A/N: I do not own Bonanza, no dialogue from the episodes, nothing. Only my OC.
Tonight: The Price of Salt
Edited 2-19-21 to add line breaks.
Annie turned her head from the dead calf sprawled on the ground, its mother bawling as she nudged her baby. Joe looked over to her with a worried frown, then they both looked up at their pa's face. Ben's eyes were tortured.
Hoof beats rang out and Candy rode up to them. "Dead calf down the hill a ways." He glanced down and his face twisted.
"That's eleven dead calves." Hoss thumbed back his hat.
"That we've seen," Ben amended. "How many are we going to find in the brush?" Joe nodded at the cow.
"Doesn't look so bad now, but three or four days without any salt, her bones will be sticking out." Ben sighed.
"It hurts to see poor, dumb beasts chewing at bark and dirt to find salt that isn't there."
"What happened to Bob Rio anyhow?" Annie snatched Reno's reins and swung back into the saddle. "He should have delivered that load of salt a month ago."
"We can't wait on Bob any longer, without salt, we'll lose most of the herd." A chill shot down her spine. If they were lucky and didn't lose all of it. The Ponderosa could probably survive the loss, but what damage would it deal in the short term? Joe put his hands on his hips.
"Three days to Spanish Wells, three days back." He looked down at the calf again. "We'd better get started."
Three days later, they pulled the wagons up in Spanish Wells. Annie scanned the street while Ben greeted fellow ranchers he knew. "Zeb, how are you?" They shook hands. Everybody seemed on edge, or was it just her?
"Sure could have used you just now."
"What for?"
"You've known Sheriff Vern Shaler for quite a spell, haven't you?"
"Sure."
"He shamed us, Ben. He's standing us off with a shotgun when we gotta have salt." What? Annie looked around again. That didn't sound like the man she'd met before.
"Well, what's Vern got to do with it, the salt belongs to Bob Rio, doesn't it?"
"Rio's dead." Ben's eyes widened. She swung around in her saddle to catch Joe's eye up on the wagon seat. Dead? How?
"Rio's dead?"
"So's the salt bed, played out altogether." Silence met Zeb's announcement as they looked at each other in disbelief. "His niece is sitting on what's left over in the warehouse right now. And she ain't selling."
"What?"
"Shaler's upholding it."
"Vern's got to have some reason, doesn't he?" Zeb's son broke in.
"The petticoat's his reason. Shaler's courting her, so he's backing her play." Of course he was. Some stupid, prissy city woman comes waltzing in and always messed everything up.
"One other thing, Ben. We're all gonna lose our herds unless we get salt pronto."
"Sure." Ben sounded confused, and why shouldn't he? Zeb was telling them what they already knew. The man's face darkened.
"The salt in that warehouse isn't half enough to go around." He clapped a hand on his son's shoulder. "Let's go." They walked away, leaving Annie and her brothers staring after them in shock. Candy let out a low whistle. Ben swallowed hard. Then, they all looked at each other again.
Finally, Ben slapped the reins over the horse's backs and the wagon rolled forward, Hoss putting his team into motion as well. Annie rode alongside, mind spinning, heart pounding, the image of dying cattle flooding her head.
Not half enough.
Dear God, how many would they lose?
They parked the wagons and she followed her pa to Rio's warehouse, wanting to see this woman that had the sheriff so twisted up he'd back her over men he'd known for years. "Annie, there are times a lady must keep her opinions to herself."
"Of course, Pa." Even though she wasn't a lady, not by any Eastern sense of the word. Even this side of the Mississippi, she probably wouldn't be classed a lady. That fact should bother her, but it didn't.
Ladies didn't get to ride the range with their brothers.
They stepped inside the warehouse and a woman looked up from her place behind the counter. "I'm Ada Halle, can I help you?"
"Ben Cartwright, this is my daughter, Anne." She nodded politely; the woman looked her over with a touch of disapproval. "Ms. Halle, I'm here to –"
"To buy salt," the woman finished for him and stood, bringing a ledger over with her. "Um, Cartwright." She flipped through the pages. "Oh, yes, the Ponderosa. You've been a very good customer in the past."
"Yes. I was sorry to hear about Bob Rio, we were old friends."
"Oh, thank you. As it happens, I hardly knew him." Ben frowned; Annie held her tongue. So, she'd been right. Probably some city woman who thought herself better. "I suppose you've heard that the salt bed is exhausted. The only available salt is this here in the warehouse." She gestured back into the dim recesses of the building.
"So I was told."
"If you'll sign that order." She handed the document over. "You'll be allowed to buy up to sixty percent of the salt you purchased last year." Sixty percent? Annie bit her lip. While better than no salt at all, it wasn't what they really needed. Ben sighed and signed the order.
