Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Oh no son, no need of that. Whatever this Case fella was up to, likely just self inflating, if you know the kind. There was never any real mention of what he had to offer, I suspect, nothin'." Boone said. "Now had there been anything to this story of him bein' the County Sheriff, or looking for partners like he let on for some big deal, well, by now I would have located him. He would have been easy to find, and there'd be some news on the street about it. No sir, seems to me this man's a four flusher. So I thank you for your help. I'll be movin' on, lesson learned."
" ... - - - ... "
"Now had there been anything to this story of him bein' the County Sheriff, or looking for partners like he let on for some big deal, well, by now I would have located him. He would have been easy to find, and there'd be some news on the street about it. No sir, seems to me this man's a four flusher. So I thank you for your help. I'll be movin' on, lesson learned."
"Er... sure. Er, so long!" Hector gave a vague wave of his hand, and watched the feller turn to go.
Hmm. Maybe he should jump on a horse and ride out to the Steelgrave ranch and tell the folks out there that some strange man had been asking some queer questions about Cassidy Steelgrave.
Or, he could be a sheep, just go back to his Telegrapher journal, keep his head down, avoid any sort of involvement in anything important around these parts in case it involved any sort of danger or the possibility of disturbing his nice predicable life where every day was more or less exactly the same as the one before.
Hector went back to his journal.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
Boone Dawson left the boarding house with more or less no new information, yet more of the same. The lad had been cautious about his opinions, and for Dawson, that was a give away of the real feelings. Case was not going to be happy about this, but it seemed that the general conscientious was, a no on Case Steelgrave as the town or the counties lawman.
But the county covered a bit more area, and held quite a few more voters, so, all was not lost in that department, if he chose to run. He stepped into leather, it was time to ride back to the hide out the round about way and deliver the news.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
As Boone Dawson began his return ride to the hide out to report what he had learned to Case Steelgrave, he did not see the riders that were merging on Roberson's Box R Ranch, but a man working to conceal his movements was apt to miss more than he saw.
Word had gone out about the raid on the Circle C and that rustling appeared to have started again in the territory. That brought men from the outlying ranches, both large and small to meet with Fightin' Joe Hooker at the Box R which was more centrally located.
They met in the barn, the house was not big enough for the seven men, and if there was trouble, because the movement of the ranchers was seen it would be better to face it there than from the house. In fact, the thought was to spare the house if there was to be a fight.
The ranchers had been through this before, then the level of peace, and now, rustlers again, the meeting would be about how to fight back, and for most all of them, the sooner, the better before the rustlers ended up cleaning them out.
"Now killin' 'em hadn't crossed my mind, but we could. Not sure what that would do for us, unless you meant Guyer and them two outta Helena." Case offered.
"Heck, don't matter none," Toole stated, "We could start with them three, er to my way of thinking, Joe Hooker'd be my first choice to alimanate. He'll be lookin' ta unite them ranchers agin us, e'r whoever they thinks pullin' these jobs. Don't really want them boys makin' any plans now, do we?" Marley, Dyer, and Case looked at him, when Marley spoke up.
"Toole's dead on. That's Fightin' Joe Hookers rep, unite the ranchers." Dade said, "Now was we to do what you want, and he was to do what he's know for, your plan to plant the stolen cattle on one of 'em's spread would just confound 'em all to buttermilk!"
"Buttermilk! Ha ha ha," Case laughed. "You bet it would and that'd be the end of the rancher's bein' united, yes sir, that's the ticket. No body gets killed - yet. The squabblin' starts, pretty soon, we got all the ranchers at one another doin' what we want. fightin' each other."
The men looked to one another with big smiles all around, nodding and shaking hands, they believed they had the plan that would make life easier on them.
And so neither side of this plan, or plans, was aware of what the other was planning, or should it be said, up too? The ranchers were meeting to develop a plan of defense, the rustlers, Case Steelgrave's gang was concluding a meeting about what they were going to do moving forward.
One would have to say that although Case had said there would be no killing yet, Hooker and the ranchers, save for Lost Lake and the Evergreen had no such plan in mind. As they gathered and began talking it was clear that any rustler caught would be hanged.
The other part of that was, shoot on sight. The initial conversation called for each ranch to have men on night watch, all those that could be spared. There was no talk of bringing in gunmen because that was always a risk for small ranchers as a number of them were, gunmen could change sides as quick as not. So for the moment it would be to each rancher to have his mean armed and ready. Most cowboys would back the brand, those that would not were asked to ride on.
