He turned his attention back to the bunkhouse when he heard the door open. A tall bearded man in his long johns opened the door and reached out and picked up the coffee pot, swung it inside and closed the door. The light in the bunkhouse windows became brighter as more lamps or lanterns were lit. A few minutes later a light shown in a window at the end of ranch house nearest him. Dan could hear the sound of voices from the bunkhouse, but not clearly enough to understand what they were saying.
About twenty minutes after Alice had set the coffee pot on the bunkhouse porch, the bunkhouse door opened, and a broken line of men exited the bunkhouse and headed toward the ranch house. There were eight men in various states of dress, some were wearing shirts and pants, but others wore pants and their long underwear. It was cool this morning, but only a few wore a jacket. It was hard to tell their age, except for the last one in line. He was a young boy about fourteen years old. He was carrying the coffee pot. Some wore beards, but most just looked like they had forgotten to shave for at least a week. It was obvious that they were going to the ranch house for breakfast.
After the boy passed the corner of the house and was lost to sight, he heard a door close, and it was quiet except for the muffled voices coming from within the house. A few minutes later he heard a door close, then he saw Alice walking toward the barn. It looked like she was carrying a plate or shallow pan, it was still too dark to be sure. She entered the barn through a small door near the far corner of the barn. After only a minute she came back through the door and returned to the ranch house. Some twenty minutes later the first of the riders left the ranch house and returned to the bunkhouse. The first group consisted of three riders, a few minutes later a group of two crossed over to the bunkhouse. Five minutes later, another group of two returned to the bunkhouse. The young boy was part of this group. Finally, the last rider who had gone over for breakfast left the ranch house and headed toward the bunkhouse, he was the one who opened the bunkhouse door to get the coffee earlier. Someone in the ranch house or on the porch called to him, and he stopped and turned. The person at the house had not called the man in the yard by name but had simply called for him to wait. Then another man that Dan had not seen before walked out from the house. The man was tall and cleaned shave, and from his size he was sure this must be Jason Reynolds. He walked out to the other man, and they talked, but Dan could not hear what was said. If the big man was Jason, the other man, he was talking to was most likely the ranch foreman. From the sound of his voice, it was clear that Jason was the man in charge. A few minutes later the conversation ended, and they turned and parted. Dan couldn’t see if Jason went back into the house or stopped on the porch, but the foreman returned to the bunkhouse and went inside.
The men in the bunkhouse, except the foreman, left the bunkhouse and headed toward the corral. At the corral, they each took a rope halter from the fence and went out into the corral where each, in turn, caught up a horse and walked it over to the side of the corral. As they reached the fence, they tied the horse to the fence and went to the barn. They returned from the barn with saddle and gear. After the young boy got his horse saddled, he left the horse tied to the corral fence and went back into the corral with another halter. Soon he had a second horse saddled and tied to the corral fence. While the boy was catching up the second horse the rest of the riders were getting their gear together or going to the ranch house for what Dan assumed was lunch. The men who went into the ranch house returned with one or two cloth sacks that probably contain food for a cold lunch out on the range. Following fifteen minutes of activity, the riders started mounting up and heading out. Five riders headed north toward the open pasture land. Meanwhile, the boy had walked the two horses over to the bunkhouse, and one of the other riders joined him there. A few minutes later the foreman came out of the bunkhouse and took the reins of his horse from the boy, then all three of them mounted and headed out toward the ranch road leading toward town.
As the sounds of the riders died away, the ranch house was quiet again except for the background sounds of the forest and corral. Twenty minutes passed before he heard the sound of the ranch house door opening again. Jason came into view as he headed toward the barn. When he neared the barn, he called to someone inside the barn. An old man came out of the barn and met Jason in the barnyard. The old man was thin and dark-skinned from years of working in the sun. He walked with difficulty, his left leg and back had been badly injured sometime in the past and had healed in such a way that it made it difficult to walk. The old man and Jason talked for a few minutes then parted. The old man returned to the barn and Jason to the ranch house. The barn door opened about ten minutes later, and the old man led a beautiful chestnut horse from out of the barn. The horse had a well-worn Spanish saddle with a rifle scabbard. The old man led the horse over to the ranch house where he tied it to a hitching post in front of the house which Dan could just barely see past the corner of the house from his hiding place. The old man left the hitching post and headed toward the corral. Jason came into view as he approached the horse. He placed a Winchester in the rifle scabbard and a canteen on the saddle horn. He untied the horse and lead it away from the hitching post. He was about to mount the horse when a dark-haired woman still in her bedclothes came out of the ranch house and ran to him. They embraced, kissed, talked a minute and then parted. She returned to the house and Jason mounted his horse. Dan heard the door of the ranch house close as he watched Jason ride out on the road to town. As Jason passed the barn, he moved the horse from a walk to a trot and was soon out of sight around a curve in the road. Looking back over to the corral he saw the old man leading a horse from the corral to the barn. He took the horse into the barn, and Dan lost sight of him.
