See Part I for disclaimers!

High Lonesome

Part II

by

Fantasy

November 13, 2000

Chapter 4: Cattle, Cattle Who’s Got the Cattle?

I had forgotten what the higher elevation can do to the body, especially with exertion, if you’re not is shape for it. It has something to do with less oxygen getting to the brain: technically it’s called oxygen deprivation. Some symptoms are quite obvious: headache shortness of breath, fatigue, and dizziness. I had the first one. I awoke with a splitting headache. If this were the only problem, I would be fine. If more serious symptoms persisted, I’d have to drop down to a lower elevation. We were at about 6,500 feet now, and before we reached the highest pastures, we’d reach close to 8,000 feet. If this headache were the result of the ‘exertion’ I underwent last night, I would gladly put up with the headache. Besides, I reasoned, I used to travel in these altitudes all the time with no problem. Once I get my mountain legs back again I would be fine. I lay there on top of my lover, gazing down into her calm, peaceful face. God she is so beautiful, and I am so totally lost in her, I never want to find my way back out. I knew deep in my heart and soul I would be lost with out her, and she would be just as lost without me. Are we co-dependent? I s’pose we are. Is that such a bad thing? The shrinks say so, but what the hell do they know? I only know what is in my heart, and my heart tells me to open up and go with this. I traced my finger over and along a sculpted cheekbone and down to a strong jaw and chin. From out of nowhere a hand grasped my finger and brought it to beautiful ruby lips and kissed, then sucked it into a warm wet mouth.

"Good morning lover," De purred, "I love you." Oh yeah, this is just too good to live without.

"Good morning to you too," I answered softly, "I love you to my darling." At that moment, a sharp pain stabbed at my left temple. "Ow, damn!" Concerned blue eyes tracked mine, instantly inquiring as to what was the matter.

"Baby what is it? What’s wrong?"

"Oh hon, it’s nothing much, I just have a damned headache." A long arm snaked out from under the blanket and grabbed the saddlebags. De retrieved the first aid kit and opened a bottle of Ibuprofen. Next she grasped a bottle of ice cold spring water and handed me both the medicine and the water.

"Here, take these, they’ll fix you right up. I’ll build up the fire and get the coffee on. You stay put, I’ll be right back." Instantly, a lithe naked body scrambled out from under the warmth of our sleeping bags and stirred up the fire, adding a large chunk of dry firewood, and setting the coffeepot on to cook. My gaze was glued to the beautiful body that was mine alone to explore, love, and cherish. The hand of some higher being definitely formed her body. Mere mortals had no knowledge of such perfection. Everything about her bespoke of power, grace, and strength. Her breasts were perfectly formed, as were her long muscular legs, strong, powerful shoulders and arms. The sculpted face was something to behold: high cheekbones, aquiline nose, strong jaw, and full red lips. Her steely cobalt eyes bored right through me deep into my soul. She truly was a work of art. Somehow, I forgot all about my headache. Hey, this is better than aspirin that’s for sure.

"Honey, get back under here before you freeze your beautiful butt." I lifted the covers and my now cold lover darted back into the warmth of our bed.

"Hmmm, worried about my butt are you?" De laughed.

"Damn straight! I have a vested interest in your butt. I don’t want it damaged in any way, got it?" I punctuated my statement with a quick kiss on her nose, but couldn’t help but notice the sad look that crossed De’s beautiful features.

"I’m afraid I’m already damaged goods babe."

"No you’re not, not to me. And I’ll knock anybody who says anything to the contrary right on his or her ass, including you. ‘Kay?"

"Cody are you sure…I…I…just want you to be sure."

My headache forgotten, I dipped by head down to capture the lips I loved to kiss so much. I wanted this kiss to convey everything I was feeling at this moment, so I used everything I had. I traced ripe full lips with my tongue begging for entrance into my lover’s warm mouth. I dragged my tongue over perfect white teeth, dipping into every crevice and curve tasting, capturing De’s sweet lips and tongue. De’s tongue met mine and began an age-old dance of love; the two muscles entangled and entwined like roots on an ancient oak. The kiss seemed to go on forever as we each explored and marked as our own our lover’s mouth. We broke for much needed air, and lay there gasping, hazel locked on blue.

"Does that answer your question, erase any doubts you have? If not we can do it again and again and again…" This time De’s warm lips captured mine in a passionate, possessive return kiss.

"You do this on purpose don’t you?" De asked when she regained her breath.

