Chapter Three

Laura grabbed her skinning knife and pried away the false bottoms. She gasped and looked shocked.Cheryl peered in and couldn't believe it either. Under all three false bottoms was filled with gold nuggets the size of Cheryl's fist and rich gold dust.

"What do you make of that?" Laura closed all the lids, removing only the diary.

"Let me see that book. Maybe it'll give us more information," Cheryl tried to read the words, but her vision went blurry and the throbs came back. Without a word, she handed the book back to Laura and pressed a hand to her pounding forehead. Laura understood and began to read aloud.

" 'April 21st, 1932, The gold is coming in fast. Soon I will have enough money to buy a house in Mexico that Elizabeth wants. I can buy her and Jimmy anything that they want. Liz never did like it in these here mountains. Beautiful country, but if it doesn't satisy Liz, I won't think twice about staying. After I go to Mexico and find a house, Liz and Jimmy can start packing.Yes, within another couple days I'll have enough to go.' "

Laura stared at the page, absentmindedly, than proceeded to flipped a few more open. "Well, now we know that he did have a wife and son. but even if they did move to Mexico, why wouldn't he bring all of his gold with him?" Laura glanced at Cheryl, who was resting against a tree with her eyes closed. Laura rushed over to her best friend and picked up her hand.

"Cheryl? Are you ok?" Laura asked her, fretfully.

The badly injured cowgirl squeezed her friend's hand back and opened her eyes. Very faintly, she nodded her head in reply.

"Let's try to get you back to the horses," Laura picked up Chery's arm and helped her up. She laid a arm around her shoulders and laid Cheryl's arm around her neck. Cheryl made it to her feet and together, they made it back to their camp. As soon as she laid Cheryl down by a tree, she fell asleep.

"Well, looks like we'll be staying here longer than we expected."

Laura sat cross-legged next to the blazing fire staring into the black night. Sparks from the fire flew into the air and went out. She picked up a stick that had been in the fire and and rubbed the burning end into the ground, creating a hole and wondering what she was going to do.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Three days later, Cheryl felt much better. Her head had stopped throbbing and her mind and vision wasn't fuzzy. She could now stand and move around on her own.

"Well, I'm feeling alot better, we can move out this morning," Cheryl stood and stretched her muscles she hadn't hardly used in three days.

"I reckon you'd say that if you were on the point of dying. But if you can move around like that then I suppose we can," Laura told her, a smile snaking across her face.

They doused the fire, rolled up their gear, and strapped in on the back of their saddles. They mounted and Laura started to the woods but Cheryl stopped her.

"I want to take another look at those ruins." They trotted side by side. Laura had removed the bandage from Cheryl's head but it still remained sore.

They arrived at the site about fifteen minutes later. Strawberry Delight pranced and made a fuss.

"Woah, girl. It's ok, calm down." Cheryl cooed." She probably smells the other horses." She told Laura. Cheryl dismounted and tied her horse to an old tree stump. She cautiously walked over to the ruins. She looked into the trees behind the once standing house and like Cheryl had hoped, a small clearing stood in the trees, not far in. Laura kept close by her side, obviously nervous.

Cheryl continued to crawl through the small trees to get to the clearing. When they reached it, it was filled with all kinds of flowers. Indian paint brushes, fireweed, sunflowers, daisys, daffidils, and beardstougne. Such diversity and it was beautiful. Small sapling fir trees were scattered along the edge of the clearing. Right in the middle of the beautiful sight, were two graves. Both marked with sticks tied together to represent a cross. One read "Elizabeth' and the other read 'Jimmy'. There were no born or death dates, just the names.

"Well, he absolutely did have a wife and child. We know that now," Laura didn't spend too much time looking at the graves, keeping her hand close to her gun. Cheryl motioned for them to leave.

The wound on Cheryl's head had begun to bleed again so she wrapped another cloth around it.

The horses were jumpy and the whites of their eyes were showing. The ranch girls quickly mounted and rode back to the collapsed pass.

It didn't take very long to ride through the woods. Between ducking under branches and veering away from large, moss-covered rocks, Cheryl could see Laura glancing behind and above often. In no time they appeared on the other side.

"I'm sure glad to gt out of there, let's get back to the ranch. We've been gone two more days then we said we would, We can make it by sundown," Laura went on. The next six hours went by in canters and ground-eating gallops. They came in sight of the ranch by six o'clock.

