Here is an excerpt from "The Making of Jake McTavish", Chapter 6. At this point in the story Jake has had a successful winter, despite it having been one of the worst in decades. He is proud of that success and the prospects for the future. However, the man he has been working for has made a serious error at a poker game ...
One of Canada's Rocky Mountain Rangers, John Clarke
with 1776 Winchester
Picture from mid 1800s
Calgary cowboys in 1883
Three years before the "winter of blizzards"
An excerpt from
The Making of Jake McTavish
Chapter 6
It was May 16, 1887 when Egan and four other men rode up to the
cabin. Jake had just finished having lunch and was on his way out, intending to
ride around the cattle.
Jake was feeling cocky and
proud of himself. Of the hundred and fifty cows he first started out with he
still had one hundred and four. They had also increased their numbers with
sixty-three calves, which was not a great rate of reproduction, but considering
that the cows were all malnourished and many had wounds, it was a good number.
Besides, other people Jake had talked with had lost far more. Some had lost
most of their herds.
When the five men rode up
Egan opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but the man riding
beside him, the only one with a full beard, spoke first. “You get out of here
saddle tramp, and be damn careful what you take with you. Everything here is
mine.”
Jake hung his jacket on the
saddle horn, turned slowly, jacked a round into his rifle and fired a round
under the man’s horse. A dirt geyser peppered the horse’s belly slightly. The
mount liked neither the blast nor the geyser, reared slightly and then bucked.
By the time it hit the ground Jake had chambered another round and fired again.
When Jake fired the third round the horse took off bucking across the prairie.
The other four horses were backing, humping, and dancing. Jake’s mount, used to
him shooting wolves, coyotes and wounded cattle turned his head to watch the
antics of his equine brethren with some interest.
“Damn it, Jake,” Egan
complained. “Settle down. I lost everything to him in a poker game. It’s his.”
Jake looked over to see if
the other three riders were close enough to hear, then asked, “Everything? What
about the pay you promised me? If I’m lookin’ fer a place t’ live, I’d say I’m
in a bit of a pickle.”
“Now just settle down and
keep quiet. I’ve a plan for that, but don’t interrupt. I expect it’ll take me a
few minutes, now that you’ve upset Carter.”
They sat in silence for a
few moments as the other men brought their mounts under control.
“As far as that goes, you
could have had no place to live over the winter,” Egan pointed out.
“Now that’s true,” Jake
admitted. “But I did a damn fine job on these cows an’ figure I deserve some
recognition.”
“Well, you won’t get any
from Hal Carter. As for me, I certainly appreciate it as I’ve already said. Not
that your efforts will help me much now.
“My own fault. I know
better than to gamble. I’m a good card player, but when I take chances, I lose.
If I had followed my own rules I’d still own this herd.”
The other four riders
returned with jumpy, snorting, head-shaking mounts. Jake still held a loaded
rifle in his hands so they came up in such a way as to keep Egan between them
and the wild man with the weapon.
“Now, Hal, you just take
it easy for a minute,” Egan said. “Jake here has managed to make it through the
winter with about three quarters of the animals he started out with and that’s
a lot better than many have done.”
“Cattle ‘r damn thin,”
Carter observed.
“They’re alive,” Jake
said.
“That’s enough,” Egan
said, glancing at Jake. “He’s right, though, they’re alive. I’ll get back to
that in a minute.
“As for you owning
everything, Hal, I put up the cattle and horses I own out here. That includes
anything wearing an E C connected brand and most of the horses are wearing Bar
2. There are four horses here aren’t wearing either brand. Jake’ll be taking
them when he leaves. And there are several other things around here that aren’t
wearing those two brands I mentioned, like the food in the cabin.”
Egan paused, turned his
gaze and unreadable expression from Hal to Jake, and then looked back at Hal.
“What do you say you and your men take a look at the cattle and I’ll help Jake
pack up?”
Hal chewed on the ends of
his moustache for a moment and then nodded. He let his eyes flicker to the
Winchester Jake still held under his arm, nodded again and said, “Reckon that
sounds like a good idea.” He turned his mount away and the three other men
followed.
So in the spring of 1887
Jake became a wealthy saddle tramp. He only had fourteen Canadian dollars, two
U.S. dollars and eighty six cents, but he was rich in other goods. He had four
horses, a fine, double rigged saddle, a short barrelled Colt pistol, a Colt
Navy .36 and a Winchester rifle. He also had a serviceable pack saddle, bed
roll, enough food to last a month and the pack covered with two tarps.
