(For Bev Young who challenged me to write a story)
It had started out as a typical day in Virginia City. The sun was shining
over the mountains between fluffy white clouds foretelling a lovely spring
day. The snow was still on the mountain tops although most of the snow was
melted along the lower levels and the passes.
Sheriff Roy Coffee had just finished his breakfast at the hotel and was ambling along the streets to his office to check out any new messages and take care of some unfinished business from the day before.
He greeted the various residents along the way in a most fatherly way. Roy loved the folks of Virginia City and regarded most of them as his adopted children. He took great pride in providing law and order in this most difficult of Western environments.
As he passed the general store, Mr. Walers the store owner called out to him.
“Good morning Roy!” stated Mr. Walers.
“And a good morning to you to Mr. Walers,” replied Roy.
“Bet you heard the news already, huh?” asked Mr. Walers.
“What news is that?” Sheriff Coffee was hoping this was not going to be another day of petty complaints between store owners. He had so looked forward to a more leisurely day at his office.
“I understand there is some trouble over at the Lucky 7 mine,” began Mr. Walers. “A few of the miners have been threatening some of the farmers in the surrounding area. Seems some of their farm animals have been getting loose and finding their way into some of the upper mine shafts.”
“Oh fer cryin’ out loud!” exclaimed Sheriff Coffee. “Well, guess I better get on over to my office and see what I can do.”
With that, Sheriff Coffee increased his pace and reached his office in
a bit of a huff.
As he slammed his door closed, he noticed Ben Cartwright sitting by his
desk waiting for him.
“Here kinda early in the day for you ain’t it Ben? Everything ok at the Ponderosa and with your boys?”
Ben had a very grim look at his face as he stood to face the sheriff. He did not look like a very happy man.
“Ok Ben, I can see that something is troubling you. So what is it?”
“Well, Roy, I don’t really know how to begin.”
Roy walked around his desk to sit down but paused when Ben put his hand on his shoulder.
“Ben, now it can’t be as bad as when Hoss and Joe were accused of bank robbery now can it?
Roy couldn’t help let a soft chuckle escape his lips as he remembered back to when Hoss and Joe robbed the bank after Joe heard the bank was going to be closed down.
“This is more serious Roy,” Ben started, “I’ve got some ranchers accusing my boys of cattle rustling.”
“Cattle rustling!!! Now Ben, that don’t even make sense with a spread as large as you got.”
“I know, I know. But Andy Parker of the Bar Dollar swears that his cattle are being rustled. Further, he claims he has seen Adam, Hoss and Joe at different times driving his cattle off his place. That is utter nonsense Roy. My boys would never do anything like that.”
“I agree Ben. So what do you want me to do about?”
“Do?? Do? I want you to find out who is really taking cattle from the Bar Dollar and clear my boys of any wrong doing.”
“All right Ben. I’ll get right on it. Right after I take care of this miner trouble.”
Ben began clenching his fist and got an even sterner look in his face as he tried to control his anxiety. His chocolate brown eyes got even darker than normal as it usually did when he was enraged.
“All right Roy,” began Ben, “What kind of miner trouble are we in for this time?”
“Well Ben, seems some of the local farmers have some of their animals running away from home and wanting to go a’ prospecting in them thar mines.” Roy couldn’t resist laughing at his own joke.
“Not funny Roy, not funny at all. All right, if I help you with the miner trouble, will you help me get this cattle rustling thing settled?”
Roy got a bit more serious looking before answering.
“Seems fair enough to me, Ben. However, I think I should properly deputize
you. At least for handling the mining problem.”
“Fine by me.”
Sheriff Coffee brought out a deputy badge from the top drawer of his desk and swore Ben Cartwright in as his lawful deputy.
The two then headed for their horses and took off for the Lucky 7 mine.
Meantime not far from the mine, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe had their own brand of trouble. They had been tracking a group of about 10 steers that seemed to have wandered away from the Bar Dollar. One thing they noticed was that while there were no men guiding the steers, a lone dog appeared to be heading the beasts. This struck all of them as pretty odd. While dogs have been used to help herd steers, they usually worked with their masters and not independently.
“Pssst, say Adam,” whispered Hoss. “How do you explain that dog down there? I ain’t never seen nuthin’ like it.”
Adam pondered that point for a minute before replying. He also had never seen such a thing. Either the dog was a stray that used to be used for herding and was just following its instincts or someone had done an exceptional job in training the animal. The latter seemed more unlikely than the former though.
“I’m not sure Hoss. I have never witnessed anything like it either.”
