Like An Eagle
Chapter Three
The two new visitors soon settled in. When Marie Rose
wasn’t joining Mike in some wild escape, she was helping her father with some
part of his research.
Occasionally, when James needed to take his experiments
further a field, either Slim or Jess would accompany him, ensuring he didn’t
get lost or hurt. There hadn’t been any trouble with the Indians for a while,
but it never did any harm to be cautious.
On some evenings James would join Slim and Jess on the
porch and they would spend a few pleasant hours talking about life, and the
west. Occasionally James would tell them about his travels and some of his
inventions and work. It made a welcome change from the routine of the ranch and
even Daisy found time to join in the pleasant chats.
None of the permanent residents of the ranch managed to get
much information on James’ current invention. Even Mike had tried to get Marie
Rose to give some sort of hint as to what it was all about, but had failed
miserably.
On one warm evening, while waiting for the Doctor and his
daughter to return from town, the family compared notes. Jess observed that he
had seen the Doctor stand at the top of one of the bluffs and release a feather,
carefully noting the direction it floated, and the time it took to reach the
ground. Slim added that he had watched the good Doctor noting down wind
directions and temperatures at different times of the day.
“Beats me what he learns from all that. I mean, one
minute he’s busy folding bits of paper and throwing them in the air, the next
he’s scribbling away. He produces pages and pages of paper with figures all
over them, but it don’t make any sense to me,” Slim commented
good-naturedly.
“Same here, Pard. I
found him laying on his back and watching an eagle hunting the cliffs the other
day. When I asked him what was going on, he just smiled and said he liked to
dream he was up there with that eagle, seeing the world from its viewpoint. If
you ask me, the army must be pretty desperate to think he can come up with
something they’d want. The other
day he was over in the barn, cutting up wood and fixing it together. Darned if I
could tell what he was making though.”
“I like him,” Mike cut in. “He’s fun. He helped
Marie Rose and me fly kites the other day. He even came out with one he’d made
himself for Marie Rose and it flew real well.”
“Oh! He did,
did he? No, Mike I like him too, it’s just that I can’t figure out what
he’s up to.” Jess tousled Mike’s hair. “Whatever it is, its got me
beat.”
“That doesn’t say much, Pard; after all you ain’t
exactly Harvard material.” Slim gave Jess a friendly slap on the back.
It took Jess a moment to realise he was being insulted.
“Hey, you!” He moved to catch Slim who was already retreating into the
house. Unfortunately Daisy was heading outside balancing several plates of apple
pie fresh from the oven at exactly the same time. Slim reached to steady Daisy,
but one of the plates hit the ground none the less.
“Slim, whatever are you doing?” Daisy exclaimed.
Slim looked embarrassed. “Sorry, Daisy. I
suddenly remembered something.”
“Yeah. He suddenly remembered how I can move faster than
him.” Jess laughed as he picked up the pieces of broken pie and plate. He
thrust the mess into the hands of a still surprised Slim. “Here, reckon this
one’s yours, Slim.” Then, lightening fast he took one of the remaining
intact pieces from Daisy. “Thanks, Daisy sure smells good.” He sniffed the
air appreciatively.
The scowl Slim threw at Jess’ retreating back was far
from friendly, but it turned to a smile as Daisy patted his arm. “Never mind,
dear, there’s plenty more inside. You get rid of that mess and I’ll bring
you a fresh piece.”
The three of them were soon sitting in amiable silence on
the porch, savouring the flavour of the spicy apples. Jess was the first to
clear his plate and looked hopefully at Daisy. Knowing her adopted sons well,
Daisy smiled. “Don’t worry, there is plenty more, but you will have to wait
till James and Marie Rose get back from town. You know, for a young lady, that
girl has an appetite to rival Mike’s.”
“Where is Mike by the way?” Jess enquired.
“He’s eating his in his room. He’s trying to get all
his schoolwork done before Marie Rose comes back. They have been cooking
something up between them that they want to try out,” Daisy replied
“You know, I
think that girl is a good influence on Mike. He seems to be reading a lot more;
since she started lending him her books and helping him try out some of the
things in them.” Slim commented philosophically, while giving Jess a sideways
look, appraising his reaction.
