These stories were written by Joe Smith, who used to be known as Harve Bodine.    We know Joe as one of our favorite dowsers.   One of our favorite pendulums, for years, has been the "Joe Smith Dancing Pendulum", and for some time we have had a page on our web site devote specifically to Joe at:   JOE SMITH.   See  photos  of Joe and Marta at the top and at the bottom of this page, then and now.

The story about this novel started  in Dallas when Sandee Mac did a past life regression on me.  It seems that I rode with the Quantrell Raiders. My name was Harve Bodine.   Some time after that reading when my wife (Marta) and I were driving through New Mexico we stopped at the St. James Hotel in Cimarron. to get a cup of coffee and a sweet roll.  We had heard they were as big as a cow pie.  When I walked into the hotel I had the strong feeling of Deja Vu.  I felt like I had been there before.   It turns out that 26 men had died in that hotel in the 1800's.   It was full of entities.  Something started me writing these stories and they seemed to have a life of their own.   I sit down and start a chapter after working all day and at 11:00 I'm still writing --- it is kinda habit forming.  You know ---  where are they going today, what are they up to.   Things happen in the story that I had no idea that was the way it was going.   It writes itself.    A lot of the area in the stories I knew about.   The 4th episode takes place about 20 years later.    Robert (Bob) McKusick liked my stories so well he told me of his past life.   Seems he was a train robber around 1880.   He actually found a Robert McKusick in history that was a train robber in that time and place as he remembered it.   He sent me all the history on it and I wrote the "Arizona is Hot" story about that history.   A lot of it is fact --- it was taken from the known history of train robberies.    I just made it fit my story.   And Bob (or Robert) was in it. Most of the characters in the stories are taken from people I have known, their character is imbedded in the story.   I try to show real emotion that people have in a certain situation.   Some times while writing, I get tears in my eyes.   I put a lot of feeling in the stories.   I hope you all enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.  -  Joe Smith

Harve and Conchita, then and now

JOE'S STORY

    Chapter 1:   BODINE

    Harve Bodine was born down south around the 1800 era.  He and his family moved to the SE Kansas area just before the civil war broke out. He was a loner mostly but made friends with a schoolteacher around Lawrence, Kansas. They both liked guns and did a lot of target practice when they had time.
   Harve was about 20 at the time. This fellow from Lawrence was named Quantrell.  When the war broke out, he and several of his friends joined Quantrell and  “fought for the south”. More like murder and mayhem. Harve and some others didn’t like what Quantrell was doing so they pick up stakes one night and left him. They rode straight west just to get out of the fighting and getting killed in the process.
    Harve and his friends were not cowards but couldn’t live with the way Quantrell worked both sides. He was only happy as long as he was killing someone. After traveling several days they reached the panhandle of Oklahoma. There they rested the horses and spent some time trying to figure out what to do next. All were good with a gun. That was no problem; there were 6 of them. They decided to split up and 4 went back north.
    Harve and his friend Toby stayed together because they wanted no part of what the other four had planned. Robbing trains and banks wasn’t there way of doing things; they drifted on west toward Colorado. They stopped in Boise City and bought a packhorse and some supplies. Nobody seemed to be worried about them. The war was not talked about out there hardly at all, like it was another world.
   That suited Harve and Toby; they had had enough of the shooting for a while. They asked around about some big ranches that might be hiring. They were told of a couple in Colorado that might need hands. So off they went. It was spring and the weather was nice. They saw some good cattle but not a lot. There were a few rattlesnakes that they sent on to their maker, who ever it was.
   The grass was greening up nicely. They rode up to this big ranch house just east of the mountains. They were still carrying their pistols and rifles at the time so no one had bothered them as they looked like a rough pair. They in reality weren’t that mean unless they felt threatened.  Just a couple of nice guys who got led down the wrong path.
   The Ranch foreman came out and sized them up. He wasn’t sure he liked what he saw. They looked like a couple of cattle rustlers that had been stealing cattle in the area. Harve was a good talker and he convinced him they weren’t cattle thieves and asked if they were hiring.
   The foreman, Bill, told him they were short handed and could use a couple of good hands right now, as spring roundup was just about to start. Bill showed them to the bunkhouse and asked them if they had eaten. Toby told him they had a good breakfast of cottontail and gravy. Toby was good cook and a good shot. .
   They got settled in a couple of empty bunks and walked out to roll a light. Bill showed up about that time and showed them where to put their saddles and feed their horses. The packhorse was a big old bay, Toby’s was paint and Harve’s was a roan. All good, well taken care of, horses. Bill said that was why he hired them, because their horses were in such good shape.
    These two were not gunslingers but wouldn’t back down from a fight if they couldn’t talk their way out. More than one fellow found that out.
     He told them they were short of good broke horses for the round up, because the rustlers had taken part of them. They did have a herd of mares and colts though. So for the next couple of weeks they broke horses. The rest of the crew came in a few at a time to report on their areas of the ranch.
 They stayed out at small cabins close to the cattle to help ward off any rustlers. After a re-supply of food and shells, they went back out to the line cabins. It was fairly quiet right now so the boss was happy. Harve and Toby had been there 3 weeks and hadn’t even seen the boss. Little did they know that the boss was a woman?

ST. JAMES HOTEL

 CHAPTER 2:   THE BOSS

    On the 4th of May while the crew was finishing up breaking the horses, shoeing them and getting ready for the roundup, a wagon loaded with supplies drove up with a lady driving the rig.
   The foreman told us that the boss was back. Harve and Toby weren’t sure if it was a man or woman. Stocky built, pistol on her hip and a Winchester in her hands as she came up to the crew.
   “Hi boys, get this wagon unloaded, we got work to do.”
   The crew hopped right to it. Most of it was groceries that went to the storeroom and some ammunitions for the guns that everybody carried.
    Both Harve and Toby left theirs in the bedroll. You don’t need a pistol while riding a bronco. And for the last 3 weeks that is all they had been doing. They had gone through about 20 horses and made good horses out of most.
   One big black, named Midnight was a little tougher. He was a long 4 year old and they, (The ranch crew) had tried every year to break him, to no avail. Harve wasn’t about to give up on him.
   The Boss lady, Maude was her name, came out to the corral and saw Harve working with Midnight. She told him it was a waste of time.
    Harve told her he was making progress but slow. She said, “If you want that damned horse you can have him, but break him in on your on time, he has busted up too many of my hands already” and turned around and went to the house.
    Harve was thinking, “Man she is something else”. Toby and Harve cornered the foreman and asked what the deal was with Maude the boss.
    Bill said that rustlers killed her husband last year and she wasn’t about to quit till she found them and put them 6 ft under.
   Harve and Toby looked at each other and wondered what they had walked into? This was going to be interesting to say the least. They had been away from the shooting and fighting for a month or two and kinda missed all the excitement of it.
    The foreman told them just hang to on for a while and it was about to get interesting. The rustlers had been quiet over the winter but now that it was nice weather they were going to be coming around again and Maude was ready. That was why the foreman hired the two. They looked like they could handle a gun.
   The taking care of their horses was just a second reason and he wanted to see how they worked out. Maude called the crew that was still on the ranch together and gave them a speech if that’s what you want to call it.
  “Boys, we’re going to be ready this time when the rustlers hit. I want at least 2 men at each line post and at 6 am every morning fire 1 shot to let us know you are all right. 2 Shots if you’re not or have seen trouble. Now if you are up at the right time, the line camps are close enough that you can hear that shot. John you’re down in a draw, and sound doesn’t carry there too well. So you ride up on the west ridge each morning at that time. Have your breakfast over and your horses saddled before 6 am. Each of you ride out toward the closest camp in opposite directions. Meet the other cowboy and then check cows on the way back, watch for signs of cattle moving in a group. Watch for horse tracks where there should be none. Now about half of you are here so go out and tell the others what I said. On the 15th of the month we well start bring in all the cattle to the headquarters. We have saved that range just for this. I want these cattle close so we can watch them. Pick up your supplies and ammunition. We are going to have a fight. If any of you have cold feet, now is the time to draw your wages and mosey on down the road.”
    She never even stopped to take a breath. As Harve and Toby stated to leave she ask them to stay, she wanted to talk to them some more. After all had left except Bill the foreman. She started to talk again in a much quieter voice. Tears coming down her old leathery face. “Boys. Bill tells me you have done a good job with the horses. We have 60 saddle horses thanks to you and I’m putting you two in charge of the horses, you are now the wranglers for this ranch. (The SS, the double S). It will be dangerous and there will be some fighting. That is where you 2 are our ace in the hole. I know by looking, shooting people isn’t new to either of you, but working cows might be, time will tell. For now get the horses ready to go by the 12th of the month and we will have you follow the chuck wagon. Bill will stick close to the area of the chuck wagon also just in case. These rustlers like to hit the chuck wagon just for the hell of it.   Very demoralizing to the cowboys. Any questions?”
    “No maam we understand” Harve told her. The foreman and the boss were looking for signs of any cowardliness but didn’t see any. They figured the two came from the war and had deserted for some reason. So really they were being watched for that reason. Little did they know that both had been on numerous raids with the infamous Quantrell. Harve and Toby hadn’t said a word about it.
  On his days off which, were few, Harve had a chance to ride the black horse and started using him to work the other horses. Midnight liked being in the top spot and did a good job. Once in a while he would come unglued and try to drop his rider. He soon found out that was a waste of time.
    So they decided to be partners. Nobody else could ride him though; he didn’t want any body else to touch him.
   Each rider had a string of horses that he rode and they rotated him or her to keep them fresh. As a rule the wranglers were youngsters, but because of the danger, the boss put a couple of fellows she hoped she could trust.
 

