Detour to Otherwhen ©
by K Pelle
Chapter 7
It was strange, but once I'd driven in amongst the trees, I felt much more relaxed than I had been and I sighed in relief.
"Yeah, the scenery is so much nicer that this place is sort of relaxing," Little Jo said very quietly. "It's sure a long way from anyone else though."
"Hey, she talks again," I teased. "I thought you'd lost your tongue."
"Look, who's talking," she snapped right back, but grinned. "I thought you were upset or else thinking deeply, so I kept quiet and let you think. Personally, I was busy wondering what the cop meant when he talked about the local braves being riled up and causing trouble. I was thinking about that, but I can't really figure out why they'd be upset about anyone working on an archaeological dig."
"Well, perhaps the archaeologist did something stupid like the guy did last year at the other dig up near Edmonton. The archaeologist up there took some human bones away, then didn't return them and you know how our people feel about the removal of ancestral bones from the place they were buried. If the guy who was working here did anything like that it would set off a lot of alarms for a lot of people. Most native people consider the bones of our ancestors to be sacred, so it's a matter of respect for our elders that their bones should be cared for properly and reburied with dignity. If outsiders start to forget that, our people get angry."
"Well, whatever brought it on, it looks like it's going to make life difficult for you," she sighed heavily, then as we drove out of the trees, she gasped. "Wow, that's a pretty darn nice looking view."
We suddenly had a clear view for at least a mile down the length of a nearly oval-shaped valley, but we were high on the bank of the surrounding hills. The trail we were following meandered in a twisting serpentine pattern along one bank of the valley as it led down to a group of farm buildings and corrals near the opposite end of the valley. Suddenly I could understand the feelings of the old guy that Dave had talked about, if I lived in a place as nice as this, I'd probably be reluctant to leave too.
On our first view from the hilltop, the place had looked well laid out and very neat, but as we drove closer, we could see the wear and tear of the years. The buildings and fences all seemed to need repair or maintenance, because everything looked badly worn and heavily aged. I was left with the feeling that the owner of the little ranch had invested years of work into the ranch, then had suddenly given up. I found that idea rather depressing, but I tried to shunt that feeling aside. I had to remind myself that I was only a visitor and I wouldn't be around for long, but it seemed a shame that the place was being allowed to deteriorate so badly.
By the time that I'd driven down the hill and parked behind the other vehicles Dave was standing next to an older man, talking to him. I could see the family resemblance between the two of them, but I could also see that the old guy was frowning and acting somewhat reserved as if he was reluctant to have us visit. Then all of a sudden the old guy smiled. Following his gaze, I could see that Fawn and Johnny had just gotten out of the truck.
"Little Jo, let's go talk to the old guy over there. From the way he's looking at your brother and sister, I think he likes young people."
"So you want me to be cute and cuddly, huh?" she grinned and winked at me, then hopped out of the truck.
"Kid, there are times when I want to turn you over my knee," I said quietly as I caught up with her. "What I'd like you to do is to act normally, not some darn imitation of how you think you should act to impress someone."
"I would anyway, but I do like to tease you, Joe," then she grabbed my left hand and squeezed it tightly.
There are times when I really don't understand kids, especially females. Heck there are a lot of times when I don't understand any female, young or old, but that day, Little Jo was acting much different than usual. I made a mental note to talk to her later and try to find out what was going on, because I thought she might have noticed something that I had missed. Right then though, we were approaching Dave and the old man, so I was concentrating on them.
"Uncle Wally, this is Joe McIntyre and his niece, Little Jo Bearclaw. Joe, meet Wally Sam, my uncle and the owner of this place. I was just telling him about what was going on in Elkwater and why you came here with me," Dave said softly.
After meeting each other and sharing a brief handshake, old Wally looked me in the eye and frowned, "If there is all this fuss about digging up things from the past, why did you folks choose to come now? It seems to me that you could have picked a better time to go snooping around in the hills."
"Well, personally I'm just here to support my girlfriend, she's the archaeologist. As for her, she's looking for signs of our forefathers, the Métis, who lived back in the hills about a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago. There are only four of us who are going to be spending any time here. The rest of these folks just came to bring along horses and supplies that we need, since the government says we're not allowed to take our trucks where we're going."
"So you plan on backpacking into the hills?" Wally asked, sounding surprised.
"Not actually backpacking, we brought along a team and wagon as well as several riding horses. That's why Dave is here, he's hauling the wagon that we plan to use to haul our supplies."
"Well, now, that makes sense," Wally nodded his head and smiled. "Since the Métis used Red River carts when they came here, you might be able to follow the same natural cuts and animal trails they used. Heck, one of those trails starts in the next valley, over on my son's ranch. I'll have to show it to you, or at least draw you a map though."
"So, is it okay if we all camp here for the night? Although, it's so nice here, that I'd like to use this as a base camp, if you don't mind? Most of this crew will be gone tomorrow or the next day. Then we'll just have the one camper, the Jeep and a couple of trailers that we can park well out of your way. There are four of us, a team and wagon as well as a half a dozen riding horses, but we'll be out of your hair and exploring in the hills most of the time."
"There's over six hundred acres here, Joe, and it's been a long time since I could look outside and see any horses grazing in the pasture. Besides, I think it'll be good for Matty and me to have some new faces around for a visit," He paused and frowned slightly then. "You go ahead and set up camp here for tonight. Only since Dave was mentioning that you might have some trouble with the young bucks from town, I think you might want to hide out a little better, if you're gonna be here a while."
