Orla
Bart moved the herd a little faster for the next day or two, hoping to make up the time the fillies had cost them. He wanted to get them all home before they could run into any more trouble.
Their next stop was another little hole-in-the-wall named Orla. Bart wanted to swing by Orla because they had a telegraph line and he could at least find out what was going on at the ranch. Besides, the trail would change their route more towards Odessa, which would give them an almost straight shot towards Little Bend.
They'd been lucky so far and hadn't run into any Indians, and none of the new stock had tried to run off, ever since they'd brought the fillies back. Maudie was fast asleep one night, however, when she heard Jimmie's horse issue a terrible scream, and the next thing she knew everyone was awake and the big bay was thrashing around on the ground.
"What happened?" Bart yelled, and Lucien grabbed his rifle and beat a Mojave Rattlesnake into the dirt.
"Stepped in a rattlesnake hole and got bit," Slim replied, and before anyone else could react, a shot rang out, and the bay stallion lay still.
"Nothin' else to do," Bart declared. "Take whichever one of the remuda horses you want to replace the bay. I'm sorry, Jimmy."
"Wasn't your fault, Bart. He just took a wrong step. As long as you got no objections, I'm gonna bury him." Jimmy pulled a shovel out of the supply wagon and headed to the body of the stallion. Bart and Lucien both grabbed shovels and started digging. "You don't have to help."
Bart nodded. "Yes, we do. We won't leave him out here."
"You'd do the same for us. Come on, let's dig," Lucien insisted, and the three men went to work. It took them the rest of the night, but by morning there was nothing left of the bay above ground. Maudie cooked breakfast and then Jimmy checked the remuda for a new horse. He finally found a black mare and pulled her out, to be saddled and ridden as a replacement for his bay.
They headed for Orla, and pulled into town twenty-four hours later. Bart went straight to the telegraph office and sent a wire to his wife, explaining where they were and how soon they would be home. Bart waited for an answer, and finally got the briefest of ones . . . 'Everything alright, hurry home. Doralice.' By the time he got back to the drive, he'd been up over forty-eight hours. And the next night was Bart's turn to ride Nighthawk, to be followed by Maudie's turn to drive the supply wagon. By the time the string of sleepless nights was over, Bart would have been awake for almost ninety-six hours.
Jimmy volunteered to drive the wagon for two hours so that Bart could get some sleep; at the end of the two hours Bart would take over. Maudie spent a few quiet minutes with her father, and then let him fall asleep. Once he was overtaken by sleep, she told Jimmy that Bart had given her permission to drive, so that he could get a full nights rest. Jimmy believed her, and he rode point while she drove.
Around ten in the morning, one of the horses stepped sideways and drug the wagon into a deep rut, one that they couldn't get out of. Maudie fought to get the wheel back on level ground but she couldn't do it, and finally, the spokes and the tongue on the right side shattered and the wagon tipped over.
The girl was thrown out of the wagon and hit her head against the broken spokes. Bart was ejected from the back end and was jolted awake; as soon as he opened his eyes he knew what had happened. "Maudie! Maudie!" he yelled, but he got no answer. He scrambled free of the wreckage and saw Lucien on his knees on the ground, with Maudie in his arms.
"Is she alive?"
Lucien nodded. "Gonna have a big welt on her forehead, but she's breathin'."
"Why'd you let her drive? Jimmy was supposed to wake me up after two hours."
"She told Jimmy that you'd given her permission to drive. She was determined that you were gonna get some sleep."
Bart spread a blanket on the ground, then took his daughter out of Lucien's arms and carried her over to the makeshift bed. "Looks like we're all gonna get some sleep now." He turned to Slim and asked, "Ride back to Orla and get the doc out here. Then get Danny to start makin' a list of what we're gonna need to replace what we lost."
Lucien rolled up a blanket and made a pillow for Maudie. Slim grabbed the reins to his horse and took off for town. Bart laid his daughter down gently and brushed the hair out of her face. "Jimmy, can you come over here?"
