- Location: Coldwater, Texas Sazerac Saloon
- Time of Day: Afternoon
A day after being sent the telegram reached the agent in the town of Coldwater Texas where the herd belonging to Barnabas Pike was standing in the holding pens. Seven hundred fifty mixed, longhorns, Herefords and a dozen Angus. Three bulls were being sent by rail to Montana which would take just about as long as the planned ninety days for the thirteen hundred mile drive, if they managed fifteen miles a day, the average speed for a drive. That took into account nooning to rest and graze.
Frank Teale read the brief message, folded the paper and stuffed it in his vest pocket, then drew out his pocket watch checked the time and got to his feet. He kicked the chair where Dixie Brick was alseep. "'mon get up, we're movin out." He sided up with Weezer Walcot. "Time to take it on the trail, Weezer."
"Yes sir," and he hurried outside,leaped into the saddle and galloped to the pens at the other side of town where most of the boys were waiting just such news. Now the herd had been held in Hardeman, Texas, but Teale and the boys drove them to Coldwater, giving them mover of a straight shot north, northeast to Montana. The riders from the XIT, a new outfit had made the delivery genitally, but Teale and his cowboys finished the move.
With Dixie in tow they went to the hitch rail and mounted up, it would be a while before they bellied up to the bar again, but that was the life of a cowboy on a drive. It was about to get hot and nasty! Teal had the route planned, waterholes and rivers marked, hoping the waterholes would not be dry by the time they got to them. Waiting at the holding pens were the best men he could find, not just to drive the cattle, but to fight if and when it was necessary. Fifteen top hands ready to head out on one more drive where things were unknown, hostilities were probable, hard going assured. And they couldn't wait!
"Godamn! Here we go boys!" Dallas said watching Frank, Dixie, and Weezer coming toward them at a canter. A clear sing that it was time to head north for this Montana country to deliver the herds, not that any of them had seen that country, even though this would not be the first herd driven up there.
"Mount up! We're movin' out!" Pythias Modeen shouted to the others, but Cookie and the kid were already hitching the team to the chuck wagon, which had been kept close by, as they'd be moving out ahead of the heard. "Get them doggies together!"
Dallas Hardin leaped into the saddle and began herding the cattle together, while Virgil and Lorado began getting the remuda organized to move. It was not a simple thing, just throwing the gates open and letting them run, it was all calculated. Everything in it's turn and ever man had a job insuring neither horse, man, nor cow was injured. That would make for a bad start.
The remuda would get out first and they would run after being penned up, and it would be the job of several of the hands to chase after and slow them down. Excitement raced through man and animal as the preparations were made to open the gates and head out.
The idea of moving seven hundred and fifty cows with fifteen men might seem like overkill, but Frank's reasoning was, that if he lost men along the way, or whatever reason, replacing them would be next to impossible, so better too any than not enough.
Granted, seven hundred fifty was a small herd compared to hears of a thousand to twenty-five hundred driven to Kansas, most times there were ten cowboys for those herds, not counting the cook and his helper. Frank counted them all. Long before the Pikes had left for their trip, Pronto had contacted Frank about what he wanted, and how he wanted it done.
So, as they moved out from Coldwater Texas, it was just as the owner had stated. Frank was a stickler for instructions. Though his main concern was the Indian territory they would pass through, not just for Indians, but outlaws as well. This patch of land that was called Oklahoma would not be recognized as a state for some years yet, so it would be wide open.
Cookie and Little Mary, Danny Barker, led out, and behind them came the herd, the drive was on!
Frank had given out assignments before the start, and promised that positions would rotate. Generally the drag riders were new hands, but the men he had were all experienced, the drive was too far in through questionable country to be training youngsters. The men he had knew how to handle most things they might encounter, stampedes, herd cutters, Indians and just plain bad weather.