"Well, what do you suggest we do for a more permanent camp then?" I frowned.
"Well tomorrow I'll show you the way to an area that used to be my son's ranch. It's in a second valley, which opens onto that trail I was mentioning. There's water and grass available there, even an old equipment shed that you might could use to protect your stuff from the weather or nosy people. Actually, there's a half-built house, and a couple of barns and sheds as well as corrals too, but we'll discuss all of that later. I'll go talk to the wife, then in a little while, we'll probably wander over and meet everyone. I think she'll enjoy meeting your nieces and your nephew. We do miss the sight and sound of children, living away out here." With that the old man turned and headed toward the house, walking quite quickly.
"Well I'll be . . ." Dave sighed softly. "I'm darn glad I brought you guys down here. That's the first time since his son's funeral that I've seen him willing to try to talk Aunt Matty out of that house to meet anyone. She usually hides out when anyone but close family is around and he just makes excuses for her. Since the accident that killed their son, she's kept out of sight most of the time."
"Well, I think the best thing is to handle the situation calmly and quietly. Don't make a big deal out of it," I suggested. "For now, let's set up camp like he said. I should have asked him about the horses though, where should we put them, do you suppose?"
"Well, you've got hobbles for all of them, haven't you? Let's just let them graze close by, right here on the upper shelf. It isn't as if they're going to eat all that much during one night, besides Uncle Wally won't get much hay off of this area anyway. The soil here is sandy, so it dries out before the grass grows much."
That's when I took the time to really look at the lay of the land where we were standing. One glance was all it took to realize that the whole ranch occupied a valley that had been a lake bottom at some time in the distant past. The area we were standing on had obviously been a beach at one time and there were several other relatively level sections below it, showing where the lake level had gradually dropped. Across the valley from where I stood, I could see a line of willows which obviously grew along a stream of some sort. The more I looked at the place, the more impressed I was with the area, deciding it was an almost perfect small ranch site.
However, right then I had a job to do, so rather than spend time looking at the scenery, I walked back to the vehicles. First off, I spoke to Anna, then we went to work hobbling the horses and setting up our campsite. Since we had to hobble sixteen horses, set up stakes and chains for three dogs, level the camper and the RV, then put up a couple of tents, getting our campsite set up took some time. At least now that we were in the area and had permission to set up our campsite, we were able to unhook the trailers from the camper trucks, which made getting in and out of the campers much easier.
Actually since there was one side trip we were going to have to make before we went into the hills, I unhooked the trailer from my jeep as well. Anna had to let Mary Blue Sky, Ozzie Red Fern and Uncle Charlie know that we'd made it to this area and where we'd be setting up our base camp. On top of that I wanted to e-mail my boss to let him know we were okay, and I wanted to send my recent journal entries to my home computer just in case anything happened to my laptop. I'd already talked to the Mountie about finding an internet connection and he'd frowned, saying that it might be best for us to use the one at the local RCMP detachment.
Once the camper and RV were parked next to each other, then Mimi's and my tents were both set up, I fired up the little barbeque we'd brought along and Chuck decided they'd do the same thing. Then we sent Little Jo over to invite Wally and Matty to join us for our evening meal. I think Dave was really surprised when they agreed to join us, but Matty even brought along a cake she had baked and although they were fairly quiet, they did seem to enjoy our company. All three kids were on their best behaviour and they spent most of the meal close to Matty and Wally, which might explain the older couple's friendliness toward us. Eventually though, the two younger kids grew tired and Maybelle sent them off to bed. Soon after that both Matty and Wally became a bit more withdrawn, then while we were cleaning up after the meal they excused themselves and went back to their house.
Shortly after that I mentioned to Chuck that Anna and I were planning to take the Jeep into town to send some e-mails, he just nodded his head. He thought it was a good idea to let folks know we'd arrived safely since we'd be unable to contact anyone during the time we would be up on the plateau. However to our surprise, Mimi wanted to come along and send an e-mail to her mother, wishing her a happy birthday. I'm not sure if her mother's birthday was really her reason to come along, or if she thought she might have another chance to see the young cop again, but I couldn't see any reason for her not to come with us. So the three of us hopped into the Jeep and drove all the ways back to the police station, planning to get in and out of town as quickly and unobtrusively as possible.
Actually driving to the town of Elkwater Lake took a while, but we didn't have any trouble finding the RCMP detachment. Then after Anna explained who we were and why we were there, the officer at the desk was very cooperative, allowing us to send off our messages. However he insisted on having a quick glance at anything we sent, since it would be sent out through the RCMP's ISP and could be traced back to the office. Before we left though, the young officer we'd seen before happened to be coming back to the station with a kid he'd arrested. When the kid saw us, I suppose he thought he might have a sympathetic audience, because he kicked up quite a fuss, but all that did was slow down our exit from the cop shop.
As far as we were concerned, his silliness just caused a minor delay, but that short delay did have other results out in the parking lot a few minutes later. Anna and I were just about to get into the Jeep when another car came roaring into the parking lot and nearly hit Mimi, who had been a few paces behind us. The car had barely skidded to a stop before three big punks jumped out, heading for the cop shop while loudly protesting the innocence of the kid who'd been arrested. Actually they were causing quite a commotion by shouting at the top of their lungs. Unfortunately they were in such a hurry that one of them tried to shove Mimi aside when she paused to complain to the driver about almost getting run over. Since he was twice her size and probably three times as heavy, I suppose he thought she was a pushover. His reaction to her complaint was to aim a back handed slap in her direction, telling her to; "Fuck off, bitch. I'm in a hurry."
