“On with the excursion, your majesty!” he laughed.
Shanny followed him down the hall to the back stairs and then out the back door, where the groom stood waiting with two saddled horses. The brown had the sidesaddle on its back, and the black wore a western saddle. Joey swung up easily into the saddle, while the groom helped Shanny mount, showing her how to hook her knee over the horn, and put her dainty foot clad in a stylish riding boot into the stirrup, just below it.
“It looks awkward,” Joey observed. “Glad I don’t have to ride, trussed up like a calf at branding time.”
“It is not what I am familiar with, but it can’t be that bad. I am certain I will get used to it,” Shanny told him.
“I personally like to feel my horse between my legs, not be perched on top of it like some rare bird,” he teased.
“That is because you are not a lady,” Shanny retorted.
“And neither are you. You are merely pretending at it. But the newness will wear off eventually, and hopefully, you will come back to your senses and return to the Shanny everyone is used to seeing.”
“We all have to grow out of our childish upbringing some time,” Shanny insisted.
“What you are trying to do now, is childish. You want to impress others, and make them think you are some lady when you have been raised out on the range the same as I have.”
“There are Arnel and Eleanor now,” Shanny said, changing the subject as the two rode up. “I hope you remember your manners while we are out,” she said, eyeing Joey with a disapproving stare.
“Anything, to please you, princess!”
Eleanor rode up beside Joey and gave him a pleasing smile.
“It is nice to see you again,” she said softly.
“Yes. It seems we are thrown together yet again. I hope you enjoy the ride.”
“You look as handsome as ever,” she smiled. “I see you are missing your feather though.”
“My grandmother forbids me to wear it. Even wearing my own clothes is a struggle, but I managed to slip out before she noticed,” he laughed.
“You do make a nice-looking cowboy,” Eleanor praised.
Joey shrugged. She was flirting with him, saying all the right things to lure in her intended. However, he had no intention of becoming her intended, but he would pretend to be enamored by her, to see how Shanny may respond to it, he decided.
The park was only a few blocks away, and when they entered the riding trail, Joey noticed other mounted people, conversing, with one another, as they rode along together. It seemed to be the place to have a social gathering when nothing else was going on. People were waving to friends, as they passed, and even Eleanor waved to a couple of her acquaintances, calling them by name.
“You seem to know everyone,” Joey mentioned.
“I have lived here all my life. I know the whole town,” she told him.
“You would probably never do well on a Texas range. There are very few neighbors to run into there. You have to learn to rely on yourself for entertainment, and other cowpokes for social exchanges.”
“It must be a lonely life,” she said, wrinkling her forehead.
“We are kept too busy to notice.”
“How are you expected to find a wife out in the middle of nowhere?” she asked.
“There is a shortage of women out there, but local ranchers sometimes have daughters or sisters to choose from. I am sure in the big cities there are plenty of women, but out on the range, it is different. It will be easy for my older half-sisters to find a husband, since there are plenty of cowboys in the area, but so far, they have been rather picky and haven’t gotten involved with any local men.”
“At least Shanny will have her choice of eligible men, once she has her coming-out party. But I think she has her hat set on Arnel,” Eleanor giggled.
“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Joey grumbled.
“You don’t like Arnel?”
“He is nice enough, but Shanny belongs back on the ranch. She has never experienced this kind of life before. It’s starting to go to her head! She was raised on the back of a horse with dust in her teeth. It is a fine act she is playing now, but she will tire of it in time.”
“Maybe you are just saying that because you want her to tire of it.”
“Her mother will never let her remain here. We all love Shanny too much to have her halfway across the States from us.”
“Her mother left Philadelphia and went to Texas, halfway across the States from her own family. What makes Shanny any different?”
“Our mother did not want to leave. She was forced into it. Shanny may be all impressed with Philadelphia right now, but when she comes to her senses, she will make the right choice.”
He hoped her right choice would be to accept the fact that the two of them were meant to spend their lives together. He looked at her and Arnel, as they happily exchanged conversation with each other. She looked stunning in her riding habit, and her face was aglow. This made Joey fear that perhaps he could be wrong about Shanny tiring of the life she was leading here. He started to fear he was losing her, and he did not like the sinking feeling that came over him.
CHAPTER TEN
“I don’t like the idea of some reservation raised Comanche Injuns working the ranch,” Cooper scowled as Ina swung down from her horse.
“It doesn’t matter what you like, Cooper,” she scowled back. “These men, including you, work for me now. I’m not going to listen to your bellyaching about the way things are run around here, so if you don’t like my choice of cowhands, you have every right to take your marching papers and find another job on some other ranch.”
“Pritchard said I could stay,” he growled.
“…As our work-hand on our ranch! You need to remember, just because this is the Circle P Ranch, doesn’t mean we will run it the same way Pritchard did. He was losing cattle towards the end, and I have a sneaking feeling that you were either the cause of it, or you could have prevented it. Therefore I plan to keep a close eye on you, so don’t try anything you may be sorry for later.”
Cooper gave Ina the once-over. He liked a woman with spunk. That was the reason he had liked Ina’s mother, but he knew if she was anything like Callie, he had better be one step ahead of her.
