The Rockin’ P was alive with activity. The weather was clearing some and work had commenced to round up the cattle out on the range, as promised Lrado and Ames were working the Morgan Horses, gently of course. Prize mares and of course the stallion who required a bit firmer hand.
The bull had been delivered before the snows set in not that the winter was all that bad, but there was snow and rain that hindered their working as much as it likely would have in a worse winter, but the men were happy to be a part of the brand new spread and willing to do whatever they could to help out with whatever needed doing.
Then too, there was that newborn that was all the rage. While in the midst of what was going on at the house and on the ranch itself a wire came for the ranch foreman, Frank Teal. A message that would end his time there. His only sister had lost her husband and there were two children she needed help with on their small spread back in Texas.
Hat in hand, Frank had gone to the house to let Pike know he was heading back to Texas, to which Pike expressed his hope that all would go well for him. He paid Teal his time, and some extra. Pike told him to take a pack horse and whatever supplies he needed, that he was welcome to them.
And so ended the time for Frank Teal who opened up the job of ranch foreman. Though it would seem that there were men who would jump at the chance, starting with Pythias Modeen, there were no takers, though Modeen said he’d fill in until one was hired.
Times change.
It was a few days after the departure of Frank Teal, when Mike Wentworth found his way to the front door of the Pike's home. He had about Teal leaving from one of the Lost Lake hands, who had heard it from one of the Rocking P hands. It had made think about the possibility of seeing if the job of foreman was open and if he could be the one to fill it.
Ever since Cabot Flagg had turned up at Lost Lake, he had gotten the feeling that something had changed or was going to. The simmering feud between Lost Lake and Evergreen was a large part of it with everyone on tenterhooks not knowing where it was headed. Also, the distance from Lost Lake to Kalispell prevented him from visiting town as often as he would like especially during the winter. He wanted to see his family more often and most of all he wanted to see more of Bonnie Campbell, who was living with his parents. Bonnie was a nice girl, and he was attracted to her but he needed to get to know her more better before he thought of pursuing anything serious.
These reasons along with a few others, finally made Mike decide that he should at least ask if the position of foreman was available and if it was, he would put his hand up for the job. Stepping up to the front door, he gave a firm knock and waited for a response.
Things were working out, not exactly the way Pike wanted, there was no replacing Teal. Cookie was handling the men's food and Pythias was helping out in the kitchen while;e at the same time trying to ramrod the outfit with Pike. Every man on the spread understood that first Barnabas was a new father and that there were responsibilities attached to that, so he could not be with the herd, or breaking remounts, or any of the other tasks that needed to be done. Second, Pythias had taken on two jobs, so the riders gave him as much of a wide berth as they could, several picking up the slack for both men, but that was beginning to wear thin.
Weezer Walcott came hell bent for breakfast on his speckled grey across the open ground and slid to a stop when he reached Pike. "Boss, there's some hombre ridin' up to the house I ain't never seen before."
"Thanks." Pike laid the spurs to his Roan thundering thundering across the open range and up the hill to the house, ground hitching his mount as he got back to the house. He was inside the house, and making his way to the front door, pulling it open.
"Howdy. Can I help ya?" He greeted looking the man over. "Believe I've seen you in town before."
@JulieS
Mike smiled, "You probably have...or at least a couple of fellows who look a little like me. The name's Mike Wentworth."
He waited for Pike to answer before continuing, "I'm currently still over at Lost Lake but...well things have changed over there and I'm not sure if I want to continue working there. I heard that you had an opening for a ranch foreman, and I guess I wanted to find out for myself. If that is the case, then I would be interested in applying for the position."
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"Well then Mister Wentworth, come on in," Pike replied. It seemed the word had traveled fast that Teal had left the ranch, probably not why, although that was just not anyone's business. And, what could have changed to bring this man to his door? He planned to find out though.
As Mike entered and Barnabas closed the door the Rockin' P owner smiled. "Things have changed up to the Lost Lake? How so? If you don't mind me askin'. I 'spose you'd be the current forman up that way? So You pretty much know the ropes. I have a man who is the assistant filling in for the time bein' among other things he's doing for me. Now, first off, what would you expect pay wise, likely the best place to start."
@JulieS
Mike smiled. The man had a lot of questions and rightly so. Foremen didn't just walk away from a good job without a good reason and he hoped he could explain it to Pike even though he didn't quite understand what was going on either.
