Thunder Rolls

A/N Due to witing on my on project (everything original) and being involved in our community theatre, this story is already slower in the making than my other stories. That, along with the fact that I have to travel to a library now, will make it so my postings are not every day. It might also result in a number of chapters being posted at once.

Chapter One

Hour after hour of traveling over one hill and another or over flat land in the hot Nevada sun, the journey might not have been so bad except for the fact that the stranger was stuck riding a horse instead of taking the more comfortable stagecoach or train. But, that's what happens when you barely have twenty dollars to your name. The stranger sighed; there'd been more money at one time, but jobs had been scarce and hard to come by. Well, maybe that wasn't quite true. There were plenty of jobs to be found…if you knew how high to jump and made sure you kept your opinions to yourself or even worse; doing something that went against the very moral grain of your soul.

The stranger chuckled at the thought of keeping their mouth shut. Anyone that knew this particular mortal would have told you not to even try to understand their actions or their words, unless you knew how to decipher code. That part had the stranger laughing hard. Okay, so speaking one word while meaning another had become one of their bad habits, especially around those they did not fully trust... which unfortunately meant the majority of people had been left to sort out riddles the majority of the time.

Any thinking the stranger was doing stopped when a lone man, lying unconscious on the ground, suddenly came into view. Within seconds, the newcomer to the Nevada territory was kneeling by the man's side and turning him over. The dried blood on his right shoulder looked liked a bullet hole. There was also a nasty cut on his forehead; his hat lay not ten feet from him. The victim's clothes spoke volumes; he was a cowboy, maybe one of the ranchers in the area. "Well, mister," the stranger said, "don't know who shot you or why, but you're sure are a lucky son of a gun. I know how to doctor people and don't mind camping out." The next few hours were spent doing just that, doctoring the injured man and making up a camp in a nearby clearing under the protective canopy of trees.

The breeze of the setting sun blew through the spaces in the clearing and across the injured man's face, causing him to moan and stir.

One stranger watched the other carefully. The injured man tried to open his eyes. When that failed, he found himself calling out, "HOSS! Where are you?"

He felt two arms take a hold of him. "Hoss?" He whispered again before falling back into unconsciousness.

"Don't know who Hoss is, but…" the stranger spoke to no one in particular and went to work on building a travois while glancing at the sky, "I need to get you to some shelter. I believe I saw a deserted cabin a ways back. The sooner I get you there the better." Yes, the sooner the better as the clouds were starting to roll in and the wind was picking up. So much for the trip to Reno, the storm that was rolling in and now this injured man was going to put an abrupt halt to that trip for sure.

The moment the stranger had the travois built, the injured man was pulled onto the contraption and tied down. Thank goodness he wasn't as large as some of the cowboys they'd seen in town or they'd never have been able to move him. The wind continued blowing and the clouds kept gathering as the stranger moved as slow as possible. Having already bandaged the injured man once, the stranger wasn't eager to redo their hard work in the middle of a storm.

The two miles to what turned out to indeed be a deserted cabin seemed like twenty by the time the two finally reached it. Thank goodness there was no stairs to the place. Crazy or not, the stranger dismounted, opened the door and then led the horse right inside. It was easy enough to do, as there was only one table, two chairs and two small cots in the place. Once the travois was no longer attached to the horse, the stranger took the horse back outside and was relieved to find a makeshift barn behind the cabin. Soon the stranger's horse was inside the shelter and the stranger was back inside with the patient.

Since the injured man was not in a position to talk, the stranger knelt down and started going through his pockets. After all, there just might be some sort of identification on the man…nothing. With the unconscious cowboy still lying on the travois that had been built, the stranger went from kneeling to sitting next to the man. As the rain started falling and the sun started to set, the stranger could guarantee one thing…it was going to be a long night.

00000

The rain was making it so Hoss pushed Chubby as fast as he could. The trip to Carson City had been unexpected and even then it was only supposed to be a two day trip. It wasn't exactly a trip he'd wanted to go on, none of them had. In fact, he and his brothers had argued over who should go and who should stay. His mind flew back the moments before he got stuck with half the job.

"You got to kiddin' me! We've got the round up in a few days. If any of us goes to Carson City and talks to Old Man Hillard and his brother, we'll be there for weeks. Those two talk more than any group of women I have ever met yet!" Little Joe was standing in the living room, along with Hoss and Adam; Ben sat on a nearby chair. All three of his sons were voicing the same concern.

Ben would hear none of it. "All we need is for two of us to go, one to talk to Old…I mean, John and the other to James and get them to sign these contracts. If we handle them separate and real careful, they'll not chew our ears off. If needs be, one of us can stay behind and deal with their need to over visit a bit." Then, because of the ensuing argument, Ben had asked Hop Sing to get four straws, two long and two short. Whoever drew the shortest two would go and deal with the Hillard brothers.

"Ya know Chubby," Hoss muttered as he rounded the corner of the stable and dismounted, "I had better things ta do than ta go deal with James Hillard! Think I'll grab a bite to eat. I'm starved!" He hurried and took care of his horse and headed for the house where he was sure his pa and brothers were waiting for him. After all, he'd left Carson City much later than expected.