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Marty and Joe weren't happy about it at all, but Lance told them as they were leaving. "I'll pay half and you two can pay the other half."
Marty sighed, "I guess that's more than fair. But I'm wondering why he let us go through without paying now?"
"Like he said, he'd find us and expect us to pay up. When we sell the herd, we can pay him, and we won't start any unnecessary shooting to do it. Besides, this is our last trip through this area, and we can be glad of it."
"One thing that will save us some money is not letting the boys go into towns until we get there. Paying damages sometimes amounts to as much."
"Good idea, Marty." Lance smiled. "I knew if we put our heads together, we could work through this, we always do."
"He bought this land, knowing about the cattle drives." Joe insisted.
"True, but he had the right to do it too, so there's little we can do about that. He'll make a bundle this year, but it's gonna be the last year." Lance informed them.
"I'm sure glad that railroad is coming through Ft. Worth."
"Imagine how easy it's going to be next year." Lance grinned.
Chapter Twenty-One
Having no more trouble, they pushed the herd on to the railroad at Abilene, Kansas. Lance met up with the cattle buyer he had met on the train and he offered him a generous amount, enough to cover the entire expense of the cattle rancher's charges and have a profit still.
Lance informed Marty and Joe that he was going to cover the expense himself. He had the largest herd, and he was well able to afford it.
Marty and Joe were relieved because they had paid the Indian tribes a bounty for coming over their lands too.
Now after celebrating a couple of days most of the men were headed home. Some of the wranglers they'd picked up on the trail headed to their own homes. They were all happy that it had been a good drive this year with relatively few problems and everyone had been paid for their work.
Lance and the others stopped off and paid the rancher. The rancher shook his hand. "I was pretty sure I figured you right."
Lance smiled, "Hopefully next year we will be able to ship them from Ft. Worth. But if not, we'll see you then."
"Yeah, times are changing." The man said. "I appreciate you bringing this by so promptly."
The rancher's wife fed all of them and they were on their way once more.
The ride home would be pleasant after chasing cows for so long.
It was August and hotter than blazes. The closer to Texas the hotter it got.
"I can hardly wait to get back to see if Helen learned anything from your wife about cooking." Marty chuckled.
"Let me tell you something Trudy is one hellova cook." Lance told him. "Why I think the boys think more of her than me."
"Well hell yeah, you can't cook!" Marty laughed. Marty's boys had only been up the trail about three times and every time they headed home, they were more than anxious to get there, even though they knew the work there was just as hard.
Rusty had made some strides in running the remuda, and herding the horses back was no problem. He hoped a certain girl would be looking forward to seeing him, as he had a question to ask her.
Willis healed up from his snake bite, although his color didn't return for a long while.
As they gathered around the fire Cookie chuckled, "I guess this is the last time I have to cook for you guys."
"Reckon so, Cookie. You gonna retire now?"
"I'm saving this money, gonna get me a small place and me and my dog are gonna sit on the porch and watch the people go by." He told them. "I'm gonna sit in my rocking chair and pet my dog and we'll live happily ever after."
"Sounds good. You deserve it. I don't know if we've ever told you how much we appreciate you being with us every year. Cooking, doctoring, and all the other things you do." Lance looked at him with a smile. "And you are regular as clockwork, we can set our getting up time with you."
Cookie was an older man with white hair and a smile as wide as the Mississippi. He wasn't a sloppy man; he took care of himself even on a cattle drive. He was probably the cleanest drover among them.
