Matthew 7:7 - War of the Ranches

Feb. 18, 2009

War of the Ranches

Chapter 1

The weather was cool in Guthrie, Texas in September of 1885. The sun was just beginning to set when the cowboys of the Bar K Ranch got back to their bunkhouse. It had been a long day for the cowboys that worked for Mr. Shane, the owner of the Bar K. They had been in the saddle all day looking for strays that had escaped the night before. The reason for their escaping was the owner of the neighboring ranch; Mr. Black, had ordered his boys to cut the fences of the Bar K’s grazing pastures. This was just another dirty trick in a long line of dirty tricks that had occured since Mr. Shane had moved to the area the year before to try his hand in ranching.

The reason for the quarrelling between the two ranches is that before Mr. Shane started his ranch, Mr. Black had all the range land he wanted. Now that the Bar K was there, he couldn’t let his herds graze wherever he wanted them to. He was restricted to just a specific area, and the Bar K had the best grass in probably all of Texas. This isn’t to say that Mr. Black’s Circle B Ranch didn’t have good grazing land; it just didn’t have grass quite the quality of the Bar K.

The logic behind Mr. Black’s thinking was simple. I am one of the first ranchers in this part of the country. I stared my ranch before Mr. Shane was even walking, I have been using that range land for twenty years and how dare he waltz in here and start using it for himself. The logic behind Mr. Shane’s thinking was; there is enough Texas for both of us.

As the cowboys of the Bar K were unsaddling there horses, Mr. Shane walked into the barn and said “saddle those horses back up boys. We’re going to pay Mr. Black a visit.” After the grumbling and retaking was over, they were headed to the Circle B at full speed. As they rained up in front of Mr. Black’s house the cowboy’s of the Circle B came shuffling out of there bunkhouse, guns ready. Mr. Shane put his hand up and said

“We don’t want gun play. I just want to talk to your boss.”

The foreman of the Circle B looked up at Mr. Shane (who had not bothered to dismount) and said, “He doesn’t have time to talk to trespassers like you.”

“That is government range land Bob and you know it. Now let me speak with Mr. Black,” Mr. Shane replied.

“He isn’t here,” said Bob.

Mr. Shane eyed him suspiciously for a second then said, “Do you expect me to believe you?” said Mr. Shane

“You have my word Mr. Shane He went to Amarillo on business,” replayed Bob

“When will he be back?” said Mr. Shane.

“I don’t know. When he gets done I reckon,” replied Bob

“Well then Bob I will tell you if I find one fence that is cut or one watering tank with holes shot in it, I am coming back here and you will wish you had left me alone.” After saying that he wheeled his horse around and took off back to his ranch with his men following close behind him.

I have started writeing a "book" for school. I finished the first chapter today. I am up for constructive criticism so tell me what you think. Thanks for reading Please leave a comment.

CowboyKing

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Comments

Feb. 19, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Posted by AnAmericanGirl

I think it's great. I like writing stories I just don't usually have the time. I look forward to reading more. I'll talk to you later.

God bless
Hannah