    CHAPTER 3:   FRIENDS

    Harve Bodine and Tobias Dooley had been friends for several years and had ridden together during all of the fights they had, both didn’t like what was going on with Quantrell. Quantrell had got wind of his lieutenants not being too happy with the way he was doing things. Jesse and his brother and a couple more decided to leave it with him. On the way to the horses they ran into Harve and Toby, Rather than shoot them and wake up everybody, they told them “Your coming with us.” Hey, that suited Harve and Toby. It wasn’t long till the others found out that Harve and Toby were on their way down to the horses too. You know like when the ship is sinking bail out swim for shore. Quantrell was a no good S.O.B. and they had had enough of him. He wasn’t fighting for anybody but himself.  They high tailed it west and rode at night so as not to be seen till they got to the panhandle where they split up. Tobias was from New York of all places; you would think he would be a Yankee instead of a Reb. He was young and was just in it for the fight and to ride with Quantrell was an adventure to him. He knew horses and a little about cows and was good with firearms. As a kid he always wanted to be a cowboy so he came out west to Kansas to learn the cowboy ways. Harve on the other hand, was born in the south, and had Reb in his blood, plus he liked adventure. Harve was also part Cherokee Indian. That’s how his parents got to the area; the government sent them from the Cherokee Nation in Georgia on the Trail of Tears. Harves’ mother was full blood Cherokee. They settled in Arkansas first, then on to N E Oklahoma. Harve followed them, as he was not classed as an Indian. So he had a chip on his shoulder also, to take up with the “Yanks”. This is how the two fellows became friends, both joined Quantrell Raiders. Harve because he was a Reb and Toby just for excitement.
    Now that they were on the Double S ranch, things were looking up. Nobody ever asked any thing about their history and they dam sure would not have told them. The crew kinda shied away from them for some reason, so they didn’t have to many talks with any of them. They talked to the cook and helped him out with the wagon and found wood for him. Once in a while they would shoot a mule deer or an antelope to help on the monotony of sowbelly and beans. There wasn’t that much wood around for the fire so it was a job in itself. The young boys took a smaller wagon out and found wood. Once they got the cattle in the headquarters pasture the job of wrangling and cooking became easier.
    They had started the spring works and the cattle had started moving toward the big pasture near the headquarters. All was going smoothly, no sign of any trouble. This would take several days. The ranch was big, laying east of the mountains and south of the Arkansas River. Probably around 2500 sections. There were very few fences at that time, just big open ranges. The different ranches would send some men over to help out when they gathered all the cattle, several thousand. Together they would help cut out their cattle; known by the brand they wore. There were a lot of young calves that had to be paired up with their mothers. It was a big time consuming job and you really had to know cattle.  After they were all separated and the other ranchers would start back home with their cattle. It was time for the branding. Harve was, believe it or not, good with the rope and would rope the calves by the heels and drag them up to the fire. This was called heeling, while one cowboy grabbed the tail and the other fell on the shoulder and grabbed the front leg as the calf was dragged to the fire. The work began; they were branded and castrated if they were bull calves. The fellow doing that work carried a bucket for the nuts and they saved them for breakfast each morning. Mountain Oysters they called them. Some just laid them on a slab of rock near the fire and when they would split open from the heat of the fire, they would eat them.
  Things went smoothly until the round up was over. The cowboys all went to town to celebrate the fact they saw no rustlers. Harve and Toby stayed away from town, afraid some one might recognize them as one of the Quantrell Raiders.  While most were in town the Rustlers raided and tried to run off a bunch of horses. Bill heard the shots and woke the crew up and told them about what was going on. Old Cookie grabbed his pants, boots and gun and started out the door before they could get their pants on. They were right behind him when they hit the barn. Harve roped Cookie’s horse and one for the other two, Bill and Toby, and then he roped the black for himself.
   They didn’t have very many in the lot, just a few, They saddled up, got their rifles stuck in the scabbards, pistols on and took off in a dead run following Bill as he knew about where they had to go to get the horses away from the ranch. After about a fast 30 minutes Harve began to wonder where they were going. They stopped at a saddle in the hill and Bill, said “Spread out around the hill here, I think they will have to come out here to get out with the herd. Be quiet, Cookie take the horses over the hill and tie them good. I don’t want to walk home.”
   Cookie took the horses over the hill and came back just about the time the herd started coming up the draw. It was plenty dark but you could make out some riders following the horses. They were back far enough from the draw that they didn’t spook the horses and they let them cross. Here came the riders so they cut down on them, no warning or any thing, just started shooting.   Three went down the first round and the fourth was wounded and turned his horse and started to run the other way but Toby dropped him. There was a couple more farther off that got away. One was carrying a slug that Toby put in his thigh. Cookie got the horses and Toby and Harve took out to return the herd to the ranch. Bill and Cookie went down very carefully to check the riders. Three were dead and the other one wished he was and didn’t put up a fight. Cookie caught a couple of their horses and they loaded the dead ones on one and the wounded one on the other one.
   They started back to the headquarters with the rustlers in tow. Maude was waiting at the corral. They put the dead ones in the wagon to take in town the next day, since they probably had a poster on them. Money was short and the Ranch could use all it could get. Maude had Bill brought the wounded fellow into the house where she proceeded to patch him up some. He had a bullet in his right arm and one in his thigh. Maude was an old hand in retrieving bullets. She and her husband had been out there on the ranch for 30 years.
    She got him fixed up and gave him a pint of whiskey before she started asking him questions. Like who was he riding for, where was their hideout and how many were there of the rustlers. He didn’t want to answer any of the questions. But Bill was sitting there listening to all the questions also.
   Bill said “Young fellow If I were you I would be answering those questions and do it quick. We do have a big cottonwood tree out front and you wouldn't be the first rustler to hang from the branches.” He gulped a couple of times as the whiskey took effect and mumbled something about they would kill him if they knew he told them any thing.
    Maude said, “Tell you what. That right arm ain’t gonna be any good for shooting any more, you might have to get a job instead. That thigh will pain you something fierce straddling a horse, so that let cowboying out. You’re just gonna have to get a job somewhere a long way from here.”
   “You mean you're going to turn me loose?” “Only if you tell us what you know and do it now, my patience is running short.”
    Maude took the bottle from him and had a big swig of it and handed it back. “Now” she said, so he started talking.
   There were about twenty before tonight. They had a camp northeast of Springer, New Mexico, in the rocks. They just returned from a spree in Mexico. That was why they hadn’t hit them earlier. He wasn’t with them when they shot her husband a while back. The camp was about a mile from the Santa Fe Trail and they did rob small wagon trains, when they needed money. Nobody ever thought they would be that close to the trail.
    Maude had Bill take the rustler with his wings clipped out to the bunkhouse and bed him down for the night on the floor. Bill told him he was damm lucky Maude hadn’t shot him right there.
   He lay on the floor with his hands and feet tied, wondering what was to happen tomorrow.
 

    CHAPTER 4;   MAUDE’S REVENGE

    Maude stepped out of the house in her go to work clothes, boots and all. Had her pistol strapped on her hip and her Winchester in her hand. Bill and all the crew except Cookie were saddled and ready to go. This a couple of hours before sunup. There were 19 of them as the sheriff came along also. They headed for New Mexico, about a 80-mile trip, to try to find the rustlers nest. If the information was true, and they thought it was, there would be bloodshed in the next couple of days. They covered close to 70 miles the first day and stopped by a small creek before dark and picketed the horses out to graze and then they fixed a cold supper. No fires because of smoke. They didn’t want anybody to know they were coming. Surprise was very important. Maude came over to Harve and Toby and sat down on a big rock, She looked tired. Of course she was no spring chicken any more. She was crowding 55 now. She lowered her voice and told them of her plans. She asked them what they thought about it. “Well they had other ideas about it. Harve told her” Maam, we have done a lot of this type of fighting and know what to do, If you want us to, we will slip over there and see if they are even around. If we’re spotted, we will just play dumb and ask to join the group. Nobody has seen us around; we haven’t been to town  Maude agreed it was worth a try. The main group would follow at a safe distance and stay out of sight. This little bunch of rocks wasn't 4 mile across and it was on an open plain The rustlers were holed up in a small bunch of rocky hills on the west side. They probably had a lookout and they did have a way out, or so they thought. They had to find their escape route first. Toby suggested that he and Harve go over before daylight and find both places as the wounded rustler had told them.
     Harve and Toby were saddled and gone long before anybody else had gotten up. As they neared the east side of this big out cropping they got off and checked for signs at each little draw coming out of the area. At the third one they checked they saw old sign of horses traveling through. They found a cedar tree at the mouth of the draw and tied a red bandana or the tree so it could be seen from a distance. They slipped out of there quietly and went on around to the west side of the area but did not stop or slow down, they just trotted right across the area just at daybreak. They acted like they were just traveling through. They did see fresh signs of horses traveling up one of the draws. But did not look up there, just rode right on by. When they were clear out of site they circled back to the east side and headed back toward camp. About that time the rest of the bunch came up to them. Bill asked what they had seen. They told them of the get away draw and where the hide out was. They didn’t see any thing but felt sure they had been seen as they rode by. So now it was up to Bill, the sheriff and Maude. Maude told them. " I'll take Harve, Toby, Jim and Bob. That will be five of us and we can be on the east side and catch them as they make a run for it if they are in there. The rest can sneak up on the other side, but be quiet. It would be better if you tied your horses a ways from the area to keep them from nickering to the other horses. " Well, that didn't leave much doubt about who was running the show. The Sheriff agreed to it and fourteen cowboys started around the hill. Maude and her bunch spread out and laid in wait at the head of the escape route, for the crew to flush them out.
     Bill's bunch tied their horses and left one man there with them on lookout. They slipped around the hill just as the sun was coming up. The guard that the rustlers had out was fast asleep behind a tree. Bill slipped up and cold cocked him with his pistol. As the rest of them came up and spread out the camp came alive.  A rustler came out of his bedroll to start the coffee, He happened to see movement of one of the cowboys. At first he thought it was the night guard. Then something spooked him and he hollered for the others to come a running. About that time, the Sheriff being a lawful type person told them to lay down their guns and surrender. That didn’t set too well as they started shooting at any and every thing. There were trying to get boots on and find their hardware all at once. The cowboys started shooting back. All of a sudden shots started coming from somewhere else. Part of the rustlers were sleeping in another area up the canyon. It got pretty hot for a minute or two and the cow boys had to find cover for a little while, till they figured out what was going on. The rustlers took advantage of the lull and got their stuff and headed up the canyon to their horses. This was a narrow canyon so the sheriff and a couple of cowboys started up the side so they could see. What they saw was a group of men all trying to get their mounts saddled and get out of Dodge. He hollered back to Bill and told him, so Bill and some cowboys started up after them, They dodged a couple of bullets but took care of that one and went up far enough to see the rustlers leaving. They got several of them before they had a chance to get out of site. It looked like there were about 11 left. They dropped one more just as they went around the last bend. The sheriff and his group headed back to get the horses. Now on the other side of the mountain, Maude and her group was all bedded down waiting for the rustlers to get there. They heard the shooting and knew what was going to happen. It was about thee miles straight over the mountain and it didn't take long to hear horses running on the rocky ground. The only problem was they were strung out too far. They weren't in a big group. Now what?? The other cowboys would be following them and maybe come around to help. Maude held up her hand as to tell them to wait to the last minute. They were almost past when she dropped her hand and started firing as fast as she could. The other four were doing the same. All were good shots and rustlers, horses, and all were rolling in the canyon. The ones back behind the others were looking for a place to go but there wasn't any. So they just dismounted and started firing back. Toby and Harve motioned to each other and started up the draw and moving higher all the time. By doing this they were higher than the rustlers in the draw. The rustlers were in a bad spot. They knew it would be just a matter of time before the sheriff and his "posse" would be showing up right after them.
    Then they would have no way out There were still about eight of them that could ride and so they found a little side draw, mounted back up, and started up it. That was on Toby's side of the draw and he was moving as fast as he could to head them off. Harve was doing the same. These old Henry rifles they had wouldn’t carry much over a hundred and fifty yards and still be accurate. Harve got to a place he could see them and raised his sights as high as he could get them and shot at the leader of the group. Must of hit the horse, because he started bucking and lost his rider as he turned and bucked right though the other horses. It didn't slow them up much as the rider just hopped up behind the next guy and went on up the small trail. Toby was ready and laying in wait as the topped out of the small draw. He started firing at the group. They immediately turned around and went back out of sight and dismounted. Toby had done his job and disappeared among the rocks. This fight had taken about fifteen minutes and that was enough time for the other crew to be in hot pursuit. The rustlers did not have any idea how many men were up on top waiting. So they got off their horses and started up the hill. Maude and Jim had drifted up to help Toby and Bob had gone up the bottom of the draw. . Toby wasn’t sure where the others were except Harve who was on the other side of the draw. So he just set tight for a couple minutes to see what was going on. About that time he heard a movement off to his left. One of the rustlers was sneaking up the hill on foot. He let him come. He was just about to cut down on him when he heard that old 44-70 cut loose, Maude nailed the poor fellow and sent him backward about 10 ft down the hill. Then another one showed up on the right and Toby shot him.  Then Jim saw one and he cut loose with his old rifle, a sharps buffalo gun. The rocks were rolling down the hill all around. Then Harve and Bob started in from the other side. The crew from the other side showed up about that time and looked the situation over. They spread out across the draw and soon had the rest of the bad guys with their hands in the air. After it was all done, no cowboys had died, a couple had gunshots but could still ride. Six of the rustlers had survived, while 8 had died in the battle. It took till noon to get everybody and all the horses rounded up. The rustlers were all tied on the saddles and the horses were tied together. The dead rustlers were tied on their horses. They started out for the little railroad town of Des Moines. It was thirty miles away. The sheriff said there was a jail there and probably a US Marshall, anyway a telegraph. It was late that night when they got into Des Moines. There was a jail and they put all the 6 men in the jail and took the two wounded cowboys to the doctor's office. Harve and Toby drifted behind the rest of the crew and stayed outside of town, as they didn't want to see any US Marshall. Maude saw them dropping back and waited for them to come up to her. They told her they were not wanted anywhere but didn't want to take a chance any way. Maude told them to head toward the headquarters and they would catch up in a day or two.
 

