The Secret Saddle: Anna Troy's Emancipation (The Emancipation Series Book 2)

by Dani Larsen

  "Yes." Sam jumped into the conversation. "Sorry we are asking so many questions, but we are fairly new to the cattle business. We have purchased a small herd in south Idaho, and are heading back to get them, but wanted to scout out the ranges over here, as we heard this was a good place to raise cattle. Would you be able to tell us about the area? We would like to know where the best place to set them free might be."

  "Better make sure you brand them before you let them roam with the other rancher's cattle, or they might be rounding up your cattle with theirs."

  "We have our brand as we had a blacksmith make it for us in the last town. If you can manage it, you might want to help us with the branding in the fall after we round up the new ones. We'd offer you one dollar a head for corralling them and holding them while we brand them."

  "Yes, señor, I would be interested."

  "Would you have a problem with branding cattle that we are not sure are ours?"

  Diego's dark brows went up as he contemplated his answer.

  "Seeing's how most of the ranchers have stolen or killed many of my sheep, no, I don't think I would have a problem with that. I'm sure it would be easy to accidentally round up cattle that might not be yours."

  "Yes, that is what I meant. I'm sure the cattle might be hard to identify."

  "I would be happy to help you, and I could use some extra money to purchase a few sheep, to replace the ones I have lost."

  "It sounds like we have a deal, Diego. We are looking forward to doing business with you."

  "Is it dangerous to leave the cattle alone for that long? Will they survive?" Jude wanted to get into the conversation too.

  "Oh no, señor, it is done all of the time. There are hundreds of canyons and ravines that lead into the river. The cattle stay up in the small canyons in the spring, when there is plenty of water and green grass. When the water levels start going down and the grasses have been eaten there, they move with their calves deep into the main Owyhee canyon. When they reach the river they go south. In the north, the canyon is very deep and almost impassable, but in the south by the headwaters, the canyon is much wider. There are side canyons and box canyons and a fairly gentle climb back up to the high plains. They won't leave there until the cowboys round them up and make them leave."

  "So where is the best place to take your cattle to market from there?" Jude asked.

  "You could either take them north to Ontario or south to Winnemucca."

  "How far is it to Winnemucca?"

  "It is about one hundred fifty miles to Winnemucca, but usually warmer on that route in the fall."

  "We heard there is a good cattle market there."

  "Ontario and Winnemucca are on the main lines of the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, and both have large livestock yards. I can give you good directions on how to get your cattle to the grazing places from Idaho, and the best route to take to Winnemucca from the canyons."

  "That would be much appreciated, Diego."

  "You are best to stay with the main Owyhee until you reach Three Forks. This is where the river divides into the North Fork and the South Fork. The main river will eventually lead you to the highlands around Elko, Nevada. That is about one hundred seventy miles from here. If you take any of the side canyons on the east side it will lead you to Idaho. The canyons on the west side will lead you to Oregon or Nevada. I can give you more exact directions, if you would like?"

  "You are very good at giving directions, Diego, yes that would make our travels easier, for sure."

  "Three Forks is about fifty miles down the river. There is an abandoned rock homestead cabin there, and in the rock ridge above the cabin is a three fingered hoodoo which is a pillar like rock outcropping. When you reach there, the best route to Idaho is two canyons ahead to your east. If you are heading to Winnemucca, take a right up the South Fork and after a mile of so you can take the first canyon. You will be on the Little Owyhee, and the main canyon meanders south and west. About fifteen or twenty miles later, you will come out onto the high plains, just east of the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation. There is a road that goes due south from there, and it is about seventy-five miles from there to Winnemucca."

  "Thanks, Diego, that helps a lot. We will leave in the morning to meet our friends with our cattle and take them to the breaks you have told us about. We will find you when it is time for roundup. Do you graze primarily in this same area most of the time, or where will you be at round up time?" Sam asked.