"We're ready to load up and leave now so if you'll just tell me how much I owe you –"
"Now, just a minute, Mr. Cartwright, there are others ahead of you. You'll have to wait your turn."
"Our cattle are dying!" Annie couldn't keep her mouth shut one moment longer. "I wouldn't expect a stuck up city girl to know anything about that, but your sheriff should have explained matters to you."
"Annie." He laid a hand on her arm. "Simmer down. Ms. Halle, my cattle need that salt, have you ever seen them die for want of salt – not one or two, but in bunches of ten and twenty?"
"I've been spared that experience."
"Better for you, if you hadn't. I bet you think your steak comes from the general store, too?"
"Annie!" She snapped her mouth shut and glared at the stupid woman. "I was losing calves when I left, I've got to have that salt, there's no time to waste!"
"You have no idea how many times I've heard that lately."
"While we're standing here talking, I'm losing maybe twenty or thirty –"
"Trouble, Ms. Halle?" A tall, thin deputy appeared from the depths of the warehouse, cradling a rifle. The woman looked between them.
"No trouble. I was just telling Mr. Cartwright, I only own the salt, the business details are all handled by Sheriff Vern Shaler. You know him, of course?"
"Yes, ma'am." Ben turned and stormed out the door. Annie lingered a moment longer.
"One of these days, someone is going to do you like you're doing all these ranchers, and I won't shed one tear should I ever hear of it." She flung open the door and stalked out in her pa's footsteps, trialing him to the sheriff's office.
"Ben! Ben Cartwright!" A tall man with a thick dark mustache stepped around the large wooden desk. They shook hands.
"Good to see you. You remember Anne?"
"Of course! She's grown a mite since I last saw her, though. This calls for a drink." He glanced down at his cup. "Maybe something a mite stronger than this coffee, I got a bottle of brandy here." He dug in his desk drawer and pulled out the bottle.
"I came to talk about salt, Vern."
"This is your kind of brandy, Ben, in fact the first time I ever tasted this was out at the Ponderosa. Where does the time go? Seems like only yesterday it was Christmas of '59."
"Vern, I came to talk about salt."
"You and everybody else. This is the worst drought I ever saw, Ben. No spring grass, then Rio's scraper hits bottom and … no salt."
"Ms. Halle tells me that you're in charge of the financial details."
"Just before you got here, some of the ranchers were trying to take me apart, I had to run them off."
"With a shotgun."
"As you can see, that's no job for a lady."
"I could handle it," Annie said through her teeth. Vern tossed her a speculative look over his brandy glass.
"I expect you could. But you were raised out here, she wasn't. She needed help, so I volunteered. When all that salt's gone out of the warehouse, there's not any more for maybe four hundred miles."
"Closer to five hundred."
"And the cattle bawling all the way from here to Big Spring. All that salt in the warehouse is only sixty percent of what you cattlemen are used to buying for the year. So naturally, when I heard that, I told Ada we're gonna have a problem, now somebody needed to make sure all you buyers got a fair share. That's why I took the job." Ben paced the room.
"Look, Vern, you know how much each of us is supposed to get, just sell it to us and let us go home."
"I'd like to do that, Ben. But it's not my salt, it's Ada's. She's got the right to say, wants all you buyers here so that nobody can squabble over the deal."
"Even if the cattle die while we're waiting?!" Vern threw his hands in the air and turned away.
"Well, she doesn't know anything about that! She's from the city."
"You're from here, tell her!"
"I'd just leave her out in the middle of the desert until she wised up." Vern shot her a concerned look.
"I'd bet you would." He swallowed hard. "Look, Ben, you'll be on your way by tomorrow, you're the last buyer to show, except for this Talbot from the C Bar T ranch." Talbot? Annie bit her lip. That fat slug was nothing but trouble. "We just got word he'll be here in a few hours. That ought to make you feel better." Ben said nothing for a minute or two.
"She wants all the buyers here, and salt is in short supply. Now, how much is that salt going to cost?"
"A little more than last year, you can understand that with the salt beds scraped clean –"
"How much more?" Vern looked uncomfortable.
"I don't know, we talked about price, but we didn't exactly nail it down." Ben growled under his breath and turned away, motioning her to follow. "She's not gonna hold you buyers up, Ben." Her pa stopped at the door and looked back. "Now, she's a good woman. She's as fine as they come."
"I'm sure she is, Vern. You might just tell that fine woman that wars have been started on account of salt, and if she's not careful, she just may start one here." Ben stormed out the door; Annie slammed it behind them.
Candy and the boys waited at the bar in the saloon. "We still have a couple of hours to wait," Ben announced.
