by AmyFleming
Luc watched Dusty cut the first calf away from its mother and drive it past Ty. Ty wrapped his lariat around the horn on his saddle. Luc noted how smoothly Ty handled the lariat and roped the calf. Ty’s horse held firm, holding the rope tight. Ty jumped off his horse and turned the calf. He wrapped the rope around the calf’s legs and tied it down. Then Dusty joined Ty to hold the calf steady.
Luc carefully aligned his branding iron with Dredger’s D and seared through the hair and the outer skin layer of the calf. When he was done, it left a mark the same colour as the leather in his chaps, an even brown. They cut the calf loose and it got back on its feet and ran towards its mother.
After the fourth calf, Ty remarked, “Dredger will know he and his men branded these calves. When he comes looking for them, and sees our brand over his, there’ll be hell to pay.”
Luc felt the barb of Ty’s criticism. “I did a pretty good job of lining the brands up,” he said.
“We don’t want a fight with Dredger, Luc.”
Luc thought about Ty’s words. Dredger had always caused trouble for their father and now he wanted to steal their calves. Luc turned to his brother. “We’ll get these calves on the train out of Bandit Creek tonight. We’ll take them along with the yearlings.”
Ty muttered something. Luc knew Ty didn’t want to be involved in any cattle rustling. Men like Dredger took the law into their own hands. Lynching for cattle theft wasn’t unheard of, especially back in the days before the new century.
“Don’t worry, Ty,” Luc assured him. “Dredger will never know what happened to these calves.”
*****
The train station at Bandit Creek consisted of a two-story building with a waiting room, an agent’s office and a freight room on the lower floor. Beside the main track were two sidings. Alongside one spur were some cattle pens and a loading chute. When ranching in the area started, Bandit Creek became a cattle-shipping point.
Luc drove the cattle along a bluff above the river. Some ranchers liked to drive their animals right down the main street of Bandit Creek. Because they could. Because they liked to remind people that cattle had free run on unfenced land. Luc thought it was all just a show of pride, and not good for the cattle anyway. Better to drive them in along the bluff. It was a little further but they would reach the cattle yards calm and manageable.
Sam Wilberforce, the stationmaster at Bandit Creek, was also the cattle agent. It was two o’clock before Luc strode into the shipping office.
“Luc, I expected you earlier. The train goes out at four p.m.”
“Sorry, Sam. We stopped to eat along the trail.”
Sam sighed, exasperated. “I need a bill of sale for your cattle.”
“Right here, Sam.” Luc handed the papers to the agent.
“Okay, drive them into the pens. I’ll check them when they go past the gate.”
Ty and Dusty drove the cattle into the yard. Sam sat on the fence to watch each of the yearlings go past. Luc climbed up beside him. The four calves were mixed in with the steers. When the second calf went past, Sam turned his head and looked at Luc.
“Luc, some of these calves were branded recently.”
“We rounded up some mavericks as we came in. They were all following Branigan cows. They were ours, and we branded them.”
“Stop that one for me,” the agent directed. Luc called out to Ty who tied down the calf. The agent dropped off the fence, went over, and looked at the brand. “This calf here was branded today.”
“I told you, Sam, we branded four calves today on the way in. They were Branigan calves.” Luc could see the agent wasn’t happy so he continued, “Look, Sam, do you want our business or not? We can take our cattle down to Missoula. We’d get a better price there.”
Luc felt the force of Sam’s stare. Sam knew that every fall, the Branigan Ranch sold all the cattle they couldn’t feed over the winter. They didn’t leave cattle out on the open range to perish if there wasn’t enough feed or the snow was too deep. Maybe they didn’t produce as many cattle as the big spreads, but their cattle were always healthy, shipped well and sold for a premium back east. Sam knew all of that.
So, Luc was pretty sure Sam would not want to accuse him of rebranding the cattle.
After a few moments, Sam made his decision. “Luc, get these cattle loaded up in the train cars. I want them out of here this afternoon. And if you ever bring rebranded cattle to me, you will be driving your stock to Missoula. I’m not taking sides between you and Dredger.”
