Dude Ranch (6 page)

She scooted across the bunkhouse to the window, but when she couldn’t see anything, she opened the door and crept out onto the porch. She stood in the shadows of the old wooden beams, watching.

There, not far from her, the person was riding bareback. The dog loped alongside. The horse and rider passed by the main house on the dirt road that led to the open range beyond. He sat tall on the horse’s back, glancing around as if to survey all the land.

An early-morning breeze ruffled Stevie’s nightgown,
and the dog barked. The breeze must have carried her scent to the dog.

The rider hissed the dog into silence, pulling the horse to a stop, and glanced around. Scared, without knowing why, Stevie backed farther into the shadows of the bunkhouse porch. After a few seconds, the rider urged the horse into motion and the three were soon out of sight.

Stevie remained on the porch until the odd threesome had disappeared behind a stand of cottonwood trees. She stood still long after the sound of the horse’s hooves had vanished. She remained frozen in the faint gray morning light until she heard the insistent chirp of birds, announcing the advance of dawn. It startled her into motion.

She reentered the bunkhouse and climbed back into bed, but she couldn’t get back to sleep. She kept wondering about the mysterious visitor who rode before dawn.

An hour later, the girls’ alarm clock went off, spurring The Saddle Club into beginning the new day.

“You’re not going to believe this,” Stevie began, reaching for her toothbrush.

“Wha’?” Lisa asked sleepily.

“I saw a Native American,” Stevie said.

“Sure, there are lots of them around,” Kate said. “We see them in town all the time.”

“This one wasn’t in town,” Stevie explained. “He
was riding along the roadway here, bareback, before the sun had come up.”

“Sure you weren’t dreaming?” Carole asked skeptically.

“I’m sure,” Stevie stated positively, and then, as they all washed up and got ready for breakfast, she told her friends about both of the morning visits—and about the dog.

“I think it was the dog I saw in Two Mile Creek two days ago,” Stevie said. “And I also think there’s something very mysterious about this Indian riding around in the dark.”

“You think he’s up to something bad?” Lisa asked, a fearful tremor in her voice.

“No, it’s not like that at all,” Stevie assured her friend. “It’s more like he’s mysterious.”

“Like it’s an ancient ritual?” Carole asked, suddenly interested.

“Maybe,” Stevie said.

“Maybe he’s studying the old family burial grounds,” Lisa said, following her friends’ line of thought.

“Maybe it’s more like he’s protecting an old treasure buried in the mountains,” Carole said, pulling on her boots.

“Maybe he’s guarding the sacred hunting grounds!” Lisa suggested. Carole and Stevie looked at each other to consider the suggestion.

“And maybe you guys just need some food,” Kate interrupted. “These ideas you’re dreaming up are unreal! Come on, let’s get going. The bell’s about to—”

The triangle at the main house clanged insistently. Kate beamed with pride. “See, I told you so,” she said, leading the girls to the mess hall for their morning steak and eggs.

By the time they arrived at the mess hall, three of the girls had almost forgotten Stevie’s mysterious visitor. Stevie, however, could still see the proud silhouette and the spirited horse prancing in front of The Bar None.

“S
O, JUST WHAT
do we
do
on a roundup?” Lisa asked while the girls were finishing their breakfasts. “What’s it about?”

“We do a couple of things when we round up,” Kate explained. “First of all, it’s when we get a chance to count our herd, find out how many calves have been born. Then, we can brand the little ones, too. Also, we can cut out the stock that is ready for sale. And, it gives us a chance to check on the herd as a whole. Sometimes you might find that there’s a disease or something like that. This just gives us a chance to check them all out.”

“How many cattle are there?” Lisa asked.

“We figure our land can support a herd between one
hundred twenty-five and one hundred fifty. There were a lot of calves born this spring, though. Eli thinks there may be more than one hundred fifty. We’ll just see.”

“What do we have to take with us?” Stevie asked. “I mean, are we going to have to carry a lot of equipment with us?”

Kate considered the question. “You know, I’m not sure,” she said. “Best person to answer that is Eli. Why don’t you go ask him, Stevie, while we give Mom a hand with the dishes this morning?”