Now, I may have mentioned Mimi's temper before, but I don't think I mentioned her skill at martial arts. Right at that moment I saw an illustration of both. Her arm moved so fast I didn't really see her strike him, but the guy's hand never hit her. Instead he was suddenly screaming in pain and his hand was hanging limply, then he began to curse her soundly, but not surprisingly he was backing away as if he was afraid of her. As a result of his screaming rant though, his two buddies turned, then split up as they headed toward Mimi.
I assumed they were planning a little revenge beating and I wasn't about to stand for that. However even while I started to move the help her, I noticed the young cop was coming back out of the police station. Almost instantly he was racing toward the ruckus from one direction, while I was running from the other, but neither of us got there in time to be of any help to Mimi. Only she proceeded to prove that she didn't really need any help from either one of us.
From the angle I was able to see things, Mimi seemed to drop down and spin, shifting to one side, while flinging out an arm, then a leg. By then she'd shifted far enough to be out from under the falling bodies of the two thugs, so she stood upright again. I honestly didn't see her do much of anything else since I was keeping the thug with the sore wrist from attacking, but she moved fast and managed to virtually destroy the threat from both of the other punks. Actually even though that first thug blocked my view of Mimi's actions, I had a good idea of what happened to the other two - she'd gone for their legs, chopping one and kicking the other. Only she did it so fast that it almost looked as if she ducked just as the closest guy tripped, but at the same time the other punk had bent forward to make a grab for her. When the second guy bent over, the trajectory of his head matched that of the falling guy's head. They had both been shouting loud threats, but their noise was cut off by a thunk that sounded like two coconuts being smashed against concrete as they collided, face first. Meanwhile Mimi rose to her feet, stepped back, winked at me, then wavered on her feet as she was guided aside by the young cop. Suddenly he was holding her and using a hand-held radio to call for help. Then more cops were pouring out of the cop-shop almost like bees out of their hive. In only a moment or two, all three of the thugs were in handcuffs - even the guy with the sore wrist.
So much for our quick, unobtrusive trip to the police station though.
It took over an hour for the cops to get our statements about what had happened, even though the young cop backed us on most of what we said. Of course while Anna and I were giving our statements, the EMTs from the next door fire station had to check out Mimi to be certain she wasn't injured. They could hardly believe that she seemed to be untouched - after all, the punks each had several injuries. The list of their aches and pains included a fractured wrist, a dislocated knee, two minor concussions and a broken nose. As well as that, one of the punks had a massive bruise on the inside of his thigh, very near his testicles. The EMT who treated that guy quietly confided to me that if the injury been a couple of inches higher the guy would have had to learn to go through life as a soprano.
The cops could hardly believe that tiny little Mimi could've done that amount of damage and not have a bruise, but I noticed the EMT's were treating her like a stick of dynamite on a short fuse. After a short while though, she began shaking, but the EMT who was looking after her at the time told Anna that the reaction was normal. He explained that she was coming down from a massive dose of adrenaline in her system, and her body was burning that off, which was making her shiver. I suppose that was all quite natural, since I think I'd have gotten wound up if I'd had three big thugs come after me like that, especially if I was her size.
I don't know why, but I suddenly had a feeling that the town was a dangerous place for us to be and I wanted out of there. I just didn't feel safe being there any longer and I'll be darned if I can explain why it was bothering me so much. Heck, we were in the police station and we weren't in trouble, since we hadn't done anything wrong. Unfortunately we had a ton of rigamarole we had to go through before we could leave, being interviewed, signing statements and what not. I wasn't alone in feeling unsettled though. Mimi was acting as if she was upset and I was feeling worried that something else was about to happen, even Anna began to grow impatient. It seemed to take forever before we were finished, but finally the cop at the desk gave us the okay to leave and I almost shoved the two gals out the door.
Once we got outside Mimi leaned against me, then asked Anna if she'd drive back to camp and if it was okay if I held an arm around her while we were driving back. Anna never said a word - she just grabbed the keys out of my hand and gave me a very serious look that said more than a million words could have done. I didn't need to ask questions, I knew my orders were to comfort Mimi, no matter what else happened.
Surprisingly none of us said much on the drive. I think I mentioned that even with all the things that had happened since we'd left camp, the sun was just setting behind the hills. That brought on a return comment from Anna about the shortness of the nights in June, but those two short sentences were all that was said until we were back at the ranch.
Of course everyone back at camp wanted to know why we'd been gone so long. I thought it should be Mimi's story, but she just looked at Anna and nodded, then grabbed my hand and led me off toward the area where the horses were grazing. We hadn't gone ten feet before Bruno was at my side, looking at me wistfully, then suddenly I could hear him sniff loudly and he swung his head around to smell Mimi's hands. Instantly he growled slightly, then his head swung about as his hackles rose, and suddenly he was eyeballing everything that moved. Right then the gentle dog disguise he'd been wearing vanished and his wolf genes took over, almost instantly he looked lean, mean, dangerous and protective of the members of his pack. Talk about scary, that dog knew there were enemies of some sort around, but he was ready and willing to take them on.
"Would you look at Bruno?" Mimi whispered, squeezing my hand in hers.
"Yeah, I know. I'd say you have a good buddy and a willing partner for any fight that might come along."
"Well, you tried. Those guys were too close to me for you to get there in time and I was lucky."
"Oh sure! You were just lucky, and while we're thinking along those lines, I must be Santa Claus," I snorted.