“Uh, uh! I thought Mike had no trouble getting into
mischief, but that girl is a tornado of pure trouble. I need eyes in the back of
my head when those two are around.” As he spoke, Jess casually rubbed his
knee. It was still bruised from a few days earlier when he had gone sprawling
into the horse trough.
Mike had been telling Marie Rose about the racoons around
the place. They seemed to have taken to raiding Daisy’s kitchen whenever the
opportunity presented itself. The two children were currently engaged in finding
some way to deter the little bandits.
A noble occupation indeed, but unfortunately it always
seemed to be Jess that became the unwilling victim to their experiments. On this
last occasion it had been a trip wire designed to pull a cord attached to an
array of cans. The noise was supposed to scare the critters off. Unfortunately,
Jess had found the wire before the racoons, although his subsequent yell of pain
and indignation certainly scared the animals away.
Slim’s smile was big enough to split his face as he
recalled the incident. Jess’ language had turned the air blue, until Daisy had
appeared to see what all the noise was about and a shamefaced Jess had calmed
down enough to apologise for his outburst.
The two miscreants had disappeared, only to re-appear later
when a somewhat drier and calmer Jess emerged from the ranch house. They had
apologised very sincerely, and explained that they had only the best of
intentions, so after a stern warning about safety, and keeping their efforts a
safe distance from the ranch house, Jess had forgiven them. He even went so far
as to help them in their efforts to fly the strange new kite James had given
them. Slim had enjoyed watching the child in Jess run free for a while. From
what he knew of Jess’ past, he had not had much of a childhood.
Noticing Slim’s grin Jess sought to defend himself. “It
weren’t that funny, Slim”.
“It was from where I was sitting. It purely was a
pleasure to see you on the receiving end of the practical jokes for a change.”
Since Jess had come to the ranch, many things had changed, mostly for the
better. But one thing had remained constant and that was Jess Harper’s
tendency to join first Andy and then Mike, in setting up a variety of pranks,
with Slim usually playing the target.
As he re-called some of those pranks himself, Jess found
himself smiling and then laughing, the laughter putting a softer edge to his
raspy voice. “Yeah, reckon I have pulled a few pranks in my time. Now I know
what it feels like, maybe I do owe you an apology for a few of them.”
“A few of them?” Slim said indignantly. “I think
there has been more than a few of them.”
“Didn’t know you were counting. I ain’t caught you
out in a while, Slim; reckon I’m getting too settled.”
“Naw, your just losing your edge. I hear tell it happens
as you get older.” Slim turned to Jess, waiting eagerly for his friend to come
back with some witty response. Jess however failed to take the bait. He was
staring at the wagon that had just turned onto the road to the ranch.
“Daisy, I think our guests are coming back.” He turned to Slim as he continued.
“I’m heading to the barn, Traveller needs a good rub
down after the riding I did today. He’s dustier than I was before I took that
bath earlier.” Then he was up and heading away before Slim could even object.
“Well, that was a quick retreat. Why, he didn’t even
stop to ask me to keep him another piece of pie.” Daisy said, puzzled by
Jess’ sudden departure. “If I didn’t know better I’d say he was hiding
out.”
Slim laughed out loud. “He told me earlier that he’d
heard Mike and Marie Rose discussing another sure fired way to scare them
bandits away from the house, and he’s terrified he’ll get caught up in it,
willing or not.”
Laughter crinkled her face as Daisy watched Jess’ rapidly
retreating back. “You know, Slim, Jess has admitted that one of his greatest
fears is a decent woman, but I didn’t think that included little girls. I
don’t think even Jess himself realised just how terrifying a little girl can
be. That is until he met Marie Rose.”
“You’ve got to admit, Daisy, she is one scary little
girl. Whoever marries her when she grows up is going to have their hands
full.”
“But, Slim, didn’t you know, Marie Rose has announced
to everyone that she fully intends to marry Jess, just as soon as she is old
enough.” The older woman kept her face perfectly straight.
Slim nearly choked on the coffee he’d been about to
swallow as he erupted into peels of laughter. “No wonder he’s so all fired
up to brush down his horse. Daisy,
you’re an angel. If I play this right I reckon I can get Jess to do all those
chores away from the ranch that we’ve been putting off these past weeks.”
He reached forward and gave the chuckling woman a peck on the cheek.
“Now, Slim, poor Jess is embarrassed enough without you
pouring the grief on,” she admonished, the laughter still dancing in her eyes.
