Sanderson's Hill

by Nancy Howard

  “Well we do mind. And no you can't try it on,” one says.

  “Why not,” Logan protests? Growing more agitated, with these two young women's attitude toward her by the second, and at the same time she's trying not to show it. She's trying to keep her cool, because she wants to buy the dress she's holding.

  “Because..., because you're kind of dirty.” The blonde girl says to her again, scrunching up her nose.

  “Well, I will say I'm a little grungy,” Logan responds, flippantly.

  “Grungy? We can smell you. We want you to leave, or we'll go get the sheriff.”

  “Well ladies, I hate to tell you this but the sheriff and his deputies just left town with a posse. And I'm really the only law you have in town right now, so I want to try this on,” Logan says.

  Then the blonde girl relents some, and says, “okay you can try it on, but you gotta buy it first.”

  “What?!” Logan protests, loudly. “So what if it doesn't fit me right, or I don't like the way it looks on me? Will I get my money back? Ladies!”

  The two women said nothing, they looked at each other dumbfounded, standing there staring at Logan, like they don't understand her.

  Then the blonde girl says, “that's way it has to be. It's the only way we're going to let you try it on.”

  Logan realizes it's futile to argue the point with them anymore. That the only way she will get to try the dress on, is to buy it. So she agrees and says sarcastically, “okay ladies you win. I'll buy it.” Logan is shaking her head glaring at the two women. Then she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a wad of cash, the likes that neither of these women had ever seen before, and asks them sarcastically, “How much ladies?”

  “Uh that ones four dollars.” the blonde girl says. As she and the other girls eyes grow very large at the site of Logan's wad of cash.

  Logan then counts out four dollars and lays it on the table.

  “There. Satisfied?”

  The blonde girl picks it up and Logan puts her money back into her pocket. The other girl asks Logan, “how did you get your hands on that much money?”

  “I earned it ladies,” she says, being as sarcastic, and using as curt of tone with them as she can, “I'm a bounty hunter. Now again, the fitting room? I'm going to try on my new dress!” She emphasizes, my.

  Then one of the clerks points toward a door in the rear of the store, where the fitting rooms are located. Logan makes her way there, seething down inside as to the way she's been treated by the two clerks.

  Minutes later Logan looks at herself in the mirror. She's donned the dress and is checking to see if it fits her right, and if it looks looks good on her. Logan may be a bounty hunter, and she doesn't spend very much time doing this type of thing. However, she's a woman, and instinctively knows how the dress should look on her. She decides that the dress does indeed look good on her, and she is pleased with her purchase.

  As she looks at herself in the mirror, she hears gunshots ring out. Somewhere outside of the store, and they seem to be coming from the street.

  She thinks to herself in disgust, “now what?” She quickly grabs her boots and puts them on under the dress. Not bothering to change back right away. She straps her gun and holster on, grabs her hat, puts it on and leaves the dressing room. With her new dress on, she quickly walks toward the store entrance. The two clerks are standing there looking out and watching what is going on, when they see Logan. She looks out the front of the store and up the street. She sees a man with his arm around a girl's neck, waving a gun around and shooting it wildly, and yelling obscenities at the top of his lungs, from the middle of the street.

  “What are you gonna do.” the tall girl asks, indignantly?

  “See if I can help that girl,” Logan replies.

  Logan goes outside and stops at the edge of the boarded walkway, and looks up the street. The man is yelling to everyone, that he is going to kill a saloon girl that he has hold of. He's bellowing that he'll kill anyone who tries stop him. Logan figures he obviously very drunk, because he's weaving around as he holds onto the girl.

  John and Catherine have also heard the gunshots, and have emerged from the bank, to see what all the shooting is about. John sees the same thing as Logan, but he decides to stay back and out of the fray, as he spots her striding toward the man. He's interested in seeing how she handles the situation.

  “Hey you! Put the gun down, and let the girl go,” Logan orders the man. Pointing her finger directly at him.

  “No! Stand back you, or I'll shoot you, and her,” he barks at Logan, through slurred speech.

  “What did she do to you?”

