Incidentals

by Kathy Knudsen1

Every episode has both major and minor characters and sometimes there is more to a minor character than meets the eye. Each Chapter will be about one such character. Not all chapters will fall in the same order as the series episodes, and likely one or two episodes will be skipped over (i.e. Return to Devil's Hole because I never watch that one).

22. Chapter 22

Elizabeth Tynan (From 21 Days to Tenstike)

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Gantry sure knows how to stir the pot when it comes to trouble. He always has. I think that comes from a man living a solo life. When a man marries, the woman makes sure that he comes to know the importance of respect and honesty. But a man that never marries never learns how something said or done might affect his wife. He learns how to command attention rather than pay attention to others.

I married Terrence twenty years ago. He was twenty-five and I was eighteen. Terrence was running the day to day operation of the ranch by then, but his father was still doing the books and all the hiring and firing. He hired Gantry and Jake just about the same time. Gantry was the same age as Terence's father, which was too old to handle the work of a ranch hand, so he was hired as the bunkhouse cook and has been on every cattle drive since then.

Jake was about the same age as Terence, and the two were very much alike, putting their work responsibilities above all else. They complimented each other and together, made the ranch run smoothly. Jake made foreman within a year of being hired.

Even when I was first married, or perhaps especially then, I saw the way a lot of the ranch hands looked at me, and I didn't like it then and still don't like it now. It made me feel like an object of dirty imaginations. Terrance saw it too, and he and Jake made it very clear to the hired hands that I was to be given the same respect as Jake and his father. The lurid glances stopped. In fact, most of the hands kept their eyes toward the ground whenever I was around.

But the bunkhouse belonged to the hired hands, and what they said or did inside was their business. Jake didn't intervene unless things got out of hand, like bringing alcohol into the bunkhouse or a major brawl. Those lurid comments made inside the bunkhouse were tolerated, and most usually came from Gantry.

Now I know most ranch owner's wives don't travel with their husbands on cattle drives, but I have not missed one since we were married. Terence and I never had children, so I didn't have as many responsibilities at home, and Terence taught me how to safely ride flank with him nearby to see that I was always safe. I also served as the camp nurse, cleaning and tending to minor injuries and wounds, and sending for a doctor when the injuries were beyond my capabilities.

Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones were polite and respectful from the start. I noticed they seemed to keep to themselves, but that's no reason to suspect someone of murder, and neither is a physical altercation over a legitimate disagreement. Ralph knew Jake should have been the one to tell Mr. Jones he was to ride drag the following day. If you ask me, Ralph was looking for a fight and I suspect he was surprised at just how good a fight he got.

When Ralph was found dead two days later, Jake right away suspected Mr. Jones. I told Jake and Terence privately how polite Mr. Jones had been when I offered him some iodine for his wounds, but that did not deter Jake's opinion. I must admit it was more than a bit unnerving to think there was a murderer among us.

But Mr. Jones was shackled to the wagon the night Bud was killed and everyone began looking at everyone with suspicion. It was Gantry's eulogy that stirred my suspicion the most, with his promise that the real killer wouldn't be far behind. And when Gantry openly accused my husband of the murders, that solidified my conviction.

And then I saw Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones deep in conversation with Gantry one evening and, from a distance, I watched them very carefully and wondered if Gantry was giving them an earful of lies and innuendos as he so commonly did in the bunkhouse for all those years. I thought about going to Terence and Jake with my suspicions as I was afraid Mr. Smith or Mr. Jones might be Gantry's next victim, but something inside me told me to hold back. Call it woman's intuition, but something told me Smith and Jones just might be on the trail of the killer.

Phil's death came as a shock to me, and I suspect to everyone else as well. As it turned out, it was not a surprise to Gantry, but not for the reason I suspected.

I haven't decided if Gantry's next act was one of self defense or of premeditated murder. Gantry is not one to ever carry a gun, but he took a gun with him out to where the horses were tethered. He said it was because he knew whoever owned the stiletto would be going out there to find it, and he was certain that person would be Jake. Then he told us he blamed himself for Phil's murder because he had told Jake he feared Phil would be next.

Well, we made it to Tenstrike with hours to spare. Gantry is now sitting in a jail cell awaiting owner verification of that stiletto, and Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones have suddenly left town without even collecting their pay. Just why they did that is a quandary to me, especially when Terence is standing by his four hundred dollar bonus for each of the men. I'm sure they have there reasons, but Terence is in need of a foreman now, and I think one or both of them could have filled that position very nicely.

And I think next year, I shan't accompany Terrence on the cattle drive.