But Cheryl's gladness to be home soon vanished. When they saw everyone on the ranch on their horses, herding cattle in from every which way into a holding pen again, her heart sank.

"Uh oh, looks like trouble," Cheryl yelled as they galloped down the last hill to the ranch. At the hitching post, several horses stood tied and ready to go.

Cheryl jumped off Strawberry Delight, tethered her and jumped back on Daisy without using stirrups, while Laura exchanged Starfire for Kricket.

They both galloped to the herd and started chasing in strays into the pens. In less than two hours, they all stood back where they were supposed to be.

Everyone tied their horses and removed the saddle. Belinda came out of the house and dragged Cheryl into the house when she saw the raw head wound.

"What did you do to yourself?" She went crazy.

"I'll tell you about it later, we found more information."

"About what?"

"John Duhn."

All the hands and everyone else came in when Belinda was disinfecting the wound.

Daniel rushed to her side and Stevie and Chloe asked in unison," What happened to you?"

"Obviously, I hit my head, I'll explain it later at supper, I'm starved," She winced as the alcohol contacted her wound.

Belinda wrapped a clean cloth around her forehead and everybody sat down. They greedily filled their plates over and over again. Cheryl told everyone about what had happened on the mountain. Half an hour later, Cheryl excused herself early, explaining she was getting a headache. Laura followed at her heels.

Soon, they both were in pajamas and were standing side by side, brushing their hair in front of the mirror.

Cheryl's headache was returning with full force, feeling as if it would explode. All she wanted to do is go to bed and fall asleep.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Cheryl awoke the next morning to Laura pulling on her boots. She rubbed her eyes and felt her forehead, which still had the bandage on it. She reluctantly pulled herself out of her bed, not wanting to move all day. After Belinda's hot oatmeal breakfast, Cheryl felt a little better and she planned her day with Laura. Daniel, Phil, Justin and Chuck, one of the oldest hands on the ranch, were headed out to the low valleys to fix small fences. The hands were asigned to check meadows for flooding or things floating in it.

Belinda urged Cheryl to stay behind and get a days rest. Cheryl and Laura almost agreed, after three days and two nights on a cold mountain side, they were as stiff and sore as they ever had been. Cheryl wanted to stay more than anything, but she didn't want anyone she couldn't handle it, she suggested they go to Elk River to check for beavers moving in.

"Stevie and Chloe can do that, you are staying here," Belinda and Laura told her.

Cheryl slumped back into the back of her chair and folded her arms.

"And what exactly am I going to do all day?"

"Well, the way I figure it, your bed and that diary you found should keep you busy, I'll stay with you," Laura offered.

They both scurried up the stairs with a pitcher of milk and a plate of cookies, which Belinda had baked especially for them and meant they wouldn't be out all day. Cheryl laid on her bed, trying to make out the faded words on the brittle, yellow pages. Within most of the book, Cheryl didn't find anything useful. But on one of the last pages, something caught her mind.

August 17, 1932,

I have found enough gold to buy Elizabeth's home in Mexico. I will catch train to Mexico tomarrow morning. Shouldn't take me more than a month or two. Then we'll be free.

"Why would he go all the way to Mexico? And what does he mean by 'the we'll be free'?" Cheryl murmured to herself.

Laura turned from the screen of the computer that ran off of a battery that charged from the generator in the generator house out back. She was trying to find information online but so far wasn't having much luck. "What was that?" she asked.

"Oh, never mind. Probably wasn't anything," she replied. But she wasn't so sure.

They continued reading and scrolling on the Internet until it was four o'clock and they had to go outside to do chores. They took their horses tack off and turned them loose. Immediately, like always, they galloped together to the lush green meadow, behind the ridge behind the house. They soon disappeared. As Cheryl and Laura walked to the barn, Laura suddenly exclaimed," That's not one of our horses, is it?" Cheryl turned to look at the hill she was pointing at. A huge black horse stood at the crest of the hill and reared. His movement was astonishing. With the sunset behind him, it silhouetted his black figure. His flowing, silken mane whipped around his elegant head.

"No, he's definately not a ranch horse, that's for sure," Cheryl said in awe. "But I bet I know where he came from, he must have followed our horses' scent out of the woods. But I wonder why they never came through the woods before, it wasn't that difficult."