    CHAPTER 5:  WHERE TO NOW

    After the fight, Maude asked Bob and Jim to stay behind, pick up their pack horses they left at the first night camp and then scour the hide out and area for any thing left. Jim and Bob were brothers and looked it. Both were stocky build and around 30 years old. They were the son's of one of the owners of the Double S ranch. The other owner was Maude’s husband. These fellows were brothers.  The rustlers killed them in a ambush. Only Bill knew of the connection between them. After retrieving the pack horse from the night camp they went over to the battle site first, caught one more horse that wandered in, picked up some guns that the sheriff had missed and then went on over to the hideout by the escape route. There they found a couple more horses tethered out by a water hole. They tied them all together and proceeded down to the camp with guns drawn. Kinda spooky scene there, Stuff was thrown all around from the hasty retreat. So quiet you could hear a pin drop. They saw a small cave so with drawn guns they started inside. A big coon came running out between their legs and almost gave them heart failure. There were several crates of rifles and ammo with US Army stamped on them. Bob bent over and opened the lid on one of them. There were several old rifles and a still a bunch of brand new Winchester repeaters. The other crate was unopened. Back behind that there were some packsaddles with the same insignia on them.  Jim said “that’s gonna help a lot. We have horses and packs; lets get this stuff loaded and get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
    So they got the horses up there and put the packs on them. They loaded all the guns, ammo, and some supplies on the four packhorses. They had two already and two new ones. Plus one extra they piled a couple of saddles on and cinched them down well. By late that evening while the rest were headed to Des Moines, Jim and Bob headed back to the ranch and stayed out of site. Maude had picked them for the fight on the escape route because they were kin and she knew they wouldn’t run. She felt good about Harve and Toby but still wanted to keep an eye on them. So that is why she wanted those four with her. Two she trusted and two she wanted to trust.
    All the rifles the rustlers had were the latest center fire Winchesters. While most of their guns were of the older rim fire. The new guns were a lot more accurate and the bullets would travel farther. When the sheriff had the boys round up all the guns they could find from the rustlers, there showed up some old rifles in the bunch. A couple of Henrys and a Sharps were in the group. He just smiled and didn’t say a word. Maude kinda chuckled a little. That was when she decided to send Bob and Jim to look a little more. OK now that they had the guns, what next?
     It took Harve and Toby a couple of days to return and two more day for the rest to show up. Cookie was glad to see all of them, even if he had to nurse a couple of them who they brought in a wagon.
    Maude and Bill called the brothers up to the house and tried to figure out what to do with the guns and other stuff. One bag of Mexican silver pesos was in the loot. They decided to turn most of it back to the Government, not all though. They kept the open box of rifles and the ones that were" traded" for on the fight scene. The money they split up between the boys that went on the “posse”. Twasn’t totally legal but nothing was out where they were. The rustlers, they left in the sheriff's care were brought to trial and convicted of several robberies and cattle stealing. Didn’t take long, the district Judge passed out swift sentences.
    After things got back to normal there wasn't much to keep Harve and Toby busy. Then one day the Sheriff, US Marshall and a couple of older fellows rode up and talked to Maude. They all went to the house and went inside. After about an hour. Bill came out where Toby and Harve were training horses. He asked them to come to these; there were some fellows who wanted to talk to them
 

    CHAPTER 6:  THE LAW

    As Harve and Toby were headed for the house; their thoughts were really wondering what next? It was too late too cut and run, wouldn’t do any good any way and Bill showed no apprehension or worry. So they stepped up on the porch, took off their hats, cleaned their boots and Bill showed them in the house. The law and the other two official looking men sat around the kitchen table drinking coffee. Maude was pouring a couple more cups for Harve and Toby. A real peaceful scene, they hoped. They took the coffee and sat down in the empty chairs. Maude could see a little worry in their faces. She said. “Let me introduce you to these people. This fellow you know, the Sheriff Tom, Harold Sims here is the US Marshall for the district. These two gentlemen are from the Cattlemen’s Organization, Jack Price and Hi Jones. They want to speak to you about a possible job. Both Harve and Toby let out a silent sigh.  The Marshall spoke up and started the conversation.”
    “You boys did a real good job in helping round up that crew of rustlers over in New Mexico. Maude said you knew your way around when it comes to this type of work. We don’t know and don’t want to know where you came from and don’t care.  Your past is of no interest to us. Now that is out of the way, we would like to hire you away from Maude for the purpose of finding cattle thieves. We don’t mean the homesteader that shoots one for his family once in a while. We mean the ones that are stealing a couple of hundred at a time.” It was quiet for a little while Harve and Toby thought that over. Toby nodded to Harve, so Harve spoke up and ask. “What would be the salary and where would we be working?”
    “Then you might accept our offer?”  “Maybe” Harve said. The cattleman Hi spoke up and said, “Salary can be set to what ever you feel is right, and you would be working in the territories of Colorado and New Mexico, all east of the Rockies, We have a good man in the south and one in the north area so you two would be in between and under cover. Nobody would know what you are. You will have no identification on you. In case of emergence you are on your own. But you will have contacts you can give your information to. Do you want the Job? It will be hard.”   “Mr. Bodine, you look enough like an Indian half breed with the long black hair and high cheek bones nobody will ever think of you as a detective.” Harve spoke up and said, “That is because I’m half Cherokee.” Hi said, “That would explain it wouldn’t it” and laughed. Then he turned to Toby and said, “Mr. Dooley, with your mop of curly light brown hair, nobody will take you serious. That is good, you will fit right in with the bad boys.”  Toby was wondering about that remark, he asked them to explain that. Hi spoke up and said,  “we thought that you might like to be the inside man, or even both of you could join the thieves and learn all about their operation. But really it is up to you how you do it, just get it done.” Toby looked at Harve and smiled a little. Harve said to the gentlemen, “This sounds real dangerous, they shoot people for doing that real fast.” “that is why we are going to give you a GOOD salary, you name your price.”  He said.
    The two left the house and went out to the corral. Leaning against the poles of the gate, smoking a roll your own, neither said any thing for a while. Finally Toby asked Harve what he thought about this plan? Harve took a long drag on the smoke, He finally said. “Ahh'Hell it sounds like fun, lets do it.” “OK but it is really going to take some thinking, I ain’t used to doing to much of that,” Toby piped up. It was decided then.
   They had four horses now the roan the paint, the black Maude gave to Harve and the Bay pack horse. They would need at least one more. About that time Maude showed up by herself and was wondering what the boys decided. They told her and then she said for Toby to pick out another horse for his string as a gift. Toby said “That is awful nice of you, could I have that stocking legged little bay?”  “I’ll check with Bill, but I'm sure it will be OK. You see I’m about out of work for you fellows and I hoped you would accept this job. Why don’t you come back in and we will talk about it some more with the fellows and have some dinner Cookie made for us.”  Harve looked at Toby, smiling he said.  “Out of the frying pan and into the fire” Toby just smiled and went on in the house for dinner. When somebody else cooked it that was a treat. May be the last of that for a while.
 

    CHAPTER 7:   School Time

    After agreeing to take the job as detectives for  Detective S of the Cattleman's Association., the Marshall told Harve and Toby they would be paid $50 each a month to start plus expenses. For every rustler they brought in or were responsible for their capture they would receive a bonus of $100.   The rustlers that were put on trial in Des Moines gave the Marshall some good info about some more groups in the area.  The Marshall also told the two that they would need about a week of training so they knew what to do in case they had to arrest someone. This school would be in Walsenburg, Colorado, about 75 miles west of the ranch. So, after getting all the instructions they left for Walsenburg. They were to meet a fellow at the Sundown Saloon in a couple of days at straight up noon when there wouldn't be too many people around.
    On the specified day and time and place they met this man, a short stocky fellow with a pair of pistols on his hips and a long mustache. He went by the name of Carl. He saw them when they came in. There was no one else in the place except the bartender who was sweeping up the place. He motioned them to a back room.  They all entered and sat down and he introduced himself as a state under cover policeman.
     Carl asked if the boys were thirsty? They said sure, so he left and returned with a couple of warm beers for them and a cup of coffee for himself. Carl said he talked to the Marshall and was to teach them the how to's and what for's in a short five day period. The best place to do that was out at his place, up the canyon a few (5) miles.  They were told how to get there, and not to be followed. He would slip out the back way and they could sit around a while and drink a beer or two if they wanted, just be out there in a couple of hr. Around 5 pm the bar starts to fill up and that wasn't good to be seen just yet.  Harve and Toby didn’t stay long in the bar they rode out to the edge of town and took the saddles off their mounts and changed them to the fresh ones. They set the pack off the packhorse and lead them all down to water and let them graze for a while. They laid in the shade of a big oak tree for about an hour and then stepped on their horses after reloading the packhorse and went on out to Carl's place. It wasn't hard to find it was right off the road about a half-mile to the south in a little protected Rincon with a few pines and cedars around. They saw Carl out by the barn and went on down there. Carl told them to put their gear in the saddle room and turn the horses out in the trap with his horses. Harve told him the black was very intolerant of other horses till he was around them for a while. Carl said  “that’s OK, we will leave him in the corral and feed him some hay. So that is how it was left, the other four horses went into the trap of maybe 100 acres and the black stayed at the corral, happy as a clam with fresh hay and some oats to eat. The three men went to the house and went inside. For over four full days and part of the fifth day they were taught all Carl could teach them about right and wrong in the work they were about to enter. Neither of the young men had had much schooling so that was part of it also, they had to learn to read better, to write, and to sign their name on papers. It was crash course for sure. One they never knew was coming when they took the job. But it did both of them good. They felt better about themselves.  They never thought Carl of all people could teach them all that stuff. They had respect for him after that. Then he showed them how to do the fast draw and fire where you were looking. With out aiming down the barrel, which took time you may not have. Another amazing feat they would have never thought he could do. After a day or two they improved vastly in the pistol work. Didn’t even shoot themselves in the foot.  Then the rifle. Carl was also a dead shot with the rifle, either on or off the horse. They had a time getting their horses to let them shoot off them. They did their best to unload them in a pile. They finally would permit the ride and shoot, they never were that good when they were ridding for Quantrell. They thought that would be the easy part. The roan and the paint were ok but the new mounts like the black and the stocking legged horse that Maude gave Toby didn’t want any part of it at first. But with a little TLC they came around. Now they were ready to go looking for rustlers. They would do this by pretending they wanted to join the groups. “ Boy this is getting deep fast,” Toby told Harve.
    Carl said he would go with them to show them the country they were to work. Early the next morning they left out headed south, with six saddle horses and one packhorse. They traveled for a couple of days till the came to a place called Wagon Mound. Big good ranch country. Nice creeks and plenty of grass. They spent the night away from town. Carl went into town and came back after dark with a fellow. He was a tall drink of water, slim as a beanpole. Carl introduced everybody to each other. They had a small fire and a coffee pot on.  And offered him a cup. His name was George; he was one of the big ranchers there in that area. He was to be their contact if we couldn’t send a wire on the telegraph. He was the first beside Carl in this net of people that could be trusted. They hoped. He turned out to be a real friendly fellow after he got used to the two outlaw looking men. Over the next several days we learned where they were to work and who they could contact about rustlers. After a week of this Carl shook their hands and wished them good luck. The five days of school turned into a couple of weeks. That was all right, nobody was shooting at them, yet.
    The plan was made up between them that Harve would try to get a job there as a swamper and bar keep. They were given PO box numbers to check for messages or leave messages in several places. One was in the town of Cimarron, a hot bed of outlaw activity. It seemed to center around the town hotel. All types of mayhem and things of that order were taking place there. It was called the “Saint James.” This is where Harve and Toby were to make contacts. They found a small place at the edge of town that had a corral and a small pasture along the creek. Barbed wire had been around for a while and it was useful in small pastures situations. Toby rented from the owner an acted like Harve was his hired man. It gave them a place to keep their horses; the owner was getting on in years and still lived on the place so he would watch the stock and their Stuff. Harve didn't say a word. This was to be their line for a while. The rustler and his helper. Toby was supplied with enough money so he could put on a good show playing poker and drinking. Harve did get a job cleaning up the place and working the bar during the daytime. He very seldom said any thing, adding to the mystic about his half-breed looks. Harve would hear things at the bar because no one paid any attention to him. Till one day a drunk patron shoved him out of the way and called him a dam breed. Then they saw the swift action of the “breed.”  The drunk found himself on the floor with a knife at his throat. Harve told him that it had been a while since he had taken a scalp and would the fellow want to be the next? White as a sheet the drunk got up and left. Harve went back to sweeping up the bar. After that the patrons of the bar stopped with the names, except Toby, he still called him “His Breed”, but not in a bad way, Nobody knew his name and he didn't offer it. After that incident he was called several times to quiet down problems. He would just walk over there and look at them with those black eyes. That was usually all it took. During the time they were staying at the hotel several people had been shot. Most died on the spot. They had been there for a while when Toby told Harve he was going out for a couple of weeks to appropriate some cattle. Two weeks grew into three and Harve was getting worried. He dropped a note to the Cattleman’s group. The note came back that the herd that Toby was with was being followed thanks to Toby's good work. Another week went by and Toby showed up with several more fellows. Later that night they met at the corrals where Harve slept in the barn. Toby explained that the cattle were being followed all the way to their destination by the cattlemen and the Marshals. There were no problems yet; as all he could find out was that some one high up in politics was behind all this rustling. He didn’t know who yet. The next day a fellow came up to Harve and asked him if he wanted a job on a ranch. Harve could see Toby out the corner of his eye and saw him nod ever so slightly. Harve said he might, but what was the pay and where would it be? The fellow told him “$25 a month and all he could eat and a place to sleep.” Harve asked him if there was any shooting involved, if so $25 wasn't going to get him interested too much. And walked off to the bar where he was restocking the booze cabinet. The fellow went back to the table with a strange look on his face. Toby asked him if “His Breed” wanted to go with them. He said,  “I’m not sure what to think, you know him don’t you?” Toby said that yes a little; he helped him with some “stock” now and then. He was wondering how Harve knew what was coming? He thought it over for a while talked to the others and came back over to the bar. “What would it take to get you to join the crew?” he said. Harve looked him straight in the eye and said, “I’ve been shot at and have shot back more than once. I know what it is, I listen real well and know that there is a lot of rustling going on in the state here, and if that is what my job is going to be it will cost you.”  “OK, how about a share in the take?” the fellow said. Harve wasn’t jumping at the chance like they thought he would. It would take a little more to convince him to tag along with them. They begin to see him in a different light, not the breed that cleaned up the bar but a dangerous man to respect. They finally got together and Harve was hired. He told this fellow that he needed a little time so the hotel owner could find some one to take his place, a couple of days. During that two days Toby and Harve needed to talk and make plans. This was coming to a head this round.
 