"Couple hours?" Hoss protested, "We ain't got minutes."
"I've said that until it's coming out my ears, we still have to wait." Joe shook his head and Candy stared down at his beer.
"Ben." Zeb came over. "We're having a meeting. You talked to the sheriff and we'd like to know what he had to say." Their pa nodded and hurried over to the table in the corner, leaving them at the bar.
"I'll tell you what, there ain't gonna be any left for us once the big ones get to bidding for that salt." Another rancher's voice drifted across the room. Annie frowned and motioned to the bartender. He looked at her funny, but brought the beer without a word.
"City women," she scoffed. "Probably hasn't seen worse than a broken nail in her life and she's holding that salt in her greedy hands."
"How bad is it?" Hoss ventured.
"It's gonna cost more, a lot more unless I read her wrong. And it won't be enough." The ranchers' lowered voices buzzed in the background like a swarm of honeybees. "Shaler says she won't hold us up, but I wouldn't bet money on that."
"I know you've seen the books, Annie, you're the only one of us with the patience for numbers, what are we facing?"
"We're probably one of the only ones who could survive this, but only because we've got other interests." She took a sip of her beer. "The others haven't got a chance if she doesn't turn loose of that salt now."
"He's here now!" They turned from the bar as Talbot strode inside, some of his men ranged out behind him. Who was he talking to? Her gaze landed on the ranchers. "Well, gentlemen," he wandered over to their table. "Why the long faces?" Disgust tasted bitter on her tongue. He had the gall to ask?
"Cattle dying and no salt, that's why," one of them spit out.
"We're glad you're here," Ben said. "You seen Shaler yet?"
"I figured to talk to him tomorrow morning." Voices rose in anger and Talbot looked around.
"You ought to go see him right now. Shaler held up the sale of salt until you got here and everybody's ready to load up and move up."
"Salt bed is cleaned out, and stock's way down in the warehouse … how is this going to be divided up?"
"Everybody's going to get sixty percent of what they got last year."
"Your idea, Cartwright?"
"Shaler's idea, he worked it out with Ms. Halle."
"The lady who owns the salt?" She didn't like that tone to Talbot's voice, he sounded like he was already scheming. "And sixty percent seems fair for those who stood still, those who sold some of their cattle, more than enough, but gentlemen." He stood. "You see my herd has increased by twelve hundred head. And sixty percent of the salt I bought last year won't nearly be enough."
"Twelve hundred head? That's more than twice what he was running last year!"
"Sit down, Al," Zeb said.
"He ain't been in town ten minutes and he's –"
"There's no point in fighting and arguing and bickering." Ben's voice rose. The four of them turned their backs to the bar and let their hands drop to their holsters in silent warning. Some noticed, but Talbot looked like he could care less. "Now, let's try to figure out a way to work this out."
"The difference between you and me, Cartwright, is you want to see everybody get their share. Me, I'm only interested in mine." Having said that, he turned and walked out of the saloon.
"He'll steal it," Al said. "One way or another, he'll grab our shares."
"No, he won't. Shaler won't let him, he said he'd make sure that salt was divided fair, didn't he Ben?"
"Yeah, that's what he said." Annie took another sip of her beer. One problem with that: Shaler didn't own the salt, the city woman did.
"Joe." She jerked her chin and put her back to the room, leaning in so they could whisper. "You really think he's running over twice what he was last year?"
"If anyone wants my opinion, I'd say no." Candy leaned forward to see past Joe's shoulder. "Did you see his men? They looked just as desperate as we are, maybe more."
"Having twice the herd and sixty percent of last year's buy will do that," Hoss put in.
"Not that kind of desperate. I bet he's lost cattle, and lost big. Now, he's scrambling to save what he's got left." Annie set her mug on the bar.
"Let's find out. Which one looked the worst to you, Candy?" she whispered. "Find him, and get him to talk." She dug in her pocket and pulled out a handful of silver dollars, slid them down the bar. "Come find one of us if you need more." He scraped the coins off the bar and touched a finger to his forehead in salute, then slipped away.
Ben came back to the bar a few minutes later. "Where's Candy?"
"Gathering information." He nodded slowly.
"Good idea. I'll go see Vern again, maybe he can talk Ms. Halle into hurrying up." Ben left the saloon in a rush.
"He's powerful worried."
"We all are, Hoss."
"I know. Say, Annie."
"What?"
"Think you can work your charm on one of Talbot's men?"
"Pa would kill us." She sipped at her beer. "Besides, I haven't seen one I could stomach talking to, much less charm. Let's see what Candy comes up with before we go off half cocked."
Ben came back before Candy, looking like a thundercloud. He reached for Joe's untouched beer and took a drink.