“For now, I won’t complain, but those savages better know what they’re doing. I’m not gonna babysit them for you.”
“Chogan will teach them anything they need to know. He worked for my mother for several years while we were growing up. He helped teach me and my sisters a lot of things as well. All you got to do is make sure nothing happens to any of the cattle while you are foreman, and bring the calves in for branding when the time comes. If my parents don’t make it back by the time we need to go on the drive it is not going to hold us back. We are going to join the two herds and head them all out together.”
“Sounds like you have everything all planned out,” Cooper mumbled.
“We haven’t been raised on a cattle ranch for nothing,” Ina grunted. “You need to tell Hudson to have his sister pack her belongings up, and then take her over to the Double C so Mr. Daniels can start teaching her to cook. Then when Hudson comes back, I’m putting you in charge of him, and you can teach him the ropes of being some help around here. If you can’t turn him into a cattle wrangler, then you aren’t worth spit. Probably not worth spit anyway, from what my mother tells me.”
Cooper narrowed his eyes at Ina.
“Your mother never liked me, cause I was a friend of your father’s. He was a good man, and she made him out to be someone he wasn’t. She didn’t even care that her Comanche friends put an arrow in his back. We risked our lives and went to the trouble to save her from those heathens, and how did she thank us? By taking one of them heathens into her own home and valuing his friendship more than mine or her husband’s, not to mention Mr. Prichard, who must have gotten addled in his old age to leave your mother his spread.”
“Doesn’t matter, that i
s all behind us, and I was too little to know what was happening back then, but I wasn’t too little to recall my father wasn’t’ a very nice man. We were all scared to death of him. He caused the death of my mother and would have done the same to our new mama as well if Chayton hadn’t come along, so I don’t want to hear no more talk about what you don’t like about my mother or her Indian friends. Just do what I tell you and I won’t have to find an excuse to get rid of you.”
Cooper turned and went to the house, while Ina turned to Chogan.
“The bunkhouse is over there,” she told him pointing in the direction of the outbuilding across the yard. “Have your friends tie their horses up, while they get settled in. When Hudson comes back, I’ll have a meeting with all of you, and then I’ll tell Cooper to have their Chinaman cook make something for us all to eat. I hear all he ever cooks, besides Chinese food is stake and beans.”
She wrinkled her nose and gave a little laugh.
“Hudson will be staying in the bunkhouse with the rest of you, now that I am here, and if I get sick of eating beans and stake, I will fix my own meals in the house.”
“That is a big house for only one woman,” Chogan pointed out.
“I don’t plan to spend much time in it,” Ina smiled. “I’m going to be working right alongside you and everyone else when I am not taking care of the books. After dinner, I plan to go over Pritchard’s books and see what was going on. He claimed to be losing cattle, and I want to discover how that was possible.”
Chogan smiled. He felt Ina could take care of herself. For all her nervousness on the way out, she now seemed to be in control of herself.
“I have faith in you, Miakoda,” he said winking.
“I just wish I had faith in myself,” she smiled back.
“Miakoda good boss woman,” Adoette said as he passed her.
Ina turned and looked at him. His name fits him, she thought as she appraised his size and stature. He was tall and appeared like a Great Tree, standing above all other trees in the forest. His chest was broad and his muscles bulged beneath rolled-up shirtsleeves. His dark, searching eyes held hers for longer than she expected. She gave him an approving smile to cover her own unsure feelings and then watched as he went to tie his dappled horse with the others.
“He likes you,” Chogan stated boldly. “He is my nephew and he will show you respect. We have wise women in our tribe who often advise us. I think he may believe you are a wise woman in your own right.”
“I will try to be,” Ina mumbled.
“I’ll keep an eye on Cooper, and make sure he doesn’t do anything he is not supposed to do. He may think he is running us, only we are here to help watch over you. Connor made it very clear.”
“Connor doesn’t think I can run the place?”
“No. He just doesn’t want Cooper causing trouble. He says Cooper did something that upset your mother. She never told him what it was, but he worries he may try to use you in the same way.”
“I can take care of myself, where Cooper is concerned,” Ina stated with confidence.
“I know. Now we are here to watch you take care of yourself,” he grinned.
“You don’t trust me either,” she laughed.
“We trust you. We just want to make sure you stay safe is all.”
Ina watched as Hudson came out of the house with a trunk and placed it on the buckboard. Carrabelle appeared, looking a little worried, waiting for Hudson to help her up in the wagon. Ina walked over, just as Hudson was helping her up.
“You’ll like it at the Double C Ranch,” Ina told Carrabelle. “You’ll have my sisters to talk to, and Mr. Daniels is very kind and patient. You’ll learn all about cooking fast enough.”
“It never occurred to me when we came out here I would end up being a common cook,” Carrabelle murmured in a shivering voice.