    CHAPTER 8:  NOW WE EARN OUR KEEP

    We left you as the two were fixing to go to work with a rustler crew. They have set it up with the Marshal’s office and it is a go. Now the Rustlers know that these two have worked together and don’t seem worried about it. They met the rest of the crew in a canyon that had only one way in or out. There was a sizable herd already there and some new rustlers that neither had seen. One came up as they were dismounting and asked them where they got the horses with the Double S brand, the stocking legged and the black. Toby spoke up and said. “We were traveling in Colorado a month or so ago and heard a bunch of shooting one night and kinda got out of sight. There was horses and everything running by us so we stayed out of sight. Before sunup we started to leave and saw these two horse running by themselves. We just roped them and kept on going. It was dark almost and we didn’t even notice the brands till we were a long ways from there. So we just kept them. That black was a handful to break, the stocking legged was broke already.  Probably some friendly rustlers way of getting some new horses and some one caught them.”  The new fellow said, “Yeah I heard about that. That bunch lost five men that night. Some old lady runs that ranch She ain’t a push over like they thought.” He seemed satisfied and turned and walked away. They put their horses out to graze. Two of them they put on the picket line.  The boss of this crew came in and rode over. “Hey you made it” Toby said they just got here and took care of their horses. The boss’s name was Lee Corn. A fireplug of an old fellow. He said. Come over to the tent after while and I will fill you in as to your jobs.  After they got a place to bed down they went over to Lee’s tent. The only one there. Lee handed them a cup of coffee and they sat down to listen to what he had to say. “You two come highly recommended.” Lee said. “Especially the ‘breed’ here, he had everybody scared of him and never even pulled down on anybody” Harve just nodded and smiled a little. Toby on the other hand said, “he don't pull it unless he aims to use it. Somebody would gets hurt real bad if he does.” Lee smiled and said “Hope I didn’t hurt your feeling calling you a breed, you look like you have Indian blood in you. No offense meant. Harve just nodded his head. “He don't talk much does he” Lee said. “No he lets me do all the talking for him, been that way for a couple of years now” Toby said. Where was he from if I might ask? Toby said, “Georgia, he is of Cherokee blood.”  “Can he work well at night and can he use that pig sticker he has.” Lee asked Toby. “I would hate to see him demonstrate it.”  “I’ll take your word for it, I heard what he did to that big old boy at the St. James.”  Lee said. Harve just sat there playing the wooden Indian part. “Now what we have to do is just wait a couple more days till they bring some more cattle in. We are changing some brands, the ones we can so there will be some work to do. You won’t be setting around. We start working the cattle tomorrow. Tonight we will have a meeting and get to know each other. Most know you, Toby and will get to know Harve soon, if he would just talk a little” he said with a toothless smile.
     Later that night they all got together and passed a bottle around for all to get a swig of it. Harve passed on it and not a word was said. They had been forewarned. Lee got up and introduced the others to the new men they had, first names only. All Harve would do is nod his head a little. Very mystic about the whole thing. They visited a little and then Lee said he had something important to say to them.  “It has been rumored that there are some law messing around the area. If any of you hear or see anything out of the ordinary just let me know and I will take care of it.   We have to get these cattle over the mountain and onto the Rio Grande below Taos and do it quietly. No shooting unless it is a big emergency.  We will have about 500 head and there will be around 15 of us. We will take them right up a canyon south of Cimarron, where that big rock butte is.” Lee said. All seemed to know what to do so the next morning Harve and Toby did the head and heeling routine on all the big stuff and the brands were altered. Lee was amazed at how good the two were with the ropes. After about two days more cattle came in and they did the same for them. The fellow using the running iron was a master at changing brands. They had a good working corral in the canyon and running water in the creek and plenty of grass for a while. They had somebody on guard all the time, even at night. Lee came over to Harve and started to ask him something, turned to Toby and asked him if Harve minded taking guard duty to night. Toby looked at Harve and said,  “the boss wants to know if you want guard duty to night.” Harve just nodded his head in agreement. The boss just smiled and turned and left them.
   That night just before dark Harve saddled up the black and started out. He made the first round before dark so he would know about where he was. The signal if any body was following him would be the chopping of wood with an axe. About midnight he heard the axe one time, then one more time. Hmm two of them checking him out. OK, now for some fun. Harve dropped off his horse and put on his moccasins, tied his boots on the horse and slipped back into the trees. In just a little while, he saw one fellow slipping up through the trees. He slipped up behind him dropped him with the butt of his pistol and tied him to a tree with a handkerchief in his mouth. He slipped on by and on the other side here came another one of them. Why they were slipping up on him was a mystery to Harve. But he did the same thing to the other fellow. Then he went back to riding his rounds with his boots back on. Around 3 am the other guard came on duty and relieved him. Marvel went back to camp without saying a word to any body. The next morning Lee wanted to know where the two Jones brothers were. Nobody knew, finally one of them spoke up and said. “They went out last night to see if our guard was asleep.” Lee asked Toby if Harve saw any thing last night, Toby looked at Harve and asked, “Did you see any thing last night?” Harve nodded his head in a yes motion. “Do you know where they are now?” Harve motioned up on the hill with his hand.  Man, the crew took off up there not knowing what to expect, just to find two guys tied to trees with knots on their heads, and very embarrassed. They had no idea who or what had hit them. There were no boot tracts. After that no body questioned Harve or Toby again. The next day Lee rode out by himself and was gone about two hours. He needs to get the final instructions from the big boss. Toby figured that the big boss was close, maybe ten miles away. Lee left in a southeast direction. That was worth remembering for the Marshals. When he returned he started making plans to break camp. The coast was clear to start moving the cattle in the morning.
 

    CHAPTER 9;  THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS

       The next morning the started the cattle moving west. They had an old steer that they kept for that Job. He had been through this before. Three of the riders went on ahead to scout the trail. They moved any cattle out of the way and watched for any riders or Indians. They couldn’t afford to get any body teed off by running off some of their cattle in the mountains even though the whole herd was stolen that they were driving. The cattle moved well, they were well rested after spending a week in the canyon. They went right out the end of the canyon where they had cut a path through the timber for the cattle and the wagon. About evening the chuck wagon had gone on ahead to a nice mountain meadow and made camp. Lee and his group brought the cattle up and got them bedded down for the night. There were some storm clouds in the west that evening. They have mountain showers every day or two in the high meadows.  This one kept building and started to get louder. Lee put several cowboys out to watch the cattle. He told them if they broke to run, head them west and keep them bunched as much as possible. Late that night it hit with a vengeance. Lightning you would have to see to believe’, thunder booming so loud it was spooking every one, even the cowboys. Harve and Toby were saddled and had their slickers on. About that time a bolt of lighting hit a big pine, knocking it over with a loud crash. That was enough to get the herd to stampede. The other cowboys jumped up and started to get ready to go. What a mess, wet bedrolls and all. The cows were on the move. Harve and Toby and the Jones brothers were trying to turn the cattle due west.  Even shooting their pistols. The cattle didn’t like running into the rain, which was coming down in sheets. All they could do was turn them to the south and try to keep them together. Cattle won’t drive into a hard rain at all. The only light they had was the lightning strikes. Toby’s horse fell while jumping over a downed tree and threw Toby hard. The crew finally got the cattle stopped and started moving in the right direction, beings the rain had let up some. Harve couldn’t find Toby anywhere, about that time the paint showed up without him. Harve caught the horse and told the nearest cowboy that he was going to look for Toby.  After about 30 minutes he found him setting on a log grumbling a lot. Harve said. “You Ok?” Toby said,  “I think I got a broke leg. Would you check it out?" Harve got off and tied the two spooky horses up so they couldn’t break loose.  Then he went over and checked Toby's leg for breaks. He told Toby, “Yep it is broke, now what did you go and do that for?” Harve took out his knife and cut a couple of limbs for a splint and split them in half so they would be a little more comfortable. It had stopped raining so he took Toby's slicker and made bandages with it. He set the leg like any good Indian should do and tied it tight so it wouldn’t move around. About that time Lee showed up.  “How bad is he hurt?” Harve just nodded and Toby said,  “Broke leg, you might have to shoot me.”  Lee asked? “Can you ride?” Toby said “Probably with a little help getting on.” Harve finally found his hat and his pistol he lost when he took his tumble. They helped him on the horse with not too much cussing. Lee told Harve to take him back to the wagon and have the cook make room for him in the wagon. “It is 20 miles to a doctor and I don’t think he can ride that far now. Maybe in a day or two we can get him to a doctor near the Rio Grande.” Lee said. Harve took him back and helped the old cook to put him in the wagon. You would think seeing the crew go through the country that they were just driving cattle. They had a chuck wagon, a big crew of men and extra horses. Rustlers don’t usually operate this way. The cook was breaking camp and had the team hooked up. Harve told him where the cattle had drifted to, he thought. They got Toby bedded down on several bedrolls so the bouncing wouldn’t be to bad. Early the next morning they caught up with the herd, and made camp. Just as the sun came up there were a group of Indians that showed upon their horses. They just sat there watching the crew come back to eat breakfast. Lee rode up about that time looking real tired. He saw the Indians and just shook his head. “What now?” he told the others. They looked like Apaches. There were on Indian land it seemed. One of the Indians came down to talk to the crew. Held up his hand in a peace gesture. He spoke no English, except for a word or two. Lee called to Harve to come over there and interrupt for him. Harve went over and talked the universal hand language all tribes use, then tried a little Cherokee, as he didn’t know the Apache language. They began to talk to each other and soon were doing well. It seems that the Indians wanted a toll for crossing their land. The storm last night put the herd far enough south they entered their land. They asked for 50 head. Harve told Lee what was going on. Now Lee had close to as many men as the Indians had right here and a few more out with the cattle. Lee thought it over for a while, didn't want to start a Indian war right then, and told Harve to offer them 10 head if they would protect them till they got off of Indian land, no hits from the other Indians. Harve got the message across to the leader; he turned and rode back to the others. Soon he was back and with his hands told Harve it would take 20 head. Lee understood that. He turned to the others and asked the brothers how many they lost last night. They said as best they could count this morning there were about 20 missing. Lee spoke to Harve again, “Tell them there are 20 head that they lost last night and that if they could find them they could have them and that he would send Harve with them to see that that they did receive their 20 head” Harve relayed the message. The Indian looked at Harve and said in English. “Saddle up, we go” turned and went back to the others. Lee stood there with a dumb look on his face; the Indian could speak English after all. It was no loss to the herd any way they didn’t have the time to look for the others. Lee turned to Harve and asked him if he would do that. Harve nodded that He would, and stepped up on his horse, the big black. Lee said the herd would be on the Rio Grande to night and he could catch up then. Harve went by the wagon and told Toby what was going on. Then turned and went with the Indians.
        Times were hard and they took any job that was offered to them, on either side of the law. For the most part all of these group of rustlers were not really rustlers at all just out of work cowboys trying to make a living. They hadn’t stolen the cows; they were just moving them across the mountains to the next group of cowboys that would take them on. The Rio Grande would be as far as this crew goes. There will be another group to take over, the driving of the cattle. This way nobody knows too much about the operation. This why the law was biding their time until they could find out who was behind it. Who ever it was had a lot of connections somewhere.
 