Looking back to the ranch house he didn’t see any activity for a few minutes until he saw Alice carry a basket of laundry from behind the far end of the house to a clothesline which ran between two trees parallel to the back of the ranch house. He had not noticed the clothesline earlier and certainly not seen it last night in the dark. It was well that he had not tried to approach the house more closely from that side last night. As Alice began to hang clothes on the line, he heard a horseshoe being worked on an anvil in the barn. He continued to watch Alice. She finished hanging the clothes, picked up the basket and returned around the other end of the house.
Dan knew she would not be back for a while, so he slowly eased down into the brush, and sat at the base of the tree. He took some jerky from his pack and with a little water from his canteen he had breakfast. He reviewed all he had seen and thought about the implications. There were apparently three people at the ranch now, Alice, the old man, and Jason’s woman. He doubted that Alice was ever left alone at the ranch. Jason obviously had an interest in a woman other than Alice, but was Alice and he married? He thought about trying to contact Alice, but decided against it. It would be too dangerous to approach the house or her during the day. If he contacted her before they were ready to leave she might act differently and Jason would know something was wrong. He decided not to contact her until he was ready to take her away. Since he had gotten very little sleep last night and he didn’t know what this night would involve, Dan decided to get some sleep and see what develops this afternoon. He eased down to the ground at the base of the tree into a position where he was laying on the ground with his back against the trunk of the bushes nearest him. He got his blanket out of his pack and covered himself, and using his pack as a pillow he settled down to sleep. It had been a long day and night, so sleep came easily.
Dan awoke, listened carefully for any unusual sounds, but everything sounded normal. He checked his watch and saw that it was two twenty-three p.m. He was surprised that he had slept so long, but was glad he did sleep. If they made their escape tonight, there would be little or no sleep for him.
He carefully went back up the side of the tree trunk to his observation place, but this time he stayed a little lower in the top of the bushes to give him more cover. He looked behind the
ranch house and saw different clothes hanging on the clothesline. He then looked to the corral and saw no activity there, but when he turned to the barn, he saw the old man sitting just inside the barn door repairing what looked like a leather harness for a horse. About an hour later he saw Alice coming out with an empty laundry basket and take down the clothes from the clothesline, folding them as she moved along the line. When she finished, she returned around the corner of the ranch house from which she had come earlier.
Dan slowly lowered himself back down into the bushes. Once back down to the ground, he crawled through the base of the bushes toward the side away from the ranch house. He was careful to avoid any movement that would cause any sounds or unnatural movement of the bushes above him. It took almost fifteen minutes to reach the backside of the bushes. He did not rise up through the top of the bushes, but looked out through the side of the bushes. He looked out upon and through the Ponderosa pines he had passed through last night. To his left, he could see the stock trail by the bunkhouse he had come in by last night. He knew the creek he had followed was almost due south of his location. He estimated the distance to be just over a mile. The trees were well-spaced apart with very little undergrowth, except for the occasional stand of lodge-pole pines that grew in thick clusters closer to the creek. The land sloped slightly up as it ran south. All of which he had expected, but it was comforting to verify it with his own eyes. He looked for some landmark that he might be able to use in his escape to the creek, but he saw nothing that would help. He was disappointed, but not surprised. He would have to trust that he would have enough light from the moon to guide him.
He heard the sound of horses behind him, so he knew some of the riders were returning. He slowly retraced his steps back through the brush to the side toward the ranch house. He slowly worked his way back up the tree trunk to where he could look out on the buildings. Since it had taken twenty minutes to return to his original hiding place, the riders were already unsaddled and dispersed. The young boy was in the corral rubbing down his horse. The other rider who went out with him was walking back from the barn to the bunkhouse. He didn’t think the foreman had returned yet, but he wasn’t sure. The number of horses in the corral didn’t tell him anything because the old man had been taking horses in and out of the corral most of the day. The young boy finished with his horse and carried his saddle and gear to the barn. When the boy left the barn, he headed for the ranch house instead of the bunkhouse. Dan lost sight of him as he approached the ranch house. He didn’t hear the door of the ranch house open, but there was more background noise this afternoon that this morning. He thought he might have gone to the kitchen, which must have a door on the other end, since Alice always appeared from that end. A little later the old man led a horse out of the barn and returned it to the corral. The boy appeared from the area hidden by the corner of the ranch house and walked toward the corral. At the corral, the boy and old man began talking, and as they were talking the foreman and the five other riders returned. They rode up to the corral and began to dismount. As the foreman dismounted, the boy was there to take the reins of his horse. The foreman called the old man over and began talking to him while the boy unsaddled his horse. The other riders were also unsaddling their horses and getting their gear together. They released the horses into the corral and carried their gear to the barn. Some of the men stayed in the barn, some at the corral and a few went into the bunkhouse. The foreman was standing at the corral talking to one of the wranglers when Jason rode in. The foreman moved out to meet Jason and Jason dismounted. The two began a conversation, which continued even when the old man came and to take Jason’s horse. They talked for at least five minutes before they finished. The foreman went to the bunkhouse and Jason went to the ranch house. Dan heard the door of the ranch house open and the sound of a girl’s voice greeting Jason. Just before Jason disappeared from view, he saw the dark-haired woman embrace him. They continued into the ranch house, and Dan lost sight of them.