"Well, I was lucky. I just dropped, kicking out at one guy and swinging my fist at the other. I was aiming for their knees, but the one guy tripped, so I almost got him in the nuts. It was just lucky that I hit him at all. Besides, there is no way I could have planned for them to hit head-on like that. That was just poor planning and bad luck on their part," she shook her head and gripped my hand even harder. "I should have moved away and separated them somehow, that way I could have taken them on one at a time. If my sensei had seen that fight he'd have chewed a washer off my bung hole for being stupid."
I couldn't help myself, I broke into quiet laughter, which made her frown and look at me strangely. So, even though I was choking out my words on top my laughter, I tried to describe my vision; imagining that I saw her bending forward and a tiny old Japanese nibbling at her butt. I guess my description got to her too, because she flushed a bit, then broke into giggles and slapped me lightly on the arm as if I had misbehaved.
That brief bit of humour did more to calm her down than anything else though, in fact it even helped me to settle down. In only moments we were both feeling civil enough to wander back to the gang.
By then everyone was squatting around a tiny campfire that they'd built in what was obviously a very old fire ring. Johnny and Fawn were out of bed again and roasting marshmallows, but they were the only ones doing that, everyone else was quietly drinking some of Anna's herbal tea. She even poured Mimi and me a cup as we came up. By the time we'd drunk that and chatted a bit, the light from the sunset was beginning to fail. Before long, Maybelle took the two smaller kids off to tuck them back into bed for the night, and since it was going to get dark soon, the rest of us decided to call it a day as well. It was only a few moments before Chuck poured a bucket of water on the glowing coals of the bonfire and stirred that around, then we all turned to head toward our beds.
Before we all turned in, Chuck and I had a short discussion about guarding the camp overnight. But, we were positive anyone sneaking up would disturb the dogs and that would be enough to wake us, especially since Mimi and I were both going to be sleeping in our tents that night.
Even though I hadn't slept much the night before, I couldn't seem to fall asleep for the longest time, no matter how I tried. Somehow the dogs seemed to be making just enough noise as they wandered around the camp that they kept me awake, then too, I was disturbed several times by the snorting and blowing of the horses. I thought perhaps they were being annoyed by mosquitoes or something of that sort, since they didn't seem to be resting well. The last time I checked my watch before falling asleep it read twenty minutes to one in the morning. Then I woke with a full bladder and had to get up just after four, so I might have had about three hours of sleep - at the most.
I wasn't the only one who did not sleep well though. Maybelle was up and around at about the same time as I was, but she made coffee, then we wandered out to check out the horses. Even though the Sun had barely risen, we found that the mosquitoes and flies were already a nuisance, so it was no wonder that the horses had been disturbed during the night. I'm not sure why, but everyone was awake before six that morning, which worked out well, because we had company shortly after we were up. Wally Sam came out to talk to us, then while he was there, our young friend, Constable Collins of the RCMP arrived as well.
The young RCMP Officer stopped to say 'Good Morning,' then walked over to talk to Mimi for a moment before heading over toward Wally Sam and truck driver, Dave. The three of them stepped a short distance away for a few moments and had a short discussion. I suppose I frowned at that, but I guess my facial expression drew Mimi's attention
"If you're wondering what's going on, Officer Collins thinks a couple of the native elders are up to something," Mimi said softly as she came up beside me.
"Unh, yeah. Now that you mention it, he did say something about that last night before we left town."
"Well, he said a bit more to me this morning. While he was at the hospital last night he happened to overhear one of those two guys I tangled with, saying something to a nurse about what one of those old guys planned to do. I don't understand how, but they seem to know that Anna is an archaeologist and that we're here on a dig, so Tommy decided to change things around a bit. That's why he came by and he's insisting that everyone should move away from here early this morning. He said that he'll be back to see us later tonight, but until then he thinks we should stay out of sight and lay low," she paused for a moment, then carried on. "Tommy gave me a map to give to Maybelle and suggested they leave now and follow that map when they left. If they use it, they can follow along the gravel road we were on before we turned up the trail to come here. That gravel road leads them out of the hills and back to the main highway, then into Saskatchewan without going anywhere near Elkwater Lake. He's afraid they might get into trouble if they stay here and even worse trouble if they drive past the town right now."
"Oh great," I snorted
I turned toward Maybelle and Chuck, thinking of talking to them, but just then Officer Collins called Chuck, Anna and me over to join the group around him.
"We think there may be a problem this evening, but Wally thinks if you all are gone from here, he can discourage anyone from hunting for you," the Constable explained. "What he's suggesting is that you all move along and go to his son's ranch, which is in the next valley, then Dave can unload the wagon and head back home. Meanwhile I can go back to town and mention to one of the local rumour mongers that because of the potential problems here, the rest of you have decided to move on to another project. The only problem with that is it would require everyone to move out quite quickly so no one will be here if anyone does come to check."
"Well, it won't take long to break camp," I shrugged. "What do you think, Anna, you're the actual leader of this whole expedition?"
"Well, if moving on will save us from being hassled, I'm all for it, but I'm unsure if Chuck and Maybelle should stay here with us, after all they have three children to worry about," she looked directly at Chuck and raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Maybelle, have ya heard 'bout this new bullshit?" Chuck called and waved her over.
It only took a moment for her to join us and I spoke up then, "Mimi was just telling me that the cop thinks something is going on that might be a threat to all of us, especially if we were to go to town again, but if you take off right now and head away from town, you should be fine."
"Now wait a minute. We were talking about that earlier and we don't really feel that we can just abandon you like that," Maybelle argued. "We don't want to leave you at the mercy of a mob."
