was worried because Ginger was working shoulder to shoulder with the men and doing far too much. His heart ached for her. She is young and should be having a good time with others her age. She’ll make a top notch wife and excellent mother, but she won’t stand a chance if she continues to work so hard here on the ranch.
The Proudfoot and the Deerhunters had about the same number of hands. They each trusted all their workers but the men could just do so much without breaking down. James was afraid the younger hands would get discouraged and leave to find work in other areas, and he could not afford to neglect his parents’ property to help Ginger.
For the first time Ginger noticed how white Hank’s hair had gotten. I don’t know how old he is. I do know he’s worked for the Proudfoot for at least twenty-five years or more. I’m very fond of Hank and just accepted him as part of the family. I need to find time to go over the papers for all the hands and learn more about them.
“Hank, how long have you been foreman here?”
“I started out as a hand and your grandfather asked me to be his foreman thirty-two years ago. Frank Royce has been here about twenty-five years and will step in if something happens to me.”
Ginger reached up to the six-three man who had been a handsome man in his youth and still was. She hugged him and said, “Hank, don’t, please don’t talk about anything happening to you. I couldn’t stand it. I know you were married. Don’t you have children?”
“My precious wife died very young with breast cancer. Our three children grew up and left here. My oldest, a girl, married an attorney who has now entered politics and they don’t have time for anything or anyone else. They live in California and I rarely hear from them. My two youngest, boys, were both killed in service. You’re the only child I have.”
Ginger fought the tears and hugged him again. She ran to the barn and got her equipment to work the horses. She was pleased with a rangy fifteen hand buckskin and thought he was going to make an excellent cutting horse. He could spin on a dime and give change, as the old saying went.
* * * * *
Hank could not say why, but he had a feeling that they would have unwelcome visitors that night. He and five men rode out to watch over the mustangs. They would take turns sleeping on a bedrolls near the gate.
Around two that morning, the horses began to get up and snorting in fright, ran one direction then another.
Hank got his men together and rode out to where the biggest commotion seemed to be. He discovered that a group of men had indeed invaded the property and brought their own Judas horse.
Billy Carson got excited and, without permission from Hank, started yelling and running in the direction of the intruders. The trespassers opened fire and ran toward them instead of away. Hank knew Billy was twenty one and just now starting the work, so he was understanding of the immature young man. Hank and his men rode to meet the intruders.
Even though Hank’s men were armed, he had instructed them not to shoot except to defend themselves. His men were angry at the situation and fired back. The horses were frightened and running in all directions. Hank heard one of his men make a sound of hurt and a saw a horse with no rider streak by him. Gunfire from both directions, in the dark, meant that anything could happen.
Finally the intruders turned and left. Juan called for Hank. No answer. The men hunted frantically. Arturo Rodriguez yelled that Hank was on the ground and had been hit. The men gathered anxiously around him. Where was Buster Mitchell? He was found dead near the gate. It looked as if he was either going for more help or leaving them. They didn’t care which. A buddy was gone and they were angry enough to have a pitched battle.
Jimbo Boyd rode back to the house to tell Ginger and to call the sheriff and paramedics. Ginger was heartbroken to think of Hank being hurt and Buster dead. She first gritted her teeth to keep from crying in front of her men and then was too angry to hold it in. The hands, in the bunkhouse, who had been asleep, came out and caught horses in the field to ride out to the mustang pasture.
Sheriff Mercer and two deputies were there in half an hour. By then Hank had been taken to the Mission Valley Hospital on Airport Road and Buster’s body had been taken to the ranch. Three wounded had been taken care of.
Ginger looked at Buster’s papers to see whom she should notify. She was shocked to discover that he was sixty years old and had worked for them all of his adult life. She was saddened to find that he had no one to notify.
She and Juanita cried together and then straightened up to declare that this was war. She gave orders that Buster was to be taken to Foster Funeral Home and she would bear the expense. Billy informed her that Buster had wanted to be cremated and have his ashes scattered in the field with the horses. The other men attested to the fact they had heard the same. She gave the orders for his wishes to be fulfilled even though it broke her heart to know they were all he had. She was now left with seven hands at the ranch and four in summer pasture.
Chapter Four
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.”