"What's the matter, Pa?" He stared at his reflection in the mirror.
"Ms. Halle says we'll have to divide the salt another way."
"What?"
"How –"
"But Shaler–"
"Talbot has offered her twice the price of last year. Shaler says he didn't know until she told us both." Annie set her mug down hard, slopping froth over the rim.
"He's lived here for years, he knows what we're up against. How can he side with her?"
"He's going to marry her."
"She'll bring him nothing but trouble, won't be a year before she's begging him to take her back East so she can live –"
"Anne. Vern's choices are his own. That's enough of that." She narrowed her eyes and stared down at her beer. He'd regret this some day, that haughty city woman would ruin him.
"This looks like a rather somber gathering." Candy slipped in between Joe and Annie, reached over for his mug and took a drink. "Anyone care to hear my news?"
"Now would be appreciated," Ben said. Candy nodded and took another drink.
"Talbot didn't add twelve hundred head. He's lost a lot."
"How many?"
"Almost eight hundred."
"From lack of salt?" Annie and her brothers exchanged glances. Didn't he buy enough last year? Candy shook his head.
"Partly, but the drought and rustlers had a hand in it, too." Ben's mouth firmed.
"I think we need to pay Talbot a visit." He led them out of the saloon. A quick inquiry at the hotel's desk gave them the conceited rancher's room number and they made their way upstairs. Ben knocked at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Ben Cartwright."
"Come in." They filed in, spreading out across the room behind Ben, Joe leaning against the wall beside Hoss, Annie and Candy taking the other side of the door while Ben leaned against a side chair.
"Twelve hundred head," he said, bypassing the pleasantries. "You're sure about that?"
Talbot looked up from his chair, the barber snipping at his thinning hair. Annie rolled her eyes. Too good to visit the barber in his shop like every other man? "What difference does it make?"
"Annie."
"Your ranch hands say otherwise."
"Snooping and prying, just like the Cartwrights."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You would. Ben, this girl of yours needs a knot jerked in her tail. If she were my daughter – "
"She's not."
"Close to eight hundred head smaller than last year," Candy said.
"So what if it's smaller? What difference does it make?"
"You're using a lie to get more salt than you deserve." Hoss shifted his weight.
"That may be true. Cartwright, sooner or later, you and I are gonna have to partner with each other." He picked up the mirror the barber handed him and studied his reflection. "Get rid of the competition or we'll be at each other's throats."
"Talbot." Ben's voice was harder than she'd ever heard it. "We'll never be partners." Talbot looked up from his mirror. "And if I have to, we'll fight you all the way." As one, they turned and left the hotel room.
"What do we do now, Pa?"
"There's nothing we can do, Annie, except wait." Ben sighed. "It won't do any good to talk to Vern again. That woman has to set a price soon, we'd best just find a place to wait. Come on." They all headed for the mercantile, save Annie.
What good would waiting do? All it did was cost them more cattle. Visions of an empty range sent a shiver of dread down her spine. How easily it could happen. She looked back at the hotel. Especially with Talbot in the mix.
"You're getting that look again, sweetheart."
"What's it to you?" she snapped, instantly regretting it when Candy's face froze. "Never mind, I'm sorry." She tugged her braid over her shoulder and played with the end. "It's not you I'm mad at."
"Didn't figure it was. I'm just here and he's not."
"How can she do this? Why doesn't Shaler tell her how it is out here? The closest she's probably ever been to a cow is steak and eggs."
"Maybe." His lips twitched. "Hey." She looked up. "It'll come out alright in the end. Men like Talbot fall sooner or later, I've seen it more times than I care to count."
"But who's he going to take with him?"
Several hours later, nothing had changed. The greedy, little, city woman still sat primly in her warehouse of salt, holding their futures in her hands. Annie wanted to scream.
Or better yet, put a bullet in Talbot and solve the whole problem right now. As it turned out, she wasn't the only one toying with that idea.
"Talbot!" Out wandering the main streets for lack of anything else to do, the five of them exchanged worried glances, then rounded the corner to find Zeb Williams squaring off with Talbot. "I ain't gonna let that happen. It took me a lifetime to get what I got and I ain't gonna give it up without a fight."
"Hey, Williams!" Ben broke into a run, but it was too late. Zeb drew; Talbot beat him by a mile, firing off a shot that sent the other man spinning to the ground. A crowd gathered. "Get a doctor, quick." Joe nodded and ran off. "We'll take him to his room."
"Pa! Pa!" Zeb's son raced over. "Who shot you, Pa?"
"Never mind that now, let's get him up."
"Who did it, Pa?"
"Never mind!" Shaler and his deputy arrived as they helped Zeb back to his room.
"What's going on here?"
