High Country Rescue

by Michael Skinner

  Now he went back to the first branch and walked toward the second branch a couple of feet to the right of the line between the branches so as not to step on the track if it was there. As he approached the second branch, he looked along the line formed by the two branches from a standing position and from a kneeling position looking for more tracks or signs, but he saw none. He looked along the line out into the area beyond and noticed that the line ran near a large pine a few hundred yards away. Circling out away from the line he approached the tree carefully. He could see that the pine needles had been disturbed, but wasn’t sure that it meant anything. He pulled back from the tree and began to carefully circle the tree. He occasionally paused to kneel down and look across the grassy areas between the large pines. He could see a faint trail from the side that he could not see when he stood over it. It was very slow, but he was following what appeared to be one person moving through the pine needles and grass. After about two hours he followed the trail to a point where it ran into a stock trail that ran both ways along the creek.

  He saw no sign that the track crossed the stock trail into the creek, so he knew that the girl must have turned right or left. His sense of direction told him that to the left would lead back toward the ranch house area and that to the right would be deeper into the forest. He did not know the girl or what she was running from, but he could not imagine that she would go back toward the house. He turned right on the trail into the forest. The stock trail was packed so hard from the cattle traveling along it that he could see no sign. His only chance to find the trail he was looking for was to find where the tracks left the stock trail. In order, not to miss any possible sign, he would walk along the trail checking the area to one side of the trail for any sign, and when not finding any he would return to where he started and re-walk the trail checking the area on the other side. He continued this leapfrog process as he followed the trail along the creek.

  About a quarter of a mile from where he first found the stock trail, he saw a game trail branch off and cross the creek. He was checking the creek side of the trail when he found the game trail, so he checked the area carefully where the trail branched off but saw nothing. To be consistent, he returned back down the trail to where he had last checked the side of the trail away from the creek and started up the trail again. When he reached the area opposite of the game trail crossing the creek, he could see that plants had been disturbed, but could not see any footprints or other sign. This wasn’t much, but it was the only thing he had seen in an hour on the stock trail. He hadn’t found any sign at where the trail entered the creek, he thought it was worthwhile to cross and check the trail. As he left the creek on the other side, he still saw no sign. He continued up the trail checking carefully for a sign but found none. He was about to turn back and continue up the stock trail, when something caught his eye a few feet farther up the trail. He moved up to the area in question and knelt down. It was a shoe print. It was a woman’s shoe print. He stood and looked up the trail. There, occasionally between the rocks were shoe prints. He traveled a little farther up the trail and found an area of loose soil long enough to see two prints at the same time. This gave him a rough idea of the height of the person. As he examined the shoe prints, he could see another impression. It wasn’t a barefoot, but it wasn’t a boot or shoe, it had to be a moccasin. There was a man wearing moccasins traveling with the woman wearing shoes who was about 5’ 4”. He did not need to go up the trail any farther, he was sure this was the right track. Now was the time to return to the house and tell Jason what he had found. Ruiz returned down the trail and across the creek and back down the stock trail toward the house. It was after lunch when he finally got back to the ranch.

  As he entered the area between the house and the bunkhouse, Jason rushed out of the house and said, “Did you find her?”

  “No, but I found her trail.”

  “Why didn’t you follow it to her?”

  “Let’s go inside and talk.”

  By this time Sam and half the bunkhouse were outside listening.

  Jason said, “Sam come on in the house with us.”

  Jason turned and went into the house, followed by Ruiz and Sam. He took a seat at the head of the table and Ruiz, and Sam sat on either side.

  He asked, “What did you find?’

  Ruiz said, “First how tall is the girl and what kind of shoes does she wear?”

  Jason yelled, “Rosa!” then said as Rosa came in from the kitchen, “She is shorter than five and a half, but I don’t know for sure. Rosa, do you know what kind of shoe Alice wore?”

  “She wore a pair of brown lace-ups with a one or one and a half inch heel.”

  “Thanks.”

  Turning to Ruiz, Jason said, “Now can you tell me something.”

  “Yes, I was just making sure I was on the right set of tracks.”

  “Where did she go?”

  “She went south.”

  “Where south?”

  “Let me tell you what I found. She went out of her window and then I found a set of faint impressions of a single person headed toward the creek. At the creek, I found a stock trail running along the creek. I found signs about a quarter of a mile up the stock trail of someone crossing the creek and following a game trail up the mountain.”

  “Why would she go there?”

  “I am not finished, on the trail, I found her shoe prints which I haven’t seen before on the way out and then I found a man’s moccasin print.”

  “What!” yelled Jason.

  “She has either been taken or is being assisted in her run away.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “The tracks I found are by a girl the size of your missing girl, and with the kind of shoes she wears, so it must be her.”

  “Who is the man?”

  “How would I know.”

  “Sam, are all the men accounted for?”

  “Yes, they were all there at breakfast this morning.”

  “Do either of you know where that trail leads?”

  Ruiz, “Not me.”

  Sam, “Back into the broken country to the south.”

  Jason asked, “Sam, have you ever been back in there?”

  “No, but I can check with the hands and see if any of them have.”