    CHAPTER 10:  THE INDIANS

       The crew, except the ones left with the herd came back to the camp just at sunrise. On the hill east of the camp sat a group of Indians, maybe ten.  Lee asked Harve if he would ride up and see what they wanted, Harve rode up there and one younger Indian rode out to meet him. The Indian and Harve looked at each other and then the Indian spoke in Apache. Harve could just figure it out with all the hand signals all Indians use. Harve motioned him to follow him down to where Lee was waiting. Harve told Lee that they wanted 50 head for passing through their land. Lee knew they could kill this bunch but thought better of it for fear of losing some of the cowboys also.  He told them 10 head; the leader went back to the group and told them. He came back and told him 20 head. Lee went to the Jones brothers and asked them if they got a count on the herd this morning. . They said maybe we lost 15, 20 head, but we can round them up. Lee was pressed for time and couldn't risk any cowboy Indian fights with all those cattle that need to be delivered. He walked back to Harve and told him “Tell them we have about 20 head of cattle just east of here and they can have them.” Harve turned and told the Indian leader what Lee had said. The leader nodded but wanted Harve to go with them until they found them. Lee didn’t like that but he asked Harve if he would go with them. Harve said he would. The leader looked at Harve and said in English, “Come on, lets go.” Harve looked at Lee who was standing there with his mouth open. Lee finally came to and told Harve he could catch up at the river. So Harve rode off with the Indians.
       As they rode out of sight another group of Indian warriors came up along side. The leader held up his hand and spoke to them in their language. He told them to find the cattle and bring them to the Indian camp, So they rode off leaving the leader and Harve sitting there on their horses. He turned to Harve and told him. “My name is Little Bear and Carl sent me to contact you. Come they are waiting on us” He turned and broke into lope with his horse. Harve, still trying to figure out what the hell was going on, started after him. In about an hour of steady traveling the came up on a small cabin with several horse tied up and a guard standing out side. They tied their horse and the guard opened the door for them. It took a short while till Havre’s eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. He soon recognized Carl, his teacher and another fellow he didn’t know. Carl handed both cup of hot coffee and asked them to sit down. Carl introduced the other man as a Marshall named Joe Smith. They asked Harve how it was going down there. He told them of Toby’s accident and that they lost some cattle last night. He told them about the storm and the stampede. He told them of how Little Bear got him out of there, Carl asked Little Bear about that. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, “My people are hungry, and I had no other way to contact him after the storm.” Carl said OK then asked Harve if he knew any more about the bosses of this out fit. Harve told him, “Lees was gone only an hour or two the day before they left. So his connection was close to the base camp. One of the Jones brothers questioned us about the SS brand we had on two of our horses when we rode in. I think we covered that all right.” Carl told him  “The Indian, Little Bear would be his contact from now on. Try to get on with the next crew if you can, that takes the cattle on, as we don’t have any idea where they will take them.” After about an hour all the talk was settled, Carl said he would check on Toby as soon as he could.  Little Bear told Harve that they had a ways to go so they left back down the mountain to find the group of Indians with the cattle. They hadn’t gone far when they spotted a cloud of dust and heard the bawling cattle “Rained last night and dust today” Harve remarked to Little Bear. “How did you get tied up with the law up here any way?” Little Bear said, “I was a army scout and got tired of it so I went to work for the Cattleman’s Group, out of Denver, and they sent me down here.” About that time the group came with the cattle, they did have seventeen head in front of them. Little Bear asked, “Was that all there were or all you found?” “No” one fellow spoke and said “There were three more but very wild so they shot them and are butchering them right where they fell, they will be along in a while.” Most of this group was older but all carried rifles. Soon they entered the camp and the dogs barked and the children were running a round, finally the Chief came out and quieted them all down so the riders could get the cattle in the horse corral. After all that Little Bear introduced Harve to a real Apache Chief. He was short and old but stood proud, black eyes and all. About that time the squaws brought some food and drink for the success of the “Raid.” About an hour before sundown Little Bear said, “We better go, I’ll ride with you till we see the camp, you might get lost.” They got with in sight of the camp by the river and Little Bear told Harve, “I will be close, three fast shots and I will come. I will contact you on your night watch .You won’t see me but you can hear me.  So be careful out there. “Harve was ahead in the trail just a little and turned around to say thanks and he was gone. He rode in and stopped at Lee’s tent. Lee came out and told him “Toby was gone to the Doctor and the new crew will be there tomorrow.” Harve told him the Indians had another group just over the rise. Lee said “Boy that was close; I had a bad feeling about that.”  Harve went to the bedroll after he put his horse out to graze on the hobbles he had for him. “Dam the bedroll is still wet.”
 

  CHAPTER 11:  PAY DIRT

       It was before daylight, still dark and Lee came over to where Harve was sleeping and spoke softly to him. “Harve, the fellow who is taking over the herd and moving it on told me he lost several men in a bar fight the other night, They threw them in jail for a couple of weeks. He was wondering if any of you cowboys would like to help him out?” Harve rolled up to a sitting position and said. “Let me get my chores done and my pants on and I will be over there in a minute or two.” That was the most Lee ever heard him say at one time.  “OK, The boss ain’t going to like it but that’s tough, he needs at least three of you, those Jones brothers, strange pair, want to go also for some reason.” Harve checked on the horses and got dressed, pistol and all. As he walked into Lee’s tent, there were four people in there. Lee, the two Jones boys and a Mexican cowboy. Lee introduced the Mexican as Chappo, no last name. He was blocky like Lee but a lot younger, black eyes and long hair. Not expecting that, Harve was very tentative in saying anything. The Jones boys spoke up and said to Chappo, “don’t worry about this breed, he can take care of himself, we found out the hard way” Chappo said, “all right amigos when your crew brings the cattle down to the river, you three just stay with the cattle and keep them moving down the side of the river, my crew will catch up with you very soon. As soon as I go back and roust them out.” Harve asked Chappo about the pay and back pay from Lee. Lee said  “It will be the same as you are drawing now, with a bonus when the cattle are delivered” Harve asked about his and Toby’s stuff and extra horses and Toby’s pay. He didn’t want to seem too anxious to take the job. Lee said “I will take all of the horses back to Cimarron and put them and your stuff in the shed west of town, (Harve wondered how he knew about that place?) But the black and the roan of Harve’s. Toby should be ready to travel in a week. He is in Rancho de Taos; we rented a room there for him.  You can pick him up after the cattle are delivered.” Harve said, “All right, I have to wait for him anyway” So it was settled, the three would go with the new bunch. Soon after that the Mexican left and the cook started some chow for the crew. The night crew came in as the sun came up and said everything was OK. Lee asked them if they felt like helping start the cattle southwest towards the river. They knew that was to be the end of it so they agreed. So after all had a bite of chow, such as it was, they all saddled up and started the cattle moving. About noon they reached the river and let the cattle water. The Jones brothers told the others they could go back now that the three of them could handle the job as the other crew as on the way. So all left but The three of them. For over 400 head that was or could be a job. But the cattle were getting used to traveling each day. They stopped a little before dark each day so the cattle could graze a little. They settled down better with a full belly. They got the cattle moving again down the side of the river. The going was fairly good. However in a while it got a little steep and they had to go up hill to get them around the rough place. About four in the afternoon, here came a crew of Mexican vaqueros, big hats and all. Riding sidestepping horses and using rawhide ropes. Quite a sight the strange thing was, they knew the Jones brothers, said hello and all. “This is getting stranger all the time,” Harve thought to himself.  “Kinda puts another light on it.” That night Harve and one of the Mexicans were called to do first watch. His name was Keco; He was friendly but didn’t talk much English. Harve didn’t tell him he spoke fluent Spanish, and he didn’t ask. So they started to circle the herd. After a while they fell back a little ways from the cattle and circled the cattle some more. Finally Harve told Keco  “I need to go to the bathroom.” Not in those words but he got the message. Harve rode up to the first rise where he could see around and did His duty. About that time he heard a stick snap. Little Bear said  “Didn’t want to sneak up to close, you might shoot me so I snapped a twig.”  Harve let out a sigh and said. “That is why I came up here I knew you were here.”  “What is new that you know, where are you headed?” Little Bear asked. Have said, “Don’t know yet but the Mexican crew knew the Jones brothers, and they seemed anxious to get on with this crew.” Ok, that may be our tie in to the higher up fellow. We are checking into the kinfolks of Hi Jones, the cattleman. There seems to be some kind of connection, what?? We don't know yet. Carl is looking into it. Better go you been gone long enough.”  Little bear was gone that quick and that quietly. Harve went back to the herd and there was Keco asleep in the saddle. As Harve rode up, Keco’s horse turned around and he woke up.  “Beeg drunk las nite, too much tequila” he said. Harve just grinned and started checking the cattle. About two in the morning two more Mexicans came riding up. They took over the rest of the night. Keco and Harve went back to camp and poured a cup of coffee. Then they hit the hay. All Harve had was one old blanket and a bedroll cover. He had slept on less many a night, rolled his slicker and jacket up for a pillow. About sunup everybody started to move around and fix a little bite to eat. They didn’t have a cook or any food at all. Each one had to carry his own. Harve had none so he just had a cup of coffee. Keco walked up and said, “Hey amigo, you no eat?? Ahh, you have no food. Come on over to my fire, we feed you.”  Harve drifted over to the fire and they handed him a cup of something and a spoon. He started eating the stuff and noticed they were all watching him. About that time the Jalapenos took a hold and burned all the way down. He just took a swig of coffee and kept eating. Hoping he didn’t run out of coffee too soon. His whole mouth was numb but he wasn't going to let on like it. Then they started laughing and he grinned. They handed him some fresh tortillas to help the with sting. He passed that test.  Keco handed him some tortillas and meat rolled together for his midday meal. . He grinned and said in broken English, “No hot”. It was wrapped in a cloth, which Harve put in his bedroll as he tied it behind the saddle. The crew had a few extra horses and one boy to look after them. Harve felt sorry for him, as the old horse he was riding was skin and bones. So he told Keco to let him ride the Roan, as he was gentle. The boy’s eyes lit up and he had a big smile. That way Harve knew that the roan would be there when and if he needed him. They were about 20 miles from Espanola by noon the next day, still traveling in broad daylight. Nobody seemed to worry about it so he didn’t. They crossed the river just after noon and headed straight west. The going was good. Kinda in-between mountains here. Harve heard several of the Mexicans talking about the ranch. Seemed to be about three days drive from here. Also heard something about watching for banditos. Banditos??? Harve thought that was what they were. Harve and Keco hit it off and became friends. Harve ask him about the “Banditos” Keco told him in his broken English, “They bad guy, like steal at nite, have shoot pendahoes.”(Idiots)  There were some river Mexicans that stole from wagon trains and cattle herds now and then and the herd was about to get in their area.   “Little bear didn’t tell me this,” he said to himself. When they camped that night Chappo came around and spoke to all of the men. “Get your guns oiled good, tonight we might need them.” The Mexican vaqueros already knew this and were ready. Harve and Keco took first watch and Chappo sent one of the brothers out also. The rest of the men slept with their clothes on and their horses saddled. They were ready to fight or chase cattle, which ever. The three nightriders split up and Harve took the high ground. He was sitting there watching when the twig snapped again, then  “Harve” Little Bear said it real quietly. Harve never looked around just talked back softly.  “You scare the hell out of me doing that. What do you see out there? There is supposed to be a raid tonight sometime.”  Little bear said,  “There are six of them camped over the hill to the west. They will come about midnight.” “You knew this and didn’t say any thing last night?” “Just saw what was going down this evening,” He said. “Here comes your buddy”, and he was gone. Keco rode up and Harve told him to go down and warn the boss that they would come from the west and that he was going to pick up Jones and drift over that way. Keco said. “You wait, me be back pronto” as he rode off Harve told him “I’ll meet you over there.”  In Mexican.  Harve went around till he found Jones and told him what was up, Jones said, “How did you know that?” Harve said,  “Because I'm half Indian.” They started real slow and quiet down the slope, to give Keco time to return. About that time here he came in a high trot. Now they had three guns and surprise on their side. As they went down the hill they smelled cedar smoke, just a little. Harve told the other two to dismount and tie their horse tight so when the shooting starts they wouldn’t run off. So on foot, they went down the hill, There was just a little moon out and the skies were clear. They got up to where they could see the camp and the fellows sitting around the small fire drinking rum, liquid courage. There were five of them, so they had some one out on watch. Harve hoped Little Bear was out their somewhere and had the look out spotted. Jones said, “Lets go in with guns a blazing, we can get them all.” Harve said, “No, we do it my way. Slip up on them and follow my lead. Don’t shoot unless you have to.” They slipped right up on the camp and no look out, Little Bear had taken care of that. Harve stood up, and with guns drawn; all three stepped into the light of the fire. Harve said in Spanish. Raise your hands now, we have your camp surrounded and you lookout is under wraps. They jumped up and made a play for their guns, which were laying over on the saddles. Only a couple had side arms and they just raised their hands straight up. One well-placed shot, knocking a rifle out of one of their hands and the others decided it wouldn’t be worth it. One shot was all it took to get them in line. About that time Chappo and several more Vaqueros came riding up to the fire. The Banditos were soon taken care of and things got back to normal. These  Banditos were carted of to Jail in Espanola. They would be out in a day or two as they were all kin to each other, but they might think twice before they tried that again. The look out came riding in to camp tied over the saddle before Chappo left the camp and he asked Harve, “How did and when did you manage that.” Harve just grinned and told him an Indian did it. They did not get the meaning of that remark. But it was true. He didn’t say what Indian did it.  Well he went back to night herding. Keco followed him. Where Jones went nobody knew, but maybe Little Bear?
 