"I’m busted huh?" I asked sheepishly.

"I’d say so."

"What’s my punishment?"

"This…" Another warm sensual kiss ensued followed by another, which led to intimate petting and touching. Soon the outside world fell away to be replaced by the world I held in my arms as fingers and tongue pleasured me beyond belief and carried me away to pure ecstasy. God this was pure bliss, and a helluva great headache remedy.

Our fierce, then gentle, then fierce, lovemaking caused us to return to the realm of dreams, and we started our day considerably later than originally planned. What the hell, we really didn’t have a timetable. As long as we were back before Unc left on Thursday morning, we wouldn’t be in any trouble. So, that’s the way it was. De had gone to fetch some water and more firewood while I was fixing breakfast. When she came back, I queried as to why she was doing the fetchin’ and carryin’.

"Uh De, I thought I was s’posed to be doing that. Our bet remember?" De knelt next to me and placed a sweet kiss on my cheek. I would have none of that peck on the cheek business, so I grasp her chin and turned her lips to mine and kissed her thoroughly and fully on the mouth. "Now that’s what I expect from you from now on. No more pecks on the cheek. Got it? Now what about the bet." De smiled and returned my kiss. God I could do this forever.

"Well after last night my love, you can consider our bet paid in full." I pouted profusely, dropping my head to gaze at the fire. My concerned lover lifted my chin and looked deeply into my eyes. "Hey, love, what’s wrong." I continued to pout, my lower lip stuck out like a petulant child. De started to grasp my lower lip in a warm kiss but hesitated. "Oh no, we’re not starting that again, otherwise we’ll never get out of here before noon." When I continued to pout she asked. "What is bothering you?"

"Well if my bet is paid, does that mean I can’t give you any more back rubs?" De laughed out loud, a laugh that came from deep inside her chest, and engulfed me in her strong arms in a fierce bear hug. She rose easily to her feet and spun us both around in circles until I was dizzy, and I thought she too certainly must be. "De, God De, stop…stop…stop. Put me down! My God what’s gotten into you?" Slowly, the world stopped spinning and I was set lightly on my feet.

"You that’s what’s gotten into me. You and love. You and joy. You and…" It was my turn to stop the rambling. I pulled De’s gorgeous face to mine and kissed her senseless. My lover rocked unsteadily on her feet for a second before she regained her equilibrium. "Wow, you really know how to rock a girl’s world don’tcha?"

"You forget, I have many skills. Now answer my question."

"What question was that…" I fired an exasperated glare at my lover. "…oh yeah. Baby you can continue to give me back rubs for as long as, and any time you want. I loved the way you loved me. It felt soooo goooodddd." De emphasized her feelings with another long soulful kiss. "Mmmm, God you’re a great kisser, but we have to get going."

"I know, and thanks; you’re a pretty good kisser yourself, and De?"

"Yes."

"I love you so very much."

"I love you too babe, forever."

"Yes forever." Another quick kiss, and we set about fixing breakfast, eating, then breaking camp. It was just before 10:00am before we started out. Unc would have had a fit if he knew how much time we wasted. Or maybe not.

*******************

Once we broke camp and were on our way, we skirted around the downhill side of Dragon’s Rock through a shallow filled with thick brush. Whoever invented chaps was a very bright fella indeed. No experienced cowhand would be without them. They might be hot in the summer, but they were invaluable when it came to saving wear and tear on a person’s Wranglers, not to mention the delicate hide underneath. They also shed rain and deflected the wind. All in all they were a valuable piece of equipment. Not only were they utilitarian, but they were also a fashion statement. A knowledgeable cowboy could tell what region of the country a hand was from simply by his dress and the tack his horse wore and the gear he used while working cattle.

Suffice to say, I was glad to have chaps on while riding through this particular little piece of God’s creation. The brush was so thick there were times when I couldn’t see De riding only a few feet ahead of me. It wasn’t much of a stretch to say you could lose a whole herd in this stuff and not find them. We did however jump seven head in the dense brush and with the help of the dogs pushed them out the other side. God I was glad to see the other end of the wash come into view. So were the horses. And for her part, Elan acquitted herself quite nicely.

"Damn wasn’t that special." De remarked.

"No doubt. God I hate that stuff. But at least we found a few more missing cattle."

"Yeah, but we’re still missing at least 60 head."