"Just a difference of opinion, Sheriff," Talbot drawled.
"It was a fair fight," one of his men added.
"A fair fight," someone else hollered. "Talbot's twice as fast as Williams!" Shaler's face hardened.
"Talbot, you shoot Williams?"
"Williams drew on Talbot," someone answered for him. "All Talbot did was put a bullet in William's shoulder." Talbot drew himself up.
"If you have no objections, I'll go back to what I was doing."
"You going to try and walk over the rest of us?"
"If you get in my way."
"Next man draws a gun, draws against me." Shaler turned dark eyes on Annie. "That goes for you too, Ms. Cartwright. The rest of you people, move on out of here." Slowly, the muttering crowd drifted away.
"Your money-hungry petticoat's gonna get someone killed, Shaler." His eyes narrowed.
"If you were a man, I'd strike you for that."
"You could try," she said evenly. "But I wouldn't like your chances." Candy caught her arm.
"We'll wait for Pa in the saloon," Hoss fixed Shaler with a knowing look. "Something has to happen now." They left the sheriff standing in the street and ducked inside the saloon.
Talbot stormed in a few minutes later, clearly disgusted, and complaining that Ms. Halle said she would meet with all of them in an hour to price the salt. Candy leaned over.
"Sounds like she refused whatever he offered."
"That's not good." Joe fiddled with his hat brim. "Talbot can pay almost as much as we can, what's she after if she didn't take it?"
"I don't think we want to know."
The hour passed with agonizing slowness. At one minute after, Talbot turned from the bar. "She calls a meeting, everybody's here, where's she?" Shaler lowered his mug.
"She'll be along any minute."
"I've taken all I'm going to take."
"You won't have to wait any longer, Mr. Talbot." Ada Halle made her way into the saloon and Shaler jumped from his chair to meet her.
"Have you put a price on the salt?" one rancher called. Her chin came up.
"Yes, I have." Everyone waited. "One dollar per head of cattle you own, for sixty percent of what you bought last year." Immediately, grumbles filled the room. One rancher stood up, his face dark.
"I've got seven hundred head. It'll cost me seven hundred dollars for salt worth less than fifty dollars." Shaler looked back and forth between the crowd and Ada Halle. "If I had seven hundred dollars, which I don't."
"You can borrow it."
"I'm borrowed to the hilt. Shaler, you behind this?"
"I set the price, Mr. Shaler had nothing to do with it." She held her chin high.
"Ma'am, I know hogs has got better family than you." Shaler struck him across the face, knocking him back into the tables. Joe and Ben shot to their feet.
"Vern." Shaler ignored Ben, advancing on the other rancher.
"You got five seconds to swallow those words." They stared at each other in a tense silence. Finally the rancher shook his head.
"I beg your pardon, ma'am." He brushed past them all and left the saloon.
"Vern, would you see me back to the warehouse?"
"Be happy to." They left a moment later. Candy shook his head as Ben and Joe sat back down. Hoss drew in a deep breath.
"I never figured Vern to side with her on the price of that salt."
"How many of these ranchers can afford to pay a dollar a head for that salt?"
"You're about the only one who can afford it, Mr. Cartwright." Ben glanced up.
"I'm not the only one," he muttered, just as Talbot arrived at their table.
"Well, Cartwright, you going to meet her price?"
"No." Annie bit her lip.
"Why not?"
"If I meet her price, and you do, that'll establish it for every rancher here and none of them can afford it."
"Well, what are you gong to do?"
"I'm going to refuse to buy, and if you do, we can force her price down."
"I'm losing more cattle every day." He turned to go; Ben grabbed his arm.
"Now, listen. Nobody wants this, but the truth is that you and I could survive if we lost every head of cattle we owned. We refuse to meet her price. If we all stick together, we can force it down."
"Stick together? These cattlemen will never stick together and you know it. Sooner or later, it's every man for himself." Talbot left the saloon.
"There's going to be trouble," Candy predicted. "Only question is how much." Ben shook his head.
"I'm going back to the hotel, stay out of trouble, all of you."
"Right, Pa." Ben eyed Joe, one eyebrow raised. "What?"
"Just keep me posted if something changes." He hurried away and Annie downed the last of her beer.
"I should have said something, I'd love to watch Shaler try making me apologize to that robber in petticoats."
"Antagonizing that woman ain't going to do us no good. We just got to do like Pa said and wait her out, force the price down."
"She's as nervous as we are, she'll break," Joe said. "She'll bring the price down."
"Will she? All she sees are stacks of money, not dying cows. She doesn't care about anybody but herself, I doubt she even cares about Vern past what she can get from him."
"Anybody want another beer? I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of waiting."
