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Even a search of an old desk in the living roo of importance The kitchen table yielded the only noteworthy items: two local newspapers folded open to the want-ad section Circles had been drawn around ads offering hay for sale

Boone siven his fore counties He knew there was no longer any to be had in the area Calder would have to truck in his hay, and that wou

ldn’t be cheap

He lingered in the house a while longer When no one showed up, he let himself out, climbed back in his pickup, and drove away

It was after three in the afternoon when Quint arrived back at the Cee Bar He had ed to switch his rental car for a black pickup that caas tank lock and security system Both of which he’d left instructions to be installed in the ranch pickup once its repairs were complete

He collected the part for the broken windmill from the pickup’s rear bed and started for the house Sundown cah daylight left to get the parts switched and the windive E and checked on the cattle and pasture conditions

Quint pulled the screen door open, caught it with his shoulder, and reached for the thin black cord he had shut in the door when he left But it was lying on the threshold

There had been a visitor at the Cee Bar while he was gone

Chapter Five

It took Eet the windave Quint a hand replacing a long stretch of fence, using steel posts in place of old tree li neire By then, it was after four o’clock; time to call it a day

Empty hauled his er seat and settled back for the ride into town His thoughts drifted back over the day’s work It had been , a kind of honest, achy soreness

He cast a considering glance at thehow Quint had sweated and strained right alongside hi more than his share It wasn’t a trait he’d necessarily seen in young cowboys any orders Those usually did

It never occurred to Empty to comment on his observations He was of the opinion you didn’t praise awhat he should When he did speak, it was as a former rancher “I don’t kno ot the feeling if you do a count, you’re going to come up short”

“That’s what I thought, too,” Quint acknowledged

“Most people think the days of cattle rustlers are long gone Hell, it’s probably easier now than it was back in the eighteen hundreds Back then, you stood a chance of tracking them Today they load cattle into trucks, and those wheels don’t leave any tracks on concrete roads”