not_his_pa | The Drive

William hasn't been sleeping much and he's been going between Milliways and the door in the barn as he gets everything read. At this point, he's fairly sure they should be able to leave tomorrow but he knows his mother wants to meet Jack and Michael in case they're not good enough.

Mark's inside and Alice is on the porch as she calls out, "William, stop worrying at things in that barn and come in here and introduce me to the men you've hired."

He looks over at Jack and Michael, Jack doesn't seem too different but Michael is a bit odd in his cowboy clothes, "Ready?"

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From:

jack_f_twist

"Don't got a name," Jack grunts from where he's saddling his own horse. "Bought these two off Missus Reynolds a while back. That one there belongs to a friend a mine, but he ain't never named him."

Ennis' unnamed gelding is well-trained and quiet, though, the kind of dependable cow pony that could probably move this herd mainly on its own. Jack's mare is a little more energetic, and he swears as she dances around beneath his hands, making him work to secure his rifle and saddlebags, tighten the cinch.

Everything tightened and in place, he swings up into the saddle with an easy motion, the mare turning beneath him until he clucks and urges her toward the mass of cattle.

Seventy steers; ain't a problem. Not after herding a thousand sheep up a mountainside.

From:

not_his_pa

Once William sees they're all set, he starts them going, the cattle low and moo but don't act up.

At least not yet, but for a good part of the drive, they're on fairly level ground and following the road.

From:

luvs_yogurt

The horse moves easily underneath him as Michael lets William set pace - keeping himself within sight of the brothers and occasionally checking back on Jack.

It's a nice out, cooler than he expected in Arizona and with more green. Scanning the area with his usual high awareness, he can't help but be a little edgy - as though waiting for something to happen even though he's told himself it's not Miami. There's nothing here that wants to hurt any of them.

From:

jack_f_twist

It ain't bad out, that's sure enough, and Jack reaches into his saddlebag, pulls out a bandana to tie around his neck for when it's bound to get dusty later on. For now, though, the sky's clear and the cattle are behaving. Beneath him, the mare heads easily along, making him sway in the saddle like he's sitting in one of the rocking chairs at Milliways.

He communicates with the mare by a string of chirps and whistles, making her ears prick up, swivel back, as he rides her along the outer edge of the herd.

From:

not_his_pa

As they ride, William does his best to keep an eye on all he can, watching out for strays and his brother.

Mark handles himself just fine, he's been helping with the ranch since he was small.

Though now he's doing more and at one point he coughs and he says, "I'm fine, Will, don't need to ask. Just some dust."

One of the steers near Michael spots the perfect bit of turf and starts to see if its edible.

From:

luvs_yogurt

Micheal's a lot more worried about the younger Evans' cough than his skill - while he might not have been told much about his illness it's enough that he knows to keep a close eye.

"Hey, come one..." he says in a short, clipped tone followed by a short whistle as he gently nudged the reins toward the wayward steer. "With your buddies now, come on..."

From:

jack_f_twist

From the other side, Jack catches sight of the straggler, and reins in, slightly, watching to see what Michael will do.

"Hold on, now," he tells the mare, stepping eagerly under him, but it looks good, and he clucks, moves along, keeping a few cattle from falling out towards the grass to the side of the herd.

From:

not_his_pa

Mark's a lot better than he was before but consumption's a hard disease and his family worries about him.

William moves around the other side of the herd, using his rope to get steers where they should be. As he sees how Michael's doing, he nods, they'll do fine.

From:

luvs_yogurt

Sure enough, after another casual prodding he manages to get the steer's attention and the horse seems to take most of the work, leading it back where it should be as he falls back a little further.

Glancing back to Jack, as though his approval would mean something, he offers a weak smile.

From:

jack_f_twist

It ain't as bad as sheep, but then, seems to him like the only thing worse to herd than sheep would be cats. These cattle are well-mannered enough, and though he's got to ride up occasionally to the front of the herd and coax a few strays back in, they're getting along just fine.

Michael'd even managed to get that one back in, and Jack nods as he rides along, one hand on the reins, the other on his hip, sitting easy, silence settling around, broken by the sound of hooves and the lows of the herd.

From:

not_his_pa

As they ride, William doesn't relax too much as he knows they're not far from where the stage passes, but keeps them moving.

Mark sometimes glances at him but otherwise, it all settles into a comfortable silence.

From:

luvs_yogurt

Occasional movement, animals Michael assumes, keeps his eyes sharp - but he's still cautious as always. The cattle have a certain rhythm to them, just like moving groups of people, really.

"A lot of people pass through here?" He asks casually, catching sight of ruts in the earth where it looks like horses had passed not long before. Seems an odd place to pass through, but he doesn't know the land at all - let alone this land. For all he knows it's the damn interstate.

From:

jack_f_twist

If they do, they sure won't, now. Trying to take the same path as a herd on the move is just asking to be held up for hours, especially if the animals spook, especially if the road gets narrow, especially if they're moving stock of their own.