  "I should be over by my homestead by then. It is thirty miles south west of here. You shouldn't have any trouble finding me. It is the Santos Ranch, and there is a sign at the end of the road leading to my ranch."

  "Okay, we have a deal, Diego."

  "Si, señor, it is a deal." Diego got up and went to his cart and got his bedroll out, then spread it out close to the fire and lay down and went to sleep.

  Sam and Jude filled their tin cups one last time, smiled at each other, drank it down, and rolled out their bedrolls and lay down. The next morning, they said goodbye and took off toward the breaks to take their first look at the cattle and the lay of the land. When they were a few miles away, Sam laid out his plans.

  "I've got it all figured out, Jude. We've already got our brand so we are safe there."

  "Safe there, what do you mean?"

  "A man can get hung just for carrying a 'running iron' around here. That is a branding iron that just has a curl on the end which can be used to change anyone else's brand, like changing a P to a B on the Circle P ranch brand."

  "Oh yeah, I heard about that. I thought that we spent too much money on that branding iron, but now I see that it is important."

  "We have to be real careful which cattle we cull out of the ones we find. We will just hang around until just before haying season is over. We need to find a secluded box canyon south of where we get the cattle, where we can brand them after we get them. We need to get yearlings or young cattle that we are sure are weaned. If we drive them two days away from their mothers, we will be able to tell if they are weaned. If they are not, they will wander off in search of their mothers. The last thing we need is for a mother and its calf to show up with two different brands, the calf being ours. If we can find an unbranded cow and her calf and lead them off, hopefully the rest will follow us. We can leave the ones with the other brands there, and just take the ten or twelve we brand off to market at Winnemucca. If we do that two or three times before Haying season is over we will have quite a haul. Thirty cattle at eight dollars a head is two hundred forty dollars. If we get forty, we are looking at five hundred dollars. That is a nice bit of change for a little hard work."

  "Yeah, but we have to take forty dollars out to pay Diego."

  "Do we?" Sam grinned.

  "But what about his ranch hand? If he sees us, and Diego dies, we will be immediate suspects."

  "Not if there is another fire at that sheep ranch, and two bodies are inside. Who do you think would be blamed?"

  "The cattle ranchers that have been harassing him will be blamed. You do have an evil mind, Sam, I like the way you think."

  "Let's try to get about sixty cattle. That would give us about five hundred dollars and two hundred fifty each should tide us over until we can find that saddle."

  "That sounds good to me, let's check out those breaks."

  The two men spent the next few weeks checking out the land, the route to Winnemucca, and finally found the perfect small box canyon that no cattle were grazing in. They decided to camp there and stick around until haying time.

  While they were in Winnemucca, they went to the saloon and other places, and let it be known that they were cattlemen from Southwest Idaho, and that they were tired of being cheated on the cattle prices that they were being offered in the Boise livestock yards. They worked out a deal, and were assured an eight dollars per head price at the Winnemucca livestock yard, and they registered their brand. They also asked at a stock yard, where they could get a few experienced cowboys to help tr
ail the herd once they broke into the open high plains. They found out that Indian wranglers were available pretty cheap at Fort McDermitt. They were told they could get four or five experienced hands for one head of cattle per day. Since it was a two day ride from McDermitt to Winnemucca it would cost them two head of cattle, and it would look like they were legal, responsible cattlemen to the livestock people in town. Before they left Winnemucca, they went to the general store and purchased nails, hammers, wire, and wire cutters to build a makeshift corral across the box canyon. They stopped by the McDermitt Reservation to arrange for those Indians, and then headed north. They retraced their route in reverse and headed back to the box canyon they had found. When it was time, they moved north to start their cattle rustling business.