His majestic figure radianced with beauty. His strong, wild head tossed and his front legs beat the air in front of him. A shrill whinny echoed through the valley as he landed on all four hooves and disappeared beyond the horizon.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After Betsy, the ranch's best Jersey milk cow had been put in her warm stall and her four day old calf, Fawn, had been seperated into a different stall Cheryl securely locked the barn doors. Looking for Laura, Cheryl found her tending to the baby chicks and laying hens. She had a basket full of eggs, easily three dozen, at her feet. She was setting trays of fresh water into the rooster pen when Cheryl walked up beside her. When they were done with the chickens, they walked behind the house to set the basket of eggs in the back pantry door. They walked behind the house to the dog kennels. The ranch owned fifteen dogs, four Border Collies and two Sheepdog for the livestock, three Great Pyrnese, two Labrador Retrievers and a Black Lab for guard dogs, two Irish Setters and a Beardog for hunting. Since fifteen dogs eat alot, they butchered several moose, elk or beef every year for dog food. They dug a pit fifteen feet into the ground. The room itself was at least twenty feet wide and long. Wooden post stood upright dotted the room to prevent the roof from collapsing. Slabs of raw meat lay on sheets of plastic all along the edges of the room.

Cheryl jumped down off the ladder and Laura handed the dishes down one at a time. Cheryl spread them out on the floor and cut slices of meat off of the nearest carcass of moose. She laid several slices into each dish and one by one handed them up to Laura. She climbed back out of the ladder and dropped the trap door back down.

"I'll get the sled," Laura volunteered.

She ran to a tree next to the dog kennels and got the sled. The homemade sled leaned against a tree. She brought it back and they loaded it with all the food dishes. Cheryl pulled it to the door of the kennels. About an acre or wired fence created the kennels. Each dog had their own section of space. Cheryl filled her arms with dishes and walked through the first wire gate. Shanaca, the female Border Collie, jumped onto Laura who was carrying her dish. She sent her dish inside her house and gave her a pat. In order to feed all of the dogs, they had to pass through a fifteen gates and back again. Laura unloaded half of the dishes from the shed and Cheryl pulled it over to the other side of the kennels. She loaded her arms full and set every one down by the right dog. They met in the middle with Starsky, the Great Pynese pup watch-dog-in-training. His huge paws pawed at her in hunger.

"There you go, Starsky, eat up," Cheryl gave him his food, but not before telling him 'back'. He immediately slunk back and laid down beside his house. "Good boy! Here's you food."

"He really is coming along in his training, isn't he?" Laura asked with a smile.

"He sure is," Cheryl answered.

They went through the kennels the way Cheryl had come in and leaned the sled against another tree.

"I'm going to peek over the hill to check the horses," Laura announced. Cheryl nodded, lost in her own world gazing out at the mountains. The white glaze that nestled into every crack and dip in every corner of the mountain.

She was leaning against a maple with a unusually sappy grin on her face, not normal for Cheryl, when Laura called down to her from the hill."Cheryl, come here!"

Cheryl shook her head to clear the thoughts. She saw Laura on belly at the crest of the hill in front of the horse pasture. The first thought that came to her mind was that something was wrong with one of the horses. She ran to Laura but when she got to the bottom of the hill, two hundred and fifty feet from her, Laura waved a hand down at her and said, "Shh! Quiet!"

Cheryl dropped on her stomach and army-wormed her way next to Laura.

"What?" She demanded.

"Look!" Laura pointed out at the horses.

Forty horses stood grazing with the Wolverine Ranch brand, three did not. Cheryl nor Laura regonized the two chestnut and sorrel mares, but they did know the huge black stallion. All three of the wild horses were about a quarter miles from the ranch horses. They were all so content eating the lush grass that no one seemed to bother anyone.

They slid back down the hill and ran into the house.

"Father! Three wild horses are in with the remuda. They're not bothering anyone, but we think they followed our horses' scent from the pass," Cheryl told Daniel.

He jumped up and went to check for himself. He came back minutes later and gave Cheryl a quizzical look and said," Cheryl, I don't see anything but branded horses out there."

Belinda dropped the pan she was scraping out and wiped her hands on her flowered apron while she rushed over to Cheryl and felt her forehead.

"Honey, are you feeling well?" she asked, worried, feeling her cheeks and forehead repeatedly.

"No, Mother, I am not hillucinating! They were there! I saw! Laura did, too!" she protested.

"Well, they weren't when i just looked!" Daniel said.

