[Dakotah Treasures 01] - Ruby

by Lauraine Snelling

  Amazing what a difference a fancy dress and face paint made.

  The calf struggled to its feet before the timer, disqualifying the pair.

  Two soldiers lined up for the next entry, but they hadn’t near the experience of the cowboys and came in two minutes over Rand’s time.

  “You better teach your men to rope and tie,” one of the hecklers called to the captain.

  “Ah, the pay’s better in the army,” Captain McHenry answered.

  “The food ain’t.” General laughter answered the comment, even though the cantonment was known for having good and plentiful food.

  The next pair from the Ox Ranch turned in a near perfect performance.

  “I think they beat us.” Joe spat off to the side.

  When the time was announced, Rand nodded. “Less than a second faster—not bad.”

  Rand and Joe ended up with second place, since no one else entered.

  “Decided to save my money,” Chaps said when he rode up. “You near to saved our reputation.”

  “Near to don’t bring home the pot.” Joe turned his horse and rode off to the starting line to watch the races. The quarter mile would run first.

  “You entering Buck?” Chaps asked.

  “I don’t think so. You want to ride him?”

  “He runs best for you. Why not ride him? You have as good a chance as any.”

  “Not with that half-Thoroughbred McHenry rides. That horse goes like the wind.”

  “Buck gets off faster. You could take him on the quarter.” Chaps spoke around the chewing tobacco that puffed out his lower lip.

  “Too much weight.”

  “Take the saddle off.” A glob of tobacco juice splatted in the dust.

  “That’s a thought. Those military saddles weigh hardly anything.” Rand sucked air through his teeth, a sure sign that he was thinking.

  “I’ll put the money up.”

  “No. If I race, I’ll do that. How many are entered?”

  “Five in the first race and six in the second.”

  “I need to go on over and check the meat.”

  “No, you don’t. Beans knows what he’s doin’. He got a young private to spell him on turning the crank.”

  “He might be running low on wood.”

  “He knows how to split more. The stack is right there.” Chaps gave him a look painted gray with doubt. “You really don’t want to run, you don’t have to, you know.” He tipped his head slightly. “But then we on the Double H won’t be able to hold our heads up without winning something.”

  Rand leaned over and punched Chaps on the shoulder. “Yeah, I saw how you did your best to hold our name up.”

  “So you going to run?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “I plan to make good money on the bet.”

  “You better keep your money in your pocket where it’s safe. I can’t guarantee a win.” Rand rode on over to see how Beans was doing, but the cook waved him off before he could open his mouth. He leaned forward and smoothed Buck’s mane to the side. “You want to run, old boy?”

  Buck’s black-fringed ears swiveled back to listen better. He blew out a snort, as if daring the other horses to challenge him, and pawed one front hoof.

  Rand glanced over at the crowd where the captain was already mounted and sat like he’d already attained a general’s stars. Opal and Ruby stood by the horse chatting with McHenry. From where he sat, Rand figured they looked to be fast friends. He’d seen them riding one day up the river.

  Nudging Buck, he rode on over to the crowd, drawing another dollar out of his shirt pocket on the way.

  “You in, Harrison?”

  “Guess so.” He handed his money to Johnny Nelson, owner of the only store in town.

  “Anyone breaks over the line before the pistol shot is disqualified.”

  “I get it.”

  “The captain wanted to take a run at it, but I told him no. Start from a standstill is the only way out here.” Johnny scratched his cheek. “You bettin’?”

  “Nope. Not a bettin’ man.”

  “Winner takes all.”

  “I know.” Rand tipped his hat at one of the military wives and rode on over to the sidelines, where he dismounted.

  “So you’re going to try to beat Kentucky here, after all?” Captain McHenry stopped his horse beside Buck.

  “Looks that way.” Rand unbuckled the rear cinch and started loosening the front.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Lightening up my horse. What does it look like?”

  “Won’t help.”