    CHAPTER 12:  JUST ABOUT THERE

       The cattle traveled well the next day and covered near 30 miles. Water holes were a little farther apart now. The Mexicans knew just where they were located. After the run in with the would be rustlers, one of the Jones brothers was gone most of the day. Late in the evening he caught up with the herd and rode right up to Chappo. They rode along together for a while and then came over to Harve as he was bringing up the drags. Chappo said. “Lets talk a little” so Harve went back out of the dust of the herd and got off his horse, wondering what now? “Chappo wanted to find out just how he knew the rustler band was just over the hill to the west.” Harve looked him straight and told him, he smelled smoke on one of his round and the wind was out of the west that he figured it out as he went over to the south side of the herd. Chappo, looked at Jones and said, “Sounds good to me.” Jones just shook his head. Then Chappo asked Harve just where he came from, how did he happen to be in Cimarron working at the hotel? Harve looked all around to see if any one else was listening, saw no one close and said. “Toby and I are deserters from the Confederate Army, We rode with Quantrell, didn’t like him and his ways so we pulled stakes and came west, did a little cattle rustling on the way through Kansas. Jesse and Frank and a couple more came with us part of the way, but they turned north toward Nebraska. We ended up at the St. Francis because we heard it was a good place to get a job. That is the reason we were so good at night work that was the only time Quantrell hit any body. We thought we were far enough away from the war that they couldn’t catch us. Hope this doesn’t get any farther.” Jones was shaking his head; he said, “Well My brother and I found that night work stuff the hard way. We never knew what hit us, no tracks or any thing.  Sorry about the questions but there is some law around and we can’t be too sure. I know Toby worked a couple weeks for our group up north and they liked him and he worked good here. We just couldn’t figure out how you did all those things.”  Harve said. “Like going into the camp and not shooting a soul? If you had your way we would have shot it out with them and a lot of people would have gotten shot, maybe even you. These guys could have been any body. We didn’t see them steal any thing, better my way.” Chappo looked at Jones and said, “You were going in with guns blazing? We would probably had another stampede on our hands and some dead men too.” Jones just ducked his head and didn’t say a word after that.
       The next couple of days went good and they neared the mountains again. Water was easier to find and better grass. They let the cattle graze more the last day as they dropped down into a beautiful big valley, Grass as far as you could see and lots of cattle dotting the area. The ranch house was a couple of miles down from where they were, The Vaqueros were all singing away in Mexican music. They were home to their families, those that had families. This was the headquarters of the main ranch. They scattered the cattle and rode toward the ranch house. There were a couple of people standing on the porch. Harve needed to get a good look at them if he could. He hadn’t seen or talked to Little Bear for several days, not since the skirmish with the Mexicans. Jones brothers rode right up and shook one fellows hand like a long lost friend. Chappo motioned Harve over to the bunkhouse.  As Harve stepped down from his horse he noticed a lot of fine horses in the corral. Chappo called him in and they sat down to a cup of hot coffee. Chappo told him he really appreciated his work and would make it right with him. “Those dam Jones boys ain’t got a lick of common sense, how they ever got in with this bunch is a wonder to me. Kinfolks I think. Any way it is to late too start back today and it will be a hard two-day ride to the Taos area. Get your horses some feed and put them in the barn. The kid was tickled to death to ride such a fine horse. Thanks for letting him ride him. He grew a foot this trip. That is my nephew. He will show you where the feed is and help you rub your horses down.” Harve went out to the barn and the roan shone like a new dollar.  Harve took the black in there and took the saddle off him and rubbed him down. The boy, Pedro asked if he wanted him to rub the black down but Harve said, “Thanks son but he is a little mean and he might kick you. But you sure did a good job on the roan. Thanks a lot.” He talked their language to them.
       Back at the main house the boss was going over the pay roll and was paying all the vaqueros their pay. Harve walked up there and watched them. The Boss motioned him over there where he and Chappo were standing. All the men had been paid but him. Harve walked up there and the boss shook his hand, “Chappo tells me you are hell in a fight, have it over before it can start. How would you like to come to work for me?” Harve said, “Right now I have to take care of my partner and get back to Cimarron, that was where all our stuff is, but thanks anyway. I will keep it in mind.”  The boss paid him all that Chappo told him to, then threw in another $50 for his work. If he only knew. Harve told them he would leave first thing in the morning. With both horses. As he needed one extra for Toby to ride on down to Cimarron. Harve did wash clothes and got ready to leave the next morning, About dark a young Mexican boy came up to him and said in broken English. “Keco wan you com for eat, now.” Harve grinned and said to him in Spanish,  “Por comeda, no?”  “Si si” the boy said and started back to some shacks out back of the barns. Harve came in the door following the boy and their Keco was with his wife and sons.  They had a nice meal of meat cut up with tomatoes and fresh onions, and a stack of fresh tortillas. They drank a mild rum for their drink.  It was the best meal he had had in several weeks. His ribs were starting to show. Harve gave his thanks for the fine meal and excused himself so he could get some sleep. Before dawn the next day he was up and saddling the roan to give the Black some rest. Keco walked into the barn with a burlap bag full of food for him on the way back, tortillas and dried meat, some fruit and a big jug of Tequila. Keco said. “Har, you good man” and turned and walked back home. So in just a little while he was on the way headed northeast, guns loaded and oiled. Hoping not to run into any trouble out here he was ready for any thing. This was still a wild country and he didn’t know just where to cut across the mountain at to come out at Rancho De Taos. He rode till time to eat a bite of supper and then change horses and rode till it was to dark too see any more. The moon hadn’t come up yet. So he made a dry camp and tied up the horses and dosed off for a while, just to be woke up by the horses. Something out there. He got up and quieted them down and listened. Then the twig snapped again. “Harve” Little bear said. “Your hell to catch up with, I’ve been on your tail for 30 miles, thought you would never stop.”  Harve said “Come on in and sit a while we will have swig of this ‘tequila’ Keco gave me. You know how wild Indians get with a little booze in them.” Little bear walked into the clearing and dropped the reins on his horse and both men took a drag off the bottle.  “He will ground tie real well, Until they start shooting to close.”  Harve said, “So does the roan but the black is still young and has a mind of his own. OK fill me in on what you know” Little Bear said, that there was a loose connection to the Hi Jones bunch but they think it was just things that they picked up. His brother in a bad boy, been in prison several times for different things. This fellow that owns this ranch is part of it, just how we don’t know. The feds are planning to raid both ranches, the one near Walsenburg and this one here. I forgot to tell you that the one brother went in with the bunch you caught and got the Telegraph man out of bed. He sent a wire to an Uncle of his who is the brother of Hi Jones the vice president of the Cattleman’s Group. That is why the brothers wanted to come on out with Chappo and his crew. The message was about you and Toby. But nobody knew any thing about either of you except that Toby had worked with one of the crews.  I saw them questioning you down there that day. I was waiting for the fireworks to start. I had a bead drawn on Jones, if it was necessary. You must have satisfied them.”  Harve told him what he said and that they now knew he was a Confederate deserter as that was the only way he could explain why he was in Cimarron. Little Bear said,  “That’s funny, so am I   for the other side. I got tired of it real fast. Oh well, it is winding down now any way. Quantrell is in hiding in Kentucky and Grant has started down the Mississippi toward New Orleans, Jesse James is robbing trains up north. I don’t think they are going to miss us a lot. If you rode for Quantrell, you got out at the right time.” They both rolled out into their bedrolls and went to sleep.
 

