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"Revenge, Renewal and the Promise of a New Year" (Boot Hill/D&D)
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1864318" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter Forty-four, “Pete’s Ranch”, January 7th, 1882:</strong></p><p></p><p>The group moved on, arriving at Flint's plot of land an hour later. As the cattle were grazing and drinking from the stream Flint comes up to Katherine and says, "Okay, I've thought about what you said yesterday. When you suggested that this might be a good plot of land for ranching. </p><p></p><p>I was talking to the Cartwrights during lunch. Most of the cattle are theirs but eighteen of them have other brands, and the extra horses aren't theirs either. They plan to talk to the Deputy Sheriff and all, let him know what went down back at the caves, but they plan to move on back to Nevada as soon as the Apache are finished with the old man. The Sheriff may or may not be able to find the owners of the other animals and so the Cartwrights have asked me to keep an eye on them in the meanwhile and I figure the owners of some will never turn up. I've already got place surrounded by posts and the ropes will work until I can put up rails. So how does "Pete's Ranch" sound to you?"</p><p></p><p>"It sounds just fine, Flint." She smiled and patted the dwarf on the shoulder. "Ranching may not have the big returns of mining, but it's a lot more reliable. I don't know much about cattle, but I'm pretty good with horses. I'd be glad to come out and lend you a hand now and then. In exchange, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me bring my horse out here to train her. I need the room. Oh, and if you don't mind, I'd like to swap out Jake and Nanuet's horses for two of these others. You can keep theirs."</p><p></p><p>Nanuet chimes in on the Flint's Ranch idea, "And Flint if there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I have a connection with animals myself. More of a spiritual connection I would say, but I have spent my time around horses and know a thing or two. Seems like you have some good animals here."</p><p></p><p>While everyone is admiring Flint's new ranch, Jake walks over to Nanuet. Jake pulls back his sleeve and holds up his repaired wrist. "You and your spirits do pretty fine work there Indian." He turns it back and forth. "Good as new as far as I can tell. And seeing that my livelihood depends on me having this good arm, I'm mighty appreciative." He pulls his sleeve back down and looks to Nanuet without expression. "It seems to me that you were looking for more than Harvey Knowles, and to bring to justice a murderer. I hope you got all that you needed to today." The gambler gives him a serious looking smile.</p><p></p><p>Flint calls Nanuet and Jake over to a section of the hill out of sight of the women. He then takes a pouch off his belt and empties it out onto the ground in front of them. It is filled with money, mostly $5 and $ 10 bills, plus around two dozen $ 1 coins and an equal number of other coins. Flint says “I got this off the dead guys back in the cave. I figure they wouldn’t need it anymore. Didn’t want to show it in front of the women, I’m sure they would have found my taking from the dead to be ghoulish.” At that Jake suddenly has a memory of Ruby rifling Tom McLaury’s body and suppresses a laugh. Flint continues, “I figure you should get some of this, take whatever you think is fair.”</p><p></p><p>Jake looks at Nanuet who is looking back at him. He then turns to Flint and says, "Another man of honor in his own way. I gotta tell you this is getting down right embarrassing." Jake laughs a minute. "So we'll get our share, but why don't you just count it up first. If the local law will let us and the Cartwrights are amenable, maybe you can buy that big ole wagon there with the horses from all of us with some of that money on the ground and we'll call it even. Looks like that might be valuable here on your ranch." Jake looks around and tries not to make a face or laugh. "Of course, there are a couple of conditions..." "Like what?" Says Flint suspiciously. </p><p></p><p>Jake replies, "Like if I suddenly need a few sticks of dynamite, or we need a quiet place to hide for a bit we know of a friend who might help us out. Of course you'll need to keep enough money to build a shack out here to live in too." Silver Jake Cook, he thinks to himself, you are going soft. Just keep tellin' yourself this is an investment.