"Me too." They all headed for the bar and slid their mugs across to the bartender. Annie turned and caught sight of William's son swaying drunkenly as he stumbled over to Talbot's table. "Uh, oh." Joe followed her gaze. Ned Williams slapped Talbot's arm and Talbot looked up.
"Ned. I suppose you know my friends."
"If they're friends of yours, I don't want to know 'em. You know why you're still alive?"
"Why don't you tell me?"
"Because I promised my pa I wouldn't draw on you. And I keep my promises."
"That's a smart thing to do."
"But that don't mean I can't tell you what I think of you." His words slurred. The four of them traded glances. "That don't mean I can't –" Ned moved to strike, but Talbot's friend was faster, throwing a wild punch that knocked Ned backwards, throwing more punches as he forced him across the room. Joe and Hoss stepped forward and intervened, hurling Talbot's friend across the room and into the tables. Talbot shot to his feet, going for his gun, but they beat his draw, guns out and aimed at his fat belly.
"Hold it!" Shaler and Ben burst into the saloon. "Put those guns away." They waited until Talbot's hand left his before they holstered theirs. "Get him up. Anymore of this and I'll lock you all up." Ben shook his head and came over to them.
"What's all this about?"
"Ned had a little run in with Talbot," Joe explained. Not thirty seconds later, the man in question slipped out the door. That couldn't be good. If he caved, no one would get salt Except himself, and she was betting that's just what he was up to.
"Pa, he's making his play." She nodded at the door. Ben glanced over to Talbot's table and sighed.
"This has gone on long enough." He waved the other ranchers over and they descended like a flock of birds. "We'll meet her price, I know you can't pay it, none of you, but I'll handle it. I've got enough in reserve we can do it. How many head does everybody have?" He leaned against the bar and produced a pen and paper from his pocket, plus his checkbook. "Do the figures, Annie."
"Yes, Pa." She hurriedly scribbled down the head counts and added everything up, then slid the paper over to him for approval.
"Alright, let's go. Annie, with me, the rest of you stay here, she's the only one who could say the wrong thing right now and get away with it."
"Guess being a lady does have a few advantages," she muttered under her breath before following him out the door. Of course, it wouldn't stop the one person who could derail everything, ladies could say anything to a man and avoid getting hit, but another woman? That was when the claws really came out.
They rushed down the street and burst into the warehouse, interrupting what looked to be a very cozy scene between Ada Halle and Talbot. They looked up as Ben closed the door. "Ms. Halle." He leaned against the counter. "I'm here representing all the ranchers, except Mr. Talbot. We've decided to meet your terms."
"Oh." Her forehead wrinkled. "I understand some of the ranchers lacked the money to meet the terms."
"Why should you care where the money comes from, so long as you get it in your hands?" Annie said, her voice dripping with scorn. Ben shot her a warning glance, but said nothing. Yet. He would if he thought she took it too far.
"Yes, it's true that none of them has enough, but I've made arrangements and it's been taken care of."
"That's very kind of you, Mr. Cartwright. But, I'm – I'm sorry."
"What do you mean, you're sorry?"
"I've just sold all of the salt to Mr. Talbot." Ben froze, his hand whipping out to latch around her arm before she could throw herself at Ada Halle. Shaking in rage, Annie steeled her voice, letting the greedy little hussy see just how much she was hated.
"He was being generous, I've seen better skunks than you. I hope the money's worth it, once word gets out, you won't have a friend in these parts, much less Vern Shaler."
"Mr. Shaler is none of your concern."
"It won't be long before he's not yours either. And you, you filthy snake, you'll get yours one day, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it." Talbot only smiled. Annie shot out the door before she moved past mere words and did something she should regret. Ben joined her and they stood in the street, stunned.
Shaler's deputy leaned against a support post, straightening when he saw them. "Something wrong?"
"What isn't?" ben shook his head without a word.
"Do I need to get Shaler over here? If I yell, he'll come running."
"He can't do anything, anyway."
"I was just over to the livery stable. They're hitching up Talbot's wagons to load out that salt." Ben stared off into the distance. He nodded slowly.
"Yeah. Thanks." He turned and yanked the door open, disappearing inside. Annie nodded to the deputy and followed. What could they do about it? Talbot straightened beside the desk Ada Halle was sitting at.
"Someone needs to tell Shaler or that deputy that I bought the salt."
"You tried to buy the salt." Talbot looked up, anger clouding his face.
"Tried?"
"Yeah."
"I gave her the money and she's writing me a receipt." Ben leaned in for a closer look, then reached for the receipt. Talbot grabbed his wrist. Annie drew her gun and touched the barrel to his head. He froze.