Cheryl and Laura ran back on the hill and looked for the horses. They were gone.

"Well, the boss was right. They're gone!" Laura exclaimed.

Cheryl could see for miles around from where she stood. No sign of them. Gone.

"Oh, well," Cheryl said. She backhanded Laura on the shoulder lightly and said,"Beat you to the kitchen."

A sly smile sneaked across both their faces before they took off running down the hill, Cheryl in lead. Laura threw herself at her and knocked her over. The rolled down the hill, playfully pushing each other. When they got to the bottom, Laura jumped up in attept to escape. Cheryl yelled," Oh, no, you don't!"

She threw herself on top of her and caught her flailing hands at the wrist and pinned her to the ground. They were both huffing and breathing hard. Cheryl looked down and sighed as she let go of Laura's hands and looked up. They were ten feet away from the house. She struggled to her feet and staggered to the porch pole. She leaned on it and turned back to Laura who was still laying on her back, on the ground, exhausted. Cheryl raked the hair out of her eyes that had escaped from her ponytail and smiled while saying," Beat ya."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next morning, Daniel was coming in with the milk from Betsy when Cheryl and Laura were finishing breakfast.

"What are you doing today, Cheryl?" Daniel ask his daughter.

"Not quite sure, maybe go fishing," Cheryl drained her glass of milk, then asked Laura," Do you want to come?"

"Of course! I'll go call the horses in from their night pasture." She rushed to the door and pulled on her boots, leather jacket and cowboy hat and ran out the door.

Cheryl began packing a lunch while she told Belinda,"Catfish Creek isn't that far, we'll be back by lunch."

"Are you going to catch dinner or should I start it?"

"Naw, we'll catch it."

Cheryl stuffed a few extra apples into her saddle bags, smiled to her mother and followed Laura out the door.

Looking up at the hill, Cheryl could see Laura astride Starfire, riding the mare towards her with Moondance at her side.

They had their horse's saddled, bridled, and packed in less than ten minutes.

They cantered most of the way. Loping in and out of the gulleys and jumping the occasional drainage ditch. In less than an hour, they reached Catfish Creek. While unpacking their supplies, Cheryl heard the faint whinny of a horse. They were too far away from the ranch to hear one of the ranch horses. She was listening and watching Moondance's ears twitch when Laura whispered, "Cheryl, look."

She turned and saw the same black stallion rearing above them on a huge mound of dirt next to the creek bank. He was barely fifty feet away and Cheryl could see the anger in his eyes. He landed on his feet and tossed his head around for a minute before snorting and disappearing, once more.

"Why does he keep coming back?" Laura screached, unknowily.

"I don't know, it's starting to worry me," Cheryl replied.

They set the horses loose to go eat while they fished and the set the saddles on end near trees. Laura took of the lines and Cheryl overturned three rocks to find worms. She dug her fingernails into the damp earth and pulled out one worm about six inches long. they baited the hook with the worm and dangled their lines into the slow-running water.

They mostly talked about John Duhn and the horses. By the time they had caught three trout each, an idea sprang into Cheryl's mind.

"Hey! Maybe he was trying to get to Mexico so bad was because he was running from the law. You know, a convict, a fugitive, an outlaw. He came out here for cover and he just happen to stumble across a gold mine."

Laura thought about it for a minute, tilting her head this way and that. "You know what? That actually makes alot of sence. Except for one thing."

"What?"

"If he came here just to hide, why would he bring horses?"

"Probably to make it look like he was going to settle here. To make him look normal, like nothing as wrong."

"Well, that almost figures part of all of this out. But when he left, he just abandonded is horses and they multiplied."

Suddenly, Cheryl's red and yellow bobber sunk out of sight. She jerked her line and a silver flash wizzed through the air and flopped on the ground. Cheryl put it on the stick with the others and continued fishing beside Laura.

Soon, they both had a full stick of trout and another of catfish. To keep them clean, they wrapped them in gunney sacks. Laura whistled shrilly and within seconds the thundering hooves of the horses skidded to a halt in front of their riders. Cheryl and Laura strapped the bags of fish behind the saddles. They swung onto the the horses' backs and trotted away to the ranch. Cheryl sighed in happiness and looked out at the beautiful sights of the Wolverine Mountains. The snow-capped peaks, the lush meadows, the grassy hills was all beautiful. The soft rustle of the drying grass inthe light breeze was soothing. But the best part of it all, was that Wolverine Ranch owned most of it all. Thousands and thousands of acres. Cheryl wasn't sure exactly how big it was, but she knew it was huge.