  “Do that as quick as you can and if anyone has, bring them to back here.”

  Sam rose and left to check with the hands in the bunkhouse.

  Jason asked Ruiz, “Can you trail them?”

  “I should be able to.”

  “Can you tell how far ahead of us they may be?”

  “The signs I found are all from the night she ran away. The signs I found beside the trail, where they crossed the creek, could have been where they waited for daylight or just prepared to cross the creek. If they waited there until daylight, then that puts them yesterday and a half the day today ahead of us if we leave now.”

  “Do the signs tell you anything else?”

  “This is just a guess, but I would say the man she is traveling with knows what he is doing. He worked hard to leave as little sign as possible until he crossed the creek. Once across the creek, he changed to speed instead of hiding his trail.”

  Sam came through the door with Frank, Jason said, “Frank, have you been into the hills south of us?”

  “Yes, sir, but only a little way.”

  “What is the country like back there.”

  “I followed a wounded elk up a game trail about a mile east of here. I had to leave my horse at the creek, and I followed on foot thinking I would find the elk soon. I followed him to the top of the ridge and never found him, and by then I knew I wouldn’t be able to get him out if I found him, but from there I could see that the land sloped down to the base of another rock face a couple of miles away. Then I returned.”

  Jason said, “Thanks, just wait with the rest at the bunkhouse.”

  Jason told Sam, “Alice is at least a day and a half ahead of us in the backcountry, can we catch her?”
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  “We can travel faster than her, maybe we could gain a couple of hours a day. What do you think Ruiz?”

  “I have not been in that area, but from what I saw and what Frank said it sounds like it would be rough going for a girl, I think two hours a day is possible. However, if we press hard, travel until dark, cold camp, hit the trail at first light you might increase that to three or three and a half hours a day.”

  Jason said, “Sam, what do you think?”

  “If she is a day and a half ahead of us that could be fifteen to eighteen hours, at three hours a day that is five or six days to overtake her. Do we have that much time?”

  “I don’t know, the only place I can think of her to go is her father’s ranch, and that is a long ways to go on foot.”

  “Do we have a choice?”

  Jason thought then said, “No!”

  Then he said, “I need to write my father a letter and let him know what’s going on. Meanwhile you two, figure out what supplies we will need for a party of four or five to go after her. Sam, I will go, and I want you to stay here, figure out who else needs to go.”

  Sam turned to Ruiz and said, “Ruiz let’s go into the kitchen.”

  In the kitchen, Sam and Ruiz with Rosa’s help went through the pantry to see what they could find for trail food.

  Rosa said, “I haven’t been doing the cooking, so I am not sure what is in here.”

  Sam asked, “Rosa how fast can you slice up this slab of bacon and cook it?”

  “About twenty minutes I think.”

  “Then you get started, and we will continue to see what we can find.”

  Taking the bacon, Rosa returned to the kitchen.

  Ruiz said, “Here’s a tin of hardtack.”

  Sam said, “Here are four large cans of pork and beans.”

  “That’s not much.”

  “We don’t go into the backcountry very often. How are we going to carry this food and our gear?’

  “In my gear, I have a pack and some jerky. I can add the jerky to the supplies.”

  “I will go to the bunkhouse and the barn and see what we have.”

  As they returned to the kitchen from the pantry, Rosa said, “I have two dozen tortillas here I fixed for dinner tonight that you can have.”

  Sam said, “Thanks.”

  Sam and Ruiz both left through the kitchen door. At the bunkhouse, Ruiz went to his bunk to go through his gear and pick what he needed. Sam called the hands together and told them what he was needing. All he found in the bunkhouse was a couple of saddle bags. He sent Jimmy to the barn to see what he could find and asked Jay and Frank to get the two saddle bags and meet him on the porch at the house. Ruiz went to his pack and got the jerky out to take back to the kitchen.

  On the porch, Sam turned to Jay and Frank and said, “Alice is headed south through the backcountry and she’s not alone, someone is helping her run away. I want you to help catch her and bring her back. I don’t know if the man that is helping her will fight or not but if he does, I expect you to take care of him. Jason will pay you a hundred dollars each for this. Are you in?”

  Jay looked at Frank then they turned, and both said yes.

  “Good, you will be traveling with Jason and Ruiz. Get your bedrolls together and be back at the kitchen door as soon as you can. Jay send Bill and Bobby to see me now.”

  As Jay and Frank ran to the bunkhouse, Jimmy came over from the barn and brought another saddle bag and a small canvas pack. As he placed these on the porch next to the other saddle bags, Bill and Bobby rushed up from the bunkhouse.

  Sam turned to them and said, “Bill saddle up Jason’s, Ruiz’s and my horses and a horse for Jay and Frank and have them ready to go as soon as you can.”

  Before Sam could address Bobby, Bill was on his way to the corral. “Bobby, Jason is going to need a letter delivered to his father in town, pick a good horse and get it saddled and ready to go.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  With that, Sam thought he should see how things were progressing in the kitchen.

  When Ruiz got to the kitchen, Rosa was taking the last of the bacon out of the frying pan.