The sun was out and bright, not a cloud in the sky, and they were making good time, though the would cross into Oklahoma within the hour, The would then make their first camp that night in the territories. If they pushed hard which Frank Teal just might, they could get close to ten miles in that first day and just about cross out of the strip known by several names, 'No Man's Land,' 'The Cimarron Strip are just two. But a dangerous place. The could cut over to New Mexico Territory but that would invite the Apaches to raid them, so they would give the lawless town of Cimarron a wide birth and lose perhaps a day.
They were moving a a good steady clip. So far, so good!
The first day had gone without incident, either human or weather, if they were lucky, and their good fortune continued, making good time would be easy, yet every man knew that one day does not make a drive. They had a long way to go yet to deliver the herd and the horses.
"Say boss, this Montana country, you ever been up thata way?" Laredo asked.
"Can't say as I have, but I hear it's real pretty country." Frank replied. "Part of the reason I took this job, man says we can stay on if we like, he'll be looking for hands once there's cows on the place."
"You know this hombre?" Was the next question as others gathered around.
"Know him. Was a Ranger once. Done some movin' about, much the same as most of us. He's said to be a square shooter, not given to slippery deals, and bad promises. Frank explained, he knew this Pronto Pike and his reputation was good. "A fair man, an honest man, one they said to ride the river with. So that got me to thinking that this here drives end, where a man could set down roots, quit wanderin' around."
"Well then, glad I signed on, like the sound of that!" Laredo said. "A fresh start in new country. Sounds good, real good.
The triangle was sounded and Cooke shouted, "Come an git afore I throw it out!" Not that he ever had.
When the ringing of the call to supper echoed across the plain, even Mule's head shot up, and the paint's ears pricked forward. The gelding had been around ranches to know that the sound meant rest, going back to the barn, and his own meal. Still, the lanky horse wasn't going to do anything he wasn't asked to, so he just kept plodding forward until his rider pulled him to a stop.
"Ya heard it, too?" Leaning forward, Justus patted his horse's neck as he scanned the low rolling prairie in the direction the sound had come from, spotting the distant glow of a fire against the fading light of dusk. As he sat up in the saddle, he could hear the lowing of cattle, and the pieces fell into place.
A drive...
"Think we should chance it?" While it was a bit safer to intrude into the camp of a cattle drive than just riding in on a lone, or a couple, of men, there was still a risk that they would be jumpy, or just plain mean, and he wouldn't make it within half a mile of camp before being shot out of the saddle.
Still, most drovers were just good, hard-working men, willing to help a strange, so Justus decided the risk was worth it if he could get a meal...it was going on three days since he'd had anything substantial...and short of being killed dead, what harm was there in asking? And even if they shot him, that solved the problem!
About a half mile from the camp, Justus swung out of the saddle, leaving the cinch tight in case he had to make a quick retreat, then unstrapped his gunbelt and hung it over the horn. Essentially unarmed, and on foot, he led Mule toward the fire, keeping his hands in sight, planning to stop as soon as he was challenged.
"Well boy," the rider said looking down at him from the back of his horse. "Just what are you up too?" It was Dallas, and he was one to ask questions first, rather than just shoot a fellow. "You might oughtta ride on in like a man. There'll be plenty of grub, and you'll be welcome to it." He smiled.
Dallas, had been sitting his horse between the stranger and the herd in the fading light, and though he has a hand close to his Colt, he had not seen the need to draw it. "You out here on yer own? Mount up an' I'll ride in with ya jest so's you don't get shot er nuthin'!" The he laughed.
Justus kept a close eye on the man as he approached, reassured by the fact that he was being allowed to approach, and that there was no sign of aggression. He stopped a few feet away.
"Evenin', sir." Justus nodded with an easy grin, relieved that it seemed this was a friendly bunch. Most men on drives were, but Justus had learned young that it was best to assume the worst, then be happily surprised.
"Just what are you up too?" It was Dallas, and he was one to ask questions first, rather than just shoot a fellow. "You might oughtta ride on in like a man. There'll be plenty of grub, and you'll be welcome to it." He smiled.
"Thank ya, sir, I might do just that." While he didn't want to seem too eager, there was no denying that he was grateful for the offer.
