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“There’s one round and let the reins trail “Looks just like this one”
With a straightening turn, the vet came erect and squared around to face Quint “Where’s that one?”
“Along the south fence line on this side of the river, fifty yards or so from the cross fence,” Quint replied and sized up the man before him out of habit
Somewhere in his early thirties, the local veterinarian was a tall, huskily built e that was reinforced by the cowboy hat, yoked-front shirt, and blue jeans he wore The only part of his costuer was the absence of cowboy boots with underslung heels Instead, he had on a set of heavy-duty rubber boots, coated with mud and excrement
“I’ll need to examine it when I’m done with this one,” he told Quint
“I figured that,” Quint replied and introduced hi the Cee Bar for the Calders”
“Dan Weber” He didn’t offer to shake hands, but Quint hadn’t expected hiloves the vet earing
“Thanks for co out so quickly”
“If it is anthrax as you suspect—and I agree the cow presents all the classic signs of it—the quicker we can get a ju ready to draw a blood saet it sent off to the lab They’ll have to run their test to verify whether we’re dealing with anthrax or not” He paused a beat “Does this ranch have a history of anthrax occurring?”
“Not to e,” Quint replied “But the Calders purchased this particular parcel of land only ten or twelve years ago So it isn’t likely anyone would knohether there had been previous cases of anthrax”
“It was a thought,” the vet said with an idle shrug “Once the bacteria forms into spores, it can ree from thirty to as much as a hundred years, and it could beit to the surface, but last night’s rain hardly qualifies as that Although…” He paused, a reflective look to his expression “On the way here, I reround that looked like it had been plowed up recently That round can scatter any spores that were present”
The ground had been plowed to create a firebreak, but the means used to stop one destructive force had potentially unearthed another one And the irony of that was not lost on Quint Yet given the saain
Using a syringe, the vet collected a blood saular vein “Have either of you touched the carcass?” he asked
“I did,” Eloves”
“Play it safe and burn them when you take them off Make sure you disinfect your clothes, too” The vet stowed the blood sample in a sealed container and scratched the necessary inforht, but if you notice any skin lesions or flulike syht away It wouldn’t hurt to contact him anyway and have him prescribe a course of antibiotics as a preventive measure”