Turning to look at the barn, Slim replied innocently “As
if I would, Daisy. No I was just remembering you know the Doc wants to head out
to the mountains next week, and I was going to escort him. If he takes that
wagon along like he intends to, it could mean a two or three day trip each
way.”
“Yes I know, Slim, but we’ll manage. He would get lost
out there and he fully intends to take Marie Rose with him.” Daisy’s voice
was serious now. “One of you two needs to go with the poor man.”
“I know, Daisy, but didn’t the stage line
superintendent say that the company accountant is due through here before the
end of the month.”
“Yeees.” Daisy said, hesitantly, wondering where the
conversation was leading. “But that could happen at any time in the next three
weeks and you’ve already checked the books.”
“Yeah, but there were some discrepancies in the figures,
and he just might want to re-check them. You know how Jess is with figures.
He’d do anything rather than wrestle with the books.”
Catching on, Daisy nodded. “I suppose so. I even think he
would agree to take the good Doctor out on that field trip instead of you. But
then, given how he is about Marie Rose---”
“Oh, he doesn’t need to know she is going along, now
does he. After all it hasn’t been arranged for certain has it.?” Slim’s
blue eyes narrowed as he calculated the risk of Jess’ revenge. He decided it
would be worth it, just to see his best friend’s face when he realised he’d
be on the trail for several days at the mercy of the wilful young girl.
“Daisy, don’t you say a thing. Leave this to me.”
Slim’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he headed to the barn.
It hadn’t been too difficult to convince Jess that he
should be the one to guide the good Doctor into the mountains, especially after
Slim had assured him it was unlikely that the mischievous young girl would go
with them, as James would not want to subject his daughter to the rigors of
several days on the trail.
Jess hadn’t really questioned Slim’s suggestion too
much, after all he liked to get out on the trail now and again, and his many
years drifting around still called to his blood occasionally. That chance and
the fact he truly did hate the paperwork made him practically bite Slim’s hand
off as he took up the offer.
There had been a brief hesitation as the younger man looked
appraisingly at Slim, trying to decide what the catch was, but then Slim had
pointed out that it would likely mean several days away from the attentions of
an infatuated Marie Rose, and James did make for entertaining company with his
stories about his travels.
From the corner of his eye Slim had seen Marie Rose jump
down from the wagon and head unerringly towards the barn where Jess had
retreated. Slim had started to turn away, saying, “Well, if you’re not
interested, I’m happy to----.”
As the young girl had rushed towards Jess, eager to tell
him of her visit to town, a look of panic had crossed his handsome features. He
grabbed hold of Slim’s sleeve.
“I’ll do it. No argument. Jest stall her long enough for me to
disappear.”
Keeping a sweetly innocent look on his face, Slim had
raised his eyebrows questioningly. “Fine, but what---?”
Before he could complete his question, Jess had leapt on
Travellers broad bare back, and headed out the back door of the barn, riding
true Indian fashion. Chuckling to himself, Slim turned to greet Marie Rose.
“Why, hello there. Did you have a nice day in town?”
“Yes thank you. Where’s Jess? I thought I saw him in
here.”
“He was, but
you’ve just missed him. He’s rode out to check on some stock.”
“Oh.” Slim
could hear the disappointment in her voice as she turned to go. Slim thought to
himself that he should feel hurt at the obvious disinterest Marie Rose had in
him. But given that things seemed to happen to those whom Marie Rose took a
close interest in, he maybe should think himself lucky that he wasn’t the
object of her adolescent affections.
As the time for the trip drew close Mike had been sworn to
secrecy and had told no one that Jess was unaware that the young girl was
intending to travel with her father. It was planned that they would head out at
dawn the next the morning. Marie Rose had spent the day helping her father check
and re-check the wood and cloth construction that was crucial to the experiment.
If Jess had been around he may have become suspicious of Slim’s generosity as
Marie Rose and her father packed the wagon with the essentials for the trip,
including a bag with the girls clothes piled in. However, whether by design or
chance, he had been away all day.
Slim and Jess had been away from the ranch since early
morning, taking this last opportunity to round up strays in the lower pastures
before Jess set out with the Doc and Slim was effectively confined to the ranch
seeing to the stage coaches and waiting for the auditor to check the books.