  “She said she didn't want a screw me, cause I stink so bad, and I'm drunk.”

  “Then why don't you believe her? And let her go,” Logan says, again.

  “Who the hell are you? Anyway.” the man, shouts back at Logan.

  “Logan Kincaid,” she says, forcefully. “Now again, put the gun down and let the girl go, I ain't gonna warn you again, mister.”

  “Ya, well I got the drop on you, so I'm gonna be famous today. I'm gonna kill Logan Kincaid, the famous woman bounty hunter.”

  Then he points his gun at her, readying to shoot, trying to steady the gun because he's so drunk. He's also trying to hold onto the girl at the same time, making it harder for him to point the gun. The saloon girl is squirming and struggling with all her might, to get out of his grasp. He readies to shoot, but before he gets off a shot Logan draws and fires, hitting him in the wrist, and knocking his gun from his hand. So surprised at how fast Logan is, he let's the girl go. She runs away to safety, and the drunk reaches down on the ground for his gun with his left hand. Then he hears two more shots ring out in his ears, from Logan's gun. She has shot his gun twice, scooting it across the ground and out of his reach. She's now five feet away, looking squarely at him, pointing her gun, saying, “Don't reach for it again, because the next time I shoot, it'll be for you.”

  The drunk stood up holding his right wrist cussing at Logan, then John and two men come running up and subdue him. The two men haul the drunk off toward the jail, as Logan spins her gun back to it's holster. John is standing right next to Logan, noticing, and turns to her, “Damn girl you're fast. Has anyone ever told you how dangerous you are?”

  “Yeah I been told that a couple of times,” she says, nonchalantly.

  “I just bet you have.” He said smiling at her. “You're wearing a dress.”

  “Yeah I just bought it. Pretty isn't it,” she says, with a smile. “I was trying it on, and got interrupted.”

  “I can see that, and yes it is pretty. Listen, as soon as you get done tryin' on your new dress, would you come on over to the bank? I have a proposition for you to consider,” he said.

  “Sure,” she said, and walks off back to the store amid the stares of on-lookers, who have never seen a female handle a six-gun the way she just did. John watches her walk away too, and smiles shaking his head. Then he turns to go back to the bank and his meeting there.

  JUST A FEW MINUTES before the commotion in the street, John and Catherine were in the office of bank president William Chatfield. John for some time, has wanted to buy the two thousand acres on the north side of his property, out by big north mesa. He wants the land to stop cattle rustling in that area of the ranch. But Chatfield tells John and Catherine that the land has already been acquired by Henry Baker, another rancher in the area, who's Running 'B' ranch is right next to Sanderson's Hill. John wanted the acreage very badly because the cattle rustling in that area, is causing John to loose a lot money, and valuable livestock.

  “John you might want to talk to Henry, about sharing the responsibility of policing that area, and getting rid of the rustlers,” Chatfield advises.

  “How? I almost never see him Bill.

  “Well you might consider paying him a visit, and talk to him about all of this. Just to see if he is having trouble with rustlers, himself.”

  “Did he say he's having any trou
ble with rustlers?”

  “No he didn't say anything specific about having trouble, then again I didn't ask him either. He was in here to finish a deal, to buy the old Kelsey place.”

  “Did he say why he wanted it? The old Kelsey place I mean,” John asks?

  “No. He just said he wanted it because it has good grazing land. He's very rich, and has several large investors in Great Britain and Europe backing him.”

  John shakes his head upon hearing Chatfield say that. Then asks him, changing the subject, “You and Jane still coming out to the ranch of for dinner tonight?”

  “Yes we are. We wouldn't miss it.”

  LOGAN WALKS BACK INTO the dress shop, to retrieve and change back into her clothes. The two clerks watch as she enters, and they say nothing to her, they just watch her walk by. Their mouths still gaping open, as to what they just saw Logan do. When she entered the store a few minutes earlier to look for a dress, they were very rude to her. To them she was just some poor girl, who hadn't bathed or brushed her hair in a while. They saw the gun she was wearing when she first came in, but had no idea then, about her ability to use it. They know now.

