Snatched by cmsix

Chapter 31

Somehow I managed to wake first the next morning. Not wanting to miss a golden opportunity, I tickled Lanita awake. She was easy to reach since she was sleeping on my chest, and when I stopped and she caught her breath after the laughing, we were all awake.

"That was mean Daddy," she said, though she didn't really sound like she was telling the truth.

"I'm so sorry, but I love to hear you laugh. From now on I'll try to make sure you are already awake before I start tickling you."

"Why don't you just promise not to tickle me ever again?" she asked.

"Because tickling you is too much fun to stop completely."

"You were right mother. Men do have such silly ways sometimes. At least you have one that is a good hunter," she said, and then we all laughed.

After a trip to the privies, Lanita and I headed for Nosey and Buttercup. Nosey helped close the distance by herding Buttercup toward us. Since the horses usually stayed across the river at night now, Buttercup was the only one Nosey had to look out for. I hoped he wasn't becoming too bossy.

"When are we going to look for more cashda, Daddy?" Lanita asked, after we'd made it to our log sofa.

"I'm not sure. Maybe one of your mommies will tell us while we're eating," I said.

"Well I think we should practice on the thaka today and then go tomorrow," she said.

"Then you women should put your heads together and decide. I'm here to serve," I said.

"Oh Daddy, you know they'll do it anyway you want to do it," she said.

"They have so far, but you are supposed to be asleep when we're doing that," I said.

"Daddy, that wasn't what I was talking about," she said, and looked indignant.

"Oh. You meant they'd let me decide when to go looking for more cashda?" I asked.

"Of course I did, and you knew it. It was a good joke though, even if I'm much to young and innocent to know what you were talking about the first time."

"Well, I hope you're not too young and innocent for a good breakfast, because here it comes. Maybe we can talk about our cashda hunt after we eat."

And that's exactly what happened. My brain trust, with Jekaycey's help, decided that tomorrow morning would be a good time to take our trip. They even decided that another day of cowgirl practice would probably be enough, but as normal, things changed.

When we arrived at the ranch, Jortah was glad to see us. I saw that he had Candace in the capture pen by herself and it wasn't long before I found out why. All the prospective mounts were already leading by now and none of them had been in the pen yesterday.

"Something is wrong with Candace. She is acting very peculiar. Buster, Red, Bob, and most of the male donkeys and Shetlands also seem to be very interested in what is going on with her," Jortah said, when we'd reached the pen.

"Candace is horsin'," I said.

"What is that?" Jortah, and damned nearly everyone else asked at the same time.

"Candace is announcing to the world, via her scent mostly, that she is ready for one of the males to get her next foal started," I said.

"Huh?" Jortah asked.

I spent the next thirty minutes explaining the equine estrus cycle to everyone on this side of the river. Mostly they were amazed. Of course after the first few statements most of the loner guys, and Denac did a lot of blushing about it, since I explained the difference in the way mares and women went about it. The women didn't blush; they were mostly trying not to laugh at the men.

"But what should we do about it?" Denac asked.

"I think the rest of you should try to practice for your upcoming cowboy duties while I cross the river and have a few words with Caloe," I said.

"What does mother have to do with it?" Katia asked.

"I just want to make sure that she wants me to tend to the stock as I see fit. I feel like she will, but I don't want to cut her out of the decision making process," I said, and took off back for camp.

As I'd expected, Caloe didn't give a rat's ass about the details of which horse or donkey screwed which horse, or donkey, or Shetland either as a matter of fact.

"I have no opinion about this, Carl, and no way to even form an informed one. Until you just mentioned it I didn't consider such to even be a question, much less an option. Do as you see fit with anything about our livestock, as long as it doesn't harm Nosey that is," she said.

When I reached the ranch again I saw that my mates, Denac, and even Lanita and Nosey were busily making the thaka herd do maneuvers. At least I had Jortah and Jonalton and the guys to help arrange the mare rape. That didn't mean they had any idea of what I was up too.

