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,