    CHAPTER 13:  HELLO TOBY

           Harve woke up at first light, must have been real tired.  Little Bear was up and making some breakfast. Little Bear said “Good afternoon, Harve, breakfast is ready.” Harve grumbled a little and rolled out of his bedroll, went out and did his chores, came back and sat down.  “Must have been the Tequila, man I slept good.”  Little Bear said, “It has been a long hard trip and you just finally relaxed a little.”  “Well that could be. What really bothers me is the fact that there are a lot of just good old Cowboys and Vaqueros out there that will get hurt here when the law closes in.”  Little Bear said, “That bothers me too, but it will all work out. The law will take all that into their judgment, and besides, the Mexicans will scatter like a bunch of quail. After a bite to eat, they saddled up and started out. Their goal was to find a stream to water the horses as they had a dry camp the night before. Soon they found water on a good-sized stream that was running west. Harve said to Little Bear, “Lets just follow this stream out to the pass. That should put us real close to Rancho De Taos.” They topped out of the pass about noon. They could see the Rio Grande winding in the distance. They stopped and let the horse’s blow a little and ate a bit of the food that Keco had sent with him. While they were sitting there Little Bear got serious and told Harve,  “My real name is John, I had a white father and an Indian mother, just like you. I was taught in a church school in Montana. I was a scout for the army while they fought the Indians. It didn’t take me long to get enough of that. So that is why I deserted too.”
        They resumed the ride and it was easy going now, all down hill. They reached the valley and wondered which way to go, up or down. About that time a wagonload of lumber showed up, coming up the road. There was a fat Mexican driving the team of mules. The mules saw them a long time before the driver did, but he stopped and visited a little. Harve asked him where he was headed? He said “To Taos, about 40 miles north.” Harve asked how far it was to Rancho De Taos?  He said with a wave of his hand, “Just a couple of mile” indicating they should go north, up river. It was about evening so they rode on up to the small town. It was mostly a Mexican town, like a lot of the towns in New Mexico. The found the small hotel and as they rode up, Toby was sitting on the porch smoking a roll your own.  Harve said. “Hello Toby, how are you coming along?” Toby said, “Where you been anyway?”  Harve ignored that and said. “Meet Little Bear, or John when he is dressed in gringo clothes, he is another one of those breeds like me. Got a place where we can talk?”  Toby said Sure, glad to know you John, put your horses in the corral out back and I’ll go in and get you guys a room. "  Toby went inside with his crutch and made arrangements for the room. As he came out of the hotel the other two came around the corner. Toby said, “Lets go across the street to the cafe.” they went inside and found a table in the back corner. They were the only ones in there except for a fat older woman who was the cook. She waddled over there and spoke in Mexican and told them what she had to eat. They ordered and sat back to drink the coffee she brought over for them. Harve told Toby about all that took place while he was taking his ‘vacation’. And he told him where John fit in all of this. Harve asked Toby if he thought he could ride.  Toby said, “Try to keep me from it. Where are we going now?” Harve said, “First we go back to Cimarron and get all our stuff, You're a long ways from going back to work yet so we will just have to see what our bosses have planned for us.” “That is a hard two day ride” John said, “Maybe three in your shape.” They talked about the gang and what might happen. It seemed that they were in the clear if they were needed again and couldn’t be tied to the clean up operation. They would remain undercover.  John said that really they need to be out of the country when it all goes down, out of sight out of mind. He said, “We have made plans for you, Toby. Maude has offered to take you out there at the ranch along with the other two she is nursing back to health after the gunshots they got on the raid. Better there than in Denver.” Toby said, “Let’s see how I feel when we get to Cimarron.” John said, “OK but you need some more time to heal. Harve will go with me to Denver for the next assignment for both of us. You both will receive your pay for this job when we reach Cimarron.” The two made out like bandits, got paid for two jobs all at the same time. They ate and retired back to the hotel. It ended up that the “rooms” were just one big room with several beds in it. So that ended the talk about the rustlers because of others there also. They left for Cimarron early the next morning. Toby’s leg was wrapped and protected with splints. He couldn’t use the stirrup so that took trotting out of the travel plans, but he could stand a lope for a while, as the roan was easy riding and had a smooth running walk also. So they made good time, but it still took three days and Toby was in pain when they got him to the St. Francis hotel where they got him in a bed. Harve and John rode out to the barn where they kept the horses and slept there after the turned they horses out in the small trap. The next morning they asked around for a buggy to rent or buy. They found one down at the Livery Stable. The big Bay would do just fine as a horse for the buggy. The stable man did have a small buggy for sale. They bought it and hooked up the bay with no problems, he must have been used for this before; he was a big old gentle horse. Harve drove it around for a while just to make sure the Bay would be OK. Then John went down to the St. Francis and got Toby ready to go. He was sore as he could be and decided it might be a good idea to give it some more time to heal.  By that time Harve got back with all the horses in tow and all their gear strapped down and covered with a NEW tarp, the old one was shot.  Toby got in the seat and John took the other three horses in tow they started out to the Double S Ranch, a three-day ride. The buggy made it much easier on Toby. They reached the Ranch and Bill was out there to meet them, Maude was up on the porch and welcomed the boys with a big smile. After a good nights sleep and a lot of good food, Harve and John started for Denver and a new job with the Cattleman’s Group. Toby told them that they hadn’t seen the last of him though.
 

POST SCRIPT:

    What happened in the final round of the story? Well the rancher in New Mexico was not at fault.   He had no knowledge the cattle he was buying were stolen. As he just came out to New Mexico from the east and knew very little about the cattle business. To say the least he was led astray. He hadn’t paid for the cattle yet when the law moved in. The brand inspectors did a good job of figuring out whose cattle were whose and he offered to settle up with the owners. Which was expected, for the most part. That took care of that end of the deal. Some of the Vaqueros were taken to jail but most were just doing a job with no knowledge of the rustled cattle. A couple of the ones like Chappo did know what was going on so they had to pay for that.
       The Jones connection was just what it seemed to be. Loose tongue at the wrong time. Hi’s brother, Al, was the headman and his sons were the ones that stayed with the cattle all the way through.  Al had a ranch near Walsenburg and one south of Cimarron. That is where Lee contacted him as to when to drive the cattle. Lee and his men, the ones they found, were held in jail as well as the 3 Jones. Hi Jones was soon in trouble for loose lips. He apologized a lot at the Cattleman’s Group meeting. But all and all it turned out fairly well. The Cattle were mostly paid for except the lost ones, which the Indians took good care of. It took a little time but things settled down and all went back to a semblance of order. Of course the lawyers came out the best.

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HARVE BODINE AND HIS HORSE (JOE SMITH, 1950's)

One More Round

 Harve Bodine and Toby Dooley were deserters from the civil war. They had ridden for Quantrell, didn’t like him one bit and left with some others. They ended up in SE Colorado working on a ranch. That led to a job with the Cattleman Group. They were undercover agents to find out who were stealing cattle. This was done and in the process Toby hurt himself. Ended up with a broken leg. Another member of the group came on the scene. His name was John Little Bear. Both he and Harve were ½ Indian. As this story starts, Toby is staying at Maude’s ranch to let his leg heal and Harve and John are on their way to Denver for a new assignment.
 

    Chapter 1:   DENVER

 It took the two of them a little over a day to ride to Denver and locate the place they were to meet Jack Price, the president of the Cattleman Group. The town was as large as they had ever seen. They left their horses west of town in a stable and rode a trolly down town to the hotel. As they entered the lobby at the hotel, they had every body staring at them. They looked rough, long hair, and all. The Indian blood showed very strong. People were giving them lots of room. A bellhop showed them where the office of the Cattleman’s Group was.  Once in the room where Jack was it was much better. The people there had been forewarned as what to expect. The good work they had done was well documented. So now all they needed was a new assignment and they could get the hell out of there.
         Jack told them of some rustling going on in Wyoming. That was to be their next job. It was mid summer and a nice time to go to Wyoming. This was getting close to home for John. Jack offered to put them up in the hotel but both declined and said they would rather get on out of town. They were supplied with money and a list of contacts they could trust. They were to go to the town of Laramie and meet up with another fellow to fill them in on what was going on. They had about three days to get there.  This was mountainous country part of the way. They had two horses apiece and a pack horse. Harve had his black and his roan; John had a couple of Appaloosa horses. They were all nice horses.
      Off they went to start another job. They camped the first night just north of Denver near a creek. They hobbled the horses, all except one they kept close just in case. They caught some trout out of the stream and had that for supper. Nice, fat fish always taste good just caught.
      They cleaned up the mess and pulled out the bottle of Tequila they had. There was some left, as a little goes a long ways. They swapped stories of their childhood and war experiences. They fought for different sides then. Now they depended on each other. It was quite a turn around for both of them, and a welcome one. Just to be clear of the damm war was a blessing.
     The next day they made good time and covered a lot of ground. They would make Laramie by noon the next day. Late that evening they hobbled the horses so they could graze near a stream. Horses don’t get too far away from camp as they depend on the cowboys as much as the cowboys depend on them. It is all new country to them as well. So they stick close to camp. Especially if they kept one tied at camp.  That night John shot a Prairie Chicken for supper. They didn’t stop for dinner as it took too much time. They had some deer jerky and ate that. They also kept their canteens full of creek water as in new country you didn’t know where the water holes were.
They started off the next day early because they were not sure of where they were. Easy to get lost in the mountains and they were not following any roads.
      As they went north they ran across a well traveled road figuring it must go to Laramie. So they headed west off the road. They did see a couple of wagons hauling supplies. One was stopped to work on a wheel that was bad. John and Harve went down to help the fellow who promptly aimed a rifle at them. Harve asked him if he needed some help with the wagon. He asked where they were headed. They told him Laramie. He eased up a little but kept the rifle handy. He told him he could use a little help. They spent about an hour helping him fix the wheel.  He told them of the distance to Laramie, which he said was about ten miles west. They inquired about jobs on ranches around the area. He wasn’t sure, but he thought they might get a job at the Sundown Saloon. They kept a list of ranchers there to help find hands for them. Anyway they would know of what was needed. He offered the fact that there had been some rustlers around and that was why he was suspicious of them.
        The Sundown was where they were to meet their contact this evening. They said goodbye and headed for Laramie. Just out side of town they found an old shack that was vacant and a corral. They put the horses in the corral and found some hay in the loft of the little barn. There was an old mirror in the shack, so they cleaned up and cut their hair a lot to get rid of the “Breed “ look. They changed horses and rode on into town and right up to the saloon. It was getting close to sundown and a few people were in the bar part of the Saloon. They sat down and ordered a shot of whiskey. They asked the bartender if there were any jobs open on the ranches around there. He wasn’t sure but there would be some ranchers in later. The fellow they were to meet was tall and slim. He wore a gun on his left side and none on the right. This was all they knew about him.
        It wasn’t long till he did show up. The bartender told him of the two cowboys looking for a job. He poured his drink and headed over to their table. He sat down and introduced himself. His name was Slim Baker. The cowboys introduced them selves as John and Harve, no last name. Slim understood that as that was to be his signal that they were the ones Denver sent to help. He was a little taken back at the apparent Indian blood in the two. The hair cut they had helped a lot. Slim told them that yes he could hire at least one of them, maybe both. If not he had a friend that was looking for some one to help him. He asked them where they left their gear. They told him of the little corral out side of town and of their other horses. He gave them instructions to reach his ranch and they could come out in the morning and he would show them around.
       To anybody watching the exchange they would feel that it was just a rancher hiring a couple of down and out drifters. That was good so they could work under cover. They stayed in town a while and relaxed a little. Nobody bothered them, as they still looked a little rough. The drifted on over to the mercantile store and bought some new work clothes and a couple pairs of work gloves and a little grub. Just like any cowboy would do just starting a new job. They had plenty of ammo. They went back out to the shack and rolled out their bedrolls and got a good night’s sleep. The next morning they ate breakfast of bacon and eggs they bought the night before in town. Then they saddled up the horses and the packhorse and started to Slim’s place. It was about 20 miles north of town.
       The country was open and not too many trees, good grass and a few cattle on it. They passed one small ranch that was back up a small draw. Then they found Slim’s place on up the road a ways. They rode up to the house as Slim came out to meet them. “ Come on in the house the wife has some goodies for us,” Slim said. They dismounted and tied the horses up to the hitching rail. As they entered the house there was a shorter woman there to welcome them, big smile and all. She had coffee and rolls for them.
       They sat down and Slim filled them in on what he thought was going on. He was a small rancher and the fellow back down the road was also.  He told them of the small rancher down the road as an older man that had been there forever and a day. He was in his late 70tys. It seemed the rustlers like to pray on small ranchers like the old man and even himself. It was just a few here and a few there but it did add up. No big jobs around here. ”If you two would agree on it we might split you up and let one of you work for the old man. He doesn’t have to know you are undercover men. He might not like that as he doesn’t trust government at all. We are only a couple of miles apart and we can work together on this. He trusts me, I’ve helped him out several times. His wife died several years ago.
        His name is Robert but every one calls him Rob. We will stop by later today when we look the ranch over so you will know where you are. The lay of the land kinda marks the Ranch boundaries. The high ridge on the western side is the west boundary; the river on the East is the eastern boundary. There is a drift fence on the north and one on the south , next to the old man. I only have about 50 sections here and just fatten calves in the warm months, from March to November and then take them to market. The old man does the same. He rides every day and I’ll bet he saw you go by. He carries a pair of field glasses and a good rifle. The rifle he has a scope on it and will shoot several hundred yards with good accuracy. That is why he is still there. They do respect him as he has dropped a couple of the rustlers before. They got away but with something to remember the old man. Lets get the horses taken care of before dinner and then we can look things over.” They put the horse in the lot and fed them some oats. Slim had a real nice spread here and was proud of it, as he should be.
        “These rustlers were just a few hard cases that needed taken care of”, he thought. The big ranchers were trying to buy the little fellows out but a dime on the dollar. Something didn’t smell right to either Harve or John. Wouldn’t that be a twist, the big ranchers were helping the rustlers steal from the small ranchers? They work for the Cattleman Group, mainly big ranchers. Harve and John wondered why they sent them out here to take care of this.  Harve decided that he needed to send a wire to headquarters and see what was going on. Now how he was going to do that was a question. They were to use Slim as their go between. Harve and John decided to just ask Slim about it. He probably never even thought about the big ranchers doing something so under handed. Maybe they weren’t but it sure made you wonder. The big ranchers didn’t have any problems with rustlers yet, just the small ones. After a swell meal they went out with the horses and Slim showed them around. Later that day they all rode down to the ranch of Rob’s.  As they rode up the road to the place  Slim said, ”Ride real slow till he knows whom it is. He does have an itchy finger”.
       As they reached the gate, Slim hollered out a” Hello”. The old man came out from behind a tree across the draw from the gate. He was cradling his rifle. He could have plugged them if he had felt like it. He came down and shook hands with every one. He invited them in for a shot of his coffee. It was strong to say the least. Slim told him that they came out looking for a job punching cattle and wondered if he could use one of them for a while. They could all work together. Rob, checked the two over and noticed the guns and the rode hard and put up wet look about the two. Besides they certainly looked like they had Indian blood. But he had had no luck hiring any one to work for him as of late, since the big ranchers came in the country. Rob said, “Tell you what, we can give it a try as long as the one that wants to stay here can cook. My wife died several years ago and I damm near starved to death for a while. Harve looked at John and said. “Neither of us is too good but we ain’t dead yet. I guess I can stay here with you”.
 

