Summary:\u00a0 Two brothers encounter danger while returning home with a herd of cattle.
\nRating:\u00a0 G\u00a0 (1,435 words)<\/p>\n
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Ride The River<\/b> <\/p>\n The brothers sat on a low hill in the late morning sun and watched the herd stream along the river bank before them.\u00a0\u00a0It had been a long job bringing the cow and calf herd in from\u00a0California, but fresh blood in the breeding stock was essential.\u00a0\u00a0They had moved them slow and carried more than a few of the weaker calves in the chuck and supply wagons.\u00a0\u00a0Now, they were almost home.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam nudged his brother.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s our last ford coming up.\u00a0\u00a0Then we\u2019ll be on the Ponderosa.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t be too soon for me,\u201d Hoss replied.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cHome, Hop Sing\u2019s cooking, a glass of good brandy and my own bed.\u00a0\u00a0Shore beats sleeping on our soogans under a wagon.\u00a0\u00a0Wonder what Joe\u2019s been up to?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cProbably courtin\u2019 the newest gal in town or skinnin\u2019 miners out of their hard earned pay at poker.\u00a0\u00a0Course, maybe Pa\u2019s had him doing our chores instead.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYeah, poor thing; it\u2019s a rough life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Well, we better get down there and get \u2018em headed across.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They touched up their horses and rode toward the head of the herd.\u00a0\u00a0Hoss sat the solid Chubb, while Adam had his best cutting horse, Chingo.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The\u00a0Truckee\u00a0had worn a horse-high bed through the granite baserock, but there was an easy slope that ran down to the swift, but shallow stream.\u00a0\u00a0Adam eased Chingo down the path and into the edge of the water.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll test the footing,\u201d he called back to Hoss.\u00a0\u00a0His brother nodded.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The roan horse picked his way carefully through the rocky bottom, and Adam didn\u2019t hurry him.\u00a0\u00a0The water was icy cold and ran hock-high.\u00a0\u00a0They reached the far bank safely.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Chingo gathered his hindquarters and jumped up the muddy slope in two long strides.\u00a0\u00a0Adam pulled him up and shouted across,\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLooks passable.\u00a0\u00a0They should make it okay.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCookie says the stew is hot,\u201d Hoss bellowed back.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIffen we don\u2019t eat now he\u2019ll toss it out.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam looked toward the mist that was drifting across the tops of the more distant mountains and frowned.\u00a0\u00a0Picking his way back across the river, he pulled rein beside his brother.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know, Hoss.\u00a0\u00a0Might be smart to get them in the water now.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMen are hungry, Adam.\u00a0\u00a0We started off before daylight this morning, and it wouldn\u2019t hurt to let the critters rest a few minutes before they have to dive in.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ll make it fast.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s do that,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0\u00a0They kicked the horses and rode back toward the chuck wagon and cook fire where the trail hands were already gathering.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The hot stew, filled with beef, onions and pinto beans in a thick gravy, tasted good with tough, sourdough bread and hot coffee, but the hands didn\u2019t linger for second helpings.\u00a0\u00a0Still, close to an hour had passed before they had gathered the grazing herd and strung them out headed for the crossing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hoss rode on ahead.\u00a0\u00a0When Adam caught up, he found Hoss still on the near bank. A frown creased his broad forehead.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLook there, Adam.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Hoss pointed down.\u00a0\u00a0The water ran faster and appeared to be two or three inches deeper.\u00a0\u00a0Adam spurred Chingo and rode upstream for a quarter of a mile, away from the noise of the herd.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He slid his mount to a halt and listened.\u00a0\u00a0The birds were quiet and a faint, distant grumble seemed to seep up from the ground.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam raced back to the crossing with his horse stretched flat out.\u00a0\u00a0The herd leader and the first few animals were already in the water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTurn \u2018em, men, turn \u2018em!\u201d he shouted.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cFlash flood!\u00a0\u00a0Get those cows back! No crossing today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hoss wheeled Chubb and shouldered into the heifers that hesitated on the bank.\u00a0\u00a0He whooped\u00a0\u00a0at the top of his voice and smacked at their muzzles with his rope, driving them to turn aside.\u00a0\u00a0The hands joined in to push the herd left and back on itself.\u00a0\u00a0Hoss was caught up in the jostle and press of startled cattle, but managed to break free and maintain his position on the river bank.