“I don’t much like cooking myself,” Ina chuckled. “But you don’t look like the cow wrangling type to me. I am sure cooking is a lesser challenge for you. We all have to earn our keep. Just because we own the ranch doesn’t mean we can sit around and twiddle our thumbs. To become a success some effort has to be made. My adopted mother worked hard to make my father’s ranch into something to be proud of. Our house is much nicer than the ranch house here. This old house must be at least a hundred years old,” she said pointing to the Spanish-style dwelling behind her. “We just finished ours about fifteen years ago. It has modern conveniences including running hot water and an inside bathtub. I know Mr. Pritchard never installed indoor plumbing like we have and an outdoor bathhouse has to be used here. You’ll be glad you are staying there instead of here,” she encouraged,
Ina turned her attention to Hudson, once Carrabelle was perched in anticipation on the bench.
“When you get back, you’ll need to move your clothes out to the bunkhouse. Cooper will take on teaching you what you’ll need to know about cow poking, and you will become like any other cowhand here.”
“Am I going to have to work alongside those Indians?” he asked, glancing over to where the Comanche braves were entering the bunkhouse.”
“You’ll have to sleep beside them too,” Ina smiled. “But don’t worry. I’ll tell them not to scalp you right off, but I can’t promise anything in the future if you don’t toe the line,” she laughed.
“You aren’t serious, are you?” Hudson said, raising his eyebrows.
“Of course, I’m not serious. If any of those Comanche even so much as touches a strand of a white man’s hair, the authorities would send them to prison. They are quite civilized and speak English since it is mandatory to speak it on the reservation. Chogan is a good friend of ours and is harmless, but he is a hard taskmaster. People claim Indians are lazy. However, they are wrong. The only reason Indians appear lazy is because there is nothing to do on the reservation that interests them. We were lucky to get Chogan and his friends before they ever went to the reservation. They worked on our ranch for several years until us kids were old enough to handle the ranch. They were very industrious people before the government took their livelihood away from them and sectioned them off from the rest of the states, like cattle, put in a place they are not used to being. Their whole purpose in life was finding ways to survive. Once the government started feeding them, there was no reason to use all those talents they needed when they were roaming free on the land. But they have a way with cattle, considering they used to hunt buffalo, and are the best horse trainers known in these parts.”
“Apparently you are more impressed with their like than I am,” Hudson said, giving her an askance glance as he stepped up in the wagon and unwound the reins from the brake handle.
“It’s because I haven’t read all those dime novels written about the Indians that don’t have a smidgen of truth in them. It is all made up for sensational effect. Even Buffalo Bill doesn’t give justice to the Indians in his Wild West shows. He just gives them jobs so they can live in the past as they pretend to chase after actors portraying innocent white victims. I don’t claim everything the Indians did was the right thing to do, but if we were put in the same position, we probably would have done the same thing. After all, didn’t we attack the British so we could create America?”
“That was different. We didn’t ambush innocent families,” back then.
“But during the Civil War, there was plenty of ambushing families, so I don’t think we have any room to talk.”
Hudson shrugged.
“Believe what you wish. I just hope your friends take advantage of the bathhouse and find clean clothes to wear.”
“That will all be taken care of. I will make sure Cooper rigs everyone out the way they should be,” Ina told him.
Hudson slapped the reins against the rumps of the horse and headed out to the Double C Ranch, as Ina watched on. She hoped Hudson did not resist fitting in with the rest of the workers, or there would be trouble ahead, she thought.
Ina now sat at Mr. Pritchard’s desk, looking over the books. Hud
son had returned and joined the other workers in the bunkhouse and Ina had told them all what she expected of them. The meal was fixed by Cracker, which was the nickname given to the cook. Like Cooper had told her, he had wandered onto the ranch after leaving a Chinese work gang that put the railroad through the states. No one knew what his real name was, and he spoke as little English as he could get away with. He still insisted on wearing his oriental clothes, and wore a long braid down the middle of his back, keeping to himself most of the time. Mr. Pritchard took pity on him and hired him on as the cook, feeling he was not the right material for a cowhand.
When Cooper saw Ina heading for the house, saying she was getting ready to go over the books, he seemed concerned.
“Maybe I should help you with the books since I have been keeping them ever since Mr. Pritchard’s eyesight had started fading towards the end.”
“If I have any questions, I will call you,” Ina insisted. “I just want to look at everything first, and then if I need your help, I will ask for it.”
Cooper frowned, taking a step forward as though he was going to ignore her remarks.
“It had always been my job. I just thought you would want me to…”
Ina put her arm out to stop Cooper.
“I am sure you did a satisfactory job of keeping the records, Cooper. Nonetheless, when my mother returns, I want to be able to explain everything to her about how well the ranch has been doing. If cattle have been dwindling, the way Mr. Pritchard claimed, I need to discover what caused it. If it comes to that, I will gladly hear whatever explanation you may have.”
“Very well, I just hope you can read my hen scratches,” he smiled.
“If your records are written with illegible hen scratches, you shouldn’t have been keeping the records,” Ina stated, giving him a steady look. “Let’s just hope they make sense to me when I check them.”
“If not, I am sure I can explain,” Cooper said, eyeing her almost disapprovingly.
Ina thought he looked a little nervous, but maybe it was because she was suspecting he had been the cause of Mr. Pritchard losing cattle. Even Mr. Pritchard taking a turn for the worse, and dying too young, as far as Ina was concerned, bothered her.
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