“Okay,” Stevie said. Dishes weren’t her favorite thing and, besides, there was a piece of steak left on her plate that she thought Mel would really love. While the other girls were busy clearing, Stevie wrapped the chunk of beef into a napkin and slipped it into her pocket. Now that was a doggie bag!

“See you,” she said, heading for the barn.

“Oh no you won’t,” Carole whispered when she knew Stevie was out of earshot. “Come on, girls, let’s get back to the planning board!”

As quickly as possible, the three of them finished clearing and retreated to Phyllis’s workroom, where they were creating the decorations for Stevie’s party.

“You’re on the banner, Lisa,” Kate said. “Mom sewed a couple of bunk sheets together and we can stretch them between two trees at Parson’s Rock. You
can use the paint there,” she said, pointing at jars of red, white, and blue paint. “It worked just fine for the barbecue we had last week.”

“Okay,” Lisa said, agreeable.

“Now, you can work on streamers and other decorations,” Kate told Carole. “There’s all kinds of crepe paper and construction paper and stuff over there.”

“And what are you going to do?” Carole asked.

“I’m going into the kitchen to help my mother with the dishes so I can head Stevie off if she comes back this way. We’re going to go on our trail ride in an hour and a half. Eli’s taking us out to sort of prepare us for the roundup. Think you can get most of your work done before then?”

“We won’t have any other time, will we?” Carole asked.

“Nope,” Kate said.

“Then we’ll finish,” Lisa assured her.

“Sounds good to me,” Kate said. She left Lisa and Carole in the workroom, closing the door behind her—just in case Stevie got nosey!

“Y
OU’RE GONNA NEED
a clean pair of socks,” Eli told Stevie. “Always got to have those.”

“That’s all?” she asked him.

“Well, that ’n’ a lariat—nah, you won’t need a lariat. Wouldn’t know how to use it. Then you should
have a bedroll—nah, no point in botherin’ with that. Dudes like you never sleep anyway. Too worried about the rattlesnakes.”

“Rattlesnakes?” Stevie said, genuine concern in her voice.

“See, I told you,” Eli said. Stevie thought he could be more infuriating than anybody she had ever known in her life.

“I brought something for Mel,” she said, changing the subject. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the chunk of steak. Much to Stevie’s relief, Eli smiled at her. Without a word, he headed for the dark door at the back of the barn. She trailed him, eager to visit Mel and her pups again.

Mel gobbled the steak in two bites and licked Stevie’s hand when she was done.

“She likes me,” Stevie said.

“She likes steak,” Eli said sensibly. Stevie laughed. Eli had to get back to the horses, so she couldn’t visit with the puppies for very long, but she gave each one a quick pat before she and Eli returned upstairs.

Stevie went back to the main house. She found Kate in the kitchen with her mother, washing dishes. “What are Lisa and Carole doing?” she asked suspiciously.

“Peeling potatoes,” Phyllis said.

Washing dishes was better than peeling potatoes any day. Stevie rolled up her sleeves to help.

“What did Eli say we should bring along?” Kate asked.

“Socks,” Stevie told her. “And he said not to bother with bedrolls, since we wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.”

Kate and her mother exchanged glances and burst into laughter. “He’s something, isn’t he?” Phyllis asked.

“Yep,” Stevie agreed, trying to sound like Eli.

“Well, could you go back out there now, Stevie?” Phyllis asked. “Eli needs to tell me if he’s going to want beans in the chuck-wagon chili or plain.”

“Beans or plain?” Stevie asked. She hated to think how Eli was going to answer that one.

“Yep,” Eli told Stevie when she asked him the question.

“Is that beans or plain?” she reiterated.

“Yep,” he said.

She returned to the kitchen.

“Find out if he wants mashed or boiled potatoes,” Phyllis told her once she’d gotten the answer about the chili.

Stevie shrugged, slightly annoyed, but she headed back to the barn. Eli was now busy with the family
with four little children. Since it appeared that the pressing question of mashed or boiled could really wait a few hours, she didn’t even try to talk to him. Instead, she went into the bam and visited with Peanuts.

The buckskin-colored horse was munching happily at his fresh hay. Stevie climbed up onto the gate that enclosed the stall and patted the horse’s nose and forehead. She told him about the dumb things she was doing that morning. Peanuts seemed to understand completely, and he didn’t give her any totally dumb answers to her questions. He whinnied and nodded his head. That made her feel better.

