Chapter 4

Ian refused to succumb to the desire to stay in bed when he heard his men rousing outside.  He sat on the edge of the narrow cot and focused on getting his bearings straight while he watched Roy fill the pitcher on the washstand with warm water.

“Mornin’, boss.  Looks like it’s gonna be good weather for the sheep delivery.”

“Your job is to cook, not be my manservant.”

“Jackson put the word out for a housekeeper to tend to the cleaning and stuff like this, but nothin’ yet.  I don’t mind helpin’ out.”

 Ian ran his fingers through his thick, brown hair.   “Finding a man willing to do that type of work won’t be easy and I’m not sure a woman would want to come this far away from civilization.”

“We heard tell of a widow some miles up north who might work.  Her man was killed by a bear last winter.  She’s got three kids, though.  The housin’ might be a problem,” Roy explained.

“How old are the kids?”

“I can’t be sure, but, if my source is correct, they’re near grown.”

Ian nodded as he removed his shirt and poured water into the bowl. Picking up a fresh bar of soap, he created a lather in his hands and scrubbed his face, arms, and chest with it.   Roy waited patiently for him to finish rinsing off before taking the bowl and tossing the dirty water out of the window.  He quickly returned it to the washstand so that Ian could spit in it while brushing his teeth.

“Feelin’ better now?” Roy asked as he picked up the bowl with a bit of clean water from the pitcher and, once again, tossed the dirty water out of the window.

“Once I get a few cups of coffee down me, I’ll be good as new,” Ian assured him.

He followed Roy to the mess house, giving his men a boisterous greeting as he came upon them.  The mood in the camp was positive and the energy was high with the excitement of a new venture. 

Mike was eager to discuss all he’d done in preparation for the sheep to arrive.  It was decided that he’d walk along with Ian after breakfast to show him the areas that he felt would work best for grazing until the crew got more acquainted with the sheep.

Once they were out of earshot of the other hands, Mike decided to fill Ian in on some of the happenings while he was gone.  “I ain’t had as good a luck hirin’ as I’d like.  It appears sheep ain’t so popular in these parts.  I took two men from the ranch, but the rest wanted no part of sheep herdin’. There was quite a bit of rumblin’ goin’ on about it, to be sure.”

“They’ll get over it once they see it won’t be affecting the cattle operation.  I’m sure we’ll attract workers once the word spreads and they get used to the idea.  So, how many men do you have?”

Mike nodded.  “Four, plus me.  Good fortune smiled on us, though.  It just happened that an old Scottish buzzard, named Malcom McDonald, heard all the bitchin’ amongst the ranchers about our sheep comin’ when he was getting’ supplies for the lumber camp he worked at.  He used to raise sheep in Scotland, ya see.  He came to us right away.  Claims he’s too old for lumberin’.”

“Is he too old for sheep herding?” Ian asked with concern.

“He can chase away a wolf just as easy as the next guy,” Mike assured him. “We talked for a long time.  He knows a lot about sheep.  I put him second in charge because of it.”

Ian nodded as he took a deep breath to cover the fact that his body was still too exhausted to be exerting itself climbing a steep and rocky hillside. “I trust you.  This is mighty rocky country.  We didn’t have terrain like this in Ireland.  Are you sure the sheep will fare well?”

“I’ve got a bit of experience keepin’ sheep on this kind of ground.  We’ll move them to the upper pasture after a few weeks.  While they’re in this section, they’ll do alright.  The runoff from the mountain makes the grass comin’ up around these rocks rich and plentiful.”

They reached the top of the hill and sat on a large flat boulder that offered them a clear view of the valley below.

Mike shaded his eyes against the morning sun as he looked to the east. “Ya got yerself a mighty fine parcel of land, boss.  I don’t care what those railroad people say.  Look yonder. Ya could even do a bit of loggin’ if you chose.”

“What about the sheep?”

“They won’t want to log,” Mike said with a sly chuckle.

Ian laughed softly at his head man’s sense of humor while he thought about all the possibilities his land offered.  His cattle ranch was large and consisted of, primarily, flat acreage.  There was very little else he could do with it other than ranch or farm.  This smaller, newer addition was supposed to be practically worthless, yet the possibilities of usage seemed endless.

