Muley's Crossin

We had some awful bad storms in Japton this week. My cabin's OK but I had a lot of fence down and was all week gettin it back up and roundin up cows that found the holes fore I did. When I rode down to check on pappy I had to ride nearly six miles upriver to Muley Shad's crossin to get across the Buffalo. Where I usually cross without hardly gettin Badger's feet wet was a raging torrent about eight feet deep. Muley is a short squatty old man with a grey shaggy beard and long grey hair flyin ever which a way from under his faded confererate hat. He has a raft rigged up with ropes and pulleys to pull it across the river and back again. He gets four bits - two bits for the horse and two for the rider. He gets a dollar for a wagon, loaded or not. The crossing was terrifying for me and Badger but Muley just puffed on his pipe and talked his fool head off as he pulled us across. I recon he gets sort of lonesome out there by hisself and had saved up a lot of talkin for whoever come along to listen. Just when I was about to tie a gag on him, he said something that caught my ear. The day before he had carried two of Wayne Elliot's hands across headed north. I wondered why Elliot's riders would be driftin this far north and where they were going. I said as much to Muley. He said they told him they was cattle buyers but from what he could overhear they was goin to take care of a problem for their boss. Wayne Elliot is an evil greedy tyrant but he is not careless. If he sent riders up to my place they would be his best gun hands and they would have only one purpose. I stayed a little longer with pappy than usual, I guess cause I was dreadin the ride back home. Pappy said he knowed Muley cause he used to live by us when we was kids but that he knowed him as Mr. Shad. I wish I had let Walter come with me this time cause when he's with me no one can get within a mile of me without him lettin me know they're there.....