"Maybelle, I don't think your children should be put in danger just because you and Chuck want to help us," Anna frowned. "Besides, I'm fully convinced that I can talk these people into allowing us to do our research. If they want, one or two of them are welcome to come along on the trip to see what we plan to do. The big thing is that we aren't interested in removing any remains or artifacts from the sites we investigate, so we aren't like the other archaeologists that are around here. I'm sure once they realize that all we want to do is to provide verifiable documentation that there was a large Métis presence in the area, we'll be fine."
"Yeah, an' whut if they don' want ya t' even do thet much," Chuck demanded.
"If worse comes to worst, we can always go back home," I snorted. "Besides, for once in my life I've got the cops on my side and I agree with Anna, your kids are the only worries I have."
"Actually, since we've arrived here safely, this has to be classed as a University-sponsored undertaking now, so theoretically I can't really have you remain with us. Unfortunately I don't see how we can maintain coverage for you under the University's insurance policy from here on," Anna sighed. "The four of us are fully covered by the policy, but you and your children won't be included. I'm sorry."
"Unh uh, ya cain't snow me," Chuck said instantly. "We signed a paper with t' University an' t' Métis Council thet we'd get ya moved to yer base camp an' help ya ta get set up fer a few days, mebee as long as a week. I put ma John Henry on thet paper an' I'm stickin' by m' word. Ain't no way I'm leavin' Joe and you ta the mercy o' no damn mob, Missy, so stick thet in yer pipe an' smoke it."
"Chuck's dead right, Anna," Maybelle agreed. "We did sign an agreement and since we took on the job, it's only right that we should complete it. Besides, I'm like Chuck. I'm not backing out on a close friend and relative when my help might be needed."
"Dave, ain't no need in you stickin' 'round. We can jus' unload the wagon from yer trailer an ' hook it to the back o' my rig, since it don't matter none if it's highway legal here 'er not. I'm sure yer uncle'll show us t' way ta t'other place, won't ya, Walt? Thanks a lot fer yer help tho, Dave. I'll be aroun' ta see ya in a coupla months an we'll talk then, okay" Chuck barked, then turned to Maybelle. "How about you, Anna and the kids try to catch an' load all them circus ani-mules we brung with us. Joe an' me kin take care o' hookin' up stuff, ready ta move out. Walt, we should be ready ta move in half an hour at t' most, if thet suits ya."
I just looked at Anna and shrugged my shoulders, which was met by a weak smile and a slight nod of her head. We were both going to have to give in to the inevitable and accept Chuck and Maybelle's help, whether we liked it or not. We took what they'd said to be their final decision at that point and set out to get everything packed up to move out. In fact everyone was soon busy as little beavers.
Inside of twenty minutes, Dave was leaving and we were ready to go ourselves. Wally came over and hopped into the front of the Jeep with me, then pointed toward the grade.
"We've got to drive back up the hill and turn off at that wide stretch of flat bedrock you drove across on the way in. One thing about that, since everything you guys are driving has rubber tires, we won't be leavin' no tracks for anyone to follow, not unless someone skids or spins their wheels." Wally said firmly. "The cop is gonna follow us, so he knows where you'll be and he'll bring me back so you guys can get set up at my son's old place. It's really just over the hill from here, but the drive over there is about five miles. There's a ridge between the two ranches and if anyone comes looking for tracks, that rock shelf should throw them off."
"Okay, I guess." I frowned a bit, worrying about all the fuss we were causing him.
"With you guys moving out so early, I'll still be able to honestly tell people that you folks camped at the ranch overnight, then left this morning. I'll just forget to mention that I showed you the way to the next valley and told you how you could find the trail up to the plateau that the Métis used," he said quietly. "In case you're wondering, I'm not worried too much about what folks think, but Matty and I do have to live here after you folks are gone. It'll be a lot simpler and safer for us if you aren't around our place - if and when anyone does come looking."
"I can understand that completely," I nodded. "Thanks for what you're doing."
"Aw, t'ain't a problem. Dave tell's me you're good folks and besides, I knew your mom when I was a kid. I went to the same school as your ma and I used to feel sorry for her since I often heard the rumours that folks spread about your grandpa. Never did put much stock in 'em though."
"Well, I've done a bit of checking and from what I heard, he was a bastard of the first water," I growled. "He left a whole lot of pregnant women behind him as he travelled across the country, so I'm certainly not proud of the old prick."
"You know how he died, don't you?"
"Nope, I've heard several rumours though."
"Well, it was during the big war in Europe. There was a lot of folks that figured he was skipping out on the army and on top of that a gal accused him o' rape. He left town in a hurry, so quick that he even left his fiddle behind with your gramma. That was in the fall of the year and the cops found his skeleton the next spring, somewhere west of Kananaskis, not far from Canmore. He was laying at the bottom of a steep slope and had busted a leg, but the cops weren't sure if he fell or was pushed. In fact there were rumours about what really happened, but nothing definite."
"Well, I heard a rumour that sounds similar, only in the one I heard he was caught by the boyfriend of the gal he raped and was castrated as he lay there unable to get away."