\u00a0\u00a0He used knee pressure and fast weight shifts to cue Chubb, as they darted back and forth to face down the suicidal critters determined to throw themselves into the rapidly rising water.\u00a0\u00a0The drag riders at the back of the herd\u00a0\u00a0raced to head off the leaders as they stampeded back from the crossing.\u00a0\u00a0In the eternity of a few frantic minutes, they had the herd circling and on its way to safety.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam had kicked Chingo and jumped him off the bank and into the water.\u00a0\u00a0He headed for the leader, a fierce old cow with one broken horn and a nasty disposition, that the men called Jezebel.\u00a0\u00a0Already belly deep in the stream, she hooked at him.\u00a0\u00a0He grabbed her good horn as it grazed him and yanked her head across his thigh.\u00a0\u00a0He hauled his mount around and headed back to the bank. Half way there the water surged higher and began to foam.\u00a0\u00a0Jezzy jerked away frantically and snatched Adam from the saddle with her. Adam threw up a hand and shouted, \u201cHoss!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the bawling cattle and roaring water, his brother somehow heard and turned. He shook out his rope, formed a loop, and tossed it out and over Adam.\u00a0\u00a0Hoss hauled in from his end, while Adam pulled himself hand-over-hand toward the land.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jezebel and the three heifers that had followed her swam hard and managed to scramble out furthur downstream.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hoss jumped down and hauled a dripping and hatless Adam up the bank by main force as the water tugged hard at its escaping prey.\u00a0\u00a0They turned and stared as a subaudible rumble grew into a spine-chilling thunder, and a destructive wall of water five feet high raced down the river with incredible speed.\u00a0\u00a0Boulders, it would take two men to move, tumbled along in the tumult accompanied by battered logs and mangled vegetation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With the herd settling onto the grass again, most of the trail crew had ridden back to the water\u2019s edge. They could do little beyond shake their heads and swear in astonishment as the few animals still in the water were swept from sight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam shook the water from his hair.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDamn,\u201d he said, \u201cthat was close.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cToo darned close,\u201d Hoss said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIffen we\u2019d been in there, we\u2019da lost half the critters and some of us. As it is we lost four head.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0His big shoulders shivered.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cShore looks like I won\u2019t be sleeping in no soft bed tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAfraid not.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Adam reached out to place a sympathetic hand on his brother\u2019s arm.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cShould go down by morning.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ll probably have to do some clearing up in the crossing, but let\u2019s hope we can get across before\u00a0noon.\u00a0\u00a0Hop Sing will just have to hold that roast pig for another day.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The deadly front of the flash flood passed within minutes.\u00a0\u00a0But, the water still ran to the lip of the stream bed and was too swift for even the strongest animal to dare.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLook!\u201d someone shouted and pointed at the far bank well downstream.\u00a0\u00a0All eyes shifted, and they saw Chingo heave himself up and out of the water and onto the solid land.\u00a0\u00a0He shook himself from head to hoof, bugled once at the gaping men and bent his head to crop the rich grass at his feet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cTough pony,\u201d Adam said\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGlad I didn\u2019t lose him.\u00a0\u00a0If he doesn\u2019t go home, we\u2019ll pick him up tomorrow.\u00a0\u00a0Head back to the wagons,\u201d he told the men.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ll have a good supper and an early night.\u00a0\u00a0Think we can plan on gettin\u2019 home tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They moved back from the stream and Adam saw that Hoss was limping on his right leg.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re hurt? he asked.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNothin\u2019 much, got bumped some as I turned the cattle.\u00a0\u00a0Just a bruise; be okay in a day or two.\u00a0\u00a0Besides, you look like a drowned cat and there\u2019s blood on your shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam lifted his shirt tail to examine the shallow cut along his lower ribs.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLooks like old Jezzy got me there.\u00a0\u00a0Clean it out with some whisky for me?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cShore, soon\u2019s you get out of them wet clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd thanks, Hoss, for hauling me out of that flood.\u00a0\u00a0Darn fine roping.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHad to, couldn\u2019t lose my best pard.\u00a0\u00a0Who else would I ride the river with?\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They turned and, shoulder to shoulder, walked back toward the camp.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n THE END<\/p>\n
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