"Now that I know it is all normal, can't we just turn Candace out again?" Jortah asked.

"If we wanted Buster to do the deed we could, but it would be dangerous for all the male donkeys, Red, Buster, and all the male cashda, Shetlands, and donkeys," I said.

"Why would it be dangerous?" Jonalton asked.

"Because some, even many of them would fight each other for the privilege of mating Candace. It is their normal behavior in the wild," I said.

"But it doesn't look like any but Buster, Red, and the other quarterhorse stallion could even get the job done. The rest are not tall enough," Jortah said.

"Yes, but they don't know that and they aren't thinking ahead. They want to try; it is in their nature.

"Besides, I want the largest donkey to at least try. If it can get the job done I want it to. I want it to try with all the female Clydesdales and with at least some of the female quarterhorses. I want some mules," I said.

"Then how will we let it try without all the fighting you talked about?" Jonalton asked.

"By putting it in the pen with Candace," I said.

Even that wasn't as easy as it should have been. The biggest donkey had been taught to lead and had even been ridden by a couple of the younger boys in camp. That didn't mean he was thinking straight today though. I ended up having to rope him before we could get him to cooperate. He changed his tune though when he finally realized he was going to be put into the pen with her.

Of course he had to be roped again a little later, because Candace wasn't actually receptive to the idea yet. She'd just come in during the night, just started her estrus. I'm sure that the donkey would be happy to get some early practice but Candace didn't see it that way. She'd let him know that there'd be no sexual congress today by kicking the shit out of him right away.

"What is wrong now, Carl," Jortah asked.

I gave another little horse-fucking lesson then and told them we'd try again tomorrow. Of course this put our cashda gathering expedition on hold, but it couldn't be helped. I wanted to take time to teach Jortah, Jonalton, and most of the other guys how to run a breeding operation.

We went back to our normal chores then, kinda. I let Denac and the girls keep driving the thaka around in an orderly circle while the guys and I caught the rest of the male horses and donkeys. They'd all be spending the next few days across the river, hobbled and grazing if we weren't riding them. I even spent some time riding Bob, the other quarterhorse stud. He seemed every bit as good as Red and he caught on fast. I wished I knew which of the mares had been his mother.

I hobbled him before lunch and I was glad that Denac and all our prospective drovers rode over to eat. I clued Denac in that Buster needed to spend the night over on this side of the river, to keep him from trying to get in with Candace.

I spent some time that afternoon with Caltort and the wagon makers. Caltort's current wheel-making efforts were the most critical and he, Jagbac, Bruca, and Charlton were doing a great job. Jagbac and Charlton were working on felloes while Bruca was busily making spokes. Caltort was concentrating on hubs. They were the hardest of course, but he was making good headway.

"Exactly how will we keep them together, Carl?" Caltort asked.

"Once we have them assembled we will heat the rims and it will cause them to expand. We will put them on the wheels while they are hot and when they cool they will keep everything together," I said.

"But how will we handle the hot rims?" he asked.

"Very carefully," I said, and Caltort gave me such a look.

"Guess what, Daddy," Lanita said, the next morning when I opened my eyes to see her snuggled up on my chest.

"I don't have to guess, I can feel it too. I'm sure we'll see who the candidates are after we get dressed and outside," I said.

"I don't understand you sometime. Most men never know until the pair finds each other," she said.

"I'm just smarter than the average Daddy," I said.

"You are that. You are very clever about a lot of fun things. I'm glad I have you now," she said.

"Well, lets see if we can wake the others and get them outside," I said.

"We are all awake, my mate, we are only pretending to be asleep so you can have your morning conversation with Lanita," Katia said, and then the three of them laughed at Lanita and I.

"Good then. See Daddy, mommies can be trained too," Lanita said, and then squealed with laughter as her mommies ganged up on her for a tickling frenzy.

