Responding to rudeness
and unwarranted
condemnation
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"
The Making of Jake McTavish
Chapter 6
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.
https://www.amazon.com/D.-M.-McGowan/e/B004V9WZVI