As the tired but contented pair rode back to the ranch, the
welcome smell of Daisy’s cooking greeted them. With the promise of a good meal
the two men made short work of seeing to their horses and heading to the house,
only to be greeted by Daisy who sent them straight back out to wash the trail
dust off. A few minutes later, two somewhat cleaner ranchers sat down to enjoy
the hearty meal.
Wanting to pamper her sons and treat her guests before they
set out, Daisy had once again made one of her famous apple pies. Everyone around
the table appreciated this offering, but when Slim indicated second helpings
would be welcome, Daisy admonished him, saying she had baked an extra one but it
was still too hot from the oven, and besides, it was for James and Jess to take
with them the next day.
“Hey, that ain’t fair. I may be staying here but I’m
gonna be doing double chores for the next few days. I’m going to need feeding
up.”
“Uh, huh, Slim. You get any more feeding up; and you’re
likely to need a whole new rig out before long.” Jess laughed.
Slim was tempted to argue more, but instead he kept his own
council. So far Jess was still ignorant of the fact that Marie Rose was joining
her father on the trip, and Slim would well and truly get his revenge when Jess
realised he’d been had.
Daisy was fairly sure poor Jess had been tricked into being
the guide on the trip, but knew that the two young men often waged a war of good
natured one up-man ship. It was one of the many facets of their relationship
that had bound them together and ensured the strong friendship and brotherhood
the two men enjoyed. She had long ago decided that it was better not to
intervene when one of them was hatching a plot to ensnare or embarrass the
other.
“It’s alright, Slim once you’ve finished feeding the
horses in the barn, I’ll have an extra piece of pie for you to. I did keep
some back.” Daisy smiled benevolently at the two men as they left the table to
go about the last of the chores before settling down for the evening.
Mike and Marie Rose had disappeared the moment the meal was
finished. The two youngsters were eager to try out the latest in a series of
inventions aimed at discouraging the local racoon population from raiding
Daisy’s kitchen. The only problem lately was that the only victim of the
elaborate traps and alarms seemed to have been one unfortunate dark haired
member of the household.
For the most part, he had been good-natured about it, after
the initial shock wore off. Though noted for having a quick temper, Jess was
also very tolerant of children, the lost child in him making him feel both a
strong kinship and a protectiveness towards them in general, and Mike in
particular.
When Jess had been little more than a child himself, he had
seen his own brothers burned to death in a raid. Since he had made his home at the Sherman ranch, Slim had
become his older brother while Andy and later Mike, had become his younger
siblings in his heart and life.
Now Jess, having finished his chores, looked about
anxiously for the two mischievous children. Seeing no sign of them, he visibly
relaxed and headed to the barn where he had seen Slim heading to earlier.
Just a few strides from the barn, something caught his eye
to the right of the barn door. He veered off to investigate, a mischievous glint
in his eyes. Stopping directly in
front of the object of his attention, he glanced quickly around to check no one
was watching. ‘ Well, Slim I gotcha this time. Fancy leavin’ your extra piece of apple pie out here in full
view. Never know when someone might
be passin’ and take a fancy to another piece.’
Jess looked around again
and seeing no one in sight, he reached forward to pick up the pie, a
self-satisfied grin on his face.
His
attention focused entirely on the pie and the thought of Slim’s face when he
realised it was gone, Jess failed to notice the small arrangement of wood and
cord that the plate rested on. If he had, he may have followed the lever and
pulley system through to the far end of the construction and been a little more
cautious in his actions.
Poor Jess had only partially straightened up, his prize in
hand, when WHUMP, he was hit squarely in the chest by a flying paper bag full of
flour. Jess felt like he’d been punched hard in the ribs as the air was forced
out of his lungs. To make matters worse, the missile burst on impact, and as
Jess struggled to draw in air he found himself choking on flour as it billowed
in a cloud about his head, filling his nose, mouth and lungs.
The cussing that followed between bouts of coughing and
gasping would have embarrassed a seasoned sailor. The air was positively blue.
“God damn varmints” ‘cough’. “Where the hell” ‘gasp’
“are they? I’m gonna---”
“JESS!” Daisy’s voice commanded sternly. She had
appeared as if by magic as Jess had literally exploded. It was taking all of her
will power to keep from laughing out loud at the sight that greeted her. “You
watch yourself, young man. You’re not so old that I can’t wash your mouth
out with soap and water. I won’t have swearing, and you know it.”