  He asked Rosa, “Do you have anything I can eat that we are not taking with us, I haven’t eaten since this morning?”

  “There is a pot of beans on the stove, the bowls are in the cabinet, just help yourself.”

  “Thank you.”

  After two tries Ruiz found the cabinet with the bowls. He took up some beans and found a spoon in one of the drawers. As he was eating the beans, he thought about asking Rosa about the situation here, but he didn’t know her and wasn’t sure he should ask. When Sam found him, he had told him that Jason’s wife had run away and he wanted to find her and bring her back. His gut told him there something more and something to be afraid of.

  Finally, he asked Rosa, “How long have Jason and Alice been married?”

  Rosa walked over to the door into the house to see if Jason was still there, but he wasn’t.

  “They aren’t married, who told you that.”

  Lying Ruiz said, “That’s just what I heard around town.”

  Rosa thought for a minute, then said, “That’s just a story Jason tells, but she was being held here to force her father to do something or something like that.”

  “What’s Jason like.”

  “I won’t be here when he gets back so I will tell you, he is mean, and you can’t trust him and if you tell him what I said he would kill both of us.”

  “Why are you telling me this?

  “Because if I don’t, you might not come back.”

  “I will not say anything and thanks for the warning.”

  “I wish somebody had given me a warning. Someone is coming,”

  Then Ruiz said, “These beans are good.” Loud enough so he could be overheard.

  Then Ruiz could hear the footsteps coming toward the kitchen door from the outside.

  Sam came and said, “I thought about it, and I think we only have enough food for four men on the trail, do you agree?”

  Ruiz said, “Yes, if we are careful.”

  “The other two who are going with you will be at the door soon, and I will check and see if Jason is ready.”

  Sam went through the door into the living area and over to the bedroom door where he knocked and asked, “Are you ready?”

  Opening the door, Jason said, “Come in and let’s talk.”

  Closing the door, Sam said, “We only have enough food for four. I picked Jay and Frank to go with you and Ruiz. Everything should be about ready. I have horses standing by to take you to the creek crossing that will save some time, and I have Bobby ready to take your letter to town.”

  “That sounds like everything is ready. I have my gear together. Do you have something I can use to carry it in?”

  “Yes, I have some saddlebags and a small pack on the porch.”

  “Good if you think my gear will fit in the pack bring it to me.”

  Sam looked at Jason’s gear and bedroll and said, “If you tie your bedroll on top of the pack, the pack should hold the rest.”

  “Okay, I will go with that. What do you know about Ruiz, can we trust him?”

  “I only know what I have heard, he has a reputation as a tracker and an occasional bounty hunter and spends a lot of time away from town. Why do you ask?”

  “I don’t know how this is going to play out, but we will at least have to get rid of whoever is helping Alice, and if we can’t catch Alice, we may have to kill her if we can.”

  Sam thought for a minute, then said, “Well, I guess he doesn’t have to come back either.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. Get that pack and hurry back.”

  As Sam left, Jason went from the bedroom to the desk in the outer room. He removed some paper from the desk and began his letter to his father. He really didn’t want to write this letter, but he had to.

  Alice is trying to escape through the backcountry south of the ranch.

&nbs
p; Someone is helping her, and they are traveling on foot. I have hired

  a tracker. He and I and two men are going after them.

  I do not know where they are headed, but we will overtake them.

  I am leaving Sam at the ranch in case you need him.

  Jason folded the letter and placed it in an envelope and returned to the bedroom to wait for Sam.

  Sam left the bedroom and went straight to the front door and out onto the porch, where he picked up the pack and carried it back into the house. He opened the bedroom door and handed it to Jason, closing the door, he went to the kitchen. When he got to the kitchen, he found that Ruiz had gone outside with Jay, and Frank and Rosa were packing four floor sacks with the grub.

  Sam asked Rosa, “Is everything ready?”

  “Yes, everything is ready.”

  Then Sam went outside and said, “Ya’ll each get a saddle bag off the front porch and get your gear packed and ready to go. Ya’ll need to grab a canteen and your rifle. Jay, get an extra canteen and fill it for Jason. We will meet at the corral.”

  Ruiz said, “A rifle will slow me down, so I will only take my pistol.”

  “Okay.”

  Sam went back into the house and Ruiz, Jay and Frank went to the front porch to get the saddlebags.

  Jay asked Ruiz, “Do you need a canteen or saddle bag?’

  “No, I have them both in the bunkhouse.”

  “Good”

  Jay called to Booby who was standing at the corral, “Bobby, get three canteens from the bunkhouse and fill them and bring them here to the porch.”

  Bobby ran for the bunkhouse. Ruiz headed toward the bunkhouse, while Jay and Frank packed their saddlebags with the gear they brought over earlier.

  When they finished, Frank said, “I’ll go get our rifles.”

  Ruiz sat on the bunk and loaded his gear into his pack. He sat the canteen aside, so he could fill it with some fresh water before they left. He rolled up his bedroll, but this time he folded in such a way that it rolled up into a narrow but thicker roll to ride on top of his pack instead of across his saddle. He tied the bedroll on top of his pack, then put the pack on his back. He picked up his canteen and went back outside.