*****
Otto Dredger pulled his truck up to the train station in Bandit Creek. He ran a hand over his hair. The blond waves touched his shoulders. Otto grabbed his hat from the seat beside him and put it on. The hat covered the fact that his hair was beginning to thin on the top of his head. Although he owned the biggest ranch in the valley, Otto still thought of himself as a cowboy and he always carried a gun, a silver-plated Colt Peacemaker. He checked his holster, hidden under a long grey coat and slid the buckle over to ride on his hip. He straightened his tie and went to look for Sam Wilberforce.
He could have sent one of his ranch hands to get this shipment, but he wanted to pick it up himself. He had a lot of hopes and plans based on this shipment.
He went inside the station and asked the clerk, “Where’s Wilberforce?”
“Out loading up some cattle,” was the answer.
Dredger knew the importance of dealing with the man in charge, so he went outside and walked along the platform. Sam Wilberforce was across the tracks, watching as some cattle were loaded into cars.
Dredger eyed the cattle. They looked like yearling steers, in fine health. Mixed in with a few calves. He watched as Wilberforce closed the gates on the last cattle car and then three cowboys emerged from behind the cars. Luc Branigan was one of them.
Dredger gave Branigan a piercing look. He shook hands with the stationmaster, who turned to cross the tracks. Wilberforce looked a little shaken when he saw Dredger. Dredger immediately knew something was going on.
“Fine day, Sam,” Dredger said, when Wilberforce got close enough for a little conversation.
“The wind is cold,” Wilberforce replied.
“Them’s some fine looking cattle you loaded,” Dredger continued, keeping his voice conversational.
“Yes, they are,” Wilberforce replied.
“All yearlings?” Dredger continued.
“All but four,” Wilberforce replied. “Are you looking for me, Otto?”
“Do you have a shipment for me, Sam? I was expecting one today.”
“We do. I’ll be glad to move it on out of the warehouse.”
The shipment consisted of two wooden boxes stamped with DuPont in big red letters. Each box contained fifty pounds of dynamite.
“I’ll get them loaded up in your truck. What do you need with a hundred pounds of dynamite?”
“I’m clearing some land. Dynamite is the best thing to blast those tree stumps out,” Dredger said.
“Expensive, though.”
“Cheaper than hiring men to dig them out. Better than burning them out. Especially after the big fire we had last year. Don’t want to be starting another one.”
The boxes were loaded in the wooden box at the back of Dredger’s Ford T truck. He brushed a few leaves off the open bench before he got in. He took a long look in the direction of the cattle pens. The cattle had long been loaded and there was nothing to see.
Chapter Five
Sheriff Alec Forrest got to his office to find his deputy, Frank Waters, waiting for him with some messages. Some trouble had happened over at Lorelei’s Cat House and Maggie O’Connor had a girl over at her boarding house who couldn’t pay her bill.
The Sheriff sighed. He sent Frank to check out the problem at Lorelei’s and he went to see what was up at the boarding house.
The girl, Betty Parker, had a story he had heard too many times before. She had run away with a man. He left her in Bandit Creek at the boarding house. Betty wa
s certain her man would be coming back for her, but she was out of money.
The girl was scared of Maggie who was insisting that she leave. Maggie wanted to keep Betty’s suitcases until she could pay her bill. Betty was even more scared to go back and face her parents, and scared to leave the place where her boyfriend had left her. What if he came back and couldn’t find her?
Alec managed to learn where her parents lived, outside of Des Moines. He got Betty to leave when Maggie O’Connor promised to tell the boyfriend that Betty had gone home to her parents’ place. Finally, he got Maggie to agree to let the girl take her bags. They probably weren’t worth very much except to Betty and the bill wasn’t that high. In the end, Maggie relented, happy to see the Sheriff take Betty off her hands.