He's listening, but only halfway. The rest of his attention is on the land, the sky, looking for signs of other animals. Coyotes, maybe: this ain't exactly bear country, and they don't need to worry about mountain lions, neither, but there's always something, and it always shows up just in time to piss him off.

From:

not_his_pa

"Yeah, well not here, this is more for cattle, but road's just there,"

As they're not far from it but not completely on it. It's hard ground around this part of Arizona with rocks that get mined and scrub that bites back.

From:

luvs_yogurt

Michael nods to himself, letting his body follow with the cadence of the horse - still not sitting quite right with disturbed ground and William's words.

"Looks like a wagon came through - deep ruts, probably pretty heavy unless it was raining here a few days ago. Don't know why they wouldn't just use the road."

From:

jack_f_twist

Jack sucks at his teeth, spits, before lighting a cigarette and letting it hang between his lips as he looks back at William.

"You want me to ride ahead 'n see if anybody's up there? They'll be in for a hell of a surprise if they're still in the way."

From:

not_his_pa

"No, you stay here with the herd. If its anyone I know that'll make it easier. Mark, you stay back,"

He gestures for Jack to take his place and rides towards the front of the herd, loosening his rifle.

If there's any trouble, he hopes he can take care of it and his knuckles get white from how hard he's gripping the reins. The same sort of trouble isn't going to happen again.

From:

luvs_yogurt

Michael nods back toward Jack and guides his mount to follow close behind William, popping open the snap of his gunbelt all the same. He's not too used to cylinder firearms and if things go down he wants to be ready.

Jack and Mark can handle the herd, he'd feel better knowing William's got eyes on him.

From:

jack_f_twist

He watches them go, cigarette dangling between his lips. That guy, Michael: he acts like he thinks there's gonna be trouble of the worse-than-coyotes variety, but it ain't like they don't have the men and guns to run off any thieves stupid enough to come upon a herd in the middle of the morning, with the sun bright and everybody alert

"Shit," he mutters, to himself, and wheels his horse around to pick up the slack of the two missing men, smoke trailing behind him as he does.

From:

not_his_pa

When Michael follows, William gives him a nod, he'd rather he had stayed behind but it makes sense.

Not too much farther up the trail, they come across the wagon that had been making the ruts tipped over with supplies, guns and some cash on the ground as three scruffy looking men argue. One of them is saying, "We should have taken the road or at least gone closer to the mines. No one would look twice at us there."

"Hell, they would have because they'd know to look for us."

"We need to fix the wagon and get goin' and get a train."

Over their voices, there's a click as William readies his rifle and says, "I've got a herd comin' through and don't want any trouble. Just get up and get movin'."

The men turn and stare starting to reach for their guns as the main talker says, "Why don't you just forget you saw us and go around, boy."

"No, you're in the way, should have gone another route."

From:

luvs_yogurt

Shifting uneasily, Michael lets William the lead - his hand resting on the grip of his gun. He doesn't draw, even when he sees William level the rifle - but the threat is clear... the kid isn't alone.

From the look them, they're small time bandits that're probably in a bit of tight spot with their wagon broken down. Even well before the automobile, nothing foils a robbery like getting stranded without transportation.

From:

jack_f_twist

There's a lot more riding to do when there's only two of them with the herd, and Jack takes the lion's share of it, trotting up and down the line, eyes sharp on the stragglers and the few making motions like they're fixin' to stray.

Add to that the way his eyes keep flicking up ahead to where Michael and William rode off, and it ain't no surprise he's busy.

From:

not_his_pa

Mark's helping as he can and says partly to himself, "It'll be alright, ain't goin' to be like before."

Down the trail, the men are watching William and Michael as one of them pushes the wagon, "Look, it ain't that broke. We'll get goin'."

William says, "Get onto the road, we ain't the only ones who'll use this trail. You're lucky we've got a herd to manage."

The three men nod and with a good push, their wagon's upright and they put everything in and start off. As they leave, they can be heard arguing, "Why'd you listen to that kid?"

"Cause that's the Evans' boy. Wade and his men let him live, ain't messin' with him."

"That's all a story. Wade went to Yuma and Dan Evans died, you don't think."

Once they're truly gone down the path and turn off towards the road, William exhales and unloads his rifle, "Shit."

Edited Date: 2012-06-27 06:27 pm (UTC)

From:

luvs_yogurt

Michael watches silently as the men load up - drawing his thumb over the grip as he waits for any sign of trouble. It's easy enough to hear their argument, but not as clear to put together the pieces he's missing.

"That was easy," he mutters quietly, turning his head to watch William. "What'd I miss?"

From:

not_his_pa

"They think I might still be mixed up with Ben Wade cause of Contention. Come on, should get back to the herd," He sighs as he slips his rifle into its holster, he wish they'd never seen Wade that day.

It doesn't take long to get back to the cattle and William rides hard to corral some stubborn cattle. If the rope slaps are a little harder than they need to be, the cattle won't notice too much.

Mark watches him and asks, "Its all safe?"

"Yeah, nothin' to worry about."