"Well, I doubt that rumour, though I did hear it. I asked one of the cops and he said Frenchie still had his pants on when they found the skeleton, in fact them fancy beaded pants is part of how they identified him. On top o' that, I think the gal lied about the rape. I knew her as a growed up woman an' even then she had round heels, so she'd flop over on her back an' spread her legs for anybody what asked. Knowin' what I heard about your grandpa, he coulda seduced her in a minute anyway and wouldn't of needed to work at it either. To be honest, I think he got a bum rap, but at the same time I can't say he was a really nice guy, sorta full o' hisself an' a bit stand offish," he paused for a minute, then pointed ahead. "When we come to that straight stretch of trail up ahead, I'll get you to stop. I don't want to go all the way down to the valley with you today, so I'll point things out to you from there, then I'll get the cop to give me a ride back home."
"We can easily give you a ride back after you've shown us the place."
"Nah, there's no sense in that. I'll head back with the cop," he sighed softly. "I guess I should explain about not goin' with ya though; the place yer headed to was my father's at one time, then it was my brother's, then it was passed on to a nephew an' my son. The nephew lives out on the coast, but he offered my son the chance to go partners with him to rebuild the place, 'cause it's pretty darn run down. You see years 'n' years ago when my folks died, there was a fire there, so the house an' garage burned down. My brother an' his family was up north, livin' at a place they had up there, but he inherited the folks' ranch when they died, so him an' his missus moved back here. 'O course by then my nephew had already moved out, gone to school an' got a job. My brother and his missus was old enough to retire an' while they tried to do some work on the ranch, it was just too much for 'em. They ended up getting sick an' havin' to move into town, which is how my nephew an' my son got involved an' took the place on as partners."
He paused for a moment and sighed again, then shrugged his shoulders. "My nephew has a good job an' was putting up most of the money for improvements while my son an' his wife was living there an' trying to fix up the place. That situation lasted for a couple of years, 'til my son an' his wife was killed. Now, I kinda look after the place for my nephew, but I only go there a few times a year since my son an' his wife died, 'cause I don't feel to comfortable there no more. It's a great place, an' my family has owned it for years and years, but recently it seems to be unlucky to us, so I guess I'm a bit superstitious about the whole situation. In fact this is the closest I've been in a couple months. I still blame myself for my son an' his wife dyin,' since we'd just had an argument an' harsh words, so he was angry when he drove off. I guess all that probably explains why I get just a bit emotional about the place."
"Hell, if it bothers you, we can stop right here."
"No, I want to look down on the place an' I need to show you where things are if you're going to set up camp. There's an old steel building down there, one o' them ol' army quonset huts, an' you might as well use that to park your trucks an' trailer in, just in case. Anything that's in that building, you can move around, throw out or use if you want. Oh yeah, I'll give you my son's keys, one of them will open the lock on the door," he reached in his pocket and pulled out a set of keys, handing them to me just as we came out into the open area.
"That old steel shed was the first building my son put on the place. He was already working as truck driver at the time, but hadn't met his wife yet. Anyway he got a deal to buy that old quonset hut at scrap metal price from the army base up at Wainwright. Him an' some buddies went up there, took the building into sections an' loaded the sections onto flat decks. It took three flat decks to bring it down here, all the way down highway 41. Then it took the bunch of 'em almost two months of spare time to pour a concrete foundation and put it back together. It's a huge bloody thing, but he had his mind set that it was just what he needed for an equipment shed on the ranch. Once he had that big shed put up, he used to go to auction sales and bring back old tools and stuff he'd bought, then store the best of 'em in there. I don't know where he got the crazy notion, but he had the idea that gas and oil were going to get too expensive to be used for farming. So he was buying old horse drawn machines and old hand tools. As far as I'm concerned it's all just junk and in the long run, I'll probably have to get it hauled away for scrap, since all that old junk hasn't got much value to anyone else. You can use anything you find that you need from whatever is down there and if you run across anything you want to keep, then when you leave, just take it along."
Wally pointed out a long enough stretch of road on the gentle slope where we could all pull over and everyone could get a decent first view of the valley, so I stopped there. Ahead of us and to the left, the grade dropped off steeply, but we were near the head of the valley and could see down its length, so I could make out a group of buildings near the far end. This valley was wider and longer than Wally and Matty's had been, but there was probably less grass since the farther half of this one was covered with scrub brush and trees. Another noticeable difference was the slope of the walls of the valley. Whereas the other valley had been surrounded by gentle slopes, the sides of this one were very steep, in fact I wondered what sort of road could lead us down to the valley floor.
"It's been a while since I've been over here, probably about three months." Old Wally gave a heavy sigh. "Ranching in this valley was my son's dream from the time he was about ten years old, but I've got to admit it is a wonderful spot for a ranch. There's good bottom land to grow grass and a year round supply of water in the stream. Then there's even an artesian well with good water down near this side of the valley and close to where they started to build the new house. In fact my son built a little concrete block building over the well so the cattle he brought in and turned loose down there wouldn't foul it. He had even managed to haul in enough gravel and concrete to build the footings for a bloody big log cabin. Hell, they even had all the main walls up on the cabin and the roof sheeted over before him an' his wife was killed," Old Wally heaved a heavy sigh, then continued. "I might as well tell ya about the two o' them I guess. The kids had just hauled in all the windows an' roofing material for the cabin, then were on their way to pick up the appliances and kitchen cabinets when they got hit by a train at a blind level crossing. The damn signals on the crossing where they were killed didn't work, but they didn't know that when they went to drive across the tracks. They got hit by a cross country freight that was a hundred an' ten cars long, all fully loaded with grain an' doing about sixty miles an hour. The cab of their truck got shoved down the track, rollin' over an' over for almost half a mile before the train could stop. There wasn't any chance of the kids surviving."
"Oh shit, I am sorry." I said quietly, but emphatically.