"Well, I better answer your questions about Lost Lake first. Yes, I am the foreman and I've been in the job for nearly two years. At first, Lost Lake was a good place to work and in some ways it still is but something's change and I can't put my finger on it. I guess the biggest change has been with Shade Thornton...well, he seems more distance these days as well as the others who live in the main house. They hired this fellow called Cabot Flagg as some sort of security guard. It's hard to explain what's going on over there exactly. I guess you have to be there to understand it"
After a brief pause, he went on, "As you know, most of my family live in town and I would like to see them more often. So, when I heard about Frank Teal leaving and that you were possibly looking for someone to replace, I thought I would come and see if the job of foreman was available. As for pay, the usual $40 per month would be fine."
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Pike smiled when the man mentioned Flagg, it was a while back but he remembered the shooting he had been involved in. "Odd, but then again I have given some thought to Mister Flagg, and in some ways I think he might be a good hire for Lost Lake. As far as Shade Thornton, haven't seen or heard from him since our Christmas party, and that's been a couple of months, but then it has been winter."
He knew all of the man's family and had no real problem with any of them, though Matt Wentworth was his and Speed's boss. "The man ramrodding the outfit now does a number of things for us, and can't really do the job the way either of us think it should be done. So yes, we are looking for a man with some experience. The rest of the hands, well, none really want to take on the job." This baffled Pike as he was of the opinion most men would want to advance, obviously not.
"Forty's not a problem, not at all. The question would be then, when can you start?" He asked, he liked the cut of the man, but then he liked his family as well, and in one way hiring Mike would work to make far better friends with the Wentworth clan as things progressed.
"Odd, but then again I have given some thought to Mister Flagg, and in some ways I think he might be a good hire for Lost Lake. As far as Shade Thornton, haven't seen or heard from him since our Christmas party, and that's been a couple of months, but then it has been winter."
"Shade's keeps to himself quite a lot these day. Might see him every now and then but it's not like what it used to be," Mike replied.
It seemed that Pike was glad that someone had put their hand for the job of foreman and Mike was grateful for that as he could leave Lost Lake and not have to worry about looking for another job.
"The man ramrodding the outfit now does a number of things for us, and can't really do the job the way either of us think it should be done. So yes, we are looking for a man with some experience. The rest of the hands, well, none really want to take on the job."
The rest of the hands not wanting to take on the job of foreman seemed a bit odd but then again it wasn't. The job entailed a lot of responsibilities and he guessed that the men currently working for the Rocking P weren't ready to take it on.
"Forty's not a problem, not at all. The question would be then, when can you start?"
"I can start next week as I have already put in my resignation at Lost Lake. They were kind enough to let me stay on until I found another job. Thankfully, the night foreman will be there to train the man who takes my place."
@ [Fllip]
Pike extended his hand, "Well then, I'd say you got yourself a job. The boys that came up the trail with Teal are good men, solid, men you'll be able to count on when the chips are down, an' I ain't lookin' for that to happen, but in this country who's to say." He smiled as he spoke, he liked his riders a lot.
"Now my only concerns are, well two-fold I reckon, rustlers and this ongoing threat of a range war between Lost Lake and the Evergreen. My hope is on that count, it don't happen. As for the rustlers, I got a real hunch that'd be Case Steelgrave and his bunch, but 'course I got no proof or Speed and I would put him in the territorial prison, or the gallows." Regardless of bringing in the man who shot Speed, dead as he was, the law was the law. No getting around it.
Of course, the big fear among the local ranchers was that the range war would spread, whether on purpose or by accident, it was always a threat to widen to other ranches. If that happened the territory would turn into a battleground, which no one would want to happen.
"I think that the possibility of a range war is part of what's troubling Shade and everyone else in the main house at Lost Lake. They've got plenty of men there and it looks like they will be hiring some more that are of the same calibre as Flagg. It's something they may not want to do but they have to in order to meet Elias Steelgrave on a level playing field."
He paused for moment and then went on, "Besides, there are lot of ways to get into Lost Lake without being noticed. The men can't cover every inch of the place, so they need people who know how to fight in those type of conditions. During the war, I did most of my fighting out in the open, so if it comes down to a range war, I want to be someone where I can see the enemy coming. I guess that's one of the reasons why I want to leave Lost Lake."
Another pause..."Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a coward, it's just that...well with Elias Steelgrave being the type of man he is, I wouldn't be surprised if he used the town as a battlefield and I'd rather be somewhere close by to help my family out just in case."
Mike held out his hand, "Thanks for taking me on."
@ [Flip