  “We’ll see.” Rand sent McHenry one of his slow smiles, daring him just a bit.

  “Opal, stay back from the horses.” Ruby’s voice made Rand break off the stare down.

  “But I—”

  “No buts. You heard me.”

  Rand set his saddle on the ground with the horn down and flipped the rope over the cantle so it would be out of the way. He tossed the heavy woven wool blanket on top and brushed a gloved hand along Buck’s spine.

  “How come you took the saddle off?” Opal had edged closer in spite of her sister’s warning.

  “So Buck has less to carry.” At her questioning look, he added. “Then he can run faster.”

  “Oh. Is he real fast?”

  “On short distances.” He nodded toward her sister, who was picking her way past a pile of horse manure. “You better get back before you get in real trouble.”

  “Yeah, I know. Thanks.” She flashed him a grin, saluted the captain, and meandered on over to the side before Ruby caught up with her.

  Rand kept his smile to himself. She surely did remind him of his little sister. Same sass, same determination to get what she wanted.

  “Mount up.” Johnny shouted to be heard over the boisterous crowd.

  Rand swung aboard and signaled Buck forward. He stopped to the right of Captain McHenry, whose horse was already shifting his front feet and tossing his head.

  “Bit high-strung, eh?”

  “Ready to run, is all.”

  Buck stood quietly, although Rand could feel the horse’s muscles bunching. He glanced ahead to where another group of spectators stood at both sides of the finish line.

  The pistol fired, and within three strides Buck was a length ahead of the other horses. As one body with his horse, Rand melted into the mane and withers. While he could hear the others behind him yelling at their mounts and flailing their hides with whips, he only murmured, “Come on, Buck, old boy. You can do this.”

  Halfway to the finish line, he could hear a horse coming up on the left side and one still farther back on the right. Buck drove for the finish line, his ears flat against his head, nose reaching for the prize.

  With each stride the captain’s horse drew nearer. At the flank, then the girth.

  Rand glanced to the side to see the Thoroughbred’s nose even with Buck’s shoulder. The horse was coming up faster than the finish line.

  Nose to neck.

  “Come on, Buck.” Rand whispered in his horse’s ear.

  The buckskin gave his last surge, and they were over. Rand had no idea who won. He eased himself straight up and back on the reins as gently as if they were riding on the ranch. Down to a lope, a jog, and a walk before he turned around to the cheering crowd.

  “You did it, Rand!”

  “Harrison, you ever want to sell that buckskin, I’ll take him.”

  “Yeehaw, what a race.”

  The men surged around him, patting Buck and slapping Rand on the knees, his hands. Rand glanced up to see McHenry shaking his head.

  “Three more paces, and I’d have had you.”

  “I know. That was too close for comfort.”

  “You want to go in the half mile?”

  “Nope. Buck only does the quarter. You going to run again?”

  “Of course. Kentucky just got warmed up. Give him a few minutes’ rest, and he’ll run ’em all into the ground.”

  While
Rand and McHenry were talking, the others were laying out the turn. Since there wasn’t a convenient half mile of straight flatland to run on, they compensated with an easy turn and back to the starting line.

  Johnny handed Rand the jingling leather bag. “Here you go. You won it fair and square.”

  “Thanks.” Rand looked down to see Opal, eyes shining and with a grin from here to there, standing between Buck and the captain’s horse, one hand on each sweating shoulder.

  “You were both so . . . so . . .” She made a funny face. “I can’t think of a word big enough and good enough.” Buck turned and whuffled her hair, making her giggle.

  “Thank you, Miss Torvald.” Captain McHenry reached down and patted her hand. “Someday you’ll ride like that.”

  “I think not.” Ruby stopped five feet in front of the horses.

  But Rand could tell she’d enjoyed the race as much as her little sister. Excitement pinked her cheeks and widened her eyes. If he wasn’t mistaken, she had a slight case of the heaving bosoms too. Harrison, keep your eyes on her face where they belong.