“Gee, Hoss,” interjected Little Joe, “Seems this one even has older brother here stumped.” He couldn’t resist doing one of his cute little giggles at the thought that here might be a situation that his older brother’s intelligence might not be able to handle.
Adam gave his little brother a side glance of annoyance before returning his gaze back to the small herd.
“This is no time for levity, younger brother,” began Adam. “Those cattle are from the Bar Dollar. We need to find out how and why they are umm… wandering away from home. At least before Josh Thornberry decides to fill the three of us with buckshot.”
“Yeah. I don’t understand ole Josh.” Hoss might have been pulled into some mishaps thanks to Little Joe but true cattle rustling was not one of them. The Cartwrights had known Josh ever since he and his wife and family moved out here to start the Bar Dollar.
“Neither do I. But that not withstanding, we have got to find a way to clear our names and get Josh’s cattle back home.” Adam was also extremely upset over the current events. After all, cattle rustling out here meant hanging and Adam had had too many other episodes of having a noose around his neck without adding one more.
“Hey Adam,” cried out Little Joe. He pointed over to the side of the hill. “Seems that dog is driving those cattle right into that opening in the side of the Lucky 7 mine.”
Hoss and Adam turned to see where Joe was pointing. Sure enough, the little brown and white dog had turned the herd and they paused at the entrance.
Climbing up on his feet, Adam waved to his brothers. “Let’s get down there and see what is going on. This is getting too strange for me.”
Hoss and Joe looked at each other. They gathered their guns and began following Adam down the trail.
Unbeknownst to the brothers three, the head of the Cartwright clan was just that moment arriving at the main entrance of the Lucky 7 with Sheriff Roy Coffee.
Dismounting from their horses, Roy and Ben headed towards the mine where a group of miners were sitting having lunch. They were a rough and tough bunch from their appearance and didn’t look too thrilled to see the sheriff coming towards them.
“Greeting boys,” Roy began, “How’s it going today? Pers I hear tell that you all have been having some trouble out here.”
“Ya gots that right.” The miner who replied was the head miner on this shift. His name was Charles Brait and he was known throughout the Comstock as one who drank hard and fought even harder. It didn’t usually take much to get Brait worked up.
“All right then, what’s the problem and let’s start at the beginning.” Roy didn’t want to get these miners agitated any more than they were already.
Brait stood up to his full 6 feet of height and brushed his bright red hair out of his eyes. He puffed out his full chest and glanced back at his men before replying back to the sheriff.
“Well sheriff, we are getting mighty tired of all these animules gallivanting all over the place here. Seems we keep chasing the durn critters out of the mine all the time and we all is gittin mighty tired of it. If them blasted farmers can’t keep their animals on their own property, we miners will make sure…”
Brait didn’t get a chance to finish before Roy interrupted him.
“Now just hold on a minute. I won’t stand for anyone taking the law into his own hands now, you hear.”
Sheriff Coffee stared real hard at the group of miners as he continued to address them in his no nonsense voice that commanded respect.
“Ben and I are going to look into what is going on out here. And just as soon as we can we are going to find out where these animals are coming from and put a stop to it. In the meantime, you boys just sit tight and let me do all the work.”
Brait glanced over his shoulder at his men. Being the leader was not always the easiest thing and it was something that Brait didn’t really care about. Still his men looked up to him and gave him the respect of a mining foreman.
“All right Roy, we’ll give you 24 hours to figure this out. Otherwise we are just gonna start doing some shooting and that stands for both 4 legged and 2 legged animals.”
Ben and Roy looked at each other. This was not going to be easy as deep furrows creased their brows. Roy was contemplating his next move when a thought crossed Ben’s mind.
“Well, boys a little help would be useful,” started Ben. “Now just what kind of animals are we talking about here first off and where are they showing up on the Lucky 7?”
One of the other miners, a man who went by the nickname Scrawny, put down his sandwich and started pointing over to the right side of the mine.
“There,” he began, “We find these cattle, dogs and sometimes horses gathering around the mine here. On occasion some of them even get into some of the upper levels of the mines and we wind up playing cowboy instead of miners.”
“Have you ever seen any men whenever these animals show up? Any signs of boot prints or horse tracks to indicate if anyone is trying to catch them?
“Nope,” popped in another miner. “Lest ways no tracks that we can make sense of.”
“But that dad burn dog that keeps coming round here sure is a nuisance.” This came from one other of the group.
“All right boys,” Roy stated as he tried to calm the bunch down. “Ben and I will take a look over there and see what we can come up with. In the meantime, you aren’t aware of any unwanted visitors in your mine right now are you?”
“None so far today,” Brait replied. “But the day is still young,” he added sarcastically.
