The Man From Eagle Creek
Chapter Twenty Four
The two friends sat and talked over this new side of the job as
range riders for the cattlemen's association, then walked out to
get their horses down to the livery stable. After making sure
they were fed and taken care of, Tom and Cal walked back up to
the sheriff's office to wait.
Tom and Cal were sitting out front with Sheriff Wade, when Gale
Fortenberry rode up on a big buckskin mare.
"Gale these two young men rode up here from Dodge to see you,"
Sheriff Wade said as Gale walked up on the wooden sidewalk.
"Tom Cooper here and this is Cal Randal, Sheriff Charlie Bassett
gave us this letter to give you," Tom handed him the letter as he
and Cal stood to shake his hand.
"Tom, Cal good to meet you. Charlie spoke highly of you in his
telegram and here in this letter too. Did he tell you anything
about why I needed good men to ride for me?"
"No Sir, I reckon he was gonna let you tell us all about it."
"Well the cattlemen and ranchers in this area have formed what we
call the North Central Kansas Cattlemen's Association and I was
recently elected president of the association. We've been having
a lot of trouble with folks cutting our fences and letting our
cattle in on the farmers land, destroying their crops. The
farmers have been pretty upset about it and have started riding
the property lines with members of their own people. There's been
some problems with some of our men and theirs over who opened the
fences, and some pretty harsh accusations have been made amongst
the lot of them."
"Well Mr. Fortenberry I gotta tell you that Cal and me didn't
come all the way up here to be pulling guns on unarmed farmers,
and we don't want to be outside the law in whatever we do," Tom
told him.
"I can assure you Tom, that Sheriff Wade is informed each time we
have problems and after each altercation. There is nothing
unlawful in what our men are doing."
"How many men you got riding for you Mr. Fortenberry?"
"We have only three now and if you hire on with us we will stop
at the five of you. As president of the association, I don't want
the cattlemen to get a bad reputation and have the Governor send
down troops to clean up a mess. Plus we don't want to have a big
range posse riding roughshod over the four counties like there's
been in other places."
Sheriff Wade had been sitting on the bench listening to the
conversation between Tom and Gale, he knew Gale was a good man,
but he wasn't sure that the men working for him had good
intentions.
"Mr. Fortenberry if we were to hire on with you, who would we
answer to?"
"You and Cal would answer directly to me Tom just as the other
three do."
"Sheriff you been listening to this, you got anything to add or
take away from what's been said?" Tom asked the sheriff.
"Tom since you and Cal served as deputies under Sheriff Bassett
down in Ford county, I reckon I could pin a badge on you and pay
you two dollars a day along with what Gale pays you. That way
you'd be representing the law here in Ellis County."
"Mr. Fortenberry would you have any reason to object to what the
sheriff just came up with?" Tom asked.
"Well, we never meant to get the law involved in the every day
handling of our range patrolling, but if Sheriff Wade sees fit to
have a hand in it, then I have no objections."
"What're you payin' your other men Mr. Fortenberry?" Tom asked.
"We pay two dollars a day."
"You just hired your self two more men Mr. Fortenberry," Tom said
as he and Cal stepped forward to shake his hand.
"Sheriff Wade, Cal and me need to be sworn in and a badge pinned
on us I reckon," Tom turned and shook the sheriff's hand also.
"Tom, Sheriff Wade can tell you where my spread is. I'll expect
you out there before sundown to get your self settled in. I'll
have a map for each of you so you'll know where the property
lines are and who owns what around here," Gale said as he turned
to mount up.
Tom and Cal followed Sheriff Wade into his office where he swore
the two in as deputies and gave them a badge.
"Tom I'm sure you're aware that you're only a deputy in Ellis
county, and the association covers Rooks, Graham and Osborne
counties as well."
"Yes Sir and I reckon if there's any need for the law in the
other three counties we'd have to see the sheriff there?"
"I can send a telegram to the sheriff's in Osborne, Rooks and
Graham counties and see if they might be willing to help cover
your pay if you like, then you'd be deputized to uphold the law
there as well."
"Sheriff you know better than Cal and I do about what we need to
make this work for the cattlemen as well as the farmers."