"Don't," Ben said softly, steel lacing that single word, eyes boring into Talbot's face. The man let go, Annie lowered her gun, and Ben took the receipt. "Yes, I see. You tried to buy it." He grabbed the pen from the inkwell. "You were outbid by a group of ranchers who appointed me treasurer. You were outbid by one dollar." He handed the amended receipt to Ada Halle.
"Cartwright, that salt belongs to me, bought and paid for." The door sung open, admitting Shaler and his deputy. Ada jumped.
"Don't let me interrupt, I'd like to know what's going on, too." They looked at each other, then Talbot cleared his throat and walked over.
"Sheriff, this salt belongs to me. All of it."
"All of it?" Shaler looked past him at Ada.
"Vern, I had to, he met my price."
"We met it, too, and outbid him by one dollar."
"She accepted my offer first, I demand –"
"Shut up!" Shaler walked over to stand beside Ben and Annie. "I know what the Cartwrights will do with it, but how about Talbot, was he going to share?" He focused on a very nervous Ada.
"What difference does it make?"
"I told you to shut up and I meant it!" Annie couldn't resist the tiny smirk pulling at her mouth. "Well, Ada, was he?"
"No," she finally said. Shaler's face blanked.
"And you were going to sell it to him, knowing that."
"Vern, what could I do? He met my price."
"There, you see? She admits I bought it first."
"You were the last one to arrive," Ben growled. "By the time you got here, we'd all ordered our salt. All that wasn't settled was the price and I settled that just now."
"As Ms. Halle told us when we got here, there were others in front of us. That change, lady after you made a deal with the devil?" Ada's mouth trembled as she looked at Vern Shaler.
"Sheriff, Cartwight all but forced that check on her at gunpoint. The salt belongs to me!" Shaler shook his ehad.
"Ben, I side with you in principle, but if he got here with the money first, I'm afraid the law sides with him."
"Vern, that salt is life to every head of cattle in this part of the state. If you deny it to them, that's mass murder. No decent man or court could countenance that." Silence followed that pronouncement. Shaler finally looked down at Ada behind her desk. He swallowed hard and dug into his pocket.
"There's the keys to the loading dock, tell the men to get their wagons."
"I want you to divide the salt."
"I will. You –"
"You can't do this! That salt's being stolen!"
"Get out of town and don't ever come back." Talbot glared darkly, then stormed out the door. Silence fell again, Shaler shifted on his feet, then cleared his throat. "Ben, Anne, if you'll excuse me, I've got some things I'd like to talk over with Ada." By the look in the woman's eyes, she knew what he wanted, and it wasn't good. Ben looked between them and nodded towards the back of the warehouse.
"Um, Vern." They moved away a few feet, leaving Annie staring at Ada with contempt. She leaned over the desk.
"You were told what would happen if you took advantage of these men, but you didn't listen, did you? Thought you were so smart, so protected, you'd come out on top." She glanced over her shoulder at the quietly intense conversation her pa was having with Shaler. "I'd bet you're going to lose it all."
"You don't understand," Ada hissed. "I've spent my life working twice as hard as any man and getting less than half the pay and Vern doesn't get near what he deserves. We need that money to build a solid marriage." Tears stood in her eyes.
"No, Talbot came in here flashing his money, offering you the moon so he could get his way and you got greedy."
"I'll be out in a minute to help you load." Annie straightened and looked back at Shaler. The poor man looked devastated. She turned back to Ada.
"I hope it was worth it to you." She stalked out of the warehouse without a backward glance. The door slammed a few seconds later and her pa joined her. He laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
"I'll tell the other ranchers, meet the boys at the wagons, bring them around to the loading dock." He sounded sad.
"Of course, Pa." He took a few steps, then turned back.
"How well did you think that through?" She shrugged. "That's what I thought. I think Candy's rubbing off on you."
"If twenty-six years of Joe hasn't done it, I hardly think eight months around Candy will."
"I need at least one child who can keep a cool head, please?" He sighed and cradled her face in his hands. "I wish your mother could see you, the both of you. I know she'd be proud." He dropped his hands. "Get the boys to the loading dock." He hurried to the saloon.
Annie had only gone a few feet before the warehouse door slammed again and Vern Shaler stood in the street, blinking up at the sky. His shoulders rose and fell in a deep sigh, then he stuffed his hat on his head and stalked away in the opposite direction.
She hoped he had more of that brandy in his desk drawer, he looked like he needed it.
She reached the wagons, only having to wait a few minutes before Hoss and Candy arrived. Candy hopped up on the seat beside her and kicked the brake loose. "Let's get moving, sweetheart." She rolled her eyes and backed the horses, then slapped the lines over their backs and drove them down the street.
"Where's Joe?"