God she was something else. How she kept the exact figures in her head like that amazed me. De could also tell a cow just by looking. I could too, but mine was an acquired skill, learning through much observation, trial and error. With De, the talent was innate. And considering the fact that I was raised in the cattle business and De had been at this for only a couple of years, was even more remarkable. On top of that, if you consider Black Angus, to the casual observer, all look the same; then, well her talent was just incredible. De could tell one heifer from another by the way she walked, certain mannerisms, the way she bawled for her calf, a scar, a nicked ear, or the way she carried her tail. It was almost scary.

"Well we found these, maybe we’ll find the rest too." I tried to sound convincing, even though I didn’t feel very convinced myself.

"I hope you’re right Cody."

We continued on and climbed up a steep ridge that overlooked Dragon Lake. De called a halt halfway up to give the horses a blow from their steep climb. This trail was a shortcut to the high pasture near the herder’s cabin. Normally, when we were moving cattle up here, we would have taken the lower trail that wound round the ridge. It was longer, but far easier on the stock and cowhands alike. The advantage to this route is it gave an unobstructed view of the valley below, and unless the cattle were bedded down, they were pretty easy to spot. We had been setting our horses for about five minutes when a movement caught my eye.

"De look there to the right, over by that stand of cedars. I could have sworn I saw a splotch of black." We sat there for a few seconds watching the cedar grove intently. Sure enough, there was a sudden movement and five heifers and the herd sire came charging out of the trees.

"Good eye Cody, I would have missed that. You’ve done this before that’s obvious."

"Well I have been exposed a time or two."

"Well there’s a few more head, and Doan will be happy to know Duncan is still alive and kicking."

"Yeah isn’t it romantic," I purred, "a mid-day rendezvous in the cedar grove." De rolled her eyes and winced.

"You are absolutely hopeless you know that?"

"That’s me, just a hopeless romantic. But you still love me right?" De grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me close. She nibbled and nuzzled my ear and neck sending tingles all the way to my toes.

"Absolutely! Now let’s get moving."

The noontime sun bathed us in its warmth. One thing about being this high in the mountains it never got unbearably hot, but the mornings the first couple of weeks in June were still quite chilly. A warm jacket was a must until nearly lunch time. The steep climb finally flattened out as we reached the first of the main summer pastures. We were at about the 7500 foot elevation and there was still plenty of snow in the sheltered side of the ridge. But for the most part this pasture was clear and the grass was beginning to grow nicely in the warm summer sun. We dropped some more salt blocks and saved the rest for the last pasture further west. There was evidence the cattle were starting to move up to these higher pastures and we could hear cattle bawling in the distance just over the rise to the west.

"The pastures look to be in good shape De." When De didn’t respond, I tried again. "De…"

"Shhh, listen."

"What? I don’t hear anything." De could be so maddening. Her sensitive hearing could pick up a gnat breathing at 100 yards I swear.

"Shhh, just listen," she repeated. I listened intently, then I heard it too. The sound of men shouting and whistling, horses whinnying, and then I heard the sound of cattle on the move.

"Mighty damn talkie cougar huh?" De snarled. "Leave Jake here and let’s move, fast."

Before I could voice my objections, the dark haired woman had kneed Elan up into a full gallop and was charging across the pasture.

"Damn crazy woman. She and General George Patton would have gotten along just great," I grumbled. "C’mon Dandy we may have to pull her cute butt out of trouble."

I urged Dandy into a strong gallop and followed after my less than cautious partner. By the time I caught her, she had stopped in a copse of trees which sheltered us from view of the thieves below. There they were, four men on horseback, moving a bunch of about fifteen-head south down toward the valley below.

"Wel, well, well. Look at that Cody, our friends from the feed store. They just don’t learn. Ya wanna go teach them a lesson about respecting other people’s property?"

"Oh I think that would be a very good idea partner. Are we just going to storm down there or is your plan a little more subtle than that?"

"Oh baby subtle, very subtle. I’ll work my way down below them. They have to take the cattle through that narrow gorge; there’s no other way. I’ll meet them head on; you block the back door. How’s that?"

"Sounds simple enough, but what if they have guns? If we trap them, they might be desperate enough to shoot their way out."

"Do you know how to use a gun?" I nodded. "Long gun or hand gun?"

"Both."

"Here then; you better take the .45, just be sure you don’t shoot me by mistake!" De grinned.

"Baby don’t joke about this; it’s not the least bit funny. You could get killed and I…"

"Honey, I know this is no joke, and I’m deadly serious. I’ll take care of myself; you take care of you. If we get into a bind, send in the dogs. They’ll be a good distraction. You stay behind them and watch. When they get all the way in the gorge move in behind them. Now don’t worry; trust me?" I nodded. "Good, give us a kiss." Our lips met softly, sweetly, and the kiss lingered for a moment then we separated.

