Over the next few days there was much tension at the Farm, as those opposed to gun ownership, silently for the most part, protested the open carrying of firearms by those that had been trained in their use.
Glenn was happily surprised when several other students came to him over that time and asked to be trained and issued weapons. He gladly cooperated, bringing the total of armed people at the Farm to twenty-three. All were instructed to keep their sidearm with them all the time and to keep their chosen long arm handy, with plenty of reloads, and have it with them when they were working outside.
The actions taken were done none too soon. Winter was still in full swing when a group of horsemen swarmed among the buildings and then to the pastures, shooting wildly, trying to run off some of the stock feeding from one of the hayricks.
Three of the students working with the stock were armed. They began to return fire and ran off the would-be rustlers, killing two and running off the rest. They were sure at least two of the six that got away were wounded.
When Glenn got to the pasture there was a small group of people standing around the two dead men. Their horses had been rounded up and stood nearby, under the control of one of the students.
Brittany and Tabitha ran up. Tabitha, breathing heavily from the lingering effects of radiation sickness, saw the corpses and hurriedly turned away. “Couldn’t you have shot to scare them? Why did you have to kill anyone?”
A very angry Thomas showed Tabitha the blood running from his upper left arm. “See this? Huh? This is why. They didn’t care about shooting to scare anyone. They were trying to kill me!”
That shut Tabitha up. Two of the other students led Thomas away, to the clinic, so Harry could treat the wound.
“Okay,” Glenn said, looking along the track the rustlers had made getting away. I need volunteers to go after them.”
“They’re gone. It’s too dangerous. Leave them be and they’ll probably leave us alone now.” Tabitha was insistent again.
“And they may not,” Brittany said. She was looking at Glenn and nodded, showing her support.
Fredrick, Jeremy, and three of the male students agreed to go with Glenn. It took a few minutes to get horses saddled up, but they were on their way as soon as possible. It was no great chore to follow the tracks in the snow. Glenn decided the students had been correct when they said they’d wounded more of the rustlers. He was seeing a spot of blood on the snow from time to time.
The rustlers were none too smart. They’d stopped barely a mile from the Farm to tend to their wounded. Glenn and the others were on them before they realized it. More gunfire rang out. The rustlers’ horses got away from them and the men were left standing in a group with no concealment, much less cover. It was over in moments, all six of the rustlers lying on the snow covered ground, staining it red.
Glenn quickly checked on his group. Fredrick was hit in the thigh, and Barry, one of the students, had a crease just above his left ear and was feeling much the worse for wear. Glenn sent the rest back with Fredrick and Barry. He stayed behind to round up the rustlers’ horses and gather up their other belongings.
With their weapons and other goods loaded on the rustlers’ horses, Glenn head back to the Farm. One of the horses had been shot in the second firefight and was having trouble. He called the Farm on the FRS radio he always carried and asked for Jennifer, a pre-vet student, to meet him at the barn.
Brittany was with Jennifer when Glenn arrived. As soon as Jennifer looked at the horse she told Glenn, “There’s nothing I can do with that kind of wound. Best to put her out of her misery.”
Glenn sighed. “Okay. I’ll take her over to the butcher’s shop.”
Jennifer looked shocked. “We aren’t going to eat her!”
Glenn shook his head. “Not the humans. But we can’t waste anything. She’ll be fresh food for the dogs. If you’ll check out mine, and the other horses, and unload them I’d appreciate it. I’ll be back for the belongings.”
Jennifer nodded. “Let me unsaddle her first.” She unsaddled the wounded mare and gave her a couple of comforting pats. “Okay,” she told Glenn. She took the other reins from Glenn and he led the limping mare off.
It took Glenn several trips to get the rustlers’ things moved to the house so he could go through them thoroughly. But that would have to wait. He went to the clinic to check on Fredrick and Barry.
Barry was in one of the two four-bed wards, nursing a serious headache. He said he’d be okay when Glenn talked to him. “Harry gave me something to knock the pain down. It just hasn’t kicked in yet.”
Harry was still working on Fredrick, though Janine told Glenn that Harry had said there shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The bullet had missed arteries and bone. Glenn nodded, uncomfortable with the glaring Tabitha looking daggers at him.
Glenn headed for the equipment barn. He hooked up the Bobcat backhoe attachment to one of the Toolcats and headed for the pasture. It seemed everyone was avoiding him at the moment. He didn’t bother to get any help, but managed to load the first two dead rustlers onto the bed of the Toolcat, and then headed for the site of the second battle.
When he got there he used the backhoe to dig a deep trench. He stripped and rolled each of the bodies into it. He gathered up everything from the first two killed and set the items in the cab of the Toolcat. He added their bodies to the others, and then used the backhoe to fill in the trench.
When Glenn got back to the Farm he let one of the students take over the Toolcat to dismount the backhoe. Glenn took the rustlers’ belongings and added them to the pile on his living room floor.