</p><p></p><p>Flint counts out the money and says "It comes to $ 94.23, we split that three ways and it's around $31 and change each. Hardly enough for a six-horse rig. You'd get a better deal selling them and the wagon to one of the mines; they can always use a good freight vehicle. My biggest need now is lumber and nails to turn my boundary maker posts and ropes into sturdy rails to hold in this livestock. I'll probably need to build me a barn too, the cave is too damp to store hay in. </p><p></p><p>Tell you what, take the money here and whatever my share of selling the wagon and horses is and go to Cassidy Lumberyard back in town. Talk directly to the owner, Neil Cassidy, and get however many boards this will cover plus a couple of hundred nails. Ask him to deliver the stuff out here as soon as he can. He should remember the place, we bought all of our wooden posts from him a while back.”</p><p></p><p>"OK, Flint, you got it." Jake picks up the money and as he and Nanuet turn to go back to the others he puts it in Nanuet's hands. "What's this?" Say the Indian. "We have lots of other stuff. We have plenty. Whatever in this pile was mine is now lumber. After we split stuff up, you take care of Flint." Jake snickers a little. "Something about that little smelly guy, I kinda like him. Maybe it's the dynamite." Jake slaps Nanuet on the back and heads over to talk to the Barkleys.</p><p></p><p>Ruby sits down next to Katherine. She nods her head in the direction that the men went. "So, what do you think they're talking about? Probably something as boring as heck." She takes a few minutes to ponder. "So, what do you think about Jake? I have to admit I had some doubts about him today, some wavering trust. For a moment I believed that he was the guy they were waiting for. Before today he seemed trustworthy enough. And he has been keeping an eye out for us this week. But there's something about him Kate..." Ruby's voice trails off and she looks lost in her thoughts again.</p><p></p><p>After a short pause Kate says, "I did too, for a few moments. But then I remembered reading about Deadeye Douglas. There were four in a gang, all brothers. Worked in Nevada, California, and Utah. It seemed very unlikely Jake had been part of that. I'm sure he still has secrets. We've only known him for a week after all. I have to go with my instincts here. I think Jake, as much as he likes to pretend he's a no-account, is a good man. Not overly fond of work, mind you," she laughed, "but I believe we can trust him. What is it that bothers you?”</p><p></p><p>Ruby replies, "Oh I know he has some secrets. And I think we're a lot alike. And I'm positive he is a scoundrel. I'm not sure if I can trust him; but then again I don't really trust anyone. I'm going to keep my eyes on him. Not like that will be a bad thing," smiling. "It's not that he bothers me Kate, it's... oh forget it!" Ruby pulls up her legs and puts her head in her lap.</p><p></p><p>"No Ruby, not this time," Kate says very gently. "Tell me what's the matter. Maybe I can't help, but you might feel better after you talk about it." Ruby sighs. “There’s nothing to talk about really. It’s pretty simple. Guys like Jake always get me in trouble. And I know it and they know it but it still happens just the same.” </p><p></p><p>Kate was quiet for a moment. She had a suspicion that the kind of trouble Jake could get Ruby into was a completely different kind than any other man had. She wasn't sure if this was the time to confront her with it, however. Instead she reached out and stroked Ruby's bright hair. "Sometimes the trouble is worth it," she said softly. Ruby sat there thinking over what Katherine said. Then she saw Jake and Nanuet returning with Flint. "Kate, you won't tell anyone what I said, will you?" "Of course not, dear,” she responds. </p><p></p><p>Flint bids the group goodbye. The Barkelys and two of the Cartwrights also say goodbye, deciding to get the cattle back to the ranch they are temporarily staying at via the most direct route. Adam Cartwright says he will ride back with the others to town to go talk to the Sheriff. The ride back the remainder to town goes quickly, especially since Jake and Nanuet now have better horses.</p><p></p><p>Upon reaching the town Adam suggests that they stop first "At that Saloon you folks are working at, that's where you're dropping off the bed frames isn't it?" They arrive by the back door and Ruby knocks on the door. Maggie opens up and is surprised to see them. Adam and Nanuet untie the ropes and remove the tarp covering the items in the back. "What do you have there?" Maggie asks, somewhat confused about what they are doing.