"I'll send telegraph messages out today and we should have an
answer by tomorrow. If I know them like I think I do, they'll
also want some one representing their side of the law out there
too. There's a lot of water rights involved here with the Saline
and Solomon rivers. There have been attempts to dam up the rivers
and creeks to cut off water to those downstream."
"Sheriff, Cal and I thank you for your help, we were just about
to ride on out until you came up with the idea to deputize us."
They shook hands with the sheriff and walked down to the livery
to get their horses. They followed his directions and rode on out
that way. They were within seeing distance of the spread when
they were approached by three men riding hard. Tom and Cal looked
at each other then stopped side by side as they waited for the
men to ride up.
Two of the riders stayed out at a distance on either side of Tom
and Cal, as the biggest of the three rode right up in front Tom
and Cal's horses.
"You can just throw them shooters on the ground right now, you're
trespassing on Fortenberry land," the man said, his hand resting
on the butt of his gun.
"Well stranger, I reckon we'll just be keeping our guns, we were
hired today by Mr. Gale Fortenberry and also deputized by Sheriff
Wade to ride some of the range in the four counties of the
association," Tom informed him in a slow easy voice.
"By God, he didn't tell me he was hiring on two more guns and for
sure we don't need any law men out here meddlin in our affairs,"
the big man said, his face red.
"I suggest that you take it up with the man that hired you, he's
the one we answer to," Tom told him.
"I'm the head of this range patrol and I say who answers to who.
Now until we get this straight from Mr. Fortenberry himself, you
fellers just drop them pistols in the dirt and them long guns in
the scabbards too."
"Mr. I don't know who you are, and I don't even know your name.
Unless you're willing to die in that saddle your sitting in, you
better ride on up to the ranch and tell Mr. Fortenberry that his
new men are here. I'm not gonna tell you again and we don't aim
to argue the matter any more, you hear me plain?" Tom said as he
turned his horse so he faced the man and the other rider behind
him. Cal turned his horse to face the man on the other side.
"Well I reckon there ain't no reason for us to pull our guns on
you two if you say we all work for the same man, but you better
get this straight now. You'll answer to me as long as you're here
on this range, and I don't give a pile of shit who deputized
you," the big man said jerking the reins hard and digging his
spurs in his horses' flanks as the three men rode back to the
ranch, kicking up a dust cloud behind them.
"Tom, what do you make of all that?" Cal asked with a laugh.
"I reckon we got us a problem with the big man wanting to be boss
of the outfit, is what I make of it." The two looked at each
other and smiled as they rode on to the ranch headquarters.
"Tom I gotta tell you that I was shakin' back there, I thought he
was gonna draw down on you for sure."
"You gotta watch their hands and their eyes Cal, he was bluffin'.
I knew he was, and he knew I wasn't."
"How do you figure he knew you wasn't bluffin' Tom?"
"I called his bluff and he backed down."
"Would you've shot him if he had reached for his gun?"
"Right where his heart is supposed be."
Tom and Cal rode on up to the Fortenberry spread, stopping in
front of the main ranch house. There were three men standing out
by the cattle pens and a couple more out by the stables.
The horses the three men had ridden, were tied up in front of the
barn.
Tom knocked on the door and it opened wide with Gale Fortenberry
standing there with a smile.
"Tom, Cal come on in."
They followed Gale through the front room and into another room
where there was a big oak desk and fancy chairs. There were deer
heads mounted on the walls and paintings of buffalo on the
plains. There was a painting of a big black stud horse standing
proud on the wall behind the desk between some book shelves.
"Have a seat men and we'll get our maps out so we can go over the
area you'll be patrolling," Gale said as he spread his big map
out on his desk.
"I understand you and my men had a meeting out a ways from the
ranch on your way in."
"Well they did come out to greet us, but it wasn't the nicest
greeting I've had before," Tom said.
"Tom you have to understand these men were here before you and
Cal came on. They have it in their heads that they're in charge
of patrolling the range. If you will, just try to get along and
it'll work out for all of us."