  Done dressing in her regular clothes, Logan leaves the store and as she does, she ignores the two clerks, who were so rude to her.

  She walks over to the bank as John requested, opens the door and goes in, carrying a bag with her new dress in it. Logan wonders what Sanderson's proposition is for her. Earlier he made it clear that he didn't like bounty hunters, so Logan wonders what could be on his mind, and why he wants to talk to her?

  The teller looks up and sees Logan enter the bank, he asks her if she'd like some help. She nods no, and tells him that she is there to wait for the Sandersons. She looks for a place to set down while she waits. Behind her and next to the door is a straight backed wooden chair, where she sets down. She looks over to the other side of the bank and could see where the Sandersons were setting. They are talking to big bald man in a suit. Logan assumes that the man is a bigwig in the bank. She also notices that the Sanderson's seem disquieted about something, John is squirming in his chair, it is like he has been told something that he didn't want to hear. What John heard from Chatfield, is why he told Logan in the street, just a few minutes before to look him up at the bank, after she bought her dress.

  The Sandersons get up out of their chairs and shake hands with the man, and turn to leave. They see Logan setting by the door and walk over to her.

  “Well you look more normal,” John says. Seeing Logan setting in the chair, this time with her britches, shirt and gun on.

  Logan stands up, “Yeah I guess I do. Mrs. Sanderson,” she says, greeting Catherine politely.

  “Hello again Logan,” she says, smiling back at the young woman. Who like John, she is suddenly taken by.

  “So what's on your mind, that you want to talk to me about Mr. Sanderson?”

  “Let's all go outside Logan, we can talk more freely out there.”

  Outside on the wooden walkway, John starts talking, “Girl I got a question for you. Do you have any other plans, I mean other than goin' out hell bent, and looking for this Bailey Hogg and his gang?”

  “No sir, none other than that,” she said. “Then I ain't plannin' on chase em either, I'd rather set and wait for them to show up. Sometimes it's better to wait for rats to show up for the cheese, rather than chase them all over the country. Gavin's been chasin' em for four or five months now, and he ain't caught up to em yet. So if you're asking me, if I am going to go off traipsing all over the countryside looking for them right now? The answer to that is no.”

  “So your plans are to just stay around here?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Well, while you're waitin on Hogg and his gang to show up for the cheese, I was wondering if you'd like some steady work? I have a proposition for you if your interested. I want to ask Sloan too, when he gets back.”

  “Doin' what?”

  “I need some help on my ranch Logan. I've been having trouble with cattle rustlers out on the north side of my property for some time. That's the reason we came into the bank today, I wanted to buy the land out there, but it seems that my neighbor has beat me to it. I don't have the manpower to keep men out there all the time, besides my men are cowpokes not policemen. Even though they wear guns, they're not professionals, like you and Sloan are.”

  “And that's where the two of you come in. I'd like to hire you for private security work if you want it, and again Sloan if he wants too. To keep rustlers off of my property out there. It's costing me a hell of a lot of money, having my cows stolen like they are Logan.”

  “Sir, if you don't mind me saying this, earlier you said that you didn't have any use for Gavin and me, cause we're bounty hunters. And now you want to hire us to work for you? What changed your mind about me and Gavin?”

  “Yes I know what I said, and I still believe it. But I need help catching these rustlers, and it's only the kind that you and Sloan can provide. Like I said, you're professionals,” He paused looking at her then asked, “So what's it gonna be Missy? You want the work or not?”

  “It'd be steady work that's for sure. So how much does it pay,” Logan asks?

  John smiles at her, chuckles, and says, “somehow I knew those would be the next words out of your mouth. It pays fifty a month, including room and board. Since you're a woman, you can stay with Catherine and myself in our ranch house, in out guest room. I don't think it would be such a good idea for you to stay in the bunk house, with my ranch hands. So what'll it be?”

  Logan looked at him and smiled, paused for a second and said, “Okay. I'll do it.”

  “What about Sloan, you think he might be interested?”

  “I don't know for sure Mr. Sanderson. Like you said you'll have to ask him when he gets back. So when do I start?”