Shaking their heads, Ben and Roy decided to leave the conversation where it was and start trekking over to the point the miners mentioned. As they rounded the bend, both Roy and Ben heard some low mooing. Peering around the corner, they observed 10 head of cattle milling about a secondary entrance into the Lucky 7. Nearby, a dog was yapping its head off and nipping at the heels of the steers keeping them bunched together.
At that moment, Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe reached the opposite side of the mine entrance where the cattle were. None of them noticed the two men on the side.
Ben and Roy had ducked down to have a small conference without realizing the three brothers had observed them.
“So what do you think Ben?” started Roy. “I ain’t never seen nothing like this. Them 10 steers hanging around with some yappy little dog keepin’ ‘em all together? Don’t seem logical.”
“Well, it might be more logical than you think Roy.”
“How’s that Ben?”
“Well, I’m not sure but I think I recognize that dog out there with the steers. I’ll need a better look though to be sure.”
“All right. Let’s go get us a closer look. That is if the dog will let us.”
Rising up from their hiding spot, Roy and Ben looked around to check their vantage point and determine the best way to approach the skittish herd. As they moved their heads around, Roy grabbed Ben by the arm and pointed off in the distance.
“What is it Roy?
Roy crouched down a bit and pointed to some trees and brush near a trail.
“Over there Ben. Ain’t them your boys over there? I thought you said that they would have nuthin’ to do with stolen cattle.”
Ben’s face twisted in a very quizzical manner as he directed his gaze in the direction Roy was pointing. He didn’t quite understand but was hoping that there had to be some rhyme or reason as to why Adam, Hoss and Little Joe should show up at that particular moment.
“I don’t know Roy,” started Ben, “But I’m sure the boys have a logical explanation of some sort.”
“I sure hope so Ben. I sure hope so. Hate to see your boys mixed up with any kind of trouble.”
In amongst the trees and boulders, the three brothers emerged to look over
the situation.
Hoss was the first one to notice something unusual about the dog running
around the cattle.
“Hey Adam, don’t that look like Jim Gars dog to you?”
“Now how can you be sure of that at this distance Hoss?” asked Adam in a rather annoyed tone of voice.
“Looky there. Can’t ya see it? That crazy crooked tail on the dog. I’ll bet one of Hop Sing’s meals that that dog belongs to Jim Gars.”
Adam and Little Joe squinted their eyes and finally got a better look as the dog paused for a moment at the back of the herd.
“Say Hoss, I think you’re right,” quipped Little Joe. “I remember seeing him around Jim’s place all the time. But why do you suppose he’s out here with them steers?”
Adam was trying to figure out the answer to that question as well when he noticed someone coming out of the mine entrance.
Ben and Roy also noticed a body emerging from the shadows and started to
whistle.
As the person stepped into the sunlight, they both recognized him.
“Say Roy, ain’t that….”
“Yep sure is Ben. It’s Jim Gars. Wonder what he’s doing out here?”
“I thought he was working at the Bar Dollar ranch as a ranch hand?”
Before Roy could reply to Ben’s question, the dog came bounding up to Jim who bent over with some treats for him. They couldn’t quite hear what he was telling the dog but it almost sounded like he was rewarding him for a job well done.
Casting a sideway glance over to Roy, Ben was beginning to piece the whole thing together.
“Now I remember something, Roy.”
“What’s that Ben?”
“Jim Gars always used to brag that he had the best cattle dog in the whole
territory.” Ben was getting quite excited at this point and his voice was
starting to sound a bit breathless.
“He always used to claim that his dog was the only dog who could cut out
prime beef and herd them without any human telling him.”
Roy was not quite convinced about this.
“But Ben, don’t that seem a bit far fetched?”
“Perhaps. But it makes sense. How else can you explain why these steers and other animals wind up here at the Lucky 7? And to find that particular dog doing the herding?”
“Hmmmm.” Roy thought long and hard about this. It still seemed a bit hard to take but at the moment, he didn’t have any other explanation. “Well, perhaps we better slowly and cautiously wander down there and ask ole Jim a few questions.”
“Good idea Roy”.
As they began to creep along the side of the mountain so as to be unobserved by Jim Gars, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe had also decided to come in for a closer look. They were still not aware though that either their Pa or Sheriff Coffee were doing the very same thing.
Roy and Ben managed to slip in a little further so they could now hear Jim talking to his dog.
“That’s my boy, Tinker. Never met a smarter dog than you. You dun a good job bringing them steers to me just likes I trained ya to do.”
Roy’s face squished up with both amazement and disgust at the fellows’ seemingly clever ploy.
“Well, if that don’t beat all. If someone had told me, I never would have believed it without seeing it with my own two eyes.”