"Mr. Fortenberry, you told Cal and me that we would answer
straight to you, if that has changed since we talked, then I
reckon Cal and me'll ride on out now. We're not gonna be bullied
by someone that's out to make peace by bossing folks around,
especially those that do the same job he does."
"Tom I need you and Cal, I'll have a talk with Mac Willamacher.
He was hired by the members of the association before they
elected me as president. He has different views as how to keep
the peace than me and a lot of the members do. He's a cousin to
Will McDonnough, one of the biggest landowners around here. Mac
has it in his head that he don't answer to no one but his cousin.
He has a reputation of being good with a gun. When we first
started out, it was our notion that we needed to put up a good
front so people would know we meant business.
"I'll call a meeting of the association and tell them I've have
hired new riders and that Sheriff Wade has deputized you two. I
know the majority of the members want peace and not constant
fighting and bickering between us and the farmers. The farmers
have filed legal claims to their land, just as we have our lands.
We have to keep the fences up and the tempers cooled."
"We'll do you a good job Gale, but it'll be a fair job too. Just
because we work for the association don't mean we'll run
roughshod over the farmers," Tom told him.
"I want you to be fair Tom, that's the reason I sent word down to
Charlie Bassett. I knew he'd recommend a couple of good men with
level heads."
"Cal and I are easy to get along with and we don't go lookin for
trouble. If trouble comes along then we try to find a way to
smooth it out. If it can't be smoothed out, then we'll give as
good as we get, `til it gets smooth again."
"We can make this work Tom, we have to. The association can't
afford to have a lot of complaints against it. The courts have
already ruled that the farmers have the right to be here, that
tells me we need to get along as neighbors. Someone is out to
upset the balance out here by cutting fences. What I have in
mind, is you and Cal talking to the farmers as well as the
ranchers to find out who it is. This is the only way we'll ever
end this feud."
"Then count us in, we'll find the ones that're trying to make a
mess of things and let the law handle it. Then the ranchers and
the farmers will all know that it was a fair shake."
Gale gave Cal and Tom each, maps of the four counties in the
association with names marked on the maps where each of the
ranches were. Gale shook their hands again and thanked them for
staying to help him get some kind of law and order restored out
here on the plains again. Tom told Gale they'd make a round and
meet the members on their ranches, but wouldn't be staying in one
place all the time. He also told him that they'd check in with
him regular to keep him informed of what was going on.
"This thing with Mac Willamacher will come up again Gale. He
threw a bluff at me and I insulted him out on the trail, the
longer he thinks about it the bigger it'll get in his head."
"I'll talk to him Tom, you got my word on it."
"I hope you can convince him that he and I are riding for the
same brand now, I'd hate to kill a man that was working for you."
Tom and Cal walked out and put their maps in their saddle bags.
They mounted up and started back out the way they came in. This
time there was no confrontation.
The two young men rode west on the main trail and saw field after
field of crops planted. The wheat crop was about ready to harvest
and the stalks were drying down to a golden brown.
They stopped under a big oak tree and spread their maps out to go
over them again. They decided to ride to the west side of Ellis
county and then follow the county line north to Graham county.
They wanted to ride the west side of Graham county and make their
way back, stopping at the ranches as well as the farms and
meeting all they could of both sides.
Tom and Cal rode all the way out to what they knew was the
western county line of Graham County according to their maps.
They stopped at the southwest corner on the section line and
looked out at all the crops growing here. With the few late
spring rains that had come, it sure looked like there was gonna
be some good harvests come fall.
They made camp near the county line under a clump of short trees
that looked as if they had been mangled in a bad storm. Here they
spent the first night as range riders, wondering just what they'd
gotten themselves into.
The Mennonites had brought the hard red winter wheat with them
from Russia and found it was a perfect fit for the climate and
heavy loam soils of the plains. German immigrants had come here
too and settled in Ellis County and in some areas in other
counties as well. They were all farmers, and had filed claims on
some of the government lands that once had been open range. Most
of the original land owners had no problems with the newcomers,
but there were some that did and here was where the trouble
brewed openly.
