Drover, Head of Ranch Security

Chapter Six: A New Friend

Drover sniffed around at the Co-op dog food that had just been placed in his hubcap dinner bowl. It had never been very appetizing and it seemed even worse now that he had no one to share it with. Loper and Slim watched Drover turn away and head back to the gas tanks.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do with that dog," Loper shook his head. "He was already worthless, and now he's even worse since Hank died."

"Just get rid of him, then," Slim commented. "I'm sure he'd make a good lap dog for some old church lady."

"Very funny. 'Sides, I can't get rid of him. He's Sally May's dog, and she'd throw a fit."

"Oh, he's Sally May's dog now, huh?"

"He's ALWAYS been hers, even though she doesn't take care of him. It was HER idea to bring the little runt home in the first place. I just get stuck feeding him for doing nothing. He's as bad as that derned cat of hers."

Drover didn't hear anything the cowboys were saying about him. He was still wrapped up in his thoughts. He was already a failure at being a Head of Ranch Security after only a few days. Everybody thought he was a joke. Even the chickens were smarter than he was. Maybe he SHOULD have given Pete the job. Sigh. What's a little white mutt to do?

Roscoe ran and ran until he couldn't run anymore. Phew, actually running was hard work. He'd never had to actually do it before except when playing tag. His heart felt ready to explode so he decided to just calm down and do a jog the rest of the way. But his head was full of spinning thoughts. Had Uncle Hank gotten REALLY hurt? Was he okay? Was this a bad time for company? Or was a good time so that he could help him run things while he was injured?

He had just gotten over the top of a big hill and could make out what looked to be a giant red house. No, not a house. Must be a barn. Barns were red according to Uncle Hank. Roscoe was just about to head down there when he suddenly heard some frantic "moo" sounds. He turned behind him and saw to his horror that the same cows he had just talked to were being chased around and bullied by some dogs.

"Those must be the strays they were referring to," Roscoe said to himself as he watched a big one snap at Meredith's heels.

Roscoe's first instincts were to go down there and tell them to leave the cows alone. But then he thought that maybe the cows deserved it for being mean about Uncle Hank getting hurt. Besides, he was too small to do anything anyway. However, he figured that cows were stupid animals (according to Uncle Hank) and besides the baby calves didn't need to get bullied like that. And if Uncle Hank was hurt, he wouldn't be able to do the job himself.

"Hey!" Roscoe exclaimed. "If I can run those dogs off, Uncle Hank will REALLY want me to stick around!"

He put on his best "game face" and started running back down the hill (which was a lot easier than going UP). Wow, frantic cows were rather dangerous! He had to step out of their way as they trampled around in fright.

He saw one little scrawny brown dog with pointed ears chasing a calf. The poor thing was scared to death as it tried to evade the dog's jaws. Roscoe got angry seeing a baby animal getting treated that way and dove in to the rescue. He rammed into the dog's side to knock him over to the ground and help the calf get away.

The dog gasped for air and started coughing, staring at the pup in shock. He couldn't believe a mere youngster had just knocked him over! The other three gang members noticed something was up and stopped, allowing the other cows to get to safety.

"Hey, hey, what's going on here?" said a huge blackish dog, apparently the leader. "Hey, who is this pup?"

A bulldog lumbered up to Roscoe and stuck his slobbering jaw in his face. "Looks, like a little scrawny mutt puppy, Buster."

"A puppy?" Buster sneered. "Look here, kid. Who do you think you are trying to declare war on us? You realize Muggs here could eat you for breakfast?"

The bulldog smiled and licked his chops. "Yeah, I could eat you for breakfast!"

Roscoe gulped, his eyes wide with fear. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea....

Drover had just gotten to sleep when he suddenly heard a ruckus over the hill. It sounded like the cows and calves going into a panic. Oh great, hopefully not a stampede! He prayed they wouldn't crash the fence and run over him.

Oh well, stampedes were the cowboys job. Not his. They would take care of it. Drover settled back down to get some more shut eye. A few minutes drifted past and he noticed that the noise was still going on. Apparently Slim and Loper had not heard the noises and were not going to take care of business. Maybe he should find them and let them know.

Drover forced himself up and looked around the barn where he thought they had been earlier but now were not. He barked a few times but nobody answered him. Great. Apparently HE was going to have to settle the matter himself. Not that it would do any good, he would probably make it worse. Bummer.

Buster gave Roscoe a hard long look. "Say, he looks kinda familiar, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he does resemble someone familiar," Muggs commented, still pointing his nose in Roscoe's face.

"He kinda looks like that nosy cowdog that's always trying to start fights with us," Buster added. "In fact, you look A LOT like him....only you're more of a yellow color."