  “Hey, Rand,” Belle called, waving some bills in the air. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I never thought he’d do it,” muttered someone in the crowd. “Thought sure that big bay had it in the bag.”

  “Thankee, boss man.” Beans waved as he headed back to tend the barbeque.

  “Don’t drink it all in one place.”

  “Never fear.”

  “Are you going to race again?” Opal paced along beside him as he led Buck back to the long line to tie him up.

  “Nope. Buck doesn’t do long races.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s bred for short spurts. That’s what makes him a great cow horse. He’s quick on the start, hits top speed, and can stop just as fast.”

  “Like he did roping the calf?”

  “Yep. That’s what cow horses need.” Rand flipped the reins around Buck’s neck and removed the bridle. He knotted a thick soft rope around the horse’s neck, gave him a pat, and headed over to check on the meat.

  “They’re getting ready to run again.” Opal looked over to where the crowd had gathered again.

  “You’d best get on back, or your sister will get after you.”

  “I know. Thanks.” She waved and trotted back toward the stands.

  Rand watched her go. If your life had been different, you could have had a daughter her age. Or a son. He shook his head and hung his bridle on the horn of his saddle that most likely Beans had brought back to the chuck wagon. You can’t change the past, so let it go. Sometimes the saying was easier than the doing. McHenry’s winning was a foregone conclusion.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “I’m here to help, miss.” A young soldier saluted smartly from the bottom of the steps. “Captain said you could use a hand.”

  “Why thank you and thank the captain. You are . . .?”

  “Private First Class Adam Stone, ma’am.”

  “I’m glad to meet you. You don’t by any chance have a team and wagon that we could use to haul all this food over to the tables, do you?”

  “I will go get one.” He saluted again and spun on his heel to mount the horse he’d ridden down.

  “Oh, he’s so cute.” Milly stared after him.

  “Perhaps you can dance with him this evening.” Ruby caught the wink that Cimarron sent her way.

  “I’d like that.” Milly looked to have spent the last hour in the noon sun without a hat.

  “Huh. I’d rather watch the garden grow.” Opal gave Milly a sad glance.

  Ruby tucked her smile back inside. One of these days Opal might decide young men were cute too, but she hoped that was a long time coming.

  Rand Harrison and two of his men were lifting the roasted half of beef off the spit when they arrived. Long trestle tables already held food others had brought. Coffeepots lined the edge of the long fire pit, and from the raucous laughter, it would be needed fairly soon, hot and strong, to counteract the effects of Williams’ brew among some of the men.

  As Rand and his men began slicing slabs of meat off the carcass, the bugler called them all to eat with the army notes to charge.

  And that they did. Soldiers, ranchers, townsfolk, hunters, women, and children all fell into lines on either side of the table and dished up their plates.

  “Would you mind if I sat with you?” Captain McHenry asked softly.

  “I thought I should carry the coffeepot around.” Ruby looked up from under the brim of her hat.

  “I’ve set one of my men to doing that.”

  “Oh, why then, I guess not.”

  “You don’t have to be the hostess here, you know.”

  “I feel like I do.” Ruby glanced over to see that Opal had joined up with several of the children of the military. Belle and the girls were surrounded by men both in uniform and in chaps and shirts. Since things seemed peaceful enough there, Ruby looked around. The military women, who’d come from Bismark and Dickinson, had gathered in a circle, and other women from the area were off by themselves.

  “We don’t have much mingling going on here.” She shook her head. “I thought something like this would break down the barriers, you know?”

  “The music and the dancing will help do that. The only other social events this town has known were put on by the army, and there weren’t enough people here then to make up a party.”

  “I keep forgetting this town is so young.”

  “If you want to call it a town. It’s more like a settlement, I’d say. There’s some room on those benches over there.” He nodded toward the shed-roofed barracks of the cantonment. With bleached vertical siding, the long low building looked like a series of shacks strung together to hold each other up.