The end of June was just around the corner, the wheat was nearing
harvest, the corn was growing rich and green with tassels out and
pollen everywhere. Tom and Cal rode north up the county line and
turned back east on a well used trail with farm land on both
sides of the trail. Soon they came to a junction of a north-south
trail and here started the barbed wire fences around large tracts
of pasture land. The trail they were on had ran right up to a
fence and they were going have to either go south or north from
here. They could see cattle scattered and dotted all over the
vast areas of green pastures.
Tom reached back and took his hand held telescope out of his
saddlebag, opening the end of the tubular container it was
carried in. He scanned the pastures and then all around the
farmlands, he then handed the scope to Cal.
Cal had never looked through one before and when he put it to
his eye, he jerked his head back and looked at Tom then at the
scope. He then eased it back to his eye and Tom told him how to
adjust the focus to see clear. Cal looked all around the horizon
just as Tom had and was amazed that it looked as if he could just
reach right out and touch a cow that was at least a quarter mile
away. Tom took the telescope and slipped the loop on the end of
the container over the saddle horn and they rode north again.
After about a mile, they turned east once more and were riding
between farmland on the left and the huge pasture on the right.
There were four strands of barbed wire strung tight between the
wooden posts that were placed about twelve feet apart. The fence
looked to run for miles and was straight as a line can be drawn.
Windmills dotted the land in every direction, bringing drinking
water to the cattle on the prairie.
This was all new to both Tom and Cal, and they were constantly
looking in all directions as they rode slowly along. They had
ridden for close to an hour when Tom saw someone up ahead. There
were cattle all out in the fields to the left and in the trail
ahead of them. Some were walking toward Tom and Cal, but stopped
and turned when they rode up close to them. When they rode
closer, Tom saw where the fence had been torn down, by the cattle
or by some person. The man was trying to get the cattle herded
back into the break of the fence and was running and chasing a
cow and calf as it would break away from the rest and try it's
best to stay on the wrong side of the fence.
Tom and Cal used their horses to help herd the cattle back into
the pasture then rode up to where the man was standing looking up
at them and back at the broken down fence. The man had on a wide
hat pulled tight down over his forehead, his shirt and breeches
were loose and baggy on him. Tom could tell this was not a
cowhand but a farmer that was trying to get the cattle off his
crops and back where they belonged. They looked across his field
and saw a team of mules hitched to a plow, standing and waiting
for the man to return.
"Hello to you sir, I see you're having problems keeping the
cattle off your land," Tom said as he and Cal slid from the
saddles.
The man jerked the hat off his head and all of a sudden long
blonde hair fell down across his shoulders. The man shook his
hair and threw the hat on the ground and began stomping his own
hat. Tom looked again and saw the man was not a man, but a woman.
She was cussing in some foreign language Tom had never heard and
kicking and stomping her feet, kicking dust everywhere. She
looked at the both of them with a look of disgust and anger as
she spat on the ground at Tom's feet.
"You cattlemen think you are so big and own the world with your
guns and your horses. You do not own this land outside this
fence, my family and I own this and all that you see that is not
fenced with the cattle on it," She ranted and raved with a
foreign accent in broken English, at the two men who just stood
there and looked and listened in awe.
"Ma'am, we ain't cattlemen, we're range riders that were hired by
the cattlemen's association to try and find who has been cutting
the fences and lettin' the cattle out."
"Then you are even worse than the cattlemen, you are nothing but
hired guns that come here to scare us from our lands the
government has said we now own."
"We ain't hired guns either, now just settle down for a while and
let's try and get your problem worked out and the fence put back
in place. The cattle don't know any better than come right back
out through this break and out into your crops," Tom told her.
The woman spat at his feet and started swearing again, using
broken English and every now and then another language. They
could make out some swear words that made them wonder where in
the world she had learned such language. Tom just turned away
from her and walked the length of the break in the fence. There
were two fence posts that were broken off at the ground and all
four wires had been cut on one end of the break. Tom didn't have
any wire cutters but he knew how to bend wire long enough to make
it break. He started working one of the strands of barbed wire
back and forth about three feet from the end.
Soon he had it broken off and started on another end, when he had
two pieces broken off the two middle wires in the fence, he
wrapped the end of one of the short pieces to the top strand of
the fence. The woman had stopped her raving and ranting and just
stood wide eyed as she watched Tom.