</p><p></p><p>"Bedframes," Kate said gaily. "Nice ones, too. We thought as long as you're adding on, you might appreciate them. These gentlemen were kind enough to help us bring them over. Where would you like us to put them?" Maggie still seemed a bit stunned. Kate suddenly realized what she must look like. Dusty pants with her black hat and Jake’s too-large shirt hanging from her shoulders. She looked at Maggie and gave a quick shrug of her shoulders.</p><p></p><p>Maggie calls for Tom and when he arrives she says "Look, they've already gone out and picked up bed frames for the new rooms!" Tom shakes his head and laughs, saying "Getting a bit ahead of yourself there aren't you? My father and cousin won't be here until the middle of next week to start the third floor! That's great though, thanks." </p><p></p><p>He turns to Maggie and says, "I'll get Jeff to help bring them upstairs. We'll put them up in his room for now." Jeff Mills soon arrives and helps Nanuet, Jake and Adam carry them upstairs. While this unloading is going on Maggie notes the intricate carvings on the bed frames and the quality of the wood used for them. Each bed is of slightly different style and design. Maggie then turns to Ruby and Katherine and says, "My, those are really fancy beds. Which ones have you picked out for your rooms?"</p><p></p><p>"Maggie, you'll be needing those rooms to rent out," Kate answered, a little stunned. They had been very kind to them at the El Parador, and the thought of Tom Whipple under the same roof with her made her a bit uncomfortable. Imagination. It must have been her imagination. "Why expand if you're just going to give them away? I think you should choose one of those frames to use for yourself."</p><p></p><p>Maggie replies "Oh no, we want all of you to be able to stay right here. We want to be in the Saloon and Dance Hall business, not the hotel business. The only reason that we have one room available for rent now is because Flossie moved out and Tony prefers to live on his own. If we have extra rooms we'll rent them, but our main concern is keeping all the people who work here happy." </p><p></p><p>While Kate and Maggie are having this conversation neither notice the look of panic that has just crossed Ruby's face. She recovers by the time the men finish getting the frames unloaded. Before leaving Adam retrieves from the front corner of the wagon a fair sized package wrapped in oiled leather and hands it to Maggie. "What's that?" Katherine asks. He replies, "Your dinner tonight. While we were all busy carting the books down to the wagon Little Joe did some butchering to one of the dead cows. What you have there are twenty pounds of the finest steaks you'll ever eat. Enjoy your meal, you've all earned it."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 1864318, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter Forty-four, “Pete’s Ranch”, January 7th, 1882:[/B] The group moved on, arriving at Flint's plot of land an hour later. As the cattle were grazing and drinking from the stream Flint comes up to Katherine and says, "Okay, I've thought about what you said yesterday. When you suggested that this might be a good plot of land for ranching. I was talking to the Cartwrights during lunch. Most of the cattle are theirs but eighteen of them have other brands, and the extra horses aren't theirs either. They plan to talk to the Deputy Sheriff and all, let him know what went down back at the caves, but they plan to move on back to Nevada as soon as the Apache are finished with the old man. The Sheriff may or may not be able to find the owners of the other animals and so the Cartwrights have asked me to keep an eye on them in the meanwhile and I figure the owners of some will never turn up. I've already got place surrounded by posts and the ropes will work until I can put up rails. So how does "Pete's Ranch" sound to you?" "It sounds just fine, Flint." She smiled and patted the dwarf on the shoulder. "Ranching may not have the big returns of mining, but it's a lot more reliable. I don't know much about cattle, but I'm pretty good with horses. I'd be glad to come out and lend you a hand now and then. In exchange, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me bring my horse out here to train her. I need the room. Oh, and if you don't mind, I'd like to swap out Jake and Nanuet's horses for two of these others. You can keep theirs." Nanuet chimes in on the Flint's Ranch idea, "And Flint if there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I have a connection with animals myself. More of a spiritual connection I would say, but I have spent my time around horses and know a thing or two. Seems like you have some good animals here." While everyone is admiring Flint's new ranch, Jake walks over to Nanuet. Jake pulls back his sleeve and holds up his repaired wrist. "You and your spirits do pretty fine work there Indian." He