  “Not too impressive, I know. We never even got them painted.”

  “And you’ve been stationed here for better than three years?”

  “Our job was to keep the railroad safe, not to pretty up our housing. Besides, the army doesn’t spend much money on housing for the posts out on the frontier. This was never meant to be a fort.”

  Ruby took a bite of her meat and closed her eyes to better savor the flavor. “This is marvelous.”

  “I’m sure Rand will appreciate hearing that from you.”

  “I doubt it.” Rand Harrison might know how to cook a cow, but as a gentleman he failed to make the grade. She glanced up to catch a question in the captain’s eyes, but he returned to eating without asking.

  She watched Rand stroll over to the group that was laughing at something Belle had said. Insufferable would be a good word to describe him, far as she was concerned.

  “May I sit with you?” Holding her full plate, Milly stopped in front of Ruby.

  “Of course.” Ruby tucked her skirt closer beside her.

  “I see Cimarron is still here,” McHenry commented.

  “Yes, of course. Dove House is her home.”

  “I wondered since I hadn’t seen her.”

  “She’s the one responsible for all the hemmed tablecloths and napkins. Also for new clothes for all of us.” She caught herself before referring to them as “girls.” But the Cimarron of today looked far different than the one she’d first met. With her flaming red hair severely rolled around a long rat instead of piled high with curls, no face paint, and a high-necked demure waist, Cimarron looked the picture of elegance rather than flamboyance. Her wide-brimmed straw hat shadowed her flashing green eyes.

  With her new name and modest demeanor, Daisy could have fit right in with the military wives or daughters, so only Belle spun a parasol that matched her emerald green silk dress complete with bustle, overskirt, and low-cut bodice.

  Ruby savored every bit of the beef, having never eaten anything quite like it.

  “Yep, that Rand sure knows how to spit beef.” Captain McHenry wiped sauce off his chin.

  “Spit beef?” All Ruby could think of was the filthy spittoons that all o
f them hated scrubbing.

  “You roast an entire half over the coals. The spit is what holds it up and what they turn it with. Didn’t you ever cook over an open fire or in a fireplace?”

  “No.” She didn’t bother to tell him that she never really had much experience cooking. First her mother did it, then her grandmother, and the Brandons had a full-time cook. She’d done more cooking since arriving at Dove House than in all the previous years of her life combined.

  “I see.”

  “I think I better go around and invite everyone to join the dancing later.”

  “Just get the music going, and that’ll be call enough. I’ll have a couple of my men do the cleanup. Most likely the leftovers will become a late supper.”

  “Thank you for all your help.”

  “You are most welcome. As soon as the sun sinks behind the hills, the flag will come down and our bugler will blow taps. That should be a good way to end a patriotic celebration like this one.”

  “In the park at home there would have been bands, political speeches, fireworks, and ice cream with strawberries. New York does know how to celebrate.”

  “Some different from here, all right.”

  “Where is home to you?” She turned slightly to watch his face.

  “I was born in Ohio, but we moved enough times that home is wherever I hang my hat. The army is my home, I guess, and wherever they send me, I’ll be content there.”

  “And what about a family?”

  “I figure somewhere, sometime, God has a woman for me.” His level gaze made her glance at the plate in her lap.

  “Forgive me for getting so personal.”

  “Ruby!” Opal skidded to a stop in front of them. “Mr. Harrison said I could ride one of his horses. Is that all right with you?”

  “Who’ll be with you?”

  “Mr. Harrison. We’ll just be right around the corrals and such. I won’t go out of sight.”

  “Rand wouldn’t put her up on a horse she can’t manage.” McHenry leaned back against the wall.

  Rand, as you call him, might do anything to aggravate me. In fact, everything he does irritates as bad as the pesky black flies. “You be careful.”

  The sigh and rolling eyes said it all. “I will.”

  Ruby watched Opal run back across the parade field and follow Rand Harrison out to the long rope between fence posts where horses were tied.