"Mr. Cartwright sent him to check the livery stable, make sure Talbot left town like he was supposed to." They reached the loading dock and edged into the crush of heavy wagons and massive draft horses. "You drive pretty good."
"I've only been doing it since I was ten."
"Figures." He set the brake and they hopped down. "There anything you can't do?"
"My knitting looks like a bobcat used it to line a den."
"Fella at the stable said Talbot and Conrad left town," Joe announced when they reached him. Ben nodded and looked around, taking the key from his pocket.
"I'd feel a lot better if I'd seen it with my own eyes." He headed for the door.
"Mr. Cartwright, I figure if they're going to make a try, that's the place to do it." Candy nodded up at the roof of the building next door. "One rifle up there, ain't no one loading any salt."
"Take a look."
"Right." Everyone waited while Ben disappeared inside the warehouse. A couple minutes passed and Annie leaned back against the wall. Visions of dying cattle filled her head. How many more had they lost, waiting on that greedy woman?
"Hey." Candy's quiet call brought her head up. "You better get in there, I see light glinting on gun barrels." She and her brothers exchanged looks, then dove for the warehouse. Joe got there first, skidding to a stop when Conrad shoved a pistol against his head.
"Hold it right there." Annie rushed up and pressed her gun against his skull and he froze. Hoss claimed his pistol and pushed him outside.
"Take care of this one." The three of them ventured deeper into the gloomy warehouse. Joe stopped.
"Talbot!" The man fired and Joe shot back. Ben leaped at Talbot, knocking the man to the floor.
"Hold it!" Vern appeared from the office end of the warehouse. Talbot scrambled upright and drew. Annie fired, getting Talbot at last, but not before his bullet caught Vern in the chest. He collapsed without a sound.
The next thing she knew, Ada Halle was draped over Vern's body, sobbing and begging him to look at her. "We can still build a marriage." The three of them joined their pa, unable to look away from the heartbreaking scene. "With love. The money doesn't matter, only you." Annie pressed her lips together and blinked several times. Why hadn't the woman realized that before it was too late? Maybe none of this would have happened, and a good man wouldn't be dead.
Ben sighed and walked over slowly, looking back at them before he crouched beside Ada Halle. "Ms. Halle." She kept sobbing. "Ms. Halle." Joe squeezed Annie's shoulder and she caught his hand. Why did people have to get so crazy-headed over money? It couldn't buy what really mattered. "Ms. Halle, Ms. Halle, please." Ben gently pulled her to her feet, her grip on Vern's hand linking them until she was forced to let go and his hand fell limply to the scarred floorboards. She sobbed all the way to her desk chair, then collapsed over the polished desk, still crying. Ben rubbed her back.
"He's gone," she choked. "All I ever really wanted." She said something else unintelligible, then, "take the salt, divide it. I burned the checks. No charge." Her sleeve raked across her face. "No charge at all," her mouth wobbled. "Call it a present from Vern." Her head fell back to the desk and fresh sobs spilled free. Annie swallowed the lump in her throat and whirled around, diving back out the warehouse doors and into the sunlight. Candy rushed to meet her.
"What happened?"
"Talbot's dead." He looked over her shoulder. "And so is Shaler." She drew in a shaky breath. "If I'd been a little bit faster …" Candy caught her arms gently.
"It wasn't your fault."
"It feels like it."
"It wasn't."
"Everything loaded up?" Ben rounded the back of the last wagon.
"Yeah, Pa." Joe tied off the ropes. The rest of the ranchers came over.
"We're all loaded up, Ben." Zeb leaned against the wagon. "How much do we owe?"
"Ada says no charge." The ranchers looked at each other in disbelief. "A gift from Vern Shaler."
"A gift? Well, that's might generous. I don't know what the rest of you are going to do," he dug into his wallet and removed a stack of bills. "But Ned and me are gonna pay our share." Another rancher came up behind Ben, handed money over his shoulder.
"You'll see that she gets it?"
"I'll see that she gets it." One by one, the rest of the ranchers handed over their share. "Thanks, fellas." He headed back inside the warehouse and Annie swung into Reno's saddle. Candy and the boys climbed up on the wagon seats. She pulled Reno alongside and they waited.
She'd thought money more important than love, and now that was all she was going to get. If Annie knew her pa as well as she thought she did, he was in there right now leaving more than what he owed for the salt.
Cold comfort, money. Annie was willing to bet her share of the Ponderosa there would be many a night for many years in Ada Halle's life spent looking back on this moment, wishing she could go back and change just one decision.
"Annie?" She snapped out of here reverie. Ben climbed onto the lead wagon and Hoss put the team in motion. She nudged Reno into line, the wagons stretching out behind them all the way down the street.
Who could have guessed the price of salt would be so high?