It didn’t take long for the plan to be set in motion, and De’s trap was genius in its simplicity. These rustlers were neither cautious nor too long on brains. I guess they figured this high in the mountains and as isolated as they were, no one would be the wiser. But then if these idiots worked for Dan Haskel, it was no wonder they weren’t very bright. He was a pretty dim bulb himself. Predictably, the thieves moved the cattle blithely along to their appointment with a tall, dark, and deadly avenger. I almost felt sorry for them, almost. I moved in behind them, the dogs creeping silently along next to me. The scum’s only avenue of escape was effectively cut off. I checked my weapon. I wonder if Unc knew De carried a .45 automatic as well as his 408 Browning. I wondered what other weapons this dangerous woman carried. Suddenly all movement stopped. I detected the glint of sunlight on metal, probably a rifle barrel. Then I heard the unmistakable resonance of a low menacing contralto voice. I knew her voice, but still the voice sent shivers up and down my spine. I could only imagine what affect the voice was having on the criminals in front of me.

"Boys, boys, boys, tsch, tsch. What are you doing on Dusty Rose land and where do you think you’re going with Mr. Fleming's cattle?"

The four men must have assumed alone this woman was no threat. They obviously didn’t learn a thing from their last encounter. Maybe they all landed on their heads in that parking lot. The fool in the front, evidently the leader of this band of morons, spoke up.

"What’s it to ya bitch?"

"Now that’s not nice! Cody now!"

The moment De yelled I set the dogs on the two riders in the back of the herd. Huck and Finn effectively set the thieves’ horses to bucking by nipping at their hocks. The dogs, long used to avoiding cow kicking cantankerous heifers, avoided the horse’s slashing hooves easily. I raised my .45 overhead and fired off three rounds in succession sending the frightened cattle stampeding forward. The two riders in front lost control of their horses, and fell ass over teakettle in front of the charging cattle. Fortunately, in spite of my impromptu distraction, De was able to get out of harms way and to the side of the angry Angus. The two men in front managed to scramble to the side and flatten themselves up against the canyon walls thus avoiding being trampled under the cattle’s churning hooves. The two men behind the herd decided they’d pick off De with a couple of well placed shots, but low menacing growls erupted from my canine compatriots and a snarling warning from me stopped them cold.

"I wouldn’t unless you want to die. I’ll not let anything happen to my partner." I pointed the .45 at the inept rustlers daring them to give me a tiny reason to pull the trigger. At that moment I had no doubt I would kill in a heartbeat to save my lover. "Ya know it would be a lot easier just to kill you and leave you to rot. We’d save the state the trouble of a trial too. A hundred years ago we wouldn’t be having this conversation, you’d already be dead. Now move!"

By the time Huck, Finn, and I, with the two sorry excuses for cow thieves in tow, reached the mouth of the canyon, De had her two guests trust up like the proverbial Christmas goose.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Just fine thanks," a wide grin covered De’s face, "although you ‘bout scared me out of ten years of my life with that stampede you caused." I blushed profusely.

"Seemed like the thing to do at the time," I shrugged.

"Yeah right. You okay?"

"Couldn’t be better. How ‘bout our friends here? They look like they took a nasty fall." I grabbed the leader’s face in my fist, none too gently. "His face is all bruised," I sneered.

"Well," De smiled, "some folks are just more clumsy than others."

"It would appear so," I chuckled, "what now?"

"We hang ‘em here and now." The cavalier, off handed way De made the statement caught me totally off guard. The four thieves looked at each other, fear shrouding them like a blanket. I was hoping this was part of the plan, I had to trust De, I had to. So I played along.

"Then what?"

"We leave them for the coyotes and the crows to pick their slimy carcasses clean. My guess is they won’t be missed. And if they are, no one will think to look for them clear up here. Cody get the ropes." Our four prisoners were starting to sweat; they were becoming more uncomfortable by the minute.

"Uh De, we have a problem. We only have one rope."

"Umph! I guess there’s nothing for it, we’ll just have to hang them one at a time. It’ll take longer, but we aren’t in any hurry." The leader of these sorry scumbags tried to convince his companions we were bluffing.

"Don’t tell her nothin’, the bitch is bluffing. They aren’t gonna hang us."

