Rebellion in the Valley by Robyn Leatherman

thinkin’ about certain matters. Are you ready to be a
grown up woman and meet him in those ways of thinkin’?”
    “Richard, what happens now?”
    He nodded for her to follow him to the table
and reached for the deck of cards someone left there from the night
before.
    “We play gin rummy. Just let the cards play
themselves out, Hailee. If it’s a good game, you’ll come out of it
just fine. Now get on out there and get my eggs, girl. I’ll whip
you at a round or two of cards when you get back,” he winked.
     

Chapter 10
     
    A couple of days after the wagon wheel marks disappeared up at
the Red Bone Ranch, the group of men found themselves looking down
a seventy-five-foot embankment in Puma Canyon, located not more
than three miles from their home.
    Duffy shrugged a thumb downward. He shook his
head.
    “That creek’s got a lot of water flowin’
since that rain storm came in the other night, and that’s a good
sign. Critters follow the flow of water, ya know. What do ya think
we oughtta do, Boss?” he asked, not really listening for an answer
from anyone.
    Bruce shrugged a shoulder in response.
    “We go on. I came to get me a cat, and I
ain’t goin’ home unless I have me a pelt to hang on my wall,” he
asserted.
    The men nodded in agreement.
    Another hour up the canyon path, the
ranchers-turned-hunters pitched tents and ate hot beans under the
twinkling stars, which gave off just enough light to see by.
    Bruce finished sopping up the last bit of his
food with a chunk of Richard’s sourdough bread when he caught sight
of Tobias all hunched up over a writing tablet on the other side of
the campfire. He looked involved in his thoughts; probably, knowing
how thorough the man was, he probably kept a diary of their every
movement while tracking the cat. Good man, that Tobias.
    He waited until the pencil slid back into a
coat pocket and the tablet shut before calling his fellow hunter
over to his side of the fire ring.
    “Come get your coffee cup refilled, Tobias. I
don’t reckon anyone else is gonna have any more and it ain’t that
good after it sits a while.”
    Tobias obliged.
    “Keepin’ track of what we’re doin’ out here?”
Bruce inquired with a nod of his head toward the tablet.
    Tobias didn’t want to lie, but the fact was,
he had been writing to Hailee, and yet, he wasn’t ready to say
anything to Bruce about the situation. The timing wasn’t right and
he wasn’t about to say one word about his feelings unless they were
words said in private.
    Glancing around at all the other men, he
answered in softer tones, “Well, no, Boss. I had another project I
was workin’ on. I reckon we’ll remember where we are in the
morning, so there really ain’t any need to record where we slept
last night or where we’re going tomorrow. Least ways, that’s how I
see it. But I can write it all down if you want me to, though,” he
mentioned off the cuff.
    Bruce just chuckled and rubbed his chin.
    “Nah. You’re right as usual, Tobias. We come
home with a pelt, we’re gonna remember the story well enough to
tell our grandkids,” he took a slow sip out of his mug. “Not like I
see any of them coming any time soon,” he drifted off in
half-mumbled words.
    Tobias grinned into his own mug. If the man
only knew.
    The younger man glanced around and noticed
they were the last two still milling about. The fire flickered low
highlights around their boot heels, the fireflies gave evidence of
themselves in and out of the trees.
    “Hey, Boss. You ever smear those things all
over your arms when you were a kid? Wake up covered in bug guts the
next morning?” he asked out of the blue.
    Bruce choked on his drink and let out a soft
chuckle, obviously remembering a childhood moment or two.
    They sat together for a while longer, not
really saying that much, just building on the friendship they
already enjoyed.
    Bruce tossed one more log on the fire and bid
Tobias a good night’s rest. He pat him on the shoulder and