turns it back and forth. "Good as new as far as I can tell. And seeing that my livelihood depends on me having this good arm, I'm mighty appreciative." He pulls his sleeve back down and looks to Nanuet without expression. "It seems to me that you were looking for more than Harvey Knowles, and to bring to justice a murderer. I hope you got all that you needed to today." The gambler gives him a serious looking smile. Flint calls Nanuet and Jake over to a section of the hill out of sight of the women. He then takes a pouch off his belt and empties it out onto the ground in front of them. It is filled with money, mostly $5 and $ 10 bills, plus around two dozen $ 1 coins and an equal number of other coins. Flint says “I got this off the dead guys back in the cave. I figure they wouldn’t need it anymore. Didn’t want to show it in front of the women, I’m sure they would have found my taking from the dead to be ghoulish.” At that Jake suddenly has a memory of Ruby rifling Tom McLaury’s body and suppresses a laugh. Flint continues, “I figure you should get some of this, take whatever you think is fair.” Jake looks at Nanuet who is looking back at him. He then turns to Flint and says, "Another man of honor in his own way. I gotta tell you this is getting down right embarrassing." Jake laughs a minute. "So we'll get our share, but why don't you just count it up first. If the local law will let us and the Cartwrights are amenable, maybe you can buy that big ole wagon there with the horses from all of us with some of that money on the ground and we'll call it even. Looks like that might be valuable here on your ranch." Jake looks around and tries not to make a face or laugh. "Of course, there are a couple of conditions..." "Like what?" Says Flint suspiciously. Jake replies, "Like if I suddenly need a few sticks of dynamite, or we need a quiet place to hide for a bit we know of a friend who might help us out. Of course you'll need to keep enough money to build a shack out here to live in too." Silver Jake Cook, he thinks to himself, you are going soft. Just keep tellin' yourself this is an investment. Flint counts out the money and says "It comes to $ 94.23, we split that three ways and it's around $31 and change each. Hardly enough for a six-horse rig. You'd get a better deal selling them and the wagon to one of the mines; they can always use a good freight vehicle. My biggest need now is lumber and nails to turn my boundary maker posts and ropes into sturdy rails to hold in this livestock. I'll probably need to build me a barn too, the cave is too damp to store hay in. Tell you what, take the money here and whatever my share of selling the wagon and horses is and go to Cassidy Lumberyard back in town. Talk directly to the owner, Neil Cassidy, and get however many boards this will cover plus a couple of hundred nails. Ask him to deliver the stuff out here as soon as he can. He should remember the place, we bought all of our wooden posts from him a while back.” "OK, Flint, you got it." Jake picks up the money and as he and Nanuet turn to go back to the others he puts it in Nanuet's hands. "What's this?" Say the Indian. "We have lots of other stuff. We have plenty. Whatever in this pile was mine is now lumber. After we split stuff up, you take care of Flint." Jake snickers a little. "Something about that little smelly guy, I kinda like him. Maybe it's the dynamite." Jake slaps Nanuet on the back and heads over to talk to the Barkleys. Ruby sits down next to Katherine. She nods her head in the direction that the men went. "So, what do you think they're talking about? Probably something as boring as heck." She takes a few minutes to ponder. "So, what do you think about Jake? I have to admit I had some doubts about him today, some wavering trust. For a moment I believed that he was the guy they were waiting for. Before today he seemed trustworthy enough. And he has been keeping an eye out for us this week. But there's something about him Kate..." Ruby's voice trails off and she looks lost in her thoughts again. After a short pause Kate says, "I did too, for a few moments. But then I remembered reading about Deadeye Douglas. There were four in a gang, all brothers. Worked in Nevada, California, and Utah. It seemed very unlikely Jake had been part of that. I'm sure he still has secrets. We've only known him for a week after all. I have to go with my instincts here. I think Jake, as much as he likes to pretend he's a no-account, is a good man. Not overly fond of work, mind you," she laughed, "but I believe we can trust him. What is it that bothers you?” Ruby replies, "Oh I know he has some secrets. And I think we're a lot alike. And I'm positive