Within another hour, the tied up their horses and brought the sacks of fish over to the little shack on the other side of the yard. The old door creaked open and it it up the dark room. It was where Cheryl and Laura skinned their furs and stored them in the winter but they used it in the summer for cleaning fish. The cougar pelt hung on the opposite wall. The yellow, matted fur had turned honey colored and smooth after it dried and Cheryl combed it out.

Daniel always thought of trapping as a seperate profession from ranching, but he had given Cheryl and Laura permission to try the occupation out for themselves. They immediately had gone and bought dozens of traps that ranged from snares, to footholds, to connebares. From wolf traps, to lyx traps, to weasle traps. Every winter Cheryl and Laura strap on their willow snowshoes and hike over the moutain sides to find the animals captured by the traps. If the snow wasn't too deep they brought the horses and Shanaca, the most knowledgable Border Collie. When the snow was too deep, they were on their own. The Montana blizzards could get very threatening in the dead of winter.

They unwrapped the two bags of fish each and started to scale, gut and wash every one. When they were half done. Stevie and Chloe came in.

'Well, I see the fish were biting good, how about Laura?" she remarked.

For as long as Cheryl could remember, Stevie and Laura had always hated each other. They were constantly getting into fights and spitting catty remarks at each other. Cheryl had at first thought it was funny until they had gotten into a serious cat fight. Stevie ended up with a black eye, then she thought it was ridiculous. Cheryl had always tried to get them to talk about it and work things out but that had caused another fight and she had gotten pushed in the river by accident, so that was the last of getting them to talk.

"Stevie," Cheryl said in her mature, adult voice. She glanced sideways at Laura who was biting her lip to stop herself from throwing something at Laura."The fish were biting good. Don't you have fences to run or colts to bring in?"

"Done, we ran the east boundary fence and brought two more colts in. Justin wants to start starting the two year olds under saddle, a few of the three year olds are ready to be brought out in the meadows."

They talked until Cheryl and Laura were done with the fish and they all walked to the main house. Belinda and Maggie and Megan wrer cutting, dicing and boiling every type of vegetable imaginable. The laid the fillets on the table and went back outside without a word.

"What do you say we all go for a swim? It's pretty hot out," Laura suggested.

:All right!" they all shouted.

Everyone ran for their horse and before they knew it, they were galloping for the swimming hole. It wasn't very far, but by the time they got their, the horses were puffing and everyone was sweating.

They immediately stripped off their hats, boots, chaps, gun belts and untied their braids. All at the same time they jumped into the water and splashed each other.

Cheryl drew a deep breath, sank underwater, swam over to Laura and grabbed her feet and pulled her under. She swam away and merged onto the top and just a couple feet to her right, Laura popped up, too. She gasped spasmodically for breath from the unexpected pull. Her face turned red at first in shock, then in fake anger. She lunged herself at Cheryl and dragged her to the bottom of the creek. They westled and fought on the gravel bottom until they couldn't hold their breath any longer. They surged onto the surface where Stevie and Chloe were waiting for them. They each through a bucket of water on their heads. They kept buckets by the swimming hole so they could water the horses when they came. Stevie refilled her bucket quickly and dumped it on Laura. They both pulled the other into the water and continued to play and cool off. Exhausted and dripping wet, they walked the horses back to the ranch and sloshed into the house.

Cheryl lay on her bed later that night trying to work the pieces of algea and bits of sand out of her hair that had wound itself in while they were swimming. Laura sat on her cot matress, trying to work out her own hair.

They talked about the wonderful swim they had had and they could hear Stevie and Chloe talking about the same thing in the next room over.

"I was thinking about something today," Laura started.

"Really? You were thinking?" Cheryl teased.

Laura threw her hairbrush at her best friend but she was too quick and ducked before it hit her. It landed on the floor at her feet.

"Anyway, before I was so rudely interupted, I think that while Duhn was in Mexico buying his mansion, his house burned down and maybe his wife and son were killed in the fire, remember the graves?"

Cheryl nodded thoughtfully." I thought about that, too. But why would he leave all that gold? There's got to be at least a million dollars in gold there."

Soon it was eleven o'clock and the two girls drifted off to sleep.