"Thanks, just you saying it in that tone means something, but I still have a rough time when I come over here. Oh, have you got a rifle along with you?"
"No, but I've got a shotgun and some rounds filled with slugs, why?"
"Well, locked up in a box in the loft in that quonset hut there are some rifles that used to belong to my son an' you might want to have 'em handy. Amongst the cattle my son brought in here there was a big Hereford bull an' that ol' bull has it in his head that he owns the whole valley. Watch out for him an' if he gives you hell, just use either a rifle or your shotgun to shoot the son of a bitch. In fact if you do see him, do me a favour an' shoot the bastard even if he ain't botherin' ya, then bring me a haunch. I'd love to eat a steak cut from the flank o' that ornery damn critter, even if the meat was tough as shoe leather."
"It sounds to me like you and that bull have a history."
"Yeah, we do, but mostly that bull reminds me of the son-of-a-bitch superintendent on the railroad who told his work crew that the signal at the crossing where my son was killed could wait to be fixed. It waited a whole damn week while they farted around, repairin' a noisy section of rail near the bastard's house because trains going over it at night were wakin' him. When Matty and I sued the railroad, one of the stipulations I gave the lawyer was that I wanted that useless bastard fired. We won the lawsuit, so he lost his cushy job, then I sued the son of a bitch in civil court for reckless endangerment. While the case was in court I made sure the newspapers and radio heard all the details o' what he'd done. I'd made up my mind that he'd never boss another crew anywhere in Canada, at least not during my lifetime. That bull reminds me of that wise ass superintendent since both of them are fat, pushy an' obnoxious as hell. I got rid of one of my annoyances, an' if you happen to get rid of the other one for me, I'll be happy as a pig in shit. Now I'm not saying you should go huntin' that bull, because he's crafty an' damn dangerous, but if he comes around and bothers you, just feed the old bastard some lead," Wally snorted loudly then and shook his head. "Would you listen to me, cussin' up a storm. Matty would have a fit if she heard me carryin' on like that."
"Well, I'd say you have one or two things to cuss about and I'm not about to say anything to anyone. Unfortunately, we've been sitting here for a while and it looks to me like Anna and Chuck have grown impatient. In fact I see they're coming over to find out what the hold up is all about."
"Well, I guess I should get my butt in gear an' tell you a bit more about the place. As you go further along this trail, it swings away from the valley, then curves back an' eventually you'll be following an erosion gully with the road cut into one bank. About halfway down, you'll come to a bridge across the gully an' a gate, sort of set up right together, an' there's another gully that joins the first one right there as well. Just on the other end of the bridge is that gate, which is there so none of the livestock in the valley can get out, but you can lock it open or closed, cuz they never seem t' come up there anyway. If you look along the valley from where the road is, about half way to the other end of the valley you can see another erosion gully almost like the first one, just a bit steeper. Down at the bottom there's another gate setup on another trail, one that leads to the upper plateau. That track is pretty steep, but that's the Métis trail I was mentionin', an' it leads up to their old settlement area."
"So that gully is fenced off too." I smiled at them to acknowledge Anna and Chuck who had come over while Wally was talking.
"Oh yeah. My son an' his wife fenced the only two gullies that could be used to get in and out of the valley easy cuz the walls o' the valley is all steep. There are high waterfalls on the creek at both ends of the valley, an' the creek runs through near vertical cuts leadin' to the falls, so nothing can get in or out that way. There used to be a road along the stream between this ranch an' mine, but there was a landslide years ago an' it fell into canyon. Now even a man on foot would have a lot o' trouble getting in or out of the valley except by goin' down the two trails I mentioned, so the cattle that were brought into the valley are going to stay there. We've never shipped any of them since my son died, in fact they're probably wild as blazes because no one has done a darn thing with them. There were a couple dozen beef cows, two dairy cows an' a couple of young bulls in there to start with, but I don't know how many there are now. Since the valley is over five miles long an' averages about two miles across, you could have a hundred cattle in there an' you still might not see a cow for days. Of course, there might be hardly any cattle left at all, cuz there is coyotes and wolves around sometimes. I really don't know much about them cows, so any that are there probably hide out in the bush durin' the day. Well, except for that the bull I mentioned. I saw him about three months ago an' I think he's too damn smart and too bloody mean to get killed by coyotes or wolves."
"What about bears? I heard that there were some of them in the park and it's near by isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's close an' there are bears and cougars up there, but I haven't seen any down around here. Cougars probably would never bother ya much, but bears are a different story. If you do see any of them, just be darn careful. Even if they're only black bears, they can still be mighty dangerous. I know if I saw any of them, I'd probably hide out in the big steel shed, since I don't carry a rifle with me all the time. Which reminds me, I'd advise you to use that quonset hut for a place to sleep at night, then you can close the door and feel safe. Besides that you might want to park your trucks, trailer and supplies inside there or the barn when you're away on your trips up into the hills.
"There's a big ol' barn there, that my dad built outta logs an' there's a bunch o' other old buildings down there too, chicken sheds, an' a lean-to for winter shelter for cattle an' other stock. The corrals should still be in pretty good shape an' the grass in them will have grown pretty high, so they'll do for the horses for a few days. There is a pasture there too, about sixty acres or so an' it was split in two parts, but I dunno how good the fence is on that. The kids had a couple of black and white milk cows in there and my son was milkin' them, but I turned them out to run free after the accident," Wally paused then and heaved a deep sigh. "Umm, let's see, what have I missed. Oh, yeah. There's an old trailer that my brother was livin' in, but last fall there was a bad hail storm came through here an' it took out one of the windows. We salvaged some of the furniture an' things like that from the mess an' put it in the quonset hut, but later on we picked that over an' hauled away anything that had any value to us. You can use any of that stuff if you need it while you're there."