“Ready to ride?” Carole asked, entering the barn with Lisa about a half hour later.

“Sure you’re done with the potatoes?”

Stevie thought she saw a puzzled look pass between Lisa and Carole.

“Of course they are,” Kate said, coming up behind them. “All the chores are done. Time for a trail ride and a lesson on roundups.”

Eli helped the girls get their horses out of the corral. By then, each girl could manage her own tack, even with Eli’s suspicious gaze watching every motion, so they were saddled-up and ready to ride in just a few minutes.

Eli was on his horse, too. The five of them left the corral and, instead of taking the trail the girls had ridden
before, they headed for the open range—the same direction Stevie’s mysterious visitor had taken.

Eli didn’t say much as they rode, but what he did say turned out to be worth listening to. He told them that their first concern had to be the calves. “Where there’s a calf, there’s a cow,” he said. “Watch out for her if she thinks you’re going to hurt her young ’un. And sometimes a big old bull will get an idea that he ought to be in charge of the roundup. If that happens, you get out of the way. He’s bigger than you. Probably smarter, too. Me and the dog will show him the way.”

He explained that they’d begin by riding to the far end of the property, where the herd had been seen grazing the week before, and they’d drive them all back to the ranch.

“We’ll see some strays on the way out, but we’ll pick them up on our way back. They’re easier to herd if we’ve got a hundred and fifty head with us to convince them along.”

He told them what to expect if the cattle got frightened and he explained how they’d stay nearby while they camped. Stevie was glad to see that with Kate there, he didn’t make a lot of smart remarks about rattlesnakes and dudes.

“Most of the time,” he told the girls, “we’ll be riding along like this.” It was a pleasant pace. The horses walked smoothly across the open land, giving the girls
the time to admire the landscape with its snow-topped mountains as a breathtaking backdrop. “And sometimes, it’s like this,” Eli said.

In an instant, Eli’s horse began to gallop, as if he were chasing a stray. He rode up an incline and along the top of a ridge, leaving a cloud of dust behind him. When he reached the top of the ridge, Eli turned the horse to his left and disappeared on the other side without slowing his pace one bit.

Kate looked over her shoulder at her friends. They all knew they’d been challenged. And they accepted.

Kate gave her horse a kick and he sprang into action. Kate and Spot nearly flew up the hillside. Lisa on Chocolate and Carole on Berry followed close behind. Stevie pressed her calves on Stewball’s sides, but the horse stood still.

Suddenly, she got the feeling that her first instinct about this funny-looking horse had been right. He was going to be stubborn and unpredictable and Eli had chosen him for her just to be a tease. But then Stewball proved her wrong.

While Berry and Chocolate struggled up the steep side of the hill, Stewball turned in the opposite direction and reached the top by a gentler slope. The only problem was that it wasn’t at all what Stevie had told him to do! With little or no help from Stevie, Stewball led the way. The horse clearly understood the challenge,
too, and was determined to meet it head-on. Stevie remembered that horses are extremely competitive animals.

Ahead, through the dust, she could see Eli, still galloping fiercely. Stevie leaned forward toward Stewball’s brown-and-white mane. “Get ’im, Stewball,” she said. Those seemed to be the words the horse wanted to hear.

Stevie held on as he spurted ahead, gripping tightly with her legs, holding the reins loosely enough to give Stewball the slack he needed. She settled into the saddle and let her horse do the work.

Stewball’s pace quickened and his stride lengthened. Berry and Chocolate were well behind and the gap between Stewball and Eli was narrowing. Stevie could see that the end of the race was near. Ahead, perhaps a hundred yards, a creek cut across the land. It was a welcome sight. They’d all need some refreshment by the time they got there.

Stewball began going even faster. Stevie could feel the dust kicked up by Eli’s horse in her eyes, taste it in her mouth. If it bothered Stewball, there was no way of telling. It just seemed to make him go faster. Stevie had never felt anything like the controlled energy beneath her now.

“Go for it, Stewball!” she said excitedly. The horse’s ears flicked back as if he understood her words, then flattened in determination.

The creek was only a few yards ahead now and Stevie could almost touch Eli’s horse. She leaned forward, watching as her horse’s nose passed by Eli’s horse. She’d won!