Fortunately he’d put down a sheet of plastic before he put down any of the clothing. The clothing was a mess with blood. He started a load of it in the clothes washer and went back to living room. Glenn hadn’t really paid much attention to the weapons he’d gathered up. He began to catalogue them for the armory.
Between the six men there were three 1911 models with a total of thirteen magazines; three double action .357 magnum revolvers of different makes with two speed loaders for one of them; one Glock 17 and one Glock 19 with two fifteen round magazines, six nineteen round magazines, and four thirty-three round magazines; one Walther PPK in .380 ACP with three magazines; one Beretta Tomcat in .32 ACP with a spare magazine; one Beretta Bobcat in .25 ACP with a spare magazine.
Much to Glenn’s amazement, there were also three Ruger single action revolvers in .45 Colt with various barrel lengths. He decided that they probably belonged to the same man that had carried the Marlin 1895 Cowboy lever action rifle in .45-70 and a Stoeger 12 gauge Coach double barrel shotgun. One set of clothes had been very western in appearance.
The other long arms included four Bushmaster AR-15 clones in various forms, an FN FAL, and two Remington 870 shotguns, both 12 gauge. There were thirty AR-15 magazines, mostly thirty-round, and seven FAL magazines, all twenty rounders. There was very little long gun ammunition left.
The cowboy, as Glenn was thinking of him, had an empty leather bandoleer for the .45-70 and the fifty-round bandoleer for twelve gauge only had four rounds left. The left and right buscadero gun belts for two of the Ruger single actions still had twenty-five .45 Colt cartridges in each, though the revolvers had all had six expended shells in them. The right hand gun belt carried a Cold Steel Laredo bowie knife on the off side.
There were several variations of combat harnesses, no two alike. He cleaned the blood off as best he could and transferred the weapons, accessories, and accoutrements to the armory. He put the rest of the clothes in the laundry room for cleaning later.
It was getting dark when Glenn went back to the animal barn. Thomas had been one of those that had cared for the animals when Glenn brought them in. He showed Glenn the saddles and other things the horses had been carrying. Glenn wasn’t a great horseman, but could tell the saddles and accoutrements were excellent quality. Jennifer walked over while Glenn and Thomas were looking at the equipment. “Those guys had good horses. We
going to keep them?”
Glenn nodded. “Spoils of war,” he said, picking up a pair of leather saddle bags. A little food and camping supplies. Another set of leather saddle bags contained much the same, plus five twenty-round boxes of .45-70, and two fifty-round boxes of .45 Colt. “Must have been the cowboy’s,” Glenn muttered.
He went over everything, leaving the tack with Jennifer, and carrying the rest, with Thomas’ help, to the house. He’d go through it later. Now he needed some rest, for the physical fatigue, as well as the mental.
Glenn was up early the next morning. He dressed warmly, as the temperature was dropping again, and a light snow was falling. Adding The Walther PPK and its two spare magazines to an inside pocket, Glenn put on his coat. He slung the PTR over one shoulder and the musette bag with magazines over the other. He picked up a set of leather saddle bags he’d packed with a few things after he’d had breakfast. He reached down and picked up a loaded Kifaru Navigator back pack.
Jennifer was in the animal barn, tending to the morning duties when Glenn entered. She took note of his armament, but said nothing. She offered her help when he saddled his favorite horse, Blue Nose, but Glenn declined. He looped a bag of grain over the saddle horn and then mounted up, turned Blue toward the door of the barn, but stopped to tell Jennifer, “I’m going out to find out where those rustlers came from. If you would, tell Fredrick not to worry about me unless I’m gone more than three days. This is just a scouting trip.”
Jennifer nodded. “Okay. I will. But they aren’t going to like it. You shouldn’t be going alone.”
Again he said, “It’s just a scouting trip.” With that, Glenn rode out into the falling snow. The trail the rustlers’ horses had left coming to the Farm was still quite clear. Glenn had no trouble following it on Blue. He made good time during the morning. He did stop to let Blue water in a highway road ditch that held water.
He dismounted and got a drink of water himself, from his canteen. He also took out a couple pieces of jerky from his saddlebags. He walked along the trail, as it slowly filled with snow, leading Blue for several minutes. Then he remounted and urged Blue up the trail. He had a few ideas about where the group might have come from, but only backtracking them would tell the story.
The snow ended just as Glenn brought Blue to a stop at a good place to camp on the trail. He unsaddled the horse and set up camp. Glenn gave Blue a bait of grain and then he let Blue drink a little water from his hand as he poured water into it from his canteen. It took only a few minutes to heat and then eat his supper. Glenn went to bed without lighting a fire or turning on the tent lamp he had.
He was up again early the next morning and had eaten and struck the camp before the sun was up. Blue was saddled and loaded by the time that Glenn could make good sense of the trail again. He headed out, maintaining a steady progress until noon. He had told Jennifer he’d be back in three days. He couldn’t go much further or he wouldn’t make it back in time. Of course he could radio the Farm when he got close to it again.