  They started by following the river and finding the breaks where the cattle were grazing. The cattle were easy pickings. The first break they came to they found eight cows with their calves. It was obvious that three of the calves were not weaned yet, so they ignored them and spent their time culling out the five older ones, who didn't seem to mind leaving the grazing area and their mothers. They were not branded but their mothers were. After separating the yearlings, they slowly walked them toward the south and their canyon. Two of the cows started to follow the men and their captives, and Jude chased them back into the breaks. The two men watched carefully to make sure the youngsters didn't try to leave and go back with their mothers. They got them all the way to their box canyon where they put them in the makeshift pen they had built. They watched for cows following them and listened for crying calves and heard nothing. The next day, they went to a different break and found a pretty large herd. They found many yearlings and smaller calves and culled out twelve more pretty good sized cattle with no brands on them.

  They were feeling really good about their business when at the end of the week they had rounded up thirty-five cows, and Jude was thrilled and ready to go get Diego to help them.

  "I don't think we can handle much more than this, Sam. That wire is not going to hold them for long."

  "Yeah, but we've got a couple more breaks to check out and at least two more weeks before the haying is done and they come to round up their cattle."

  "Are you sure they won't think something is funny when most of their yearlings are gone."

  "Yes, they probably will, but we should be long gone by the time they figure out that they went to Winnemucca. And we will have them sold and they will be on cattle trains by the time they get there."

  "Okay, let's do one more week and start branding next weekend. Then we can head south a week before they finish haying."

  The next week, they rounded up another twenty-seven head of cattle. Jude found Diego, and he came over to help.

  "Wow, I didn't think you had this big of a herd. You said you had a few cattle. This is a lot more than I thought."

  "Well, we had more than we thought, I guess."

  Diego looked puzzled and said, "They are all pretty young, are you sure these are all yours?"

  "Oh yeah, they are all ours. Are you ready to start culling them out and branding?"

  "Yes, I guess so, señor. I could sure use the money."

  Jude brought out one calf at a time, while Sam kept the iron hot in the fire. Then Diego would hold the yearling while Sam branded it. It was a long hard job, and it took all day. When they were done, they ate beans and hard tack by the fire.

  "We will take them to market and come by on our way back with your pay, Diego. I hope that is okay with you."

  "Yes, señor. That will be fine. When do you think that will be, as I am really short right now."

  "It should take no longer than a week, Diego. We will come straight back. Will you be at your ranch?"

  "Yes, we will be bringing in the last of the hay."

  "We?"

  "Yes, Manuel and I work hard this time of year."

  "Thanks for your help, Diego. You can trust us. We will see you in a week."

  Diego left early the next morning, and as soon as he was gone, Sam told Jude to follow him and to take care of the two men and the ranch.

  "We cannot afford for Diego to tell anyone that we have all yearlings, and that he helped us brand them. If some rancher realizes he has cattle missing, they might use Diego to identify us. Sorry, Jude, but that is the way it is."

  "Yeah, I get it, Sam. I will take care of it."

  Jude made sure his pistol was loaded and that he had some of the long fire starter matches with him.

  "I won't be long. When I get back, we can head on down to Winnemucca."

  "I'll be waiting, I can't handle this many cattle by myself."

  Jude stayed way back, so Diego didn't know he was there. After he saw Diego head into the ranch house and his ranch hand heading that way too, he tied his horse to a tree next to the pasture and snuck up to the fence behind the house. The hand came around the back to wash his hands, and Jude took out his pistol, aimed, and shot the man in the back. He screamed as he fell, and Diego came running out of the back door. Jude shot him twice in the chest as he came out the door. He saw a look of recognition on the man's face, as he grabbed his chest and fell on his face just outside the door.

  When Jude got to them, he found the ranch hand was still breathing and shot him in the head. He pulled the two men into the ranch house. It was hard work by himself as they were not small men, and they were dead weight. When he finally got them inside on the kitchen floor, he went back outside and found a bale of hay, and put it by the back door. Then he lit the straw on fire. He took another bale of hay and did the same thing by the front door. When he was sure the wood structure was totally in flames, he walked slowly back to his horse. He could hear the sheep loudly bleating in their pen by the front of the house. He climbed on his horse and headed back toward the river, taking one last look at the house which was fully engulfed by now. The sheep were making a lot of noise in the front of the house, and he hoped they wouldn't break loose and alert the neighbors before the house was entirely gone. Jude just grinned and rode his horse faster toward the box canyon where Sam and his herd of rustled cattle awaited him.