As De finished making the hangman’s noose, and tossed the rope over a convenient sturdy limb just overhead. I watched the men’s faces as they were rapidly taking on a pallid gray appearance. I decided to turn the screws a little tighter.

"I wouldn’t be too sure of that were I you," I whispered. De’s face was cold and hard. There was no trace of the woman I had come to know and love. "Take a good look. Does that face belong to someone who says anything she doesn’t mean?"

"All right, enough delays. Hey you! Big mouth. You seem to be the leader of this scum. You get the honor of going first! C’mon on your feet. Let’s get this over with. Get one of their horses Cody and bring him over here."

I did as I was bade and led the bay gelding over to where De had hauled the first victim to his feet. The man was screaming about how we couldn’t take the law into our own hands, it would be murder. I thought that was rich coming from someone with as little regard for the law as he was. De’s answer shocked me by the mater of fact was she said it.

"Wouldn’t be the first time."

My blood ran cold at the admission, but not as cold as the four potential victims. I had never seen this kind of fear in another living soul before. When faced with their impending mortality some men do so with a resigned dignity, others become raving, babbling cowards interested in no one but themselves. These men would sell their own mother’s souls just to save their own miserable worthless hides.

"Wait, I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Just don’t hang me," the man cried, tears streaming down his face.

"There is nothing you could possibly tell me that would be of any interest to me." De grabbed the man and threw him up onto the horse.

"No, please, no don’t kill me. Please, it was Haskel. He hired us to take a few head of cattle. He had a contact in the States who would take them over the border and hide them on a ranch in Montanathem sell 'em." The man was shaking and slobbering like a baby.

"Tell me something I don’t already know."

"I don’t know anything else, honest." Humph, honesty and these guys, there’s a contradiction in terms.

"Tell her Daniels for God’s sake; tell her or she’ll hang us all!"

"Listen you worthless sorry piece of shit. Give me the name of the contact or I’ll hang your sorry carcasses and leave y’all here to rot." De emphasized her promise by twisting the rope around Daniels’ neck.

"He’ll kill me if I tell you."

"If I were you, I’d be more concerned with the here and now. This rope around your neck is your most immediate problem."

"Clanton, Martin Clanton. He works some hot shot in the shipping business."

At the mention of the name, De’s face lost all its color and her eyes were cold and hard, filled with hate. De pulled the man from his horse and literally tossed him on top of his companions. Cautiously I went over to where De was standing, almost afraid to approach my lover. Her muscles were taut as a bowstring. Her jaw set so hard, I was afraid it would break from the sheer tension alone. Tentatively I reached out and touched my lover’s shoulder. Slowly, the tension lessened and De’s face lost some of its edge, and the relief I felt was incredible, so I pressed on. I encircled my lover’s waist with my arms and turned her to face me. Fear and uncertainty filled me to the very core.

"De who is this Martin Clanton? Why does the mere mention of his name have you so upset?" A long uncomfortable silence filled the space between us. Finally, when De was able to speak, it was a voice filled with hatred and venom.

"Martin Clanton worked for my father. He set me up and killed Spike. That bastard killed Spike. Now I’m gonna kill him."

Chapter 5: The Past That Wouldn’t Die

Stunned, shocked, flabbergasted, astonished, none of these adjectives could come close to how I felt at De’s revelation. I needed to get her to talk to me about this, but we had a bit of a problem in as much as we had all this excess baggage to deal with. I wanted her to understand I was here for her, but at the same time, I needed her to know I wasn’t going to let her off the hook about explaining herself either.

"De we need to talk about this, but we also need to get them back to town as quickly as possible." My words seemed to have some affect because De turned to me and looked ath the four men then back at me.

"I want you to keep an eye on these guys; if they so much as twitch, shoot ‘em." The warning wasn’t lost on the four morons; they evidently weren't totally stupid. "I’ll go get their horses. We need to get back to the ranch to talk to Doan; then we can devise a plan."

De returned a short time later with the thieves’ horses, and after tying them to their saddles, we mounted up and started off. We decided to ride and ride hard. There would be a full moon, and it would be easy to see the trail. Dandy had traveled over these trails for years, and was adept at riding night herd, so I convinced De I should lead out. The four thugs would ride in the between us, and De would bring up the rear. If we left now, we would get through the worst part of the trail before it got too dark. Both my lover and I were operating on our last frazzled nerve, so De warned the four miscreant souls that one wrong move would result in a missing body part.