"Ma'am, if you'll let Cal borrow your gloves, we'll try to put up
a patch until we can find the owners and tell them of a break
here."
Without a word the woman shucked off her gloves and threw them at
Cal, he caught one and stooped to get the other one.
"Cal, if you can pull hard enough on this top strand maybe we can
pull it tight and get it tied back in place."
Cal put the gloves on and grabbed the strand of barbed wire, he
leaned his weight into his pull and the broken posts tried to
stand up, but never made it up straight.
Seeing this, and without a word, the woman ran to the fence and
stood the broken post upright, this gave Cal and Tom a lot of
slack. Then she ran to the other downed post as Cal pulled the
wire more. When she raised that post Cal pulled and Tom had
enough slack to start tying the wire back together. The woman ran
to where Cal was and grabbed the wire between the barbs and
pulled also. She cut her hand on the barbs and Cal pulled one
glove off and handed it to her.
Between the two of them they were able to pull enough slack to
get the top wire tied back without too much swag between the
posts. They got down on their knees and grabbed the bottom strand
and pulled it taught. Tom wired it together and they stepped back
to look at the fence.
"We need to tighten the top strand more now that we've pulled the
slack out of bottom one," Tom said.
They all fell back into the same process once more. Tom unwrapped
the ends of the top wire again and Cal and the woman pulled with
their bodies leaning into the pull. Tom got it as tight as he
could and twisted the wires into a splice once more. They
repeated this with the bottom wire and then stood back to look at
the fence. It wasn't by any means a permanent repair but may hold
until someone could be sent to do a proper repair of the break.
Tom turned and looked at the bottom of the post that was still in
the ground where they had made their splice. He saw boot prints
as well as where a horse had stood as if tied to the post.
Tom ignored the woman and walked to the first post that had been
broken off at the ground. He saw scuff marks of a rope on the
dried fence post where someone had tied to the post and pulled it
over, breaking it off at the ground. He walked to the other post
that had been on the ground, he already knew what he was gonna
see, and sure enough there were the same rope marks on the wooden
post, and there were tracks where the rider had pulled the post
over with his horse. Now, who did this. Was it the farmers or the
cattlemen or someone out to make it look as if it were one of the
two opposing sides in the dispute.
"Ma'am, I appreciate your help in gettin' this fence fixed back.
I'm Tom Cooper and this is my friend Cal Randal. We've been hired
by Mr. Gale Fortenberry to help keep things like this from
happenin'."
"Well I'll say this, the two of you sure aren't like the others
that ride here, they just laugh when I yell at them about broken
fences."
The woman looked at Tom's hands which were bleeding from the
scratches he got while tying the wires back.
"You need to come up to the house over there and let me put
something on those scratches, they will get mighty sore if you
don't."
"I reckon you're right Ma'am, we'll ride around the field and
meet you there."
Tom and Cal rode to the end of the rows she had been plowing,
then turned down the lane to her house. The house wasn't much,
but was solidly built and served the purpose for living on the
prairie. Part sod and part wood frame. The small barns were of a
better sort, they were strongly built and roomy for the stock and
hay storage. The woman had unhitched her team and brought them
across the field to the house. As Tom and Cal stood out front she
went in and came right back with a small bag and a pan of water.
"Come over here to the porch and set down so I can get you
cleaned up and doctored."
She took Tom's hands and washed the dried blood from his fingers.
"What's a woman doing out here all alone like this trying to work
a farm, don't you have men folks to do the plowing?" Tom asked as
she wiped and spread some ointment on his hands that burned like
fire.
"I got a boy that's over on the far field plowing, and I got a
girl that's pulling weeds over there too. There's just the three
of us, but we manage," She told them in her strange accent.
"Where you from Ma'am, if you don't mind us askin'?" Cal said.
"We came here from Germany, my family did. My husband died a few
years back, worked his'self to death I suppose. My kids were
small when we got here, but they worked like grownups and now
carry the load left by their Papa when he died. You two sure
don't fit the mold of the other riders from the cattlemen."
