26th June, A fat ox with evil will

She shook her head. "No. Not gettin' down till you take it away. It trampled the captain's tent! With the captain in it!"

Cotton sighed, smiling. "Well, it was worth a try, warn't it?" he said, and stooped for another handful of hay. "This's better'n eatin' Pye's jacket for him," he said, offering it to the animal. "Let's go an' find your friends, then, shall us?"

"Grab it's ring!" Maggie advised from the safety of her perch.

Cotton bit back a sharp retort about women keeping their noses out of men's work - Maggie was only trying to help, after all. "I think I oughta know what I'm doin'," he muttered to himself. "C'mon, you. You've caused enough trouble for one day."

He didn't want to get stuck between the ox and the rest of the herd, so this was going to take some very careful judgement.

Since that green thing was constantly pulled away when he tried to eat it, the ox didn't protest when it was replaced by some hay. There was another, higher pitched voice talking now, and the human beside him shifted his focus over to where it came from, so the ox looked, too, and lowed, half in question and half in indignation.

"Mrs Cotton, I think you should come down from there and move away, your husband has things quite in hand and it would seem that you are distracting the beast," Vickery said, turning back as he heard the ox lowing behind him. "Maybe you can help straighten out some of the mess in my tent while Cotton is busy?" he added, as the thought occurred to him that he couldn't deal with it all himself with his side still paining him if he moved the wrong way.

"Yes sir, if you're sure it's safe." Maggie gave the ox a last wary look before climbing down, making sure to stay close to Vickery lest the animal should take it into his mind to go charging about and flattening things again. "You be careful, now, Gabe. Pye, don't bring him to me in pieces."

Vickery nodded. "If anyone can deal with it, it's Cotton," he said firmly, wondering exactly how he'd come to have such a capable servant - was there anything Cotton couldn't do?

He hid a smile at Maggie's decision to walk as close to him as she dared; there had been days when she seemed so shy she could barely meet his eye.

"Won't , ma'am." Pye answered in a loud enough voice to be heard, but certainly not too loud as to frighten the animal. He looked back at the beast and wondered what they were to do with it now. At first he had thought they were meant to take it away from the others, now it seemed it would be returning to them.

Confused about the intent he decided to wait for Cotton's next move and then act accordingly.

The ox had little interest in their discussions; as long as they provided him with fresh hay and interesting things to nibble at, he was quite willing to stay with them (preferably away from the herd, where others tried to lay claim to the offerings, too). But at the moment they were ignoring him; and that was not to his liking.

So he ampled off towards the other green-clad person in the vincinity, hoping that this one had a treat for him as well. Or perhaps one of the other two?

Edward had silently offered Maggie a hand to help her down the cart, then shrugged.

"Well, I better see that Trueno is cared for before he decides to investigate the contents of your tent as well, Vickery. Shall I send Rottlaender over to lend a hand when he comes back from his drills or would that be more of a trial for your peace of mind? I shan't need him until I come back from having a look at that road we discussed."

"If you wouldn't mind my borrowing Rottlaender for the time being, I should be glad of his services while my own man is... otherwise occupied," Vickery replied, glancing towards Cotton. "Oh dear. Perhaps I should have left earlier."

Cotton's eyes widened a little as the ox turned towards the Captain. "Oh no you don't, you great lump," he muttered. "Why can't you go back to your friends and stop causin' all this bother, eh?"

Edward turned to see what Vickery was referring to, then sighed and shifted to place himself between the ox and Maggie.

"Undoubtedly. And taken us with you. Mrs. Cotton, might I trouble you to climb on that cart again?"

Vickery sighed. "I have no intention of playing hide-and-seek with a creature that size. One would think that he would have wanted to rejoin the others by now."

The problem was, the ox was with his friends - or more accurately with the providers of delicacies he could eat all by himself without others bothering him and forcing him to defend his food. And since he had no other urges at the moment that required the presence of other bovines, returning to the herd was simply counterproductive to his pleasure.

So (after checking that the friendly human with the nice hands had not produced new hay) he ignored Cotton and trotted towards the group he hadn't inspected closely yet. A friendly low that sounded almost like an enquiry was meant to establish contact even before he reached them.

Edward shrugged helplessly, one hand closing around the hilt of his sabre.

"Perhaps he isn't on speaking terms with his fellows? Aren't bulls usually kept seperate from the herd?"

He had only a vague notion of husbandery, but he seemed to recall that his father's steward had mentioned buying some additional fields for that purpose once.

"I don't have the first idea," Vickery replied dryly. "I had always thought that oxen were different from dairy herds, though. When I thought about it all, which admittedly is not often."

Pye glanced at the bit of hay that had remained under the blanket in which he had brought his stack. It was not enough to feed an ox , but hopefully it would draw his attention back from the officers towards which the beast now felt inclined to depart.

"Hoy." He called the creature, waving the handful of straw. "Come 'ere." He walked towards him too, hoping that he would notice that he brought more of the same as before. "There's nothing there for you ter eat. Jus' an officer." He said that more quietly. "Well more o' them and they ain't hay. Trus' me." He looked sheepish as he quickened his pace even more towards the animal. "Come 'ere, got more of this, if you want."

Maggie had been quick to scramble back into the cart. And now she was quick to reprimand the ox. "NO!" she shouted in an angry authoritative voice as he came near. "No you don't!"

Edward mentally sighed and put himself firmly between ox and cart. This was quite idiotic. If the ox really wanted to charge, he would just be thrown aside. Unfortunately, stepping out of the way wasn't an option, so he better had to think of something quick, because he really, really would prefer not to be trampled down. Unfortunately his brain seemed to have tried up ...

Cotton sighed, grabbed another handful of hay and planted himself between the officer and the ox. This was getting really flaming stupid. "C'mon, leave 'em alone, you," he said, and held the hay out. Pye had possibly had the right idea when trying to get the creature to the actual store of hay, of course. "You ought to be with the others an' not bein' so pig-headed," he added. "This way, move it." He edged around a little so that the ox wouldn't be looking directly at the officers and the cart when he raised his head after chewing the hay the rifleman was holding out.

"Whyn't you lie down an' chew the cud, eh?" he said conversationally after a moment.

The two green men were rapidely becoming the ox's favourite humans - they always seemed to have something to eat. The younger one's hay was taken first, but before he could stretch his tongue out for the next bundle, the human with the high-pitched voice cut in again. Did she want to keep him away from the treats the other humans were rightfully offering him? Perhaps she wanted them herself! She sounded ... like a challenge? He slightly turned again, lowered his head and snorted, ready to accept it.

"Maggie, I think it might be best if you were to try to be a little quieter." Vickery spoke quietly, neither wishing to disturb the ox again nor to make Maggie feel in any way guilty for her words. "I do hope that Cotton can persuade the beast to return to the herd with the others; I have no intention of allowing the Riflemen to adopt a pet ox," he added in an aside to Torrington. Really, this whole thing was getting quite out of hand.

It would certainly make an interesting tale for his next letter home.

Edward answered with a very dignified snort:

"I shudder to think what Pye would do with it - either eat it whole or teach it to dance a jig, I'd wager."

The ox still glared in their direction occasionally, but at least he had stopped again and was once again more interested in the hay than in the officers.