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“Lorna isn’t that kind,” he snapped

“Hey, I didn’t mean nothin’ by it,” Shorty protested “You been in the brush too long You’re as prickly as a cactus”

Benteen took the last drag on his cigarette and tossed the butt into the dying fire “We’ll be headin’ out of here in the next couple of days Soon as we got that last penful, we’ll join up with Willie and the main herd and head for Fort Worth”

Within a week, the cattle were thrown together and pointed toward Fort Worth The first few days of the drive were critical, getting the herd trail-broken The cows’ natural instinct was to return to the brush country that had been their ho theht direction

So it slow the first few days Benteen elected to push histo old—so they’d be tired when they were bedded down for the night and less inclined to becoed better than fifteen miles a day

Luck seemed to be on Benteen’s side The herd was only a few le staet into the habit of sta on a daily basis But if stampedes could be avoided the first ten days, a herd was normally easy to handle on the remainder of the drive

Benteen was riding with Spanish Bill on the left point A long-legged brindle steer had assu out in front of the others

A bareback rider on a big horse crested a rise in the prairie ahead of the herd Benteen sat straighter in the saddle, ready to curse the sli chestnut horse was reined in the instant the rider saw the herd strung out before him Benteen relaxed a little when the horse and riderarc to approach from the side

Without appearing to do so, Benteen kept a close eye on the young rider as he approached The chestnut had a lot of draft horse blood in it to give it that size, and the lanky kid on its back looked as though he had ridden straight off the farm

It see up the range grass and fencing in land That was all theTexas, as far as Benteen was concerned He’d heard about that new barbed wire, and he didn’t like the sound of it

“Can you tell me where I can find Mr Calder?” the boy asked as he rode up His voice had rown into itself yet He res, with a skinny body

“You’re looking at hi Spanish continue on without hiside

The big horse was plow-reined into a walk, giving Benteen a better look at its rider Hatless, the tall, lanky boy had a mop of dark brown hair, cropped close to his neck He tried to appear older than he was, but Benteen guessed his age was somewhere in the vicinity of fifteen

“I heard you had a herd to take north this year” The boy studied the ani by as supposedly a critical eye “Look like they’ve been travelin’ good”

“Yeah” Benteen had been away too often to knoho the boy’s fa into the area