"All right Daniels. You and your pathetic buddies better listen up. We are gonna ride and ride hard. If you so much as open you whiney mouths just one time; I’ll cut out your tongue and feed it to you. Understand?" Daniels merely stared terrified beyond belief. "Just nod if you understand, that will do," De growled. That was enough for De and she easily launched herself onto Elan’s back, and we started out.

We traveled along in silence; each lost in his or her own thoughts. I kept wondering how many other people lay hidden in De’s past who would come back to haunt her, haunt us. My God how could this be? A man who worked for De’s father was responsible for setting her up and sending her to jail for murder. I was dumbfounded; I simply had no frame of reference for this. I came from a warm loving relationship with my father. He would never have even considered harming me in any way. De said her father was in prison for dealing drugs. What other horrible things was he responsible for? Could he have set De on the road of violence she was forced to travel; her own father? God there were so many questions and the only person capable of answering them was the one person in the entire world I loved and needed above all else: my De, my lover, my life. Would she, could she trust me, trust us, our love enough to tell me the truth, all of it? Oh God, please help her; help us. I don’t want to lose her, not now; I’d die if that happened. We had been riding for four hours before De called out to me.

"Cody, there’s a clearing just this side of where we’ll ford the creek; it’s about another mile or so down Blazer Creek. Let’s stop there and give the horses a break. Okay?"

"Right, I know where that is, it shouldn’t take but another ten minutes or so to get there at this pace." We entered the clearing about fifteen minutes later and De dismounted first, then watched the four would-be rustlers while I dismounted.

"You take the horses down to the creek and let them get a drink, I’ll keep an eye on our friends here," De said. I looked at my lover, trying to gauge how she was feeling. I could get not indication how she felt, her normally vivid lapis pools were masked, her expression blank.

"You sure you’ll be all right?" My lover whirled around to pin me with a steely, iron gaze.

"Yeah, why do you ask? Don’t you trust me?" I looked at De, unable to hide the pain I felt at her sarcastic comment.

"Of course I do, I was only concerned about you. Obviously I needn’t have bothered!"

I turned on my heel and led the horses away to get their drink. Damn where did that come from? Shit, it’s happening again. God, please don’t shut me out De. Don’t push me away. The horses finished their drink, and I led them back to the clearing where De awaited me. I simply didn’t have the strength to confront De now. I just wanted this to be over. God why did this have to happen? Why did the past have to come back and kick us in the guts? I was lost in my thoughts leaning on Dandy’s warm neck when I felt warm strong arms encircle me from behind. Warm breath teased my neck, and I melted into the connection, the warmth spreading throughout my exhausted body.

"I’m so sorry baby. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just what Daniels said set me back on my heels. I promise we’ll talk about this when we get home. I won’t let this come between us, I won’t. I’ve been thinking about this as we rode along. What I said before about killing Clanton. I didn’t mean it; I wasn’t thinking clearly. I promise I won’t give in to the violence again; just don’t leave me, please. I was so afraid I’d lose you, I just lashed out in fear…I…oh Cody…I…" I turned in the circle of my lover’s arms and looked her squarely in the eyes.

"I won’t ever leave you as long as you promise you’ll never shut me out; De you have to be honest with me. Can you do that? If you can’t then we don’t have a chance in hell of making it together. You have to trust me baby, I will never betray that, you’ve got to believe me."

"I do believe me and I know you’re right. I promise, I’ll never hold anything from you again. I’ll tell you everything, just promise you won’t leave me. I could stand anything but that."

"I promise, I won’t leave you, ever. I love you." Our lips joined in a kiss meant to convey not just love, but lasting trust. We broke reluctantly from each other.

"We better keep moving. We’ve got another three or four hours in the saddle before we get home. Ya ready?" I nodded.

"Yes baby, with you by my side I’m ready for anything. Let’s go." We mounted up and started out down the now darkening trail. We hadn’t gone far when I saw a large, form in the shadowy trail up ahead. Dandy nickered a welcome, and low and behold there was Jake standing along the trail grazing.

"De my God in all the excitement, I forgot about Jake." I jumped down and ran to where Jake was standing, apparently no worse for wear. "Hey Jake, buddy, I’m sorry I forgot all about you. Here let’s get this stuff off you." I removed the rest of the fifty-pound mineral blocks, and set them along side of the trail. We could pick them up later, but there was no sense packing them back down the mountain at this late date. With just the packsaddle itself, Jake wouldn’t be over stressed at the faster pace we would be forced to take. I checked Jake over carefully to make sure he wasn’t injured anywhere. It was difficult to tell in the growing darkness, but from what I could feel, I didn’t think he was hurt at all. "I think he’s fine De, we can get moving now."