he is a scoundrel. I'm not sure if I can trust him; but then again I don't really trust anyone. I'm going to keep my eyes on him. Not like that will be a bad thing," smiling. "It's not that he bothers me Kate, it's... oh forget it!" Ruby pulls up her legs and puts her head in her lap. "No Ruby, not this time," Kate says very gently. "Tell me what's the matter. Maybe I can't help, but you might feel better after you talk about it." Ruby sighs. “There’s nothing to talk about really. It’s pretty simple. Guys like Jake always get me in trouble. And I know it and they know it but it still happens just the same.” Kate was quiet for a moment. She had a suspicion that the kind of trouble Jake could get Ruby into was a completely different kind than any other man had. She wasn't sure if this was the time to confront her with it, however. Instead she reached out and stroked Ruby's bright hair. "Sometimes the trouble is worth it," she said softly. Ruby sat there thinking over what Katherine said. Then she saw Jake and Nanuet returning with Flint. "Kate, you won't tell anyone what I said, will you?" "Of course not, dear,” she responds. Flint bids the group goodbye. The Barkelys and two of the Cartwrights also say goodbye, deciding to get the cattle back to the ranch they are temporarily staying at via the most direct route. Adam Cartwright says he will ride back with the others to town to go talk to the Sheriff. The ride back the remainder to town goes quickly, especially since Jake and Nanuet now have better horses. Upon reaching the town Adam suggests that they stop first "At that Saloon you folks are working at, that's where you're dropping off the bed frames isn't it?" They arrive by the back door and Ruby knocks on the door. Maggie opens up and is surprised to see them. Adam and Nanuet untie the ropes and remove the tarp covering the items in the back. "What do you have there?" Maggie asks, somewhat confused about what they are doing. "Bedframes," Kate said gaily. "Nice ones, too. We thought as long as you're adding on, you might appreciate them. These gentlemen were kind enough to help us bring them over. Where would you like us to put them?" Maggie still seemed a bit stunned. Kate suddenly realized what she must look like. Dusty pants with her black hat and Jake’s too-large shirt hanging from her shoulders. She looked at Maggie and gave a quick shrug of her shoulders. Maggie calls for Tom and when he arrives she says "Look, they've already gone out and picked up bed frames for the new rooms!" Tom shakes his head and laughs, saying "Getting a bit ahead of yourself there aren't you? My father and cousin won't be here until the middle of next week to start the third floor! That's great though, thanks." He turns to Maggie and says, "I'll get Jeff to help bring them upstairs. We'll put them up in his room for now." Jeff Mills soon arrives and helps Nanuet, Jake and Adam carry them upstairs. While this unloading is going on Maggie notes the intricate carvings on the bed frames and the quality of the wood used for them. Each bed is of slightly different style and design. Maggie then turns to Ruby and Katherine and says, "My, those are really fancy beds. Which ones have you picked out for your rooms?" "Maggie, you'll be needing those rooms to rent out," Kate answered, a little stunned. They had been very kind to them at the El Parador, and the thought of Tom Whipple under the same roof with her made her a bit uncomfortable. Imagination. It must have been her imagination. "Why expand if you're just going to give them away? I think you should choose one of those frames to use for yourself." Maggie replies "Oh no, we want all of you to be able to stay right here. We want to be in the Saloon and Dance Hall business, not the hotel business. The only reason that we have one room available for rent now is because Flossie moved out and Tony prefers to live on his own. If we have extra rooms we'll rent them, but our main concern is keeping all the people who work here happy." While Kate and Maggie are having this conversation neither notice the look of panic that has just crossed Ruby's face. She recovers by the time the men finish getting the frames unloaded. Before leaving Adam retrieves from the front corner of the wagon a fair sized package wrapped in oiled leather and hands it to Maggie. "What's that?" Katherine asks. He replies, "Your dinner tonight. While we were all busy carting the books down to the wagon Little Joe did some butchering to one of the dead cows. What you have there are twenty pounds of the finest steaks you'll ever eat. Enjoy your meal, you've all earned it." [/QUOTE]
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