Granger left the house in a rush, heading to his horse, most all the men were on the range with the herds doing various jobs. Some were breaking horses in the main corral, calves and strays were being branded. Horses were being tended to by the smithy, replacing shoes, everything in preparation for the coming fall round up. Granted, that was a ways off, but on a spread as large as the Evergreen, it was never too early to tend to anything.

He rode out looking for Carson and a couple others, namely Rios and Connolly, they would have the assignment of searching out the herds of Lost Lake, the idea being seeing which would be the most vulnerable and hopefully the least to cause alarm and a fight. The only fence line they needed to worry about would be the one that separated the two ranches, both tended to maintain the wire that both sides hated.

He found Carson with the branding crew. "Carson, mount up, ride with me, we've business to discuss." That only took a moment for Carson to mount up and join the foreman. "Got a job for you, but first we need to find Connolly and Rios."

"Down with the south herd bringing 'em in." Carson informed him. "But Rios? He hightailed it outta here."

"The boss wants a look-see at the Lost Lake herds, tell ya more when we find the other one. But it's gonna be a big deal!"

Carson smiled. "Sure I can do that, boss. Ain't a lot to it, slip on over an' have me a looksee." Carson answered. "Reckon most of the herd's down close to the ranch 'er maybe over't Lost Trail, that's the best graze they got, 'cept along the mountains near the house, where the stream runs outta Lost Lake toward Kimi Lake. I'll check both."

"You watch yerself they don't shoot you on sight!" Granger ordered. "That last little go 'round didn't help matters much at all. You want maybe someone to ride with you?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. Scouted out a couple places where I can get through without bein' seen." Carson explained. "So I'll get my stuff an' head on out, liable to be a couple days at least, some rugged country over there."

"See ya when you get back." Granger said, turning his animal and starting of at a trot. Carson meanwhile, rode for the line shack he had been using to retrieve his gear, there would be need of cooking gear as this would take a couple days, maybe more. Lost Lake, had a lot of land, mountainous country with not a lot of gazing land, plenty enough, just not as much as the Evergreen had.

Now a ride onto the Lost Lake was always a risk from the Evergreen, animosity ran deep between the two, but for Carson, all that was long before he signed on, and he knew very little about the past feuding, which had resulted in the killing of one of the Steelgrave sons. There had been skirmishes over the years, some recent, but not during his stay on the ranch.

He had gathered up his war bag and some minimal cooking equipment, planning to be on the Lost Lake for a couple of days, there was coffee, hard tack, salt pork, enough for several days. Best to be prepared. Ammunition, he had plenty in his belt. If he was seen, and if he was set upon, he would run if he could, or stand and fight if he had too. Running was the smart thing to do, and he was no coward, there was just no sense getting shot up, or worse, hung.

Carson mounted up and headed south-west toward the high country, it would be less likely he'd be seen that way, then, he would ride the crest, trying not to skyline himself too much as he looked over the herd near the Blackbird Lodge, as it was called. If it was there.

Then drop down and swing around to Kimi Lake and see if there was a herd there, and lastly, head east and back to the Evergreen. Sounded simple, but it might be far from that. He had his orders, and he was set to follow them.

Carson didn't mind the assignment one bit. No sir, it allowed him to leave the work of the ranch behind and get out into the open country, although it was owned by Thornton, trouble was, no one had seen Shade Thornton in some time. Rumor had it, the man was east, or maybe south, depending on who you heard it from. Of course that was of little concern to a wrangler who was sent to scout out where the Lost Lake herds were, so that they could rustle them!

He made the transition from the Evergreen to the Lost Lake range easily enough, there were several spots where a man could get through almost unseen. Unless a man had a reason to be near any of those spots there would be no one to see the Evergreen rider cross over. It was going to take some time to cover the ground, most of which was either up or down the mountainous terrain. They had a whole lot of land, that was a fact, but not lot of grazing land, and to a degree, the same could be said of the Evergreen. Except Steelgrave appeared to have more gazing pastures.

On this ride there would be no racing with the wind, a lot of walking instead. Thornton's cattle would be in a couple of places, likely as not, grass and water. So spotting them from up high would be easy enough, he didn't need to count them, which may or may not have presented a problem with them moving around. Little black dots below him. But he would be out here, free as the breeze in the trees, without much of a care in the world.

Carson had reached the summit and could see far down the valley, and sure enough, lots of little black dots were covering the area along the stream from near the main house, which even looked huge from his vantage point. It struck him at that moment that it was lost Lake this, and Lost Lake that referring to the ranch, an all the while there was an actual Lost lake body of water. He allowed himself a laugh at his realization.

But The Evergreen had a lake as well, not that he knew it's name, just that there was one. The Steelgrave house, big, but not as big as Lost Lakes, was a ways from their lake. And cowhands had little time for such things as a lake.

He turned his attention to Kimi Lake, and there were more little black dots than flies on a bulls ass. which would leave the Broken Finger Lake area. But none of the areas where the herds were would be easy to rustle from unless there was a herd at Harpers Meadow. Now that would be easy, either swing wide of the farmers place or push right through it. That would be good for one attempt, after that, there were safer places to hold the herds.

Unless of course, they pushed the cattle east. But that would be like a drive bringing them north and then west through the passes to the Evergreen, and he was not sure the boss would be willing to spare the hands to do that. But, that would be up the Elias Steelgrave. He needed to move on and check out Harpers Meadow.

Harper's Meadow, as seen from the high country was a a piece of land butting up to that farmers place and the Evergreen. He looked down, using his glasses to check the area, one of low hills and grassland, there was water but not like the other spots where Lost Lake cattle were grazing.

From what Carson could see, there were a number of steers there, but not in the numbers of the other areas. This would be easier than any of the other spots to take the cattle and get them on Evergreen land. But if it was a large number the boss wanted to take, that would not be it,

A hoof clicked on a stone as Carson was replacing his glasses in his saddle bags. A voice called out, "What's yer business on Lost lake land, Mister?"

Carson reined around to look at who had spoken, and how many of them there might be. "Driftin' up from the east. That the town of Kalispell down there?" As likely a story as not.

"Usin' glasses to see see what? Cattle 'er buildin's?" The man asked. His hand resting close to his holstered gun.

"Whoa now pardner, like I said, I'm just drifin' up from the east, headed for Kalispell. I ain't huntin' no trouble." Carson pleaded. But he saw the mans eyes lower to where his horses brand was on it's rump, and in that instant, his hand went to his gun.

Now most cowhands are not gunmen, they can and will fight for the brand they ride for, that was a given. But to say they were gun hands? No. However, men like Carson, and most all of the men that rode for the Evergreen, they were hired guns that didn't mind working cows.

There were two explosions. A slug tore through Carson's side, but his shot caught the Lost Lake rider in the chest, knocking him from the saddle. The sounds from the gunshots echoed off of the mountains several times before they faded away. That would alert anyone the man had been riding with, so Carson fogged it off that mountain as fast as he could, given the lay of the land. He had to reach the Evergreen and let them know that trouble just might be coming, should the others from the Lost Lake figure out what had happened.