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“You can count me in” Shorty was the first to speak up

“I got nothin’ keepin’ me in Texas,” Jessie included himself

“Spanish?” Benteen glanced at the Mexican He wanted his experience on the drive

“I go with the cattle,” he agreed, and grinned when he added a quick qualification, “—as long as you get the herd there before it gets cold My blood is too thin for such weather”

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The Mexican’s dislike of the cold ell-known and greatly exaggerated It brought a lazy curve to Benteen’s roup Ely Stanton was always the quiet one, the last to speak up, slow to decide anything until he’d thought it through He was also the only —fro—but he wasn’t happy off a horse

“What about you, Ely?” asked Benteen

“I don’t think the idea would sit ith Mary,” he answered sloith reference to his wife “She’s got relatives in Ioway She’s wantin’ us to go there and see if I can’t find ood rich dirt”

“Aw, Ely, you ain’t gonna walk behind a plow and look at the back end of a horse all day when you could be ridin’ one, are you?” Shorty declared with a cowboy’s derision of a farmer

“I been thinkin’ about it” There was a stiffness in the man as he poked at the campfire’s coals

“If you decide to pull up stakes for Iowa, you e City,” Benteen suggested “Lornafor part of the journey”

“I’ll let you know about that,” Ely said

The cattle ether Thetrouble, but the disturbance was only aof positions Within minutes the bunch had settled down and all was quiet

“You been away an awful long tial’ll be waitin’ there to ed her mind an’ run off with somebody else”

Unwittingly he touched a sore spot Benteen had never forgotten his mother’s defection