After a quick lunch break, Glenn climbed aboard Blue again and kept going. Twenty minutes later he heard the sounds of wood being cut with an axe. He stopped and tied up Blue and then traveled forward on foot.
Glenn was not surprised by what he saw when he edged around the trees where the trail made a turn. He’d run across a very unfriendly group of people when he was checking out the additional property for the retreat and firewood plots. This was their site, though he hadn’t seen it originally, just the entrance road.
There were two small cabins and six travel trailers of various sizes, mostly on the small side. There were three people out splitting wood that was stacked near one of the cabins. All were armed. Two more people were butchering a deer on the far side of the small clearing. He watched for a long time. Everyone he saw was female or male under the age of fifteen. He’d found out what he wanted to know. Glenn eased back and headed for Blue, taking extreme care not to make any noise.
He watched his back trail carefully, but was relatively sure he had not been detected, much less followed. Glenn made it back to the Farm in plenty of time to avoid Fredrick sending out a search team for him.
Amid some grumbling, Glenn set up a twenty-four hour watch. After a day of thinking about things he asked to meet with Fredrick, Alison, Thomas, Brittany, and Harry. They got together in the clinic ward where Fredrick was still recuperating.
When everyone was settled, Glenn sighed and began. “I backtracked our rustlers and found what I believe to be their home base.” He held up his hands when people started to ask questions. “In good time. Let me finish, first.”
“When I got there all I saw were women and children. A couple of teen boys. Maybe fourteen or fifteen. They, as well as the women, were armed with a long arm of some type and kept them very handy.
“Based on the fact that there are two small cabins and a few travel trailers, and the fact that they tried to rustle our cattle, I think they must be low on food. They were butchering a small deer, so should be all right for a few days.
“But we need to do something. If they get desperate enough, they might try something again. We might not be so lucky the next time.”
Fredrick harrumphed.
“I don’t think any of us could just go there and kill them all…” Most of those in the room gasped in surprise.
“Exactly,” Glenn continued. “Even burning them out to get them to leave is not a real possibility to us. What I’m thinking is that we approach them, with a peace offering, and try to negotiate a peace with them.
“I can fully understand if they are at first reluctant, seeing we decimated their small population, even though it was justified. They might not see it that way. If they attack us, we’ll be justified in wiping out everyone that does. That means we’d be saddled with some small children. I don’t think any of us could just murder them, or leave them behind to predators or starvation. What do you all think?”
There was silence for a long time. “Can’t we just bring them here if they can’t make it on their own?” asked Brittany, rather tentatively.
Thomas and Fredrick both immediately said, “No.”
“It’s down on my list, too,” Glenn said. “Perhaps… In the future… If they prove themselves non-antagonistic, we might consider it. As it is now, they might do a lot of damage to the Farm and even kill several people in revenge for their men’s deaths.”
Slowly Alison lifted her hand and then began to speak. “I think Glenn has the right idea. Offer them peace and some help, but let them know any form of revenge will be met with force.”
Fredrick and Harry were nodding. Thomas looked at Brittany for a moment, then faced Glenn and said. “I support that, too.”
“Brittany?” asked Glenn.
“Can we wait and try to come up with something else?”
Glenn nodded. “I want to wait a couple of days, anyway. If any of you can come up with a more workable plan, I really want to hear it. This is a basically no win situation. I want it to turn out the best possible, within the limitations that already exist.”
No one came up with a better idea, so two days later, Glenn, accompanied by Thomas in the cab of a Unimog, headed for the other compound. The truck held a whole dressed beef, and several boxes of vegetables and fruits, along with some basics like flour and salt.
Four additional people rode in the back of the truck with the food. Everyone was well armed. It was snowing again, but the Unimog, with its snow blower going, had no trouble following what was left of the trail.
Glenn stopped at the same place he’d left Blue on the other trip and let Thomas and the others out. They spread out in the woods and paced Glenn as he drove the Unimog at a very slow speed the rest of the way to the rustlers’ compound.
He’d just made the slight turn that brought him to the compound when one of the teen boys stepped out from the woods, with a Ruger 10/22 raised to eye level. “Hold it there! There’s no trespassing here! What do you want?”
“We brought you some food.”
“Food?” the boy said. He looked toward the cabins. One hand still holding the Ruger on Glenn, the boy lifted a walky-talky to his lips and said, “They say they have food.”
The radio squawked, but Glenn couldn’t understand what was said. The boy put the radio back in his pocket and said, “Somebody is coming out to check. You just keep your hands where I can see them. Just like in the movies.”
Glenn made no moves, and hoped none of his team would either. It was only a couple of moments when one of the women he had seen the other time came out of one of the cabins, a shotgun in her hands.
“What do you want here?” she asked when she got up beside the boy.
“Just what I told him. We have some food for you.”
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