Case, however, would face no such problem. Of course having the ranchers banning together was not something they thought was happening at the same time as their meeting. Case and the others believed that there was time, maybe for one or two more hits before anything like that became a reality. What they could not know or expect was that the ranchers were going to be ready for them, and ready to fight.
Hooker for his part was always ready to fight fire with fire and had done so many times before. One thing he was sure of, it the ranchers fought back, the cost to the rustlers would be too high, and they would quit as they could not replace men as fast as the ranchers could kill or wound them. They could not very well go to the doctor in town.
Both side were in for a surprise.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Why the hell not?" Red Buckley of the RbarB wanted to know.
"We need fight fire with fire Hooker, not be lolly-gaggin' about while they steal our herds a little at a time." Ezra Roberson of the Box R demanded. "Them owl hoots have had their way in this valley far too long. Need ta sting up a few of 'em and send a message!"
"Look boys, I know just how you feel but we have no idea what their plan is." Joe Hooker said. "Why would they just take thirty-forty head instead of the whole shootin' match, it don't make sense." He shook his head, there were seven of the eleven ranchers in the room, not counting Thornton, Steelgrave, Alice Fletcher, and Deputy Pike.
"I don't see Steelgrave or the Thornton spread throwin' in with us, They're too big, an' likely Steelgrave's in on it." Mace Lonigan of his Diamond L Ranch intimated. "But now that Pike fella, he'd know what ta do this these hombres.' There was a murmur of agreement, though not all of them were talking at this point, all of them wanted answers, or a plan to stop the rustlers..
"Well now, Pike's not even in the country now. Gallivantin' about with his new wife. But you're right he would and so do we. These rustlers aint no worse than the Injuns we had ta fight off, 'er other bad apples we had ta deal with, so we need a plan." Red Buckley stated.
"So, a plan, yep that's exactl;y what's needed, and to make a plan we need to see what their next move is so we can make this plan, and make it so it works and they're the ones gettin' killed." Hooker stated. "Look, they been trailed til there was no trail ta foller. No way to plan for that. So, with all these spreads to cover, we got us a job of work to do to start with!"
"So boys we've hit Culverson, but we got us ahand ful of other ranches waitin' on us to releave them of their stock, just like the last one. Only a part, and we snag the night man, and then we fix the fence. By the time they figure it out, we're long gone and there's no trail to follow." Case informed them. "Maybe we hit a spread a ways away from the other one, Culversons, that oughtta shake 'em up some."
"Well, how 'bout ol' Red Buckley place? Close to a well used trail, but one not traveled at night." Dyer Howe suggested. "Be easy pickens the way we're doin it."
"Mister Howe, that's exactly what we'll do. Small crew, no killin' got me, rope the man, knock him out, but no killin', not yet. Don't want the whole county down on us."
"The last time, it worked out jest fine. But I got the point. No one sounds the alarm, we're in an' we're out. "sides, Boss, if I miss my guess, they be tryin' ta plan, but my money's on 'em waitin' on us to make a move." Howe said.
"And I believe that you are right. We have the advantage, they have no idea who, what, where or why. I like that advantage, but boys, we gotta stick to the plan. Slip in, get some cattle, slip out, repair the fence and leave 'em guessin'. I just love this idea."
"You think they'll catch on?" Toole asked, wondering how long they could keep up the game, because that's all it really was, stealing twenty-thirty head at a time, that would dive them crazy because it made no sense.
"Keep the numbers down, we steal only a few for now and when I'm ready, we stop. We got no need for cash money, we got plenty. So we don't need to move the one we take, form them I got plans." He smiled, "May not be what I been sayin' it was, I mean, I'm thinkin' on this. What will serve the gang the best. So, really the plan is changing, and what I'm thinkin' on now, well, It will serve us better!"
"Sure boss, but when do we do this?" Toole asked.
"Now there's a good question. When. That's a mite tricky. we can figure that the ranchers are meeting to plan some sort of defense against us, not that they have any idea of what, or who, or when something is liable to happen." Case mused. "That's the beauty of this thing, they have no idea, we are in total control of the whole show. Show? I'd say Saturday night next."
"With nothing happening to any of 'em for better'n a week maybe their boys'll head to town Saterde night, that'll be a surprise alright. Like you said, we ain't in no hurry." Dyer assured them.
"Nope. At least the first couple'll take 'em bu su'prize." Marley added, then laughed, "Done right, which it will be, they may not even know they was hit."
"Exactly boys, exactly. That is what makes this plan so sweet, their not knowing they were hit, which works with my plan perfectly. Oh, they'll be ready for a few days, but they'll get lazy when nothing happens like the old days of hit 'em hard and vanish. Running gun battles, no need to risk that any more. Let's have a drink!"