As soon as we were outside we saw Nosey. It was easy to see he and Jeffry had been lording it over the rest of the stock, since they and Buttercup were the only ones that weren't hobbled. All the horses and Shetlands were taking it well, but some of the other donkeys seemed to have their panties in a wad about it. I decided we could let all the donkeys wander and Lanita and I removed their hobbles after our visit to the shitters. By the time we were done with that chore breakfast was ready and we rushed to our log.

"What will we work on today, Carl?" Denac asked, as Lanita and I arrived.

"I think Lanita wants to practice being a cowgirl again today," I said.

"You are right. I think I have it down now, but the rest of them can use some more practice. That doesn't hurt my feelings either, though, because it is much more fun than hanging around the camp all day," Lanita said.

"It sure is. In fact I like it much better than cooking," Katia said.

"I think I will too, as soon as my butt stops being sore," Nita said, and Jekaycey agreed with her at once.

After breakfast was done and the bowls were cleaned we saddled up. As soon as we mounted and started to leave we had to get right back on foot. All the donkeys were intent on going with us and that wouldn't do. We didn't need any of the males over there causing trouble. We had to hobble them again. They were none too happy about it either, especially since the females came with us. Strangely, Nosey stayed with them.

When we got to the pen I could see that Candace was feeling a lot closer to her male friend today. It was a little sooner than I would have expected, but mares all operate on their own internal clock about things like this. When we let the donkey in with her this time there was more squealing and less kicking and within twenty minutes he'd talked her into it. She turned her ass to him with her tail held out of the way. I was glad that Lanita and Jeffry had been the first to ride off. I don't know why, but I was.

The donkey was barely tall enough to get the job done, but he managed it. I'm pretty sure that he was even happier about it than I was.

"Is that all there is to it?" Jonalton asked.

"Pretty much. He will need to mount her at least every other day until she stops letting him, though," I said.

"It looks like he wants to try again any minute now," Jortah said.

"I'm sure he does. In fact I wouldn't mind a little private time with Jekaycey right now," Denac said, and laughed.

"Well neither of you donkeys need it today. We might as well let the four-legged one take a shot every day though.

"Do you think you can see to it Jortah?" I asked.

"I don't see any problem. We'll just let him in every morning and then take him out when he's done," he said.

"That will probably do it. If any of the other mares come in, just treat them the same way, especially the Clydesdale mares. I want Sir Longears to have a crack at all of them," I said.

 Denac and I left it to him then and we went to join our mates and their companions. They had saddled their mounts and started with the thaka parade again. Denac was the only one on a Clydesdale. All the women were on quarterhorses and they were doing so well that I decided we might as well take a turn outside the fence. Denac volunteered to open and close the gate for us.

I let Katia and Shaeta lead us out. They rode on outside the gate while the rest of us had the thaka make one more circle. When the first of the herd cleared the gate Katia was guarding the path to the river and managed to turn them toward where Shaeta was going to lead them back the way they'd come. Its rocky hills would help keep them contained until they figured out they weren't getting away.

As it turned out they didn't even try. We drove them out past the place Denac and I found them and then turned them around and drove them back to the ranch. Not a one of them gave us any trouble. By the time the practice drive was over it was close enough to lunchtime for government work, so we all rode back to camp.

After lunch, Denac, Lanita and I were elected to keep out from underfoot for the rest of the day. Nita told us that they would be busy packing for our expedition. Our only instructions were to stay close enough so that we could be summoned if our help was required, and it turned out that it wasn't.

Since we both understood that we'd be traveling far from the Calak's cooking the next day, Lanita and I made sure we ate all we could hold when suppertime came along. We'd get another sit-down meal in the morning but after that it would be traveling rations, unless we killed something edible on the way.

Sunrise saw us out the next morning and Lanita, Nosey, and I went to see Buttercup and then visited all the hobbled donkeys and Shetlands before breakfast was served. Then we got down to the business of eating much more than we should have. I nearly groaned when I had to mount red as we were leaving.

Of course my mates and Jekaycey had packed plenty of food and it was now safely on the travois that Matilda would be pulling when we hitched her to it on the other side of the river; still, it was the thought that counted.

