“What a coincidence that you would ask,” Bailey said. “You’re coming in here will save us the trouble of serving you.”
“Serving me?”
“Yes. I’m afraid we are going to be taking a five mile strip of land all along the Green River and up the Big Sandy. That means that from you we will be taking a total of, let me see…yes, here it is. One hundred and forty-four thousand acres.”
“What?”
“I would advise you to move all your stock off that property,” Bailey said.
“We’ll see about this,” Dorchester said angrily. “This is outrageous, and one way or another I’m going to stop you.”
“I don’t think so,” Bailey said. “I have the law on my side.”
Hawke was sitting at a table in the cookhouse, drinking coffee and examining a topographic map of the area between Green River and the Sweetwater Mountains. He looked up when two men came in and stepped up to the table, their hats in their hand.
“Are you the new foreman Willie told us about?” one of the men asked. “Are you Hawke?”
“I am,” Hawke said. “What do you need?”
“Well, the thing is, Hawke, uh, Mr. Hawke, me ’n’ Eddie Taylor…” He paused in mid-sentence and pointed to the man standing beside him. “This here is Eddie Taylor, I’m Win Woodruff. And the thing is, we used to cowboy here.”
“And we was good hands too,” Eddie said. “You can ask any of the other cowboys here and they’ll tell you. We was good hands.”
“But we quit to go hunt for gold,” Win continued.
“Only we didn’t find none,” Eddie said.
“’Cause I don’t think there’s none there,” Win added.
Hawke stared at the two men. He knew that they wanted him to ask them to come back to work for the ranch, but he was determined to make them ask.
“So, uh…” Win said. He cleared his throat nervously. “Uh, so, we thought maybe…”
“Maybe we could get our old job back,” Eddie put in quickly.
“When’s the last time you two men had a good meal?” Hawke asked.
“Well, we had some jerky this mornin’,” Eddie said.
“And yesterday,” Win added. “And the day before that too.”
“But now, a real sit down and eat kind of meal,” Eddie said, “well, sir, that’s been a good while.”
“Have the cookie fix you a plate,” Hawke said. “I can’t be hiring cowboys who are so hungry they can’t work.”
Win and Eddie smiled broadly, then hurried over to the big wood-burning stove where the cook was already preparing supper. He gave them both a generous helping of some stew, left over from lunch. There was also half a pan of leftover biscuits, and the two men cleaned it out.
Bringing their food back to the table, they sat down and began eating, wolfing the food down ravenously. It wasn’t until Win had cleaned his plate and eaten the last biscuit that he happened to glance across the table to the map Hawke was studying.
“That there map ain’t exactly right,” he said casually.
“What?”
“That map,” Win said, pointing. “Accordin’ to that map, this whole area here is flatland. But that ain’t the way of it. Crowley’s Ridge is there, but this here map don’t show it.”
“Do you know how to read a map?”
“Yeah,” Win said. “’Afore I cowboyed, I worked some for the Union Pacific when they was buildin’ the railroad. I had to read maps all the time, and sometimes even drawed ’em.”
Hawke turned the map around. “Where is this ridge you were talking about?”
“Right here,” Win said, “betwixt the Big Sandy and the Pacific rivers.” He traced the location with his finger.
“Can you point out the location of the Hilliard ranch?” Hawke asked.
“Sure, it’s right here,” Win said.
“Just on the other side of Crowley’s Ridge?”
“Yes.”
“Damn,” Hawke said with a sigh.
“What’s wrong?”
“There are five hundred head of cattle up here,” Hawke said, putting his hand on the Hilliard ranch, “that I need to get down here. I was trying to find the best route. But with this Crowley’s Ridge in the way…” He let the sentence hang.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Win said. “The Little Sandy River comes right through the middle of the ridge. There’s a break there that’s prob’ly a hundred yards wide or so. You could bring five hundred beeves through there easy. Me ’n’ Eddie will help bring ’em down, won’t we, Eddie?”
“Sure will,” Eddie said, mumbling around a mouth full of biscuit.
“Thanks, I can use you.”
“When you going to bring ’em down?”
“Tonight, just after dark.”
Win looked surprised. “Tonight? After dark?”
“Yes.”
“Uh, pardon my askin’ you this, but why the hell would you want to move five hundred head of cattle at night?”
“It’s probably safer that way.”
“Safer? To move a herd at night? Through a narrow pass in a high ridge?”
“I thought you said it would be easy bringing them through the pass,” Hawke said.
“Well, yeah, I did say that. But I was talkin’ about bringin’ ’em through in the daytime when you can see what the hell you are doin’.”
“There’s a full moon tonight,” Hawke said. “It will be moon bright.”
“Still in all, it’s not like bringin’ ’em through in the daylight. What do mean when you say you think it would be safer to bring ’em down in the dark?”
Hawke took the final swallow of his coffee and looked for a long, appraising moment at Win and Eddie.
“Safer, because there is less chance of us getting shot.”
“Less chance of getting shot?” Win gasped. He held out his hand and shook his head. “Wait a minute, hold it. I ain’t goin’ to have nothin’ to do with stealin’ no cows. What’s this all about, anyway? I’ve never knowed Mr. Dorchester to swing a wide loop.”
“No,” Dorchester said, “and I haven’t started now.”
None of them had heard Dorchester come into the dining hall. Now they all looked around at him.
“They’re my cows, bought and paid for,” he continued. “With a bill of sale. You boys are back, I see.”
“Yes, sir. We just talked to Hawke, and he hired us back. I hope that’s all right with you,” Win said.
“Yes, of course it is all right,” Dorchester said. “I’m happy to have you boys back. And are your saddlebags filled with gold?”
Win and Eddie shook their heads contritely.
“We didn’t find nothin’ up there,” Win said.
“Not even so much as one little flake of yellow,” Eddie added.
“Well, I’m glad you both have it out of your system and have come back. I was left pretty short-handed. I hope some of the others will come back as well.”
“Like as not, they’ll all be comin’ back sooner or later,” Win said. “Soon as they discover there ain’t no gold up there, they’ll come back wantin’ to work.”
“And I’ll hire them.”
“Mr. Dorchester, if we ain’t stealin’ them cows, why is it we’re going to get ’em at night?” Win asked. “And what did Hawke mean when he said that we might get shot at?”
“Yeah,” Eddie added. “I’m not all that anxious to get shot at.”
Dorchester told them the story of two men riding up to confiscate Roy Hilliard’s ranch. He told them how Roy tried to resist, how they shot him down and then served Mrs. Hilliard with the paper that said she no longer owned the land.
“They gave her twenty-four hours to get off her property and take her livestock with her.”
“Twenty-four hours?” Eddie said. “And her just a woman? Now, just how the hell was she s’posed to do that? Excuse my language.”