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“He’d be a fool to sell” Loht “Why should he? He’s got no reason to sell when he can use it himself”

“He ested, and thoughtfully tapped the ash froht fall in on hihtest”

Loman Janes was relieved to hear that kind of talk For a ed Boston He didn’t respect acautious Loman knew about feuds His faht it was so to be avoided But Boston was the brains of the outfit

“What do you want done?” Lolass

Boston took a puff on his cigar “Got a match?”

Line ca an invisible perined the lonely job The Triple C was already too big to be manned solely from the central ranch quarters that the cowboys had already dubbed the Homestead Since cattle had no notion of boundaries and had roa fence, patrolling between their camp and the next one up or down the line They held in their own cattle and turned back the neighbor’s

It had been a while since Benteen had checked on Shorty He rode into the prevailing wind, blowing hot, dry air from the southwest He could smell the smoke from Shorty’s campfire when he was still two miles away

Benteen wasn’t sure the exact moathering storrasses of the plains had beco them ripe for fire

He whipped his horse into a flat-out run, racing straight for the growing clouds of black sht when he spied Shorty trying to drive a crazed bunch of Longhorns across a creek It was the only place that offered a natural firebreak forhis horse toward the creek to lend Shorty a hand

Six of the steers took off, and they had to let theet the other forty-odd head across the creek Once they had the cattle on the other side, they continued to drive the—coyotes, rabbits, antelopes A mile and a half from the creek, they left the herd to circle back to make another sweep for any cattle they may have missed

A haze of smoke and ash filled the air to choke them Benteen tied his bandanna around his nose and er, the heat fro its own draft

He shouted to Shorty, “I don’t think the creek will stop it! The wind’s too strong!”

Shorty nodded and pointed to Benteen’s right A finger of srassy bank on this side of the creek Fro the dry grass

“We’ll never hold it here without help!” Benteen waved Shorty away from the creek

About a mile away, a jumble of rocks had been thrust from the earth Its natural barrier would flank the wildfire on one side Benteen pulled in his horse and brought it to a plunging halt The bandanna had fallen to his chin