  Although it was late afternoon by the time he got back to Sam and the cattle, they decided it was best if they got as far as they could toward Winnemucca that day.

  "The sooner we get these cattle to market the better for us. They will be on trains and headed west, before the ranchers ever suspect they have cattle missing, and we can head back north through Idaho and not come back this way. We will have enough money that we can take our time and get back to Baker City, without anyone suspecting us of anything. It'll be just about Christmas time by the time we arrive, and we can get some jobs in town and lie low until spring. That will give us time to make our plans on how to find that saddle without raising any suspicion."

  "Yeah, I think it's been long enough that no one will suspect us in that robbery and murder of that supply wagon. I could probably get my job back as a clerk at the hotel, unless something better turns up."

  "I have worked as a bartender before, maybe I'll do that for a while."

  "Let's get these cattle moving. Don't want to lose any before we get to the reservation and get the help of those Indians."

  "Yeah, maybe we can get there by tomorrow night, if we hurry. I'll take the right front, and you pull up the rear."

  The two cowboys started riding hard toward the Indian reservation and the town of Winnemucca, where they could collect their money and head back to Baker City and their final goal of a saddle full of gold.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  "Danger in Montana"

  August, 1917

  Charlie Siringo talked to every bartender and barmaid in Butte, Montana. No one acted as if they recognized Jude Burden, or Buddy Dampierre, or knew anything about anyone who might know him. After finding nothing new about the man at the saloons he started working on the hotels, brothels, and stores. It took him a lot longer than he thought it would, to question everyone who might have
seen or known the man. Butte was a booming town, and new people were arriving every day. His last stop was the Assayer's office in Butte. Charlie figured if no one knew anything about Jude here, then he would pack up his things and head north the next day. As he hadn't been an active Pinkerton man for a few years, he didn't think that his being in town would interest anyone, so he did not think that he might be in danger, and he wasn't watching his back like he normally did. He didn't even notice the man who had been following him. The man stopped and looked in the store window next door, when Charlie stepped into the Assayer's office. If he would have been paying attention, he would have seen that the same man had been shadowing him for the several weeks that he had been in town.

  Charlie had gone back to his favorite saloon almost nightly and became good friends with Bart, the bartender. The man seemed so trustful that he wasn't aware that he was passing along all of his information to a group of miners that frequented the place. Charlie didn't pay any attention to the miners, as he was sure Bart would have told him if any of them had matched the description he had given him. The more the Pinkerton man came in and didn't acknowledge the miners the madder they got. They assumed he was in cahoots with the sheriff and all of the law enforcement men in the town, who were all on the mine owner's payroll.

  Josh Fanning had been appointed the man to keep an eye on Siringo. He was a small man, with the nickname "Weasel", as he resembled one. He had a long face and dark beady eyes, and he was good at sneaking around like the animal he was nicknamed for. The man had been following Siringo and reporting back to the gang of miners on a daily basis. Charlie's first stop the day after coming into the saloon was the Sheriff's Office, and then he stopped at the Stockman's Club where the Anaconda Copper Mine Owners hung out. After those visits, the miners were sure that Charlie Siringo was up to no good.

  The miners that hung out at Bart's saloon were so angry about the mining accident that killed one hundred sixty-eight of their friends and family members earlier that summer that they had been seeking revenge ever since. Frank Little was a hero to them. The man had come to town shortly after the explosions and was working with the unions trying to get better rights for the miners. He had helped the miners form the Metal Mine Workers' Union and encouraged them to go on strike. The strikers had been joined by other trades. A federal mediator had talked the other unions into returning to work, but the miners' union was still on strike. Siringo wasn't interested in the miners' strike, as he just wanted to find Jude Burden.