Page 18 of A Triple C Ranch Christmas Wedding
One of the horses huffed.
He ran a hand across the horse, settling it, to be sure it didn’t start making noise. Then he went back to hitching them up.
After he hitched up the other two horses, he began to wonder what was keeping the two men. Zeb checked his watch.
Thirty minutes. It doesn’t take that long to break a lock and grab saddles. What the hell are they doing? I thought I heard them break that lock?
“What’s taking you so long?” he called out, keeping his voice low. “If them saddles aren’t in there, start looking somewhere else for them.”
He heard another sound which was definitely them breaking that lock, and then the boys came back out with three saddles and wearing big grins.
What are they grinning about? Kids. Probably smoking pot back there.
“You been gone thirty minutes. Where you been?” Zeb asked.
They both smirked but didn’t answer. Then Snake said, “Heard something.”
Zeb glanced past them, but no one else was in the barn. He shook his head. “Come on now, saddle this one for me. Then saddle yours. We’re taking them all. Let’s get them saddled up. I want to be on the road as soon as possible.”
“Sure boss,” Snake said.
He seemed mighty pleased about something.
But Zeb was in a good mood tonight, too, so he brushed off asking Snake about it.
“This one’s due soon,” T-Zone said, leading a mare to the hitching post. “We ought to get paid for eleven, not just the ten.”
“I’ll give you a bonus, depending on how much they bring,” Zeb said.
This job pleased him so much, he didn’t mind giving the boys a bonus. But he wasn’t about to mention that a second mare was pregnant. If they didn’t point it out, their bonus would be smaller and that meant more money for him.
T-Zone and Snake shared a glance, as if they were having a private conversation.They’d likely talked about that very subject. Though Zeb didn’t care for that much, he understood it.
Making money was what this was about to them. The whole point of robbing this ranch. These boys were much like him.
“Come on now, boys, let’s get a move on,” he said. “No one gets paid ’til I do.”
From there on out, everything went smoothly. They saddled up then tied all the horses end to end. Zeb hooked to four of the horses and the other two men each hooked to three.
“Hold just a minute,” Buck said.
He moved to the front of the barn and peered out, before opening the barn doors. He walked back, put one finger to his mouth to signal silence, and then mounted his horse.
The other two men mounted and then they rode out quiet, leading their strings of horses, leading them out of the barn, through the paddock, and then through the open gate into the pasture.
“See if you can send a few of them cows on up to the barn,” he said to Snake. “Just a few for a distraction.”
If anyone came out to the barn and saw the stalls open, a few cows loose would catch their attention first. Though it was unlikely anyone would visit the barn at night, the more time bought to get the horses away from the ranch, the better.
Snake nodded.
He untied his string of horses and gave them to Zeb.
Zeb and T-Zone waited while Snake rode over to the cows.
Snake got them moving toward the barn. Then he came back and picked up his string of horses again.
They continued on. From the pasture, it was an easy, quiet walk to the truck and trailer. Zeb was pleased with how well this job was going and felt higher spirited than he had in years.
