The Ranch

Chapter 5

So they walked back along the Pecos River and got back on the mules. They drove to Yellow Birds favorite spot on the ranch. When they arrived, they saw that the ground was disturbed and there were beer bottles everywhere.

"This is strange, it never looks like this," said Yellow Bird.

"Maybe some high school kids or college kids came," said Edward.

"I'm sure something jumped the fence and came in without being noticed, but that is a long walk to get here," said Yellow Bird.

"Really, people would jump the fence?" asked Jason.

"Yes they do, but they will be caught, because you have to pass the opening to the mess hall, Robert can see through the windows who is leaving and coming because he is there all the time," said Yellow Bird.

"They even made a came fire," said Edward bending down motioning his hand around the fire. "It is still warm, they must have made it last night," said Edward.

"But that is impossible," shocked Yellow Bird.

"I'm sure they waited for every light to go out and made there was through," said Jason.

"Sorry about all this, but come up on this slab and look out," said Yellow Bird.

So Edward, Jason, Victor, and their mother walked up and looked out.

"Wow, you can see for miles, is that beautiful or what, I mean look at this view," said Edward.

"Oh it is amazing," smiled mother.

"You can hear the water," said Victor.

"You sure can," said Yellow Bird.

"That's pretty cool," said Victor walking away back towards the fire.

"Oh Yellow Bird, don't be upset, it is alright, we can come another time," said mother.

Victor looked down and saw footprints leading up towards the road.

"I found tracks," said Victor.

They came rushing over to Victor.

"They lead up to the road," Edward walking in the direction of the footprints. "Instead of going right to get out, they went left, I wonder what's past these trees," said Edward.

"More site seeing, trails, caves, all kinds of stuff to explore," said Yellow Bird.

"They must still be up there, maybe there is a cave that they are hiding in," said Victor.

"Well I'm not sure if an animal has used that cave, if not then anybody can go deep into the cave," said Yellow Bird.

"Maybe they are not there, maybe they are still on the ranch somewhere, probably on the hiking trail," said Jason.

"This is true, it's a lot of acres to cover to try and find these people that trashed this spot," said Yellow Bird.

"Honk, Honk" Henry driving up.

"Hey guys," said Henry.

"Henry look at this mess, someone has trashed this place and left their beer bottles all over the place," said Yellow Bird.

"Well that's not very nice, come on I'll help clean it up," said Henry.

"The boys found tracks," said Yellow Bird.

"We should follow them, and find those people tomorrow, while it is still daylight," said Henry.

So they started cleaning the place up and loaded it all on the back of the mules.

"There we go, looks good, now we have chores that need to be done," smiled Henry.

"Oh I almost forgot about that, sorry about that Henry," said Yellow Bird.

"It's okay, you can get lost in the scenery out here," smiled Henry.

"Yes you can, alright guys, I'm going to teach you how to feed and ride horses, which I'm pretty sure you guys already know how to do that," said Yellow Bird.

"Yeah we already know how it's just been a long time since we rode," said Edward.

"Alright let's get busy," said Yellow Bird.

So they all got on the mules and followed Henry back to his place.

They arrived at Henry's place, mother went inside the house to find Maggie, Yellow Bird and the boys walked up to the barn and started with the horses.

"First we have to shovel the horse manure and lay fresh hay down for them. Then we will brush them, feed them, maybe even ride a little," said Yellow Bird.

"Great," Victor said under his breath and rolled his eyes.

"Sounds good to me," said Edward.

"After we do all this, we can go ride," said Yellow Bird.

So they started shoveling out the stables and feeding the horses and brushing them as the horses ate. Then they started to saddle up the other horses.

"Hey you look at that, it's the horse from the house," said Edward pointing.

"Wow, he actually belongs to another rancher, he does not like to be put in a barn, he likes to roam around, he showed me around the ranch when I started working here, my grandfather, Koplei says that is a very special horse," said Yellow Bird.

"I think he wants you to ride him, brother," said Edward.

The horse walked up to the saddle laying on the ground and he tapped it with his hoof. Victor looked at the horse and smiled a little.

"Where are we going?" asked Victor.

"I believe he wants us to follow him now, " said Yellow Bird.

"Alright let's saddle up and get going, let's see where the spirit horse takes us," said Edward.