Ginger notified the BLM of the atrocious happenings and stated that all of her men were going to be armed and given orders to shoot. Billy said he was going to shoot first and ask questions later. He didn’t want to end up on a slab. All of the men liked and respected Hank. They, like Ginger, declared war.
There was a called meeting of The Cattlemen’s Association because the next night after the attack on Proudfoot property, about forty head of cattle were stolen from Chuck Davidson’s Broken Branch Ranch. There were no injuries to people because it happened too quickly. The thieving and injuries increased in the county. Charles Branson’s Roaring Fork was attacked and he lost cattle. He had few hands and had not counted yet to find the amount of his loss.
There were shots fired at the house of Marlin Peterson. He thought it was a stray bullet that had been intended for the bunkhouse, but his three year old son happened to be sitting in a chair and the bullet just missed him. The boy had a cold and couldn’t sleep, so he had been allowed to stay up a while. Lake County was up in arms. Even if a ranch had not been encroached, each rancher knew it could happen to them at any time.
Further more, these were their neighbors and they were concerned for them.
Ginger went every day to visit Hank in the hospital. Fortunately the bullet had gone in above his heart, another had grazed his hip, but it would be some time before he was able to be up and about. She stopped the doctor one day when he came out of Hank’s room.
“Please tell me what you can about the condition of this man. He’s my foreman, but he’s more than that. He’s taken the place of my parents and I love him dearly. Will he recover and be okay?”
“Mr. Baxter is doing remarkably well for a seventy-two year old man. He’s in great physical shape. He’s just determined to get up and do as he wishes, but he needs time to heal and recuperate.”
Ginger was so astonished at Hank’s age that she could hardly talk. “I’ll talk to him and assure him that we are doing fine without him.”
“Oh, don’t do that! He doesn’t need to be told you can do without him. He’ll think he’s of no use to you and will be disheartened.”
“Of course. I wasn’t thinking. I’m so disturbed over the chain of events that I’m surprised I’m even able to think at all.”
“How do you think these men are getting the information that makes it possible for them to move in? Could there be a traitor on the ranch that is giving out details?” the doctor asked.
“Good grief. I hope not. I’d like to think all of my men are trustworthy. With the exception of about three new ones, all of the others have been with us for many years. I don’t know how my parents and grandfather handled it, but I’m going to check and see about a retirement plan. I carry an insurance policy on them in the event anyone is injured, but I just didn’t think about a time when they were past the stage of working.”
“I understand that you just recently had to assume the responsibility of the ranch and the people. It takes time to gain all the knowledge you’ll need, but I’m sure you have some loyal hands that will help.”
“I have marvelous people and the greatest friends and neighbors in the world. I’m so blessed.”
The doctor continued. “I’ve heard some of the ranchers talking and they think this is an organized gang with someone at the head that makes the plans. If that’s true, it’s going to be difficult to pinpoint the guilty ones. It’s a crying shame that so much money can be made, with little work, by stealing and taking someone else’s hard work.”
The doctor excused himself and left. Ginger saw Daniel Grey Wolf coming down the hall to visit Hank.
“Daniel, thank you for coming. I’m so glad to see you. This man is being unreasonable and insisting on getting up and going back to work. I can’t allow that. The doctor says it’s way too early.”
Daniel laughed. “Being an obstinate man myself, I can understand how he feels. I don’t know how old Hank is but I’ve known him all my life and he’s been working on Majestic longer than I’ve been on this earth.”
“Well, see what you can say to encourage him to take the time as the doctor recommends. Thank you again for coming.”
Ginger left as Daniel slipped into Hank’s room. She hurried back to the ranch to talk to Frank Royce. As she pulled her Dodge truck on to the ground outside the barn, she could see some strangers talking to one of her new hands. When they saw her, the strangers jumped into a new silver Porsche and left. Andy Lutz hurried into the barn.
Ginger followed Andy into the barn and found him cleaning and oiling tack (saddles and bridles). “Hi, Andy. Who were those men that were here?”
“Just someone looking to buy several horses. I told them you were not selling until you finished training, but I sent them over to the Deerhunters. I don’t know what James has.”
“It’s funny they didn’t stay to talk to me.”
“I doubt they knew you were the owner. They probably thought you were a boarder checking on your horse.”
Ginger wasn’t satisfied with his glib answer, but didn’t have any concrete evidence to challenge Andy’s statement. She strolled to the house thinking about what she should do. When she went in and told Juanita, the housekeeper suggested she call James and see if the men came over.
Ginger waited half an hour to give the men time to drive over there and then called. Arline answered the phone. Ginger took time to be polite and ask about her and Howard. Arline wanted to know how Hank was and Ginger took time to tell her.
“Arline, some men were here while I was at the hospital visiting Hank. One of my hands told me they were hoping to buy several horses and he sent them over to you. Do you have horses for sell and did the men come there?”
“Ginger, honey. I don’t know. James is taking care of everything now and we also have a foreman that’s been with us many years that we trust. Can you wait a minute and let me call one of them to the phone?”
“Why don’t you contact them and have them call me here at the house. Thank you Arline.”
Juanita was waiting anxiously to hear what was happening.
“Someone will call me from the Deerhunter’s and let me know. I need to go change into work clothes and do some work. What are we having for supper?”
“I have a roast beef and vegetables. There is enough for the men. Do you care if they come in here and eat or do you want me to send it out to the bunkhouse?”
“Isn’t Carson cooking for them in the bunkhouse?”
“No. Carson got too old and left just as you came home. They’ve been taking turns cooking, but I thought since everything is in a turmoil that I could help.”
“By all means, let’s feed them here. It’ll make it easier on you and they can come here as they get off duty. We still have the big tables on the screened porch. I’ll help and we’ll serve them out there. That way they won’t track mud in your clean house.”
