The Cattle Drive

By Burr Cook

This novelette is the sixth in the series known as “The Laramie Saga”. Rather than at Laramie, this story takes place mainly on the trail and at the Lakota Sioux Reservation in the Black Hills. Texas Long Horns are driven to the starving Lakota Sioux and the cavalry men at Fort Laramie attempt to divert the herd for the army’s use. Although this is a sequel to “The Z-Bar Ranch Incident” it stands by itself very well. It is a fast moving western adventure story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329334120

Book preview

The Cattle Drive

The Cattle Drive

Copyright 2015 Burr Cook

ISBN - 978-1-329-33412-0

Chapter 1

His name was Mato which in the language of his forefathers means Little Bear. He was very little when he first got the name but now as a young man in his early twenties he is large; over six feet tall with broad shoulders and a muscular build. He sits tall in the saddle on top a large grey mare named Toad. He was born to a Lakota Sioux mother and was a full blooded Native American (Indian). He was raised in a mixed family, the only one he ever knew. His father died when Mato was very young, too young to remember what he looked like. In fact all of his relatives died at the same time. They were massacred by the U. S. Cavalry, all except he and his mother, Winona who was remarried to a white man, James Riley a lawman from Laramie.

Mato loved his stepfather almost as much as he loved his mother Winona. James Riley was an expert gunman and taught his step son very well. In fact Mato was raised among four families of men who are or were lawmen. Aside from his step father there was Buck Benson an ex wagon train scout and expert gunman and there was Mato’s uncle, Jack Hansom who had learned from Buck. There was Charlie Burton alias Badlands Bart and another Uncle Ed Riley. So Mato grew up well able to defend himself.

Mato was a scout for a cattle drive from Texas to the Black Hills on route to deliver beef promised by government treaty to the Lakota and Dakota Sioux in exchange for land. The tribes were sharing land in Wyoming and Dakota Territory and no longer had enough land to support themselves and even what was left was in peril since gold was discovered in the Black Hills. The drive consisted of about 4000 head of long horn Texas cattle, 12 cowboys, a horse wrangler, a cook who drove the ox team pulling a chuck wagon, a trail boss and one scout. The drive was expected to take most of the summer. The going was slow since the cattle needed periodic grazing time. If driven too hard they would lose too much weight. The route took them over mostly open grazing land or else it was Indian land. Aside from scouting it was Mato’s job to negotiate permission to cross Indian lands by paying them, generally about 10 cents per head. He also determined the route to follow much of which took advantage of the old Chisholm Trail. He often found short cuts.

He was an expert hunter and often shot deer, elk, buffalo, bear or any of various other game, leaving them where they could be picked up by the chuck wagon