"Hahaha, you're yellow!" Muggs laughed, spraying slobber in the pup's face. "Yellow means you're a chicken! Yellow-bellied coward, hahaha!"

That made Roscoe mad. "I'm not scared of YOU," he said bravely.

Buster showed all his pointy teeth. "You should be."

The other dogs start circling Roscoe menacingly. "You picked the wrong gang to pick on, little runt. We'll show you who's the boss around here."

Drover looked over the hill and saw the group of cows had finally stopped running around and mooing, but that they were all huddled together and whispering to themselves. Curious, Drover eased down the other side of the hill and decided to ask what was going on.

"You, dog!" one of the mother cows called out to him. "Those stray dogs were trying to attack us again!"

"Stray dogs?" Drover gulped. He automatically assumed that it was Buster and his gang. Oh dear, Hank had trouble himself with those guys. There was no way Drover could possibly take them on!

"Yes, and they traumatized my little daughter! Go out there and tell them to back off!"

"Y-you want ME to do it?"

"Well of course, stupid, you're a cowdog. That's what you're SUPPOSED to do. Besides, there's a puppy out there that needs rescuing."

"A puppy?" Drover asked. Where on earth had a puppy come from? There were no puppies on this ranch because there were no mother dogs on this ranch. And Drover would've certainly known if there were a mother dog around.

"Yes, a puppy," the cow said aggravatedly. "Go do your job and save him and get rid of those bullies!"

"Yeah, but I don't really think that's a----"

"MOVE!"

Suddenly the cow ran towards him, causing Drover to freak out and run in the direction that the strays were in. He couldn't believe he was doing this.

Buster and the gang were about to rip little Roscoe apart but before they could they heard the sound of a "yip yip yip" and a streak of white running towards them. Buster recognized Drover at once.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the pint-sized sidekick? Where's your friend, Mister Big Talker? Too scared to fight me so he sent his tiny calvary?"

Everybody started laughing, causing Drover great embarrassment. He had always been very self-conscious about his physical appearance. He considered being a stub-tailed runt as a handicap.

"Um...he's not here right now, so I'm here to tell you to back off," Drover told Buster, his whole body quivering. He figured it would not be smart to tell him that Hank had been killed. If he knew that, Buster would really take over the ranch then!

"YOU are telling ME to back off?" Buster laughed, followed by everyone else snickering.

Drover felt like an idiot. But he couldn't let these guys cause trouble on the ranch. Hank would not be very happy about that.

"Yeah, so....back off!" Drover said a little more firmly.

Buster stopped laughing and started towards Drover. Drover started backing up, afraid that Buster was going to pounce on him or rip out his throat.

"No, YOU back off, pipsqueak," Buster said nastily. "I'm here to grab a calf so me and boys won't starve. And if you have a problem with that, you can relay the message to your boss. And if HE has a problem with it, he can talk to me about it himself. Got it?"

Drover could only nod.

"Good. Come on, boys. Fun time is over. These two ruined my appetite."

Buster turned to head towards the road. Muggs and the other two dogs glared at Drover and followed suit. Drover let out a sigh of relief and felt faint. He thought he was a goner for a second!

"Hey, mister?" Roscoe asked quietly. "Mister, you okay? Boy, I thought that jerk was gonna eat you!"

Drover had forgotten all about the puppy. In fact this was the first he had even seen him. Actually, upon looking at him Drover felt a sudden rush of fright.

Hank? That kid looks like Hank! But...it can't be Hank, Hank's dead. Oh drat, I hope this isn't some kind of reincarnation thing and Hank's come back to haunt me for doing a bad job!

"Um...yeah, I thought he was too..."

"But, wow, that was awesome! You were so brave telling that guy to back off and leave!"

Drover's ears perked up. "Really? You thought I was brave?"

"Yeah, of course! Even when he got up in your face and threatened you, you stayed cool. That was great!"

"No fooling? Gee, thanks," Drover told him, his stub tail wagging for the first time in a long time.

"You're welcome. By the way, I'm Roscoe," the little pup stated, sticking out a little paw to shake with just like Maggie had taught him to.

Drover felt silly shaking paws with a puppy but he did it to be nice. "I'm Drover. So um....what are you doing here?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I'm tryin' to find where my Uncle Hank is. My mom told me I could visit him and learn how to be a cowdog. You know where he is?"

Drover's heart sank and his gut tightened. This pup was Hank's nephew? Oh dear, how was he going to explain this? He hated to let the little guy down that his uncle wasn't around but he figured nobody else would be able to do it.

"I think we need to have a talk."

Well, looks like Drover and Roscoe have made friends with each other, even though now Drover has to tell Roscoe the news about Hank. And will Buster be back to stir up more trouble?