"You out here on yer own? Mount up an' I'll ride in with ya jest so's you don't get shot er nuthin'!" The he laughed.
"Yes, sir, I'm alone." Swinging into the saddle, Justus patted Mule on the neck, then fell into pace beside the man. "I do appreciate this, sir, I'll work for it, sir, help th' cookie with dishes or some'at." A thankless job, but it wouldn't do him any harm, and he wouldn't feel so much like mooching.
"Oh, m' name's Justus Wheeler, sir. I'm headed north, nowhere in particular."
"Well now, so are we, Headed up ta Montana to deliver them horses an' cows. Ever been on a trail drive?" Dallas asked, thinking the boy probably had not. It had been acceptable that boys joined drives once they were in their teens.
"We get to camp I'll inter-duce ya to Frank Teal, he's the ramrod o' this outfit an' it'll be his call about you hirin' on. But I'd say the chances are good. He's about as fair a man as I know. Fact is, you'd fit right in. 'corse you'll want ta go back fer that Pinto ya left back there, you'll be needin' it."
"Never been on a drive," Justus explained, "but I've worked some on a ranch, ropin', brandin' an' whatnot." He hadn't expected to be offered a job, so this was a good turn of events. "Horse here knows more'n I do, but that ain't sayin' much, an' don't mind gettin' dirty." As lanky as his rider, Mule didn't make much of an impression at first, he had a slow, ambling gait, with his head out-streached and lower lip hanging low. But when the time to act came on, the horse could keep up with the best, and had a good sense for running cattle.
Justus knew that he'd likely get the worst of the work, but if it was a way to get to north with regular meals and the protection of other cowboys, it would be worth it.
"Montana? They still havin' trouble with th' natives up that way?" He reckoned that, in a way, it was probably safer there now, since the ire of the US Federal Government had been stirred up, and there would be focus on suppression, if not all-out retaliation.
"Don't know nothin' about that. All we know is we need to get the herd up there fer this Pike fella." Dallas replied. "Injun trouble, one of them risks we gotta take. Storms, stampedes, nefarious outlaws lookin' ta take the herd, specially them Morgan horses, but this here bunch a men'll make it hard on them."
"Good ya got some experience, you tag along with us, well, you'll learn a lot on a drive like this 'un. Ain't easy, but there's nothin' like it neither. It's the freedom out here, an' ya got a purpose to boot." Dallas stated. "Ol' Frank now, he's the curly wolf of this bunch, an' he takes no lip, just warnin' ya. He's fair but demandin' we all pull our share with no arguein'.
They were almost to the camp when Dallas asked, "You handle a gun?"
"I ain't adverse ta puttin' in a honest day'a hard work," Justus declared, but then he grinned. "'Course, can't say as I'd not jump at somethin' that paid good with no effort!"
He laughed, then nodded. "Yes, sir, I'm a fair shot with a pistol, an' give me a decent long gun, I can do passable well, if I do say so." He didn't want to brag, but it was a fact...he was skilled with a gun, but preferred not to demonstrate that if he could help it.
"I can't say as I'd mind ridin' with you all, so long's th' food's good!"
Frank Teal was standing there waiting to see who this new man was that Dallas was bringing in. There were three others out with the herd, the Morgan horses were in close. The rest of the boys were about to shake out their bedrolls as the watch would change every four hours until sun up.
Dallas pointed to Teal, "That's the boss, Frank Teal so we'll get that outta the way. Some of the boys are getiin' read to bed down. While we're in this part of the country we'll have four men on watch through out the night."
"Who you got there, Dallas?" Teal wanted to know.
"Justus Wheeler, Boss." Was the answer as the two stopped.
"Well, light an set. Grub's on if your hungry." Frank offered. Dallas nodded, turned his horse and headed back to his place with the herd. Meanwhile Justus stepped down. "So what finds you out here, on the run? Folks, the law? Step over an' get yerself a plate."
"'mon son, this ain't gonna git et with you standin' there!" Cookie demanded, the kid smiling, here was one close to his age.