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anywhere. He just wanted to stay right here.
When the door closed behind him, Pendleton glanced at his daughter. "An
interesting young man," he commented.
"He's nice," she said, "and he's strong ... very strong."
"Naturally.He's a blacksmith."
"I wasn't thinking of that," she replied. "Perhaps resolute is the word. I
don't think he knows what he wants yet, but when he makes up his mind ... he
will get it."
Chapter Nine
THE HORSE Shanaghy rode was a roan, a mustang with a Morgan cross, and the
moment he hit the saddle he knew he had a horse. The roan trotted into the
street, and the moment he had the room he went to bucking.
Shanaghy, who had ridden all his life, had never tackled anything like this.
How he stayed with the horse he never knew, but stay he did. And when finally
they loped away he heard a cheer from the few scattered people who had
watched.
There had been last-minute advice from Carpenter. The herd would move about
twelve miles per day, perhaps less now, as the grass was good and Patterson
would want to bring them in fat for the market.
The country, which had appeared flat, proved less so than Shanaghy expected,
for there were rolling hills and some deeper ravines. When he was well away
from town, he drew up to look around.
As far as the eye could reach there was only grass moving in the wind. These
were the fabled buffalo plains, but there were no buffalo now. Far off, he
glimpsed a herd of antelope. There was no sound but thewind ...
For several minutes he sat very still, feeling the wind on his face. The air
was fresh, the sky wasclear, and somehow the soft wind and the coolness
smoothed the troubles from his mind.
Yet ... the thought came again ... what of that young woman? Who was she?
What was she?
That she was not staying anywhere in town was obvious, and he doubted if she
could be living with Hank Drako ... She simply wasn't the Drakes' type.
That she might live in the town to the west was possible but doubtful, as she
seemed too fresh when she rode into town in the morning. True, she had come
but twice, but nonetheless she must have somewhere to live that was close by,
providing her with a means to keep her clothes pressed and clean.
Where, then?
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Puzzling over the question, he rode steadily south, a vast sky above him, a
vast sea of grass all about. As he rode, some of the accumulated tension began
to dissipate. For the first time in days he began to feel relaxed and rested.
He talked to the roan, and the horse twitched his ears, apparently liking the
sound of Shanaghy's voice. Shanaghy had always liked horses and he liked this
one. Once, sighting a small seep, he turned aside for it and allowed the horse
a slow drink while he sat in the saddle, studying the country.
He was riding away when he saw the tracks. He knew nothing of tracking, but
he could see that at least three horses had passed that way heading for the
seep. Turning, he followed the tracks back and found where the riders had
dismounted and waited for some time. There were the tracks of the horses and a
number of cigarette butts. Then he found the tracks of a fourth rider who had
come in from the northeast. Thoughtfully, Shanaghy studied the tracks.
Although he knew little or nothing about "reading sign," as the westerners
called it, he did know a good deal about horseshoes and the shoeing of horses,
and this looked like work Carpenter might have done.
This rider had not dismounted but had remained in the saddle while talking to
the others, then had turned around and ridden back along the original trail.
Chances were,it was a casual meeting between some range riders who had
stopped for a smoke.
By nightfall, Shanaghy had traveled a distance equal to three days for the
herd, and he made camp under some cottonwoods in a little draw where he found
the remains of a campfire. He was learning that most places suitable for camps
had been used by others before him, but there was water here, some shade, fuel
and grass, whatever any traveler might need.
At daybreak he was again on the trail. From what Carpenter and Pendleton had
said, he surmised that Patterson would be no more than five or six days' drive
from town, and so he rode with his eyes on the horizon to the south, looking
for dust or any sign of moving cattle.
It was almost sundown on the second day when he topped out on a small rise
and saw them.
They were still miles away to the south, but he could see the long dark line
of the moving herd and a few smaller dots that would be outriders. He was
still several miles from them when he rode down into a long, shallow valley
and saw their chuckwagon, and the thin trail of smoke rising from the
campfire. This, then, was where the herd would bed down.
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