Blue eyes sparking with anger, Jess looked about to argue,
but one look at Daisy’s stern features dissuaded him. “I’m sorry, Daisy,
but you seen what happened. Those two are a menace. Someone needs to teach them
how to behave.”
The two terrors in question had appeared magically the
moment the trap was triggered and then seeing that the victim was not the
intended bandits but a very irate Jess, they had just as quickly disappeared,
and were currently nowhere to be found.
Slim had appeared at the door of the barn and was staring
with undisguised mirth at his partner. Jess’ normally black hair was white
enough to do justice to a grandfather, his face and clothes looked like he had
just come in from a winter blizzard.
“Now, Jess, I’m sure the children weren’t intending
for their little trap to catch you. They are just trying to help save my pies
from those awful racoons,” Daisy soothed.
“I already told them not to set anymore traps near the
house, Daisy. It seems they don’t listen so good.” Although still obviously
angry, Jess seemed a little calmer now that he had stopped coughing and was able
to breathe again.
“Jess, that trap was over by the barn, it’s nowhere
near the house.” Slim reasoned. “Besides, what were you doing’ walking
straight into it like that?”
“That ain’t fair, Slim and you know it.” Jess
fidgeted uncomfortably, and then a wicked glint formed in his eyes as he turned
to his partner. “Anyways, I hope you still feel all reasonable like when you
know it was you’re piece of pie I was rescuing when I released the trap.”
“MY PIE!” Slim bellowed. “How come you were picking
up my pie?”
Jess had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I figured
you’d put it down and forgotten it. I was just gonna bring it to you.”
“I just bet you were.” Slim stood with hands on hips
trying to look intimidating, when all the while all he wanted to do was roll
over and give in to a big belly laugh. Jess was a real sight. Just for one brief
moment he felt sorry for his partner and was tempted to tell him that Marie Rose
was accompanying her father on the trip. He was about to offer to be the guide
instead. Then it dawned on him that his best friend had had every intention of
eating his seconds of apple pie and Slim decided that Jess deserved everything
that Marie Rose could dish out.
Now it was Daisy’s turn to question Jess’s intention with the pie. “Jess you weren’t thinking of eating that pie were you? It’s a piece I dropped on the floor earlier, so I gave it to Mike to help in their test. Don’t you fret, Slim your piece is still in the kitchen, and there was another piece for you, Jess but I’m not so sure you deserve it after that language I’ve just heard.”
“Aw, Miss Daisy,” Jess appealed contritely, his eyes
fixed on the ground “I’m sorry. But you got to admit I had reason.”
“There is never a reason to use bad language. However, if
you get yourself cleaned up and promise to behave, I might be able to find you a
piece.”
“But I’ve had a bath twice this week already.” Jess
protested.
“No you ain’t,” Slim chimed in, enjoying watching his best friend’s discomfiture. “You had a bath on Saturday.”
“I was countin’ that extra soak in the horse trough
Mike and Marie Rose arranged.” Jess practically snarled at his friend.
Now Slim’s face cracked in a wide smile, as he fought hard not to burst out laughing.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot that one. Well, partner, I reckon
you’re going to have to go jump straight back into it again, or else Daisy
isn’t going to be letting you back into the house.”
As a dejected and defeated Jess went off to enjoy his third
bath in what he was rapidly coming to think of as possibly the worst week of his
life, Daisy and Slim gave in to laughter.
Mike and Marie Rose re-appeared while Jess was cleaning
himself up and the two children apologised to Daisy and Slim, explaining that
they hadn’t intended to catch Jess. The trap had been set up so that the bag
of flour would hit the side of the barn and bursting open, the cloud of flour
would frighten the racoons off. They hadn’t counted on Jess being the one to
spring the trap.
“I know you didn’t intend to catch Jess.” Daisy
stated as she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. “And I’m sure Jess
will realise that too once he calms down, but it is getting late and it might be
better if you both went to bed now. By the morning, it will all be forgotten.”
Both children knew that James intended to have an early start in the morning, and Mike wanted to be there to say goodbye to Marie Rose before she left on the field trip. He had tried appealing to Daisy to let him go too, but she had said he had school to attend, and anyway Jess would have enough to cope with without worrying about him as well. Obediently the two youngsters retreated to bed, agreeing with Daisy that it would probably be better to stay out of Jess’ way for now.