A little before six o’clock the men started drifting toward the ranch house. Apparently, six o’clock was suppertime. The last man to the ranch house was the old man from the barn. Dan was tempted to move closer to the ranch house with all the men inside, but it was still light, and he decided not to expose himself to the windows of the house. About thirty minutes later the first of the wranglers started leaving the ranch house. Some milled about the corral and some went into the bunkhouse. By seven o’clock all of the men were accounted for except the young boy. By the time the young boy came out from the far end of the ranch house at seven forty-five the rest of the men had gone into the bunkhouse. He went to the corral and looked in on the horses then went to the bunkhouse. It was getting dark around the ranch house, and the lights were shining through the windows.
Dan decided it was dark enough to move out of his cover. He took everything with him in case he didn’t return, but was careful not to damage the bushes as he left in case he had to return. He moved carefully around the back of the ranch house, being careful to stay beyond the light from the windows. He felt for the clothesline with his upheld hand. Once he found the clothesline, he moved along the line parallel to the house. He passed the window nearest the end of the ranch house toward his hiding place. The room did not have a lamp lit, so he couldn’t see inside. The next two windows opened into a large room, which they were using as a dining room. Jason and the dark-haired woman were sitting at the table and talking. As he watched the girl got up and took a coffee cup and went through a door that Dan was sure was the door to the kitchen. A few minutes later she returned and set it in front of Jason. Dan moved on down the back of the house toward the kitchen. The next window opened on a small, dimly lit room. The room had a bed and a table with an oil lamp on the table. The door to the room was on the side toward the kitchen. He thought this could be Alice’s room. The last window was the kitchen. The light in the kitchen was much brighter than in the small room, but at the distance, he was from the house he could not see very much. Dan decided to move back toward the small room and approach the house. He moved slowly toward the house. He reached the side of the house between the window for the kitchen and the window for the small room; but closer to the window for the small room. He moved carefully toward the kitchen window. The window had some thin curtains, which had been pulled back. Looking between the edge of the window and the curtains, he could see into the kitchen. Standing at the counter near the far wall was Alice. She was drying the dishes she had washed earlier and putting them away. She was wearing a loose dress and a pair of lace-up shoes with about a one-inch heel. The door from the kitchen to the outside was to her left, which was the end of the house, which is where he was sure it would be. The stove was on that wall to the left of the door. On the wall on her right where two doors and a hallway, the hallway, obviously went to the dining room. The door nearest him must be the small room he had passed. If that was Alice’s room, the other door must go to a pantry or storage room. After she finished with the dishes, she went into the dining room. Dan moved as quickly and carefully as he could back to the window in the dining room. He didn’t try to look into the window, but he could hear the conversation within.
Alice looking at Jason asked, “Do you need anything before I banked the fire for morning?”
He said, “If I want anything, I will tell you, and you will fix it regardless of the time!”
“I understand that, I was just trying to save time if you want something now.”
“I don’t want anything now.”
“Thank you.” Alice returned to the kitchen.
The dark-haired girl said, “Why do you let her talk to back to you like that.”
“My father says I have to keep her looking good.”
chapter 7
The Escape
Dan moved back to the kitchen. Alice had the firebox door of the stove open, and was banking the coals, so as to have a fire in the morning. He stepped back from the window and thought about his options. It was
just after eight o’clock. The moon would be up in an hour. If he didn’t take her tonight would tomorrow night be better? It could be worse. He decided he would try. He had thought about how to approach Alice and was unsure until he saw her room. He went to the window of her room and tried the window. It wasn’t locked, but he had to be careful not to make any noise as he raised it. He removed his pack and set it on the ground near the house, then put his canteen and hat on top of the pack. The windows had been built to let the air in during the summer, and it was large enough for him to pass through. His moccasins made no sound as he walked across the wooden floor. He moved quickly to the far side of the room to a position that would be behind the door when it opened. His plan was to put his hand over her mouth before she could scream in surprise, and then explain himself to her.
High Country Rescue Page 12