sleeve across his brow, wiping away the sweat.
“The wind is blowing in the other direction,” he informed her. “I doubt the rain will come in this direction. It’s the thunder and lightning you are going to have to worry about. If we get a lightning storm, with or without rain, the cattle are going to get nervous. I think we should tighten up the herd, and head for that ravine up ahead. That way, if they do start to run, the sandy bottom will slow them down, and they can only go in one direction since they can’t run up the sides of the ravine. It might take us a little out of our way, but as long as those clouds are hanging, we had better take all the precaution we can.”
“What will we do if they start running?” Callie wanted to know.
“Try to keep up, so we don’t lose the herd. This ravine gets deeper, and a little narrower towards the end, and then it gradually starts to climb. If they do start running, by the time they get to the end, they will be too tired to keep running up the rise. In fact, if we reach the rise before the storm starts, we should just keep the cattle herded there, and hope they don’t try to break out if they start to get skittish. We can keep the wagon in the rear, and hope it will discourage them from turning and running in the other direction.”
“What if it doesn’t discourage them?”
“Then you will need to grab the kids out of that wagon and make a run for it, out of their path, which won’t be easy, with the sides of the ravine holding us in. This is making me worry for the safety of your little ones.”
“What if we take the wagon on the outside of the ravine, and follow beside the ridge? If the cattle turn back, maybe they will stay in the ravine and tire themselves out.”
“Only it means we will lose a lot of ground if they take off in the direction we just came from.”
“I don’t want to put the little ones in danger, so we will have to risk it. If we get to the end of the ravine before the storm, we can camp there, and hope the storm blows in the other direction.”
“I guess that is all we can do. Since the cattle can only go in one direction, once they are in the ravine, we’ll pull Connor, Ina, and Tommy back to the rear, to keep the cattle moving. That way if the cattle do start to run, they won’t get caught in the middle of it,” Mr. Daniels suggested.
“I’ll ride up with the chuck wagon, then,” Callie offered.
Callie helped Mr. Daniels, and the children funnel the cattle in the direction of the ravine, and by the time the last of the steers headed into the ravine, Beth had arrived with the chuck wagon. Callie told her to turn it up above the ravine and follow the ridge, at a safe distance. Then she followed behind the wagon, looking down on the herd. For the first time, since she had been at the ranch, Callie could see all of her cattle at once, as their backs rose and fell like a long waving flag, moving through the shallow ravine.
Callie kept her eyes on the distant clouds. Already, she could see flashes of lightning, cut through them, but the clouds were too far away for her to hear the thunder. As long as she could not hear the thunder, she wouldn’t worry, she told herself.
Slowly, the sound of thunder was starting to break through the distance, and the closer the group moved towards the clouds, the louder the thunder got. The cattle were still moving at a slow, easy pace, not being bothered by the sound of the thunder, in the distance, perhaps feeling safe in the shelter of the ravine. This made Callie feel a little less anxious, as she continued to look down on the herd with the children and Mr. Daniels taking up the rear.
It didn’t look like it was going to rain, but the wind was starting to whip up a bit, even if it wasn’t blowing against them. The wind at their backs seemed preferable than having sand and dust blowing in their faces, caused by the movement of the herd, and the wind blowing the dust about.
Just when Callie was deciding everything was moving along better than expected, there was a sudden crack, not far from where the chuck wagon was rumbling along the ravine’s edge. The blinding lightning and clap of the thunder hit overhead and was deafening because it was so close. With a frightened squeal, the mules pulling the wagon tried to rear up in terror, but the harness inhibited them. The next moment, the team surged forward, pulling the wagon behind them at a neck-breaking, haphazard pace.
Callie could hear Beth scream, and below them, in the ravine, the cattle, sensing the fear of the horses, and hearing the rumble of the wagon, approaching them from above, also started running. Callie spurred her horse, trying to catch up with the wagon, before one of the wheels managed to hit a rock, and caused it to be overturned.
As she strained to come abreast of the bench on the wagon, she could see Beth clinging to the side of the wagon, and the reins dangling free, at the mules’ feet.
“Climb inside the wagon, so you don’t fall off,” Callie yelled to Beth, noting the fear in the child’s eyes.
Hank may have been right about the dangers of bringing the children along, she thought frantically, but what else could she do? There was no time for regrets now. She had to try to stop the horses from running, as Mr. Daniels and the others, chased after the stampeding cattle. She rode up on the ravine side of the wagon, in an attempt to steer the mules away from the side of the ravine, so they wouldn’t end up falling over the edge.
Callie leaned forward, along her horse’s neck, reaching out with one hand, to try and grab the reins of one of the frightened mules. Each time, she could not get close enough and was afraid of getting tangled in the rigging of the harness, if she got too close. Since there was no way she could jump from her own horse, onto the back of one of the team, in the habit she was wearing, her only other choice was to try to throw a rope over the head of one of the mules, to try and slow them down. She could get close enough to do that, but she feared the rope would be pulled through her gloved hands if she w
asn’t careful.
Callie braved herself as she managed to slip the rope over one the lead mule’s head, she was closest to. She wrapped the end around her saddle horn and kept running beside the frightened team, slowing down, until the rope became taut, as she gradually tried to put some drag on the mule’s neck. She could feel her saddle lifting and feared the cinch might break, but she kept calling out to the team, telling them to whoa. The pull on the neck of the runaway mule, only made it turn towards her, closer to the opening of the ravine below.
Now, she decided to try running ahead of the mules pulling the wagon, so they would have to veer in the other direction, once she started to block their path. She then began turning her horse in the opposite direction that the wagon was traveling, causing the outside mule connected to the rope, to turn, toward its partner, forcing the other mules in the same direction. Soon she was able to pull them into a circle, instead of letting them run straight forward. As the mules turned, the wagon careened, as though it was going to tip, causing Callie to catch her breath. However, it righted itself, and the very action of having to run in a circle seemed to slow the mules down, until the strain on the rope against the neck of the one mule caused it to slow its pace, on top of the fact that the rest were starting to tire.
When the wagon finally came to a reluctant stop, all mules, along with Callie’s horse, were lathered with sweat and breathing hard. Callie could hear Beth whimpering, inside the wagon. She leaped down, from her horse, grabbed up the reins to the team, tying them snugly around the handle of the brake, as she pulled it to, and then climbed up onto the seat, and poked her head in the opening at the front of the wagon.
“Are you all right?” she called to Beth, who was on the floor, huddled into a ball with her head between her knees. “How are the babies?”
Beyond the Heart Page 23