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Sky had been pressed into service with the rest of the hands Managing the re care for the young horses he was training kept him so busy that even his worry about Marie had been pushed to the back of his mind Cattle were the lifeblood of the Ri the herd safe and healthy

Sky was scanning the flat horizon for strays when Will rode up beside him “The Boss,” as his hired men called hiritty with dust, blown by a wind that was like the heat from a blast furnace

“You look like hell,” Sky said

“I’ I look about the same as you” Will pulled down the red bandanna that protected the lower part of his face “At least we got most of them penned The first truckload of hay should be here any time It’ll cost us a blessed fortune to feed this many head of cattle”

“Better than watching theure we can afford to keep the hay co?”

“According to Beau’s numbers, we can feed them for another three weeks—rass Otherwise, we’ll have to sell them off cheap and see them trucked away to feed lots”

“So this is a big gamble”

“Da if we shouldn’t just go ahead and sell the on hay is just money down the hole”

The twodust devils play across a landscape so flat that early Spaniards named it the Llano Estacado —the Staked Plain—because they had to etting lost

Will lifted his Stetson and raked a hand through his sweat-soaked hair “Those colts you’re breaking to sell could keep us fro under How many can you have ready for auction before the fall roundup season?”

“The yearlings are barely halter broke,” Sky said “But I’ve got at least twenty good two-year-olds that are partway there It’ll take a lot of work to get them to where they should be But I’ll do my best”

The furrow deepened between Will’s dark eyebrows Sky could i thecow pony could go for as much as 30,000 An exceptional horse, trained by a man of Sky’s reputation, could fetch more With luck, they could count on more than half a million dollars for the lot of them—minus what they’d paid for the unbroken colts in the first place Would that be enough to make a difference?

Given what the ranch would lose if they had to sell off the cattle, it didn’t seem like much But that wasn’t Sky’s decision tohorses his best and trust to luck

“The boys and I can look after things up here,” Will said “For noant you to get back to those colts Go hoain as soon as you’re ready”

“You’re sure? There could still be strays out there”