   CHAPTER 2:   THE OLD MAN

     The old man was glad to have company. After Harve agreed to stay with him the 3 of them went back to Slim’s place and Harve got his gear and his extra horse. On the way back he brought up the idea about the rustlers not hitting the big ranchers and wondered why the Cattleman Group sent them out, as most were big ranchers to protect the small ranchers. That thought hadn’t occurred to Slim. He rode along, kinda quiet and then he said. “ You might have something there, Harve”. Maybe I should contact Denver and see what they think about that. Harve said, “I was hoping you would send them a wire”. They worked out a plan where the four of them would check the perimeter each day or so.
        Harve returned to the old man's place in the afternoon. Rob was out cutting some firewood, of course the rifle was close by. He put the horses in the corral and feed them some hay, then he went up and carried in some firewood for the cook stove. Rob showed him where he could sleep in a little bunkhouse, off to one side of the ranch house.  He offered to let him sleep in the big house, there was plenty of room but Harve thought for safety reasons it might be better to be separated at night, just in case. Harve got his bedroll laid on the bed in the room and swept it up some. Been a long time since any body had been there and it showed.
       After that he went inside for supper he was supposed to cook. Rob had some steaks frying and it sure smelled good. He said, “ I was just funning you boys about the cooking, I’ll cook for us.” They sat down to hot potatoes and venison steaks and fried onions, and a fresh pot of coffee. After the dishes were done, Harve started to go back to the bunkhouse. Rob said ”Just a minute young man, we got talking to do and some Dominos to play. We can talk while we play. Ain’t had no one to play Dominos with me for years.” So they played Dominos and talked about the next day. Harve wanted Rob to show him the ranch and the cattle. Rob said, “In that case we better have an early breakfast and get an early start. There are some mighty interesting signs out there”.
        Early the next morning before daylight Harve heard a tapping on the door, then Rob said ”What are you going to do sleep all day?” Harve just laughed and said ”OK, I’m getting up”. He dressed and went in the kitchen and there was a plate of salt pork and eggs and some fresh coffee. After they cleaned up the dishes, they saddled their horses and were clear to the backside of the ranch when the sun came up. They rode the outside of the ranch looking for sign of any cattle or horses. The got clear over to the east side of the ranch along the river before they found  a fresh set of horse tracks. This one had a broken shoe on the left rear hoof. That would be easy to follow later. Rob said, “ The SOB was probably watching yesterday when you guys rode up. There shows to have been a dew on the tracks so they were made yesterday.” Harve asked whose ranch that was on the other side of the river. Rob told him a group out of New York came out here a couple of years ago and tried to buy the whole country. Slim and he didn’t want to sell out. That is when the cattle rustling started just after that. Rob said ”Aint that strange, the big ranchers never lose any cattle”. Harve just nodded his head.
     They made it around to most of the cattle and they were nice big steers. They were not even too wild. They got back to the ranch about an hour before sundown. Harve took the horses and unsaddled them and rubbed them down good, fed them and turned them out in the trap they kept the horses in. The black was getting better about being around other horses now. He grabbed an armload of wood and put it in the wood box. As he walked in the back door he got a glimpse of a reflection on the ridge south of the house. When he got inside he told Rob about it. Rob took his binoculars and looked out a window on that side of the house. “Yep I see him. He thinks he is hid but he ain’t. We must have their curiosity up.  I don’t think they will try any thing till they see you face to face. Tomorrow there will be one of them ride by and chat a little. Just you wait and see.”
        Harve said,” Looks like you used to have a dog. What happened to him?” Rob said,” He is just visiting his girl friend down the road a ways. He will be back in a day or two. He is a damm good watch dog when he is here. He might stay around now that you are here. He likes to play roughhouse. He is a good cow dog too.  If he was here he would have seen that guy on the hill and let me know.” After supper they played some more Dominos. The old man was winning most of them. Harve figured the old man was really lonely since his wife died.
        The next morning when Harve got up, he heard the dog out there checking things out. Rob just called him Dog, no name, just Dog and he came to that name. He made up to Harve real quick as he smelled the old man around him. Harve poured him some water and went in the kitchen. Rob was still in bed so he started the fire and made coffee. Found some flour and stuff to make some pancakes with, plus some sorghum syrup. About that time Rob wandered into the kitchen. Harve said, “Good afternoon “ and grinned a little, payback time. The old man was tired from the long hrs in the saddle yesterday.  Harve handed him a cup of coffee and fixed him a plate of pancakes. After breakfast was over and cleaned up, Harve fed the scraps to the dog. Rob says,” I see Romeo came home, he will probably sleep all day now.” Harve asked Rob what his plans were for today. Rob told him that he should ride up to Slims and tell him about their visitors and see what he thinks. “They could be watching his place also”. Harve saddled the roan, as he was easy riding and it wasn’t far. This would really give the guys keeping an eye on them a lot to think about. Harve said that sounded good and he would be back by noon he thought. He knew the old man needed a little rest this morning. Just for the fun of it Harve struck a lope and got out of sight of the house and then circled around to the place where he saw the rider last evening. He was gone but there were the same tracks of the broken shoe on the left rear hoof. He thought to himself that guy uses the same horse every day. That meant one thing. The fellow didn’t have far to go and he let his horse graze, hobbled while he watched the ranch. John would be the one to follow him the next time he showed up.
        Harve rode back to the road by an out of sight way and then on to Slim’s ranch. About the time he got within sight of the ranch he saw Slim and John leave the ranch horseback. He struck a lope again and caught up with them. After telling them of what he found out, he heard about what the Denver Boys had to say in the wire. Slim had wired them and got the answer yesterday. It read. “A crook is a crook, nail their ass”. So that sums it up pretty well. They probably had a good idea what was going on when they sent John and Harve up there.
        So it was decided that John would play Indian this evening and slip over and trail this guy and see just where he ended up. John was the best at that, none better.  Harve went on back feeling much better about the whole thing. He got back just in time to see a couple of riders coming up the road to the ranch. He had come in the back way. Rob was nowhere to be seen so he walked on down to the gate to see what these fellows wanted. They asked where Mr. Robert was? Harve said he was out checking cattle  somewhere. They asked who he was and he told them,” Me, I’m just a out of work cowboy helping an old man, why do you ask?” He said he was the foreman of the ranch east of here and he was just checking on the old man to see if he was all right. Harve told him he was ok this morning when he left to check cattle. The foreman asked Harve how long he was going to be around. Harve said” As long as it takes”. The two separated some and looked like they wanted to impress Harve a little . It didn’t work. The foreman said, “What kind of an answer is that?” Harve said as he swung his light jacket off his pistol butt, “ The only one that you need”. It got awful quiet around there for a little bit while the two sized him up. The foreman said as he tried to smile. ” Ok just wondered any way, we usually help him in the fall with his cattle.” They said goodbye and turned to leave.
       The fellow that was with the foreman wheeled his horse and tried to catch Harve off guard, but instead found his gun shot out of his hand. The horse was bucking and Harve had his eye on the foreman who was just sitting there real quiet. The other guy got his horse quieted down and rode back up and holding his hand asked Harve to please hand him his pistol. Harve reached down and took the pistol and stuck it in his own belt and said, “ You’re lucky I didn’t kill you and you have enough nerve to ask me to give you your pistol back? I don’t think so.” Harve looked at the foreman and told him, “ That guy shows up around here any more and I’ll bury him, he just thinks he is good with a pistol.” They rode off and Harve went back up toward the house.
      About that time the old man stepped out from behind a tree about 100 ft away. “Good job son, couldn’t have done any better myself, but the next time they show up there will be more than two. But we will be ready. I have a son that lives not to far from here and he has several men that help on round up. The ranch will be his in a couple of years and he doesn’t want to lose it. I’ll send word to come a running. There is an old man that drives a wagon to deliver groceries out here once a week. I’ll send word with him.” Harve said” That is a good idea, by the way I checked on our visitor this morning before I left and it was the same guy, same horse. My friend John will be over later today to trail him back to his nest.
       John is half Indian and can’t be beat when it comes to sneaky work, so don’t shoot him. He will be riding an App. The visitor was already gone when I got up there. Where is Dog at why didn’t he bark?” Rob said “When I leave with the rifle he doesn’t let out a peep” Harve went by the house and got a dipper of cold water and then went back down and climbed on the roan and started out to trail the pair that just left there. The tracks weren’t the ones on the hill or by the river. But he got a good look at them and trailed them till they crossed the river. They didn’t stop but rode straight to the river and straight across. It was still early so he made a little loop near the river to check for more sign. When he got back to the road he met Slim riding toward town. Harve told Slim what had happened. Slim said, ”The foreman won’t fight but hires men that love to fight, at least in the bar with a little whiskey in them.” Slim said that John was on the job already and that he might come down later and tell you what he found out. He was on the way to town to maybe find some help from some more small ranchers. They waved so long, and each went their own way.
      It was still early in the day so Harve went to the barn and found an old boot top that had been sewed on the bottom and had a heavy pair of fencing pliers and some staples in it. He hung the top on his saddle horn and rode out to check the drift fences. Something told him to do that. Dog decided to go with him, trotting behind the horse, looking for a rabbit to jump up. The north fence was bordering Slim’s ranch. He wasn’t too worried about that one, so he wanted to check the south one.  As he rode down the line he did find a couple of places where the fence had been laid down and cattle had been driven across. He made a map of the area in his mind and on the tablet he was carrying. He noted that it had been quite a while back when cattle had crossed.
 

   CHAPTER 3:   LITTLE BEAR

    John got ready to go down to Rob’s place, He was dressed as an Indian clear down to the moccasins , headband and all. As he left the bunkhouse, Slim had to look twice to tell who it was. John slipped up on his App bareback with just a set of Indian reins on the pony. It was still light when he headed out. As he neared the hill where the spotter was watching he came in from the blind side. There he was about a mile in front of him. John  was trying to figure out why the guy was watching the ranch house. Nothing was going on. Harve had just rode in with Dog right behind him. There was smoke coming from the stovepipe. Looked like the old man was cooking supper. Why watch that?
       Down at the ranch, Dog came up the back door and scratched on it. Rob said.” Dog’s way of letting me know somebody is around that shouldn’t be, probably our friend on the hill. When  he comes back in a little while he will let us know how many” “ Just how will he do that?” Harve asked. “ Just wait, you’ll see.” About 15 minutes later Dog came back and woofed 2 times. “ Yep there are 2 of them out there.” Rob said. “ You’re not kidding are you?” Harve asked. “ Nope if there were more he would tell us , and if they start for the house he will let out a low growl.” “Man he is handy to have around. What else does he do?” Harve asked. Rob said he was a good companion for him , kept him from getting so lonely. So now they knew that there were at least 2 men out there. One of which would be Little Bear. Good, he was on the job. They could eat the supper that the old man cooked and play some more Dominos. Harve was starting to catch on how the old man was beating him and was holding his own now.
 Little bear was on foot now as he didn’t w