"That's very generous of you," Anna spoke up.
"No, I'm not really being all that generous. You see this whole valley just reminds me of my family an' our bad luck, mostly my son an' his wife, an' how they died, so it's still a painful memory. Anythin' you use is one less reminder of the fact that they died in a wreck that needn't a' happened. Now, I've been here too long an' I'm starting to get upset agin, so I'm going to leave you here an' get the copper to take me back to the house. Just follow the trail your on an' it'll lead you down there, 'cause that's the only place it goes. I hope you folks have a great time an' a lot of luck at finding what you want, but at the same time I hope you don't have any problems with those nuts from town."
"Thanks, Wally, but you'll see us again. If nothing else, we have to head home in a month or so, and we'll make sure to drop by to see you before we leave. Now are you sure you don't want us to give you a ride back to your house?"
He refused my offer quite adamantly, so I shook his hand, then all the gals gave him a hug, and we watched him as he hiked off back to the police car, hopped in and it turned around to head back the way we had come. As soon as he had disappeared around the first bend, we set off down the trail, and eventually we headed down the grade to the ranch his son and daughter-in-law had been rebuilding. As I eased the Jeep and trailer down the hill, riding the brake on the steepest sections, I resolved to treat the place with the respect I felt it was due. From the sounds of it, Wally's son had loved the place, I certainly didn't want to damage or destroy any part of it -- well, except for one cantankerous bull. I'd already made up my mind that if I had the opportunity I'd weed that particular thorn from this garden spot.
I'd been impressed by Wally's description of his son's vision of the future as we'd talked while sitting on the hillside above the valley. However, I was absolutely astounded by the time I had led our little convoy of vehicles into the long, twisting grade that followed a large erosion gully down the hill. The trail, which ran along one edge of a gradually deepening cut, hadn't just been bulldozed into a level roadway, instead it had also been graded to leave a crown in the road. There was even a ditch along the uphill side of the roadway to reduce any erosion problems and the further we went, the more impressed I was by the work that had been done. Eventually, about two-thirds of the way down the grade, the seasonal runoff had eroded its way down through the basic conglomerate which made up the major portion of the Cypress Hills. So we drove across a huge sheet of rock for a short distance, either shale or slate, but even that had been eroded by the water over the eons. By that point the steep banks of the gully we were following towered well above our heads, then as we rounded a curve, we could see that a second gully met with the one we were following. As we eased around the curve even further we could see the bridge ahead of us.
It wasn't a big bridge, in fact it looked as if it was only about thirty feet long and perhaps ten or twelve feet wide, but I was astonished by the way it was built. It was an underslung truss bridge, and seemed to have been made from huge logs and other timbers which were used to support a creosoted timber deck. Both ends rested on concrete abutments, which in turn were cast in place on the slate bedrock. At the far end of the bridge there was a tall gate, made with a galvanized pipe frame, then fenced with page wire and topped with three interwoven strands of barbed wire. The whole gate was hinged to a pair of steel pipes which were bolted directly to the concrete abutments which supported that end of the bridge.
I stopped the Jeep and walked to the other end of the bridge to open the gate, wanting to walk across and check it before driving across. On the way across I looked over the side and down into the gully, but there wasn't much to see, just a drop of about fifty feet with rock and rubble strewn on the bottom. When I reached the gate I found it was held closed by a simple latch and was designed to be swung back against the bank, then locked there by a hook and eye so it was completely out of the way of any traffic.
Not long after crossing the bridge the shale outcrop we'd been driving on ran out. From there on the roadway had been cut into sandstone and had obviously been that second erosion gully, which time and erosion had joined at some time point the past. Soon after I started to drive on sandstone I saw that the walls of the cut had eroded so a view of the valley was opening out before me once more. Someone had put a lot of work into that section of road though, because I could see that it had been blasted right into the sandstone wall of the erosion gully. Then further along the trail after leaving the lower end of gully and all the way to the area near the buildings that roadway had been raised above the normal valley floor. Down there on the level ground the road had ditches on either side so it could be used in any weather.
One thing was certain, Wally's son and his wife had planned for the future. In the first place they had started to build his farmstead on a gently sloping area near the northwest wall of the valley which would give them some shelter from the winter winds out of the north. As we drove toward that farmstead, I saw there were at least half a dozen buildings, besides the large unfinished log cabin nearest to us as we drove in.
The largest building was the huge steel quonset hut which Wally had mentioned, but there were several other buildings as well. The old log barn next to the corral wasn't small either, probably about half the size of the quonset hut, and its roof was almost the same curved shape. Further back toward the cliff I noticed several smaller buildings, one of them a long lean-to which I assumed was probably the cattle shelter Wally had mentioned. Then some distance up the slope leading back toward the cliff I noticed a small concrete block building. I decided that must be the spring house Wally's son had built to protect the artesian well.
With the tall grass growing around all the buildings, you'd have thought that the place would have been uninviting to someone who liked order the way I do, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I hadn't even driven close to the buildings yet, but for some reason, I had a good feeling about the place; it felt friendly and inviting, which was much different than the way I had felt when we'd visited the local town the night before. All I could do was hope that my feelings of the place we were at now had a basis in fact and that the premonitions of trouble I'd felt the night before weren't justified.