A half smile graced Ben’s face. “It seems to me we have solved two mysteries here for the price of one. This proves that my boys have nothing to do with stealing cattle from the Bar Dollar and explains why there are animals roaming through the Lucky 7. Jim probably figured it would be a good hiding place for the rustled animals.”
Just then, Ben’s boys popped up on the other side of the herd.
“What was that you were saying Ben?” asked Roy. “I thought you said your boys had nothing to do with this. Now how do you explain them being here at just this very moment?”
Ben paused for a second or two while his eyebrows raised up a hair. “Well,” he drooled out. “Perhaps they just followed the herd here to find out what’s going on, same as us.”
As Roy turned to reply to Ben, Jim Gars noticed Adam, Hoss and Little Joe approaching. He turned to head back into the mine figuring he could lose them in the vast passageways.
“Hey Jim!” called out Adam. “We just want to talk with you!”
But Jim Gars was not in the mood for talk. He knew the penalty for both cattle rustling and horse stealing and he was not about to hang around to answer any questions.
Ben and Roy noticed the commotion and started running towards the mine entrance to head Jim off. If any explanations were due, Ben was going to make sure he heard them first hand.
Ben reached Jim before his boys did and grabbed him by the shoulders. The two fell down in the dirt just at the secondary mine entrance. Right on his heels was Roy quickly followed by Adam, Hoss and Little Joe.
“Hold it right there Jim,” shouted Roy as he pulled his pistol out. “You got a lot of explaining here to do.”
Ben pulled Jim up off the ground and twirled him around to face the sheriff. He didn’t even notice his sons at first.
“Hey Pa, how did you get here?” Asked Little Joe.
“Leave it to Pa to get to the trouble before even we do,” piped in Adam.
As Ben turned Jim Gars over to Sheriff Coffee, he looked over in the direction of his sons. “Well boys, it seems we all managed to track down what was going on out here. I’ll bet that it will be some story once Sheriff Coffee gets some answers out of Jim back at his office.”
A slow smile began drawing itself across Adam’s face while Joe began grinning at his father. Even Hoss shook his head and smiled at this strange turn of events.
“Why don’t you boys go and get your horses so we can return these steers back to the Bar Dollar. Then meet me in town at the sheriff’s office so we can get the low down on all of this.”
Adam, Hoss and Little Joe ambled off to their mounts and after returning
the missing steers to the Bar Dollar ranch, meet up with their father at
Sheriff Coffee’s office.
Over a cup of coffee, Roy gave them the story.
Seems Jim Gars wasn’t satisfied with being just a ranch hand any more. He wanted to build up his small land with some cattle and figured the quickest way to do it would be to slowly add some stock into his own ranch.
He started training his dog with one steer at a time. Each steer would be culled out of the Bar Dollar and moved towards the Lucky 7 mine. Over time, the dog was able to do more of the herding by himself so there would be little or no trace of any human intervention. Jim thought this would make it impossible to point any blame to him.
He came up with a new brand that would fit over the Bar Dollar brand. After a time, Jim would announce that he had bought a new herd and was starting his own ranch. Andy Parker of the Bar Dollar had noticed one or the other of the Cartwright boys trying to follow some of the stolen herd on different occasions and thought they were the ones doing the rustling.
Once Andy got his stolen herd back from the hiding places Jim had them stashed and heard Roy’s account of Jim’s story, he was more than satisfied.
As they finished up their coffee, Roy was coming to the conclusion of the whole incident.
“So boys it seems as though Jim Gars is gonna stand trial for cattle rustling. Not sure what is gonna happen to him as I am not partial to hangings. But at the very least, he will be spending a long, looong time in prison fer what he done.”
“I’m just glad we got the whole thing solved Pa,” replied Hoss. “I sure didn’t fancy being accused of cattle rustling.”
“Me neither brother,” added Joe.
“I’m just surprised that we managed to wrap up both the miner’s complaints about animals invading the Lucky 7 and Andy Parker’s claim on cattle rustling with the same answer,” interjected Adam.
“All’s well that ends well boys,” commented Ben. “Just another typical day at the office for you I guess Roy?”
“Typical day at the office do you say!” exclaimed Roy. “Why if I had any more days typical like this I just might take an early retirement.”
With that the four Cartwrights burst into laughter. They knew that Roy would never voluntarily take early retirement no matter what he said or what interesting adventures occurred in Virginia City.
Giving a final farewell to Sheriff Roy Coffee, the Cartwrights mounted their steeds and took off for home and hearth on the Ponderosa. After all, they still have plenty of their own chores to do and the ranch don’t run itself.
The End