Maudie was still unconscious, and Bart was worried. "Jimmy, you were drivin' the wagon when I fell asleep. You were only gonna drive for two hours and wake me up. What happened?"
"She told me you gave her permission to drive until you woke up. I couldn't call her a liar, so I tried to stay close to her. The outside horse slipped into a rut and Maudie couldn't get him out; by the time I got around to him the wagon had tipped over and the spokes and tongue were broken, and Maudie was unconscious. I'm sorry, boss; I should have known she was lyin' to me."
A small moan escaped from the girl on the ground, and her eyes fluttered open. "What . . . what happened?"
"I think you owe me an explanation, Miss Maudie. You coulda been killed when the horse slid into the rut. I sent Slim to Orla to bring the doctor back and see how bad you been hurt. And you scared me to death. You know you're not strong enough to drive that wagon."
"I'm sorry, Daddy," she started to cry. "I wanted you to get some sleep. I really thought I could handle the horses."
The clop-clop-clop of a surrey could be heard, followed by a horses hoof beats. A small man of about sixty came running over to where Maudie lay. "Mr. Maverick? I'm Doctor Sutherland. I understand this is your daughter Maude. Trying to do something she wasn't strong enough to do yet? Miss Maude, you're lucky you weren't killed. Does it hurt anywhere besides your head? Let me take a good look at that."
Bart stood and let the doctor examine her thoroughly. "Danny, go do an inventory and write down everything we need to get us home. Including a new wagon. Soon as Dr. Sutherland's finished, we'll go back to Orla and spend some money."
It took about fifteen minutes for the doctor to give his all clear. "She's gonna have a heck of a bruise but doesn't look like anything else is wrong. She's a real lucky young lady. Keep her in bed for a couple days and don't let her get too active. She should be alright."
"Thanks, doctor. I'll tie her down if I have to."
Once Dr. Sutherland was gone, Jimmy presented Bart with the list of destroyed or damaged goods, including the wagon that was needed. "Slim, you stay with her and make sure she doesn't get up. Lucien and me'll go get the replacements, including the wagon. Maybe we can pick up another rider in town. We'll be back as soon as we can."
Bart got up to go but Maudie called him back. "Daddy, I'm sorry. I should have paid more attention to you when you told me not to try and drive the horses."
"Yes, ma'am, you should have. Now we've lost several days and I don't know how much money. And I don't know what I'm gonna do with you. I'm disappointed, Maudie, that you decided you knew more than I did. We'll have to figure out what we're gonna do when we get home."
Bart and Lucien rode slowly into town. Lucien could tell that something was really bothering his new boss. "You wanna talk about it?"
Bart was quiet for a few minutes before he finally said, "She's never disobeyed me, Lucien. Never."
"She's growin' up, boss. She thought she was doin' somethin' good for you, and she just overstepped."
"Sounds like you've been there before." There was something in Lucien's voice that rang true to Bart.
Now it was Lucien's turn for quiet. "I had a sister. Patrice was almost two years younger than me. She died when I was fourteen. I still miss her. So I know a little bit about young ladies."
Bart sighed and shifted uncomfortably in his saddle. "Sorry about that. She was just a little older than Maudie?"
"Yeah." They rode on, reaching the outskirts of Orla before Lucien spoke again. "When you said there were kids on the ranch . . . and a chance for a job . . . that's when I made up my mind to ride with you. Frank didn't have any kids, and I miss beein' around 'em."
"You won't get a chance to miss 'em at the B Bar M. We've got . . . let's see, I've got Maudie and Belle, they're twins, then Beauregard, Breton and Lily, and my brother Bret's got Grace, Bartley and Bodeen. Sometimes it's like a cattle stampede, with real small cattle."
Lucien burst out laughing just as they reached the general store. Both riders dismounted and headed inside, with the newest employee of the B Bar M still laughing.