Alec took Betty to the train station and bought her a ticket back to Des Moines. He told Betty that her parents should wire him the train fare, but he wouldn’t be holding his breath for the money. He sent a telegram to her father, telling him to pick Betty up at the station in Des Moines. Finally, he took Betty out on the platform and watched her get on board the train. As he waited, he wondered for a moment if he would ever see his money again. What with his inheritance and his salary, he didn’t really need the money, and he would far rather see Betty go home than run across her next week working as a dance hall girl in one of Bandit Creek’s saloons.
Once the train pulled out of the station, he went back inside. Not that he really thought she would get off the train, but these young girls in love… Sometimes they were too foolish for words.
He turned on his heel and went back inside the station. There standing beside a blue trunk was yet another girl.
This one was especially pretty, with blond hair pulled back and blue eyes set in an elfin face. Did these girls just know where to find him? Was he going to have to buy this girl a ticket home too?
*****
Charlotte waited beside her trunk in the train depot at Bandit Creek until almost everyone was gone. This was not how she expected her new life to begin -- feeling lost and lonely. A tall man with a droopy moustache strode briskly through the station. He wore a silver sheriff badge on his sheepskin jacket. He stopped abruptly. Charlotte felt his eyes sweep over her. She raised her head a little and straightened her back. This man may have alarmed her, but she wasn’t going to let him know it.
The stationmaster wanted to close up and came over to ask her who she was waiting for. “Otto Dredger,” she told him, “from the school board.” She could sense the other man watching them intently.
“Are you the new schoolteacher?” the stationmaster asked.
“Yes, I’m Charlotte Fraser, the new teacher,” she said, standing as tall as she could.
“You hardly look old enough. Hope you’ll be here longer than the last one. She left faster than most of the teachers who come out here.”
“Otto Dredger was supposed to meet me here at the train.”
“Otto was here earlier today. Picking up a shipment. He may still be in town. He’s often down at the Powder Horn Saloon at the end of the day,” the stationmaster said.
Charlotte looked at him doubtfully. “I can’t go into a saloon.”
The stationmaster gestured at the Sheriff. “Sheriff, the teacher here, Miss Fraser, could use your assistance. Otto Dredger was supposed to meet her, but he hasn’t come for her.”
This time she noticed the sheriff’s casual manner. If it weren’t for the badge he wore on his chest and the watchful nature of his eyes, Charlotte would have never believed he was a lawman.
The sheriff seemed to relax a bit. Now he just looked annoyed. “Really, Mr. Wilberforce, did town council hire me as sheriff, just so I could escort young ladies?”
The stationmaster responded, “I’d take Miss Fraser to the saloon to get Otto, but my wife has her church meeting tonight and I’ve got to get home for dinner. If you take her down to meet Otto, I’ll lock up her trunk here in the station. It’ll be safe until morning and I’ll get someone to deliver it out to the Dredger place for her.”
The two men talked about Charlotte as if she wasn’t there.
The Sheriff said, “That’s fine Sam. Go on home. I’ll be sure Miss Fraser gets out to Dredger’s place.
The stationmaster said to Charlotte, “I’ve got two boys in the school. I hope you can teach them to read and such. Like I told you, Miss, we’ve been having trouble keeping teachers here.”
Charlotte watched Sam Wilberforce lock up the station. The Sheriff walked with her as far as a building with a sign that read Sheriff’s Office, a few buildings down the street.
“Wait here for me,” he said to Charlotte. “I need to go in and check on my deputy. I’ll be a few minutes and then I’ll take you down to the Powder Horn.”
“Where is the Powder Horn?” Charlotte asked.
The sheriff pointed to a building on the other side of the road. “Just down the road,” he said, “but wait here for me.” He went inside the office.
Charlotte waited. And waited. And waited. She gripped her purse and waited a few more minutes. It felt as if she had been standing there for an eternity when Charlotte decided she had waited long enough. If she didn’t find Otto Dredger on her own, she would come back to the Sheriff’s office.
*****
The Powder Horn Saloon was right where the Sheriff said it would be. Charlotte stood outside the swinging doors waiting for someone to come out.