"Well we just hired on yesterday and are making our first rounds
to try and get a feel of the area," Tom told her.
"Why don't the two of you rest your horses and have supper with
us? My son and daughter will be coming in shortly and I'd like
them to meet you."
Tom and Cal looked at each other and shrugged shoulders.
"I reckon we could Ma'am, if you're sure it ain't no bother."
"Get your horses took care of and sit here on the porch while I
get supper started."
"We don't even know your name Ma'am."
"I am Hilda Ehrlichmann, I am proud that the two of you came
along today, I hope you don't become corrupted by the others that
you ride with."
"We hired on with the understanding that we'd uphold the law and
try to bring peace out here Ma'am, I reckon there won't be any
changing of that notion."
Tom and Cal were sitting in the shade of the porch when a young
girl walked from around the house. She was stocky built and had
shoulder length hair that looked sun bleached. She wore the
clothes of a man, but her teats were very large and pressed
against the inside of the oversized shirt in a way that put a
serious strain on the big buttons.
"Hello, I am Helga, may I ask who you are and why you are
sitting on our porch?" The girl asked, as she saw their badges
and the guns on their hips.
"I'm Tom Cooper and this is Cal Randal, we were invited here by
the woman of the house."
The young girl walked briskly up the steps to the porch and into
the house without another word. Tom and Cal could hear a loud
discussion taking place in the house between the two women, and
only once in a while did they understand a word of English. Soon
the loud talking stopped and the two women came back out to the
porch.
"Mr. Cooper and Mr. Randal, I want you to meet my daughter
Helga."
"Yes Ma'am, we already swapped names as she came up," Tom said.
"I am afraid that she was more than a little unfriendly to you.
We are not used to having company and she thought you two were
some of the same riders that have caused us problems in the past.
I explained to her that the two of you came to my rescue today
and helped me to get the cattle back inside the fences."
"I want to apologize to you for being so rude," Helga said as
she walked first to Cal then to Tom and shook their hand with a
firm grip.
The young woman spoke very good English and even managed a smile
as she spoke this time.
"I am sure that you can understand my concern for strangers to
be on our porch, we've had nothing but trouble for the past four
months, and the sight of men with guns has not been a good one
for us."
Cal was staring open mouthed at the German girls' huge teats.
Tom looked his way and as soon as Tom caught her looking off, he
kicked Cal's boot with his moccasin. Cal jumped and looked at Tom
with a questioning look. Helga had turned back to face them now
as she talked and saw Tom rub his hand over his chest as he
looked at Cal. She didn't get the message but Cal did and his
face turned red as he realized he had been staring at the girls'
huge teats. From where he was sitting he could see through the
opening in her shirt where her large teats separated it between
the buttons. He could see a lot of skin and he had never before
in his life seen that much of a woman.
Cal squirmed in his chair and scooted up straight as he glanced
nervously over at Tom then at the girl. When he glanced back at
Helga again she had turned toward Tom to ask a question, Cal
could see over half of her left teat through the opening now. Cal
jumped up and knocked his chair over, then walked off the porch,
almost in a run and kept going straight to the big barn. Helga
looked after him and then looked back at Tom.
"What was he so fired up about that he had to leave like that."
"Well you see Helga, Cal's a bit shy around girls. As a matter
of fact he's never been around a girl and he got all flustered
looking at your shirt. I mean looking at you," Tom had
embarrassed himself now.
"I'm sorry about that. I'm afraid I inherited a double helping
of nature from my mother, sometimes I am ashamed of myself for
being so big."
"Well, the way I see it I didn't have any say about me being
Sioux and Cal didn't have any say about him bein tall and skinny,
so I reckon you didn't have much say about your shirts fitting so
tight."
"I've never heard it put that way before, but now that I think
about it, you're right. My mother's family has always been on the
stout side and like I said, I got a double helping."
"Yep," was all Tom said. He was glad they were about through
talkin about her big teats. Now he was beginning to get somewhat
embarrassed himself.
Tom and Helga sat talking about where they came from and what it
was like. They were more comfortable now that the subject of her
big teats was out of the way. Cal came out of the barn and walked
back to the house whistling and looking all over the homestead as
he walked.