Ginger hurried to change clothes and came down to help Juanita.
“Juanita, I know you hire help for big cleaning when you need it, but why don’t you hire someone to help you until we can settle this bad business.”
“Can we afford it? I know money is tight.”
“We’ll manage even if I have to sell some cattle. It’s the wrong time of year and I would not get what I would later, but I don’t want you to be burdened with this traffic.”
“I could sure use the help. I have two young girls in mind that need the work. They are seventeen and nineteen year old sisters in a house of fourteen children. They are barely squeaking by for food and everyday necessities.”
“Really! Who in the world?”
“Roger and Alice Ming live on property owned by the Youngers. Roger is lazy, but he does work some times when Mr. Younger can chase him down. I don’t know why Alice stayed with him and had all those children. There are two sets of twins. They’re all polite children and well behaved, thanks to Alice. The older ones did finish high school and the younger ones go to school even in rags, barefooted and little to eat.”
“I never dreamed any one was in that shape in this area. That’s hardly heard of in this day and time. Shew. I’m so happy I’m not in that situation even though I’ve been moaning and groaning that I have to handle this alone. That’s why we need to count our blessings and not agonize over the rest that we can do nothing about.”
The men had been fed and the cleaning up almost finished when the phone rang. Ginger was glad to answer and hear James. She quickly told him about the men and the suspicious behavior of her hand.
“Am I being paranoid?”
“No, you aren’t. They didn’t come by here. If they are sincere about buying horses, one would think they would ask several of us. How long has this Andy been working for you?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll look at his papers and see when he signed on. Apparently Hank hired him and I trust Hank. That doesn’t mean a man couldn’t hit hard times and be tempted later to break the law. He may be perfectly innocent, but the stealing and shooting has me on pins and needles. I suspect everyone I see.”
“Rightly you should. Don’t say anything to Andy. I’ll come over and talk to Frank and we’ll decide how to handle it. As you say, it could be in all innocence, however, it would be foolish to ignore it. I’ll see you later when I can get away.”
“Thank you so much, James. I could have talked to Frank, but I hesitated because he has a lot on his shoulders now.”
“He’s been there a long time and has been working with Hank. I’m sure Frank can handle the job. Trust me. I’ll do what I can.”
She hung up feeling slightly better knowing that James and Frank would be aware of what was going on. In the meantime she had to continue training the boarders’ horses.
I haven’t thought to ask about the cattle. They’re up on high ground for the summer pastures. There should be at least four men up there in a line shack taking turns with the work. I’ll have to ask Frank about them. I don’t even know how many head I’m supposed to have.
The Ming sisters came the next day and were grateful for the work. They not only needed the income, but here they had food, shelter and clothing. The work was hard, but they were willing to do what was needed.
Ginger came down the next morning and found the girls working diligently to help Juanita prepare a breakfast for them and the hands. They had steak, fried potatoes, beans, gravy and biscuits. Food that would stick to the ribs of working men. Always plenty of coffee.
“Girls, this is your boss. Ginger, this is Helen,” she pointed to the older girl, “and this is Irene.”
“Girls I’m so glad you could help Juanita. This is now your home. I want you to feel happy and comfortable. Juanita will need help with cooking and cleaning, but you’ll have time to rest, too. Don’t overdo it at one time and make yourselves sick.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Helen said. “We’re grateful for the work. We’ve heard so many good things about your folks and are happy to be here.”
“Good. Juanita will take good care of you and tell you what needs to be done.”
Ginger checked the tables on the porch to be sure everything was convenient that the men would need to have a good breakfast. Before winter hits us, I’m going to have some of the men enclose this and put a heater in here.
She went back into the kitchen. “Girls, I’m sure Juanita has explained. Some of the men eat before they go out to work and some eat as they come in from work. It makes it a nuisance to have so much cooking and cleaning, but the workers need to be taken care of.”
“We’ll be glad to do that.”
“And we get to eat what we fix for them?” Irene asked anxiously.
Ginger bit her lower lip to keep from smiling. “Of course you eat what we do. Everyone is welcome to the same in this house.”
Irene’s mouth was watering thinking of the chicken and dumplings and the lemon meringue pie planned for dinner. The girls had never been privileged to eat so well. Helen was sad thinking her little brothers and sister would love to have some of this. She would see what she could arrange. Her parents had taught her it was a sin to steal, so she was thinking hard how she could work and earn the food to take to her family.
Ginger had a call from Harry and Linda Morton, owners of the Wild River Guest Ranch. Their guests had not only been fired on but some men had been chased away who had tried to set the guest cottages on fire. How could anyone stoop so low?
“Did you report this to the authorities?”
“We sure did and there’s been no response.”
“Give it time. What did you want me to do?”
“I don’t really know. Chaska Magi was always available to listen to anyone’s problems and help, if he could. I guess I just called your number out of habit.”
“I’m pleased. We’ll work together and take care of these hoodlums. I expect you know by now that my foreman was shot and another hand was murdered. They’ve got a rattler and a next of hornets by the tail when they mess with my people.”
“Yes, I heard and I’m so sorry. Please keep in touch and let’s all work together. That’s the only way we’ll clean up our county.”
“You do realize that ours isn’t the only county where the thieves are working. Other places in Montana, in Wyoming and Colorado are being subjected to the same filth.”
“I know, but this is where we live and we’re in trouble here. Forgive me but I’m terrified and I need to settle down and think more clearly. I know that. We’ll keep in touch. Bye.”
Ginger hung up feeling sorry for the Mortons and all of them as well as wanting to giggle at some of his statements. “Shame on me. Well, back to work.”