Rebellion in the Valley by Robyn Leatherman Page B

the horse on
over to the hotel, where he re-tied it to yet another hitching
post. Whistling a cheerful tune, Duffy held the door for a couple
who were exiting just as he pulled the door open for himself.
    Tipping his hat in a kind gesture, Duffy
nodded his head. “Morning,” he acknowledged.
    Once a cup of steaming fresh coffee had found
its way into his system, he pulled the documents back out of the
envelope the bank man had folded them into.
    ‘ Just imagine! Owner of five shares in a silver
mine .’ His mind began wandering and he
thought of at least ten different ways he would spend the profits
when he cashed them in one day. ‘ O r,’ he rubbed his chin in thought,
‘ I just might even sit on them for a while
longer than I’d figured .’ Who knew how far
those shares could take him?
    Tipping his server a full two bits, Howard J.
Duffman found his way back outside, feeling like a brand-new man.
Reborn. Energized and ready to tackle just about anything that came
his way. Maybe even Tobias, that whippersnapper.
    That reminded him. He really should be
heading on back to the ranch since his business had taken a spell
longer than he had planned.
    Just as Howard J. Duffman, entrepreneur,
vacated Tyndall Street, Mr. Walter Stuart kept an eye on the man
who had just purchased the last of the shares offered from the
Pocahontas Mine.
    P
    Jabbing the tip of an old manure fork back
into the pile, Bruce nodded his head at the man speaking to him.
“Yeah, makes no never mind to me how we get it done, long as it
gets done.”
    The morning, short-handed by three ranch
hands, moved a bit slower than usual.
    “Normally I’d have no problem dropping all
the hay off in the fields by myself, but I sure could use a hand
today so the cattle gets fed before too much longer,” the ranch
hand pulled on the brim of his hat casually.
    “Hey, tell ya what,” Bruce thought aloud.
“I’m almost done here. Give me maybe another thirty minutes, and
I’ll come on over and help you with that. Been a while since I
worked with you anyhow.”
    The other man nodded in agreement. “That
should give me enough time to finish loading up. You know where to
find me, Boss.” He turned on a booted heel to return to the stack
of hay piled up behind the weathered old barn.
    Bruce wiped his forehead. He felt a break
coming his way, but knew the work had to be done and opted for
getting this and at least one more chore completed before having
the entire crew come in and get out of the heat for a few
minutes.
    The fork, under the weight of the load he
scooped up, caused Bruce to grimace.
    “Kinda stinky, huh, Daddy?”
    Shaking his head, Bruce tossed the pile into
the wheelbarrow and stabbed the fork down into the mess again.
    “Well, I can handle the stink. What has me
stumped is why in the world the stuff has to be so gosh-darned
heavy,” he told his daughter. “I’m not as young as I used to be,
you know. I watch the way you and Tobias muck out the stalls and
you two act like it ain’t nothing. What’s the secret?”
    Hailee cocked her head to one side as if he
had just asked her to reveal every hidden thought in her mind.
“What?”
    “What’s the secret behind mucking stalls like
you’re having the times of your lives out here?” Bruce reached back
for the fork, realizing how much still had to be done before moving
along to the day’s next chore–and the ranch hand who would be
expecting him shortly.
    She laughed, removing it from his hands.
    “Oh, I don’t know. Tobias is a lot of fun, I
guess. He makes me laugh, so it’s really not like we’re working at
all. We do lots of the chores that way,” she grinned. “I’ll finish
up here, Daddy. Why don’t you stick around and see how much you can
make me laugh?” she teased.
    Bruce waved a hand at her. “Nah, I’ll leave
that to the expert. Time for me to feed some hungry cows,” he
winked.
    Hailee gave a forced poke into the pile,
heaving a load into the wheelbarrow. When she