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“What do you have inthe kid what he’d already done

“I … thought … I could do his s” There was an earnest look in his expression

“You did, huh?” Benteen took a drink of his coffee, studying the lanky kid over the tin rim “Maybe you’d better decide whether you want to be a cowboy or a fars or milk cows”

“I want to be a cowboy” Joe Dollarhide stiffened, uneasy that Benteenso close to a farm had made him a little homesick for his pa’s farm

“How coed quietly, because Joe usually practiced off and on all day long, trying to become proficient with that essential tool of the cowboy

“I been catchin’ just about everything I swing my rope at—head or heel,” Joe declared “Ask Yates I been doin’ it regularly”

“In that case, we’ll be needin’ an extra rider on drag thisto like the idea of us leavin’ their calves with a farmer Do you think you could handle the job?”

“You just givenow that he was finally getting a chance to be ler’s helper

“Then you’d better be thinkin’ about gettin’ your breakfast ate and a horse saddled,” Benteen pointed out “Everyone else around here is just about ready to fork leather”

“Yes, sir” Joe Dollarhide was grinning as he went back to pick up his plate and wolf down the cold breakfast

Benteen shook the dregs out of his elance went briefly to Lorna “I’onna ride out and look over the herd See you at noon”

As he walked toward the saddled horses on the picket line, Lorna studied him with puzzled interest “Rusty, how did he know that Joe was homesick?”

“Instinct, I s’pect” The cook, too, turned a thoughtful look on Benteen “So about workin’ theBenteen just knows” He sent a sidelong glance at Lorna “Nooether Ya ain’t so easily ‘ed’”

“Maybe it’s because we don’t want to be ‘ested

“Maybe,” he conceded with an indifferent nod “By the by, there’s a nice patch of wildflowers in a little ravine that runs behind the chuck wagon here”