A woman in a loose fitting red dress walked towards Charlotte on the street. Charlotte marveled. The red satin dress was trimmed with black lace panels. She had never seen anything like it before. Then to her amazement, the woman turned to go into the Powder Horn.
“Excuse me,” Charlotte ventured. She wasn’t usually timid, but this woman dressed in red going inside a saloon had flustered her.
The woman turned around and regarded her with an amused expression on her face. “You know, respectable women don’t usually speak to me.”
Charlotte was taken aback. “Why not?”
“Because...oh it doesn’t matter. What do you want?”
“I’m Charlotte Fraser. I’m looking for Otto Dredger, from the school board. The sheriff said I could find him here.”
“The new schoolteacher? How old are you anyways?” the woman asked.
Charlotte was never prepared for that question. Her mother could not remember what year Charlotte had been born and the church where she had been baptized had burnt down. “Eighteen” she said, hoping to appear old enough to be a teacher. She knew she might be seventeen or even sixteen. With five children under six years old, her mother had sent her to school early.
“I’ll get Otto for you.” The woman pushed her way through the swinging doors. She turned and looked back at Charlotte. “Better be careful around Otto,” the woman said. “He likes to think he has a way with the women, and you’re hardly more than a baby yourself.”
The swinging doors closed behind her and the woman called out, “Otto, Otto Dredger, there’s someone waiting outside for you.”
Charlotte waited, but no one came out of the Powder Horn. The sun slipped behind the peaks and Charlotte felt a flicker of fear. What was she supposed to do, alone in Bandit Creek at night? It would be embarrassing to have to go and look for that sheriff again. After a few minutes, the woman in red came out the door with a brown haired cowboy. “Otto Dredger’s not here, Charlotte.”
“Oh my goodness, what’ll I do?” Charlotte said. “He was supposed to meet me and take me out to his ranch.”
“This here is Luc Branigan. He’ll take you by the Dredger place,” the woman said.
Charlotte turned to the cowboy. He looked to be in his late twenties. He still was wearing his chaps, like he had just gotten off his horse. “I hope it’s not too much trouble,” she said.
The slim cowboy jerked his head towards the general store on the corner. “I’ve got my wagon over at the store. It’s loaded and ready to go,” he said. “Dredger’s place is next to my spread.�
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“Thanks for your help,” Charlotte said to the woman in red. “I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Annie Hamilton, but it would be best for you to forget you ever met me.”
Chapter Six
“Where are you from?” Luc asked after Charlotte was settled in the wagon.
“I’m from St. Helen in Michigan. My parents had a farm there. I went to Normal School in Kalamazoo.”
“You’re a long way from home.”
“My dad went out to California two years ago. My mom pulled up stakes after a year and went out to be with my Dad. All my brothers and sisters went with them, but I’ve been on my own since I started Normal School.”
He gave her a surprised look. “Pretty little thing like you, I’m surprised you’re on your own.”
“I can take care of myself,” she insisted.
“I only went to school to grade three,” Luc confided as the wagon rolled down the road. “By then, I knew how to read and to do some adding and subtracting, so that was as much school as I ever needed. Been working on the ranch every since.”
Charlotte didn’t know how to respond to this rough cowboy. He seemed nice enough, but her parents would never hear of a kid leaving school after grade three. Charlotte had gone up to grade eleven before Normal School.
“What do you do for fun, Miss Fraser?”
“I like to ride. I used to go to the movies in Kalamazoo. I love to go to dances.”
“Dances, now there’s a thought. A lovely girl like you, twirling to the music.”
“I used to go dancing all the time, back in St. Helen. Or go to house parties, and we would roll up the carpet so we could all dance.”
“Going to dances,” he teased. “You hardly look old enough. Next thing you’ll be telling me is you had a boyfriend back in Kalamazoo.”
“I did have a boyfriend,” she said.
“You don’t look old enough to have a boyfriend.”
She thought for a moment about Gilbert. “Well, I did. But I don’t anymore. He’s marrying my friend, Ora, at Thanksgiving.”