"Good, I feel bad we forgot all about him. Well after this hard ride, all the horses will get a good rub down and a good feed tonight." Daniels made the mistake of whining about his own empty belly.

"What about us? Ain’t we gonna get fed?"

"Shut your mouth Daniels, after what you did, you’ll be lucky I still don’t decide to string you up right here and now." Sufficiently contrite, Daniels did indeed shut his mouth not uttering a single sound for the rest of the trip, which seemed to go one forever. But soon, we reached the open pastures surrounding the ranch proper and the lights from the ranch burned like a beacon guiding weary traveler’s home. We rode into the barnyard, and dismounted. There wasn’t a part on me that didn’t hurt. I hadn’t ridden this many hours straight in years. Man was I out of riding shape. De just smiled, knowing how much pain I was in. She whispered in my ear as she walked over to me.

"How ‘bout tonight I give you the backrub?"

"You’re on babe." Hank came charging out of the bunkhouse, Stan following closely behind.

"What in the Sam hell are you two doing back here this time of night, and what the hell you doing with these low life’s?"

"It’s a long story Hank," De sighed. "Lock these bums in the grain room for tonight and then come on up to the house. Will explain everything then. Stan, get Arlie and Jonas and have them take turns keeping watch over these four tonight. But first, see to it that the horses are well fed and rubbed down, all of them. C’mon babe, let’s go up to the house. Doan’s gonna freak."

"Heh, no doubt," I groaned. "He’ll be sorry he didn’t get in on catching these thieves. Now Maggie, on the other hand, will freak." De wrapped her arm around my shoulders and I placed mine around her waist and we trudged up to the house to face the music.

*******************

"What in heavens name were you two thinking? You could have been seriously injured, maybe even killed. Doan are you just going to sit there with that stupid grin on your face or are you going to say something?" Maggie shouted.

"Maggie darlin, calm down. There isn’t a thing that can be gained by yellin’ at the girls now. What’s done is done, and things turned out okay. I just wish I’d a been there to see it. Reminds me of the old days; yes sir, Len and me used to do stuff like that all the time. Used to drive ma nuts. She tried to get pa to do something too, but usually he was right in the thick of things right along with us. Yes sir them were the days!" Maggie just rolled her eyes, and threw her hands in the air in frustration.

"I can see I’m not going to get any help from you Jonathan Churchill Fleming, so you just sit there while I talk to the girls." Maggie then turned her wrath on the two of us. "Now you listen to me the both of you. If you ever do anything that foolish and inconsiderate again, so help me I’ll turn ya both over my knee and paddle the both of ya. Ya understand?"

"We understand Mags, we’re sorry you’re so upset." I tried to reassure Maggie we were sorry, and I genuinely was. Inconsiderate? I never even gave it a thought, but Maggie was right. We weren’t thinking of anyone else. If anything would have happened to us out there both Maggie and Unc would have been devastated. "You’re right, we weren’t thinking, but really there was no other way. If we hadn’t have done something right then and there they would have gotten away, and we never would have been able to get Haskel put away."

"Maggie Cody’s right. Now we can put Dan Haskel behind bars, where he belongs, for a long time. Doan, we need to get a hold of Constable Davies tonight and have Haskel picked up. Then he can take that scum out in the grain room off our hands too. I don’t think we should wait, if Haskel doesn’t hear from his underlings, he might realize something went wrong and cover his tracks. Then we might not get him at all."

"You’re absolutely right De, I’ll call Ian right away. Hot damn, finally that weasel is gonna get what’s comin’ to him. Yee haw happy days!!"

Unc called Constable Ian Davies, and in less than thirty minutes he arrived with his deputies. We all trooped out to the barn and had a heart to heart with Daniels and his three buddies. Davies got ready to go to town to arrest Haskel, and De insisted on coming along too, and she wasn’t going anywhere without me. Unc swore he wasn’t gonna get left out of any more excitement, and of course, Maggie wasn’t going to let any of us out of her sight ever again.

"I appreciate all the work you have accomplished so far. If it wasn’t for you, we might not have broken this cattle-rustling ring. But the rest of this is police business, and I cannot allow you to endanger yourselves any further. That’s final."