Cal walked up on the porch and instead of sitting back on the
chair beside Tom, he leaned back on the porch rail with his butt
resting on it. Helga and Tom noticed this but neither said a
word.
Tom watched as a young man came across the farm yard with a pair
of big draft horses and stopped them at the front of the barn. He
stripped the full harnesses off both horses, and hung the heavy
leather harnesses in the tack room just inside the big barn.
"That's my brother Hahn, he is a year older than I am and a very
hard worker too. He has taken over the work here since our father
died five years ago. With our mother and both of us working the
fields during planting and harvest we have been able to raise
some good wheat and corn crops. Our father would be proud too, he
had dreamed of a time when the farm would be prosperous."
"How old are you Helga?" Tom asked.
"I am nineteen and Hahn is twenty, we are eleven months apart in
age, you will like Hahn and I am sure he will be happy to know
that you have helped our mother even if you do ride for the
cattlemen."
"Cal and I took the job because we were told that it would be
our place to make sure everyone was served justice."
"Well, we will see if you make the difference, because the range
riders we have encountered haven't been very friendly to us. Just
wait until you see Hahn's face and arms where they tied him to a
fence post with barbed wire and whipped him with another piece.
Mother had to clean his cuts and sew his face back with a needle
and thread.
"He is scarred for life and those men laughed as they did this
to him. That was two years ago now, and all he did was put the
cattle back inside the fence that had been cut, then try and
repair it to keep the cattle in. The riders accused him of
cutting the fence and letting the cattle out."
"Do you know the ones that did it?" Cal asked.
"Hahn said they wore masks but he knew the voices, it was the one
called `Widowmaker'. I can't pronounce his real name."
Hahn walked up to the porch and Helga introduced them to her
brother. Hahn was skeptical about the strangers when she said
they were part of the range riders for the cattlemen's
association.
Hahn's face was scarred deep from his eye socket to his jaw bone
on the right side, then across his nose and down his cheek on the
left side. He had many more marks that weren't as bad where the
barbs had stuck him. He was a strong built young man, not as tall
as Cal and Tom, but more muscular across the chest and arms
"Hahn, have you had anymore trouble out of the men that did
this, since it happened?" Tom asked.
"There's been no more face to face confrontations and other than
cutting fences we have been left alone. Our neighbors to the east
have had a lot of trouble lately with the fences being cut and
the cattle let out to make it look like the farmers did it. We
all know who's doing this though," Hahn said.
"Who do you have in mind Hahn, do you think it's the same ones
that whipped you with barbed wire?" Tom asked.
"I know it is, I have heard the same men talk when they come by
here, they always make a point of harassing us verbally and make
profane remarks to my sister and mother too."
"We are a proud people that work hard with the land to make a
living and a life for ourselves, we all try to keep each other
informed when things happen so we can try and prevent more
violence," Hahn told them.
"Hahn is going to marry the daughter of our neighbors to the
east of us when the crops are laid by this summer. She was caught
in the fields last week and stripped of her clothes. She had to
walk home naked and they rode along behind her and taunted her
until she was close to home, then they left," Helga told them.
"Did they do her any bodily harm, or just shame and ridicule
her?" Cal asked. He and Tom looked at each other with hard looks
as they were told this.
"They never touched her after they stripped her naked, they even
took her undergarments off. She saw their faces and we are just
waiting to get them out here alone."
"Hahn, you can't fight these people if they're the ones Cal and
I've met, they're all gun hands and this is what they want. They
want to push you into making that mistake, then claim self
defense when they maim you or kill you.
"Just try and keep calm out here for a little longer and Cal and
I will get to the bottom of it all. Someone is out to run you
people off your lands and we need to know who's giving the
orders. The men we ran into aren't smart enough to do this on
their own."
Hahn and his sister liked these two men in spite of the people
that hired them. The two men weren't any older than they were but
looked as if they could handle any situation that came up. They
had no choice, but to place their hope in the two new range
riders, to bring peace and settle the differences between the
cattlemen and the farmers.
Hilda Ehrlichmann came to the door and called the four in to eat.