I really had no reason to start out toward the place Denac and I had found the first bunch of cashda, but I did, since I had no reason not to either. We could all ride together for the first mile or so, but after that I'd have to move on alone.

Any new horses, donkeys, or Shetlands would be able to get the scent of my companions well before I'd be close enough to catch their scents. After about a mile I'd go on alone to see if I could find anything. I'd taught Nita, Katia, and Shaeta the basics of firing the Glock just after supper the night before and it was now strapped to Nita's waist. So if something came up they could signal me with it and I'd be able to signal them with the M1. They were going to wait an hour when we parted and then try to follow my trail.

I was discouraged within an hour and more so after the second one. I hadn't seen a single cashda track or picked up even the slightest whiff of any scent. I'd passed two small groups of fifteen or twenty thaka, but it was small consolation. If we didn't find any cashda we might try our hand at driving them to the ranch on the way back, but it wasn't what we were after. At noon, I stopped and hobbled Red to wait for the others to catch up, and they did about an hour later.

We had a light meal and then I took off again, with them intending to head out in an hour, as before. I had one other companion this time, after Lanita's suggestion. She'd thought that Nosey should go with me.

"Even if he can't understand that we want to catch more cashda, he will still probably be able to smell them before you can, and it's likely that he'll want to go visit," she'd said.

I think she'd probably been right, so Nosey came with me, even though I was sure that Red would most likely do as good a job. But even with Nosey, Red, and I sniffing we didn't smell a thing by two hours until sunset, so I stopped, hobbled and unsaddled Red, and sat down to wait. When the others caught up the women fixed a meal and after it was done we spread our furs and went to sleep.

During the night we weren't lucky enough to have a handy band of Clydesdales join us, and in fact we didn't even attract one Shetland. Bummer. We did have a better breakfast than I'd been expecting though and after it was over Nosey, Red, and I headed on out.

Two hours later I got my first whiff of cashda. It was Nosey that smelled them first and he gave them a short hee haw, then he took off trotting. I didn't try to follow, since there was no point in it yet. I needed to wait until the others caught up so I could give them the news. In fact I started back the way I'd come to catch them and stop them as far from here as I could. The closer they came, the more likely their scent would alarm our prey.

I came up to them about forty-five minutes later and had them take a trail break where they were. Lanita had the first question for me.

"Where is Nosey," she asked.

"He kept going. I think he wanted to make first contact," I said.

"He'll probably just tell them to come on and join us," she said.

"We can always hope, but I doubt they will. I could tell that they were Clydesdales though. I think it will be better if I ride Buster and see if they'll wait around even if they smell me."

It didn't take long to switch my saddle to Buster's back and I cheated and wheedled a couple of substantial snacks out of the women, even though it wasn't eleven AM yet. After I'd eaten them, Buster and I were off in search of Nosey.

We caught sight of him about an hour and a half later. He was with the bunch of cashda and they didn't seem to be frightened by the time they must have caught my scent. They were somewhat agitated though, but I got the feeling it wasn't over my smell.

Surprisingly they let Buster and I get within a hundred yards or so before they became more agitated. I was surprised that the herd stallion didn't come out to challenge Buster, at least, but he didn't. In fact I couldn't locate the herd stallion. The only mature males I saw didn't look all that mature. It was a little strange.

Buster and I stayed where we were for about half an hour, and Nosey came over for a few minutes and then went back. Somehow his visit seemed to settle the others a little.

I mounted Buster again after the wait and rode closer. They didn't seem panicked by my approach but they did move away slightly as I got near. Finally I saw what was causing their discomfort.

What must have been the herd stallion was down, and not moving. I knew it couldn't be just resting, because it didn't get up when I'd been noticed the first time. Then I saw that it would never get up again.

It wasn't dead, but it would be soon. Its left cannon bone was obviously broken, and from the amount of blood on the ground around him I knew that he was probably near death.