Poor Ian, he had no idea just how badly out numbered he was. Needless to say, with the appropriate warrants in hand, Constable Davies and his deputies, De, and I paid a little visit to Dan Haskel. We found him at the local watering hole with his cronies trying as hard as her could to play the big shot, but failing horribly. Haskel looked up when he saw all of us enter the bar. I watched his eyes darting back and forth frantically searching for some avenue of escape. He had a lot in common with a trapped wounded animal, and those were the most dangerous kind. He was smart enough to see he was trapped, so he tried to charm his way out of his predicament.

"Good evening Ian, what brings you and your…friends out this late at night?" Oh God, suddenly I had the strong urge to hurl my lunch. De wasn’t fooled either.

"Save it Haskel. I told you if I ever heard of you hassling any of my friends or family, I would come after you, well here I am Danny boy, and it’s time to pay up." Quicker than anyone could have imagined, De launched herself over the pool table and slammed Haskel up against the wall. De’s fist was wrapped tightly around Haskel’s throat, his eyes bulging from the pain and lack of oxygen. "Danny boy, before Constable Davies carts you off to jail for stealing cattle, I have some questions. You have the answers. We can do this one of two ways. One, you can tell me exactly what I want to know, and I’ll not hurt you. Or two, you can decide not to cooperate with me, and I’ll have you begging for me to kill you. Your choice. You have about ten seconds to make up your mind." No one moved, no one interfered. Haskel’s buddies were conspicuously silent.

"Davies," Haskel croaked, "I’ll have you up on charges of false arrest." Haskel’s strangled cries barely left his throat.

"Wrong thing to say Haskel, times up. You’ve got a contact for your stolen cattle his name is Martin Clanton. I want him. Where is he; tell me and we can end this now, and you’ll stay in one piece." If Haskel’s eyes weren’t already bugging out from the pressure of De’s hand around his throat they would have been at the mention of Clanton’s name. Still Haskel was hanging in there; remember this guy wasn’t long on brains.

"Listen bitch, I don’t know what you’re talking about." De’s fist tightened around the man’s scrawny neck.

"Wrong answer!" De squeezed more, her grip becoming vice-like in its intensity. Finally when Haskel’s eyes nearly rolled over in the back of his head, he gasped out the right answer.

"All right, all right! I’ll talk." De relaxed her grip and Haskel gasped and coughed, sputtered and spit before he regained his breath. "He’s down south; last I heard he was in Seattle working for a big shot drug lord, named Lassiter." De’s face revealed nothing of what she was feeling at the mention of her father. Haskel’s sneer covered his whole face, and the next thing that happened was pretty predictable. Again the gene pool that spawned Haskel was a little shallow. "Hey Cody did you know the bitch you’re fuckin is a real pro? Her old man started her in the business when she was just a kid, sold her to his friends in exchange for $100.00 a throw. She’s nothin’ but a fuckin’ whore. Hey what’s the goin’ rate these days bitch?" Haskel was brought up from the floor in a millisecond. De’s fist wrapped around Haskel’s throat in a death grip. This time, Haskel was a heartbeat away from death. De’s fingers were talons of death, and only one person could stop the inevitable. Cautiously, I crept up next to the tall dark angel of death.

"De let him go, he isn’t worth it. You’re not the same person you were before, that De is dead, don’t let her destroy you, us. Please my love, let Haskel go." Slowly, the muscles in De’s arm relaxed, and the fingers holding Haskel loosened and he dropped to the floor. Constable Davies and his deputies stepped in and hauled the shaken, frightened man off to jail. I stood directly in front of De locking eyes with my love. "De, baby look at me. Don’t look away. Listen. The things he said don’t matter to me or to all the other people who love you. Don’t shut me out, baby don’t let him win. Please my love, please." I don’t know how long we stood there, but after what seemed like an eternity, De responded to my voice and touch.

"How can you love someone like me? I’ve been used, I’ve used others, I feel so dirty. I feel like the dirt and shame will rub off on you. God I can’t let that happen, not to you."

"Oh De, don’t you understand, your past his just that, your past. Let it go, move on with me. We can start over if you let us. Please honey, give us a chance; don’t throw everything you’ve worked for away for no good reason. Please."

"I don’t know what I’ve ever done to deserve you, but God help me I do love you. I don’t have the right to ask you to stay with me, but God I want you and need you. I love you so, so all right; I want this to work us to work. Let’s go home."

"Sounds good. I’m ready when you are."

So ends High Lonesome Part II. To be continued??? Let me know what you think.