  “Right now. Go grab your horse and gear. You can follow us back to the ranch, and it's John and Catherine.”

  “Gotcha.” Logan says, and smiles at them both, then goes off to get Warrior.

  The Sandersons look at each other and shake their heads, each with a grin on their face, as they watch Logan walk away. Noticing that she has a definite bounce in her in her step, something they remember, was the way their daughter walked.

  They also for some unknown reason like this girl Logan, even though they know she's a bounty hunter. They seem to connect with her, and she with them, even though they're total strangers at this point. Logan notices this too, because she figured that she'd be talking to them again. She just didn't figure it would be so soon, and that she would be hired by the Sanderson's. She's also going home with them, and will be staying and sleeping in their house.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  John Sanderson is a wealthy rancher in the area west of Rio Doso, who doesn't act wealthy at all. Big John as he is known to all, is a plain hard-working man in his sixties, as Logan surmised. He has the girth of a man in that age group, but one should not be fooled. He is a tough, firm, and principled man. But the thing that sets John Sanderson apart from all others is his sense of fairness. He treats everyone the same, no matter who they are. And if he likes you, he'll remain in your corner as a true and trusted friend, for as long as you want him there. He is a good judge of character, often going on his gut feeling about someone right away.

  He is married to his only sweetheart Catherine, who he has been with for thirty-five years. She is a soft and loving soul, who really loves and understands John. Her round face is dominated by her soft and equally large blue eyes. She is the motherly, grandmotherly type who can spar with anyone, that tries to harm John.

  John and Catherine came to this valley from Ohio and settled this wild country, buying a parcel of land here and there, to where they now have over three hundred thousand acres of land for their cattle ranch. John, and Cat, as he fondly calls her have weathered all kinds of hard ships, including a still born daughter, and then the death of their only daughter to smallpox four years ago. She was only twenty-t
wo. It was an event that devastated and changed both of their lives forever. Each having trouble trying to deal with the grief of loosing their only child, when she was such a young, vibrant, and beautiful girl.

  The Sanderson ranch is called Sanderson's Hill because the house sets up on a hill, known as a knoll where John and Catherine can practically see all of their ranch. It is to them the most beautiful spot on earth. With the mountain ranges in the distance, and huge expanses of open range land as far as the eye can see, in all directions. Where the big blue sky seems to reach from one edge of the world to the other, and touch the ranch everywhere the two meet. Sanderson's Hill is a peaceful and beautiful place, the way they intended it to be.

  It has though, been a big empty place for John and Catherine since they lost their daughter. There's a big hole at Sanderson's Hill Ranch that needs filling. Now four years later, letting go of Jennifer doesn't get any easier, and John and Catherine know that life will never be the same without her.

  That is until today as they journeyed to Rio Doso, for a meeting at the bank, with bank president Bill Chatfield. John wanted to buy some property on the north side of the ranch, he thinks it will help stop his cattle rustling problem. But John and Catherine find that the land has already been bought by their neighbor, it is not what they wanted to hear. And while they didn't find what they wanted at the bank, they did find an interesting someone. A young woman, who follows them home, as an employee. She's a someone that will quickly bring that life back to them, and to their ranch. Something that Sanderson's Hill has lost, and so desperately needs, since Jenn's passing. This young woman's impact on the Sandersons will be immediate, just as theirs will be on her.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Meanwhile Gavin, along with Sheriff Case and his posse have arrived at the homesteads of the two families named Tanner, and Blake. The stench of death is everywhere, as the posse arrives. People young and old lying dead on the ground, where they were murdered, with dead livestock visible and strewn everywhere. Sheriff Case dismounts his horse along with Gavin and the eight other men in the posse. As they did they just stopped, and stood by their horses, staring, at what they see, with somber glassy eyed stares. They bow their heads in reverence and grief for the dead. Some of them getting down on one knee, to pray, as tears come to their eyes. These are grown men, strong men, who cannot believe someone is so vile and mean, and can kill like this. They know renegades Apaches might kill whites in this manner, but they know from what Gavin and Logan told them, they're not looking for Indians.