Ian took advantage of the time they spent sitting on the boulder talking about the sections that Mike and Malcolm mapped out for sheep rotations to gather his strength for the return walk back to the camp.  His saving grace was that it was downhill.

Realizing the time that they’d taken away from his morning of preparations, Mike scurried ahead to connect with the other hands and make sure any last-minute chores were taken care of.   He could barely contain his excitement over the anticipation of the arrival of the sheep. 

Ian also suspected that Mike might harbor a bit of worry over the possibility of Malcolm outshining him.  From what he’d told Ian about the man, Malcolm was a grizzly old coot who knew his stuff, but also might wonder if a man as young as Mike could know and handle things as good as he knew he could.  Ian had no doubt Mike was up to task, but he could understand his concern to keep one step ahead of Malcolm.   Even so, a little competition could be healthy.

Without his young ranch hand to impress, Ian allowed himself the luxury of moving slowly down the hill toward the settlement.  His mind dwelled on the little cot he’d basically passed out on the night before and its fresh sheets.  He wanted nothing more than to crawl back onto it and sleep for several days, but that just couldn’t happen.  The sheep would be arriving soon.

He regained some of his vigor when he promised himself that, after things were up and running, he’d take a small vacation.  Perhaps he’d take Melody to Billings to do a little pre-wedding shopping.  He’d been contemplating getting one of those new contraptions they called a horseless carriage.  One of Melody’s friends owned one and it was all that she talked about.  He thought it might make a good wedding gift.

Thoughts of his future nuptials with the beautiful Melody Jameson filled his head as he slowly picked his way down the steep hillside.  He suspected that she was marrying him for the security he offered and was fine with that.  After all, he was considerably older than she was, and he wasn’t good looking.  Some might call him homely.  His dark eyes were too deep set and his nose had been broken so many times over the years that it rested crooked on his face.  Combine that with the fact that he was twice her age and it made sense that it was his money and ranch that she was after and not him.  He knew she liked him and that was enough.

Since his mother married his father for the prestige his title and lands would give the family, it was a mindset he was well acquainted with.  His parents never did develop a love between them, but they tolerated each other well enough.  Ian hoped for at least as much with Melody.

The sight of something moving in his peripheral vision brought him back to reality.  He placed his hand on the butt of his gun just in case he needed to scare off a hungry wolf or bear.  He could see nothing but, with his senses focused on his surroundings, the sound of movement in the brush to his left was easily picked up.  He pulled his gun and crept in the direction of the faint rustling.

Although he thought himself prepared for whatever he might find, he wasn’t prepared for the sight of a naked and bloody woman curled up in the fetal position. Her body was tucked deep beneath a bush as if she’d crawled there for shelter or to hide.  She looked half dead.  He shoved his gun back into its holster and knelt to inspect her.  Pulling the thick, blonde hair that covered her face far enough way to allow him to see her features, he held his cheek beneath her nose to checked if she was breathing.  When he did, she moaned.

He couldn’t imagine what happened to her. There were bruises and bite marks on her shoulders, breasts, and hips.   Her inner thighs were thick with blood that was still moist beneath the thin crust on top.  He’d been living in Montana long before it became a state and when it was a lot less settled than it was now.  He believed he’d encountered every animal that roamed the territory, but he knew of no animal that left bite marks of such a nature.  After searching the landscape for signs of whatever creature might have done such a horrific thing, he removed his coat and wrapped her in it.

His arms strained under her weight as he lifted her in his arms.  If he was thankful for the fact that the trip back to the settlement was downhill before, he was even more so now.

He had barely an ounce of strength left in him when he stumbled into the settlement with her limp body in his arms.  He was grateful to see that his hands were gathered outside of the mess house.  They quickly ran to assist him.  He had them take her into his little house and place her on the bed in the room he’d intended that Mike occupy. 

The men pelleted him with questions that he had no answers for while Roy scurried about setting up a medical station to tend to her wounds.  After assuring his men that he’d fill them in on whatever he discovered about the young woman once she was awake and able to speak, he shuffled them out of the little house and went to help Roy tend to her wounds.