I guessed that was why the others hadn't moved on yet. Probably they simply hadn't decided who was going to run the show now. Maybe they were waiting for him to get up and wouldn't leave until they knew he was dead. I couldn't figure out how he'd broken the leg, but that really didn't matter.

Since I was so close now, I could tell that none of the other mature stallions were really all that mature. The lead mare was obviously older than any of them and no doubt she intended to play a role on determining just who the next herd stallion would be.

I decided to take a gamble. I unsaddled Buster and then removed his bridle and halter, turning him completely loose. He stood still for a couple of minutes and then I swatted him on the rump. It was probably the smartest thing I'd ever done, since he went directly to the lead mare and with a little sniffing and squealing he let her know that he was the new lead stallion.

The largest two of the other stallions came over but they weren't in Buster's class and he knew it as well as they did. After a few minutes one of them must have decided he had to at least make a show out of it, so he bucked up his nerve and made a half-assed charge toward Buster. Buster returned the favor, bumped into him and then bit him for causing trouble, and that appeared to be that.

The next hour was spent with me sitting near the saddle and watching as Buster went around and introduced himself to every female, snorting loudly anytime one of the other males tried to get close. It was quite a performance.

He even found one that must have been coming into her estrus, because he called a halt to the show and mounted her on the spot. From the way she squealed and kicked him a time or two I'm sure she didn't think she was up for any action yet, but Buster wasn't taking no for an answer and a few judicious bites around her withers convinced her to go with the flow.

A few minutes after he'd poled the gal good and proper, Buster lowered his head and began to graze. No doubt this is the horsey equivalent of smoking a cigarette. The lead mare followed suit a couple of minutes later and before you know it they'd all forgotten about me and started back on their normal daily business of turning grass into shit. There was no real rush so I sat around for another hour.

Nosey was grazing near me when I decided that it was time to get going. I looked at him and asked why he didn't go get Lanita. He didn't answer me; he just pulled up another tidbit of the green stuff.

I picked up Buster's halter then and headed for him. He acted normal, as I thought he would, and since he didn't give me any shit the others didn't either. When I led him back to where the saddle was I saw that the others began drifting slowly that way too. In fact they seemed to watch while I put the hackamore and saddle back on him.

When I had him saddled I mounted and headed back toward Denac and the others. The rest of the band just kept grazing. Nosey wasn't having any of that though. He went over to the lead mare, looking every bit the Chihuahua attacking the Great Dane, and bit her on the ass. She moved out then and the others followed, with Nosey taking up the drag position. It was the damndest performance I'd ever seen and I decided that I was never going horse gathering again without taking every donkey that wanted to go.

It only took about an hour to get back to the others. When this new herd came into scent range of Denac and the others, they were a little anxious for a few minutes, but Buster's calm manner and Nosey's little teeth straightened all that out. My mates, Lanita, Jekaycey, and Denac were baffled as I came riding up leading more than we'd hoped to find.

Lanita lost her amazement first though, and she mounted Jeffry, riding him around the bunch and joining Nosey at his self-appointed tail gunner job.

Since we still had at least three hours until sunset, and since our ownership of all the cashda flesh could still come into question, in their eyes at least. I decided that we needed somewhat of a firmer hold on them. I fetched my lariat from Red's saddle and then led Buster back to the lead mare. She barely noticed when I slipped the loop around her neck and then twisted a makeshift halter type loop around her muzzle.

It took some time to get her to follow as I led, but Nosey helped out here too. Soon enough I had a real halter on her and left her for Denac to hold while I went back for another one.

The second mare was harder to catch, and I had to actually rope her. She pitched a little bitch about it, but it wasn't serious and I had her haltered soon enough too. We'd only brought half a dozen or so empty halters with us, but by using them and the ones off the other horses we managed to get twelve of the new crop in a halter before the girls built a fire and started supper. Since we'd tried to pick the mares that seemed most mature I thought we could get by for the night.

We had a good meal, and after scattering our hobbled horses among the others I felt we'd could reasonably expect to end up with most of our new stock still here in the morning. We built up the fire and found our way into the furs.