Chaparral Range War (9781101619049) Read Online Free Page B

dance.” Dan spoke to her like that was a question she’d need to answer.
    Guthrey paused for a moment before removing the saddle off his horse and wondered how she’d answer him.
    â€œCan you dance, Guthrey?” she asked, shuffling her work shoes and not looking at him.
    He laughed and heaved the rig off his horse’s back. “I can sure step on your toes doing it.”
    â€œThat’s all that I need.” Then she laughed and nodded her head. “Why don’t we? I’m in favor. We haven’t done that since before we lost Dad.”
    â€œGuess we better go, then,” Dan said.
    â€œYou two promise not to start any fights?” She looked at them for an answer.
    â€œI don’t want to fight,” Guthrey said.
    Dan agreed. “I don’t want to either.”
    She shook her head. “I suggest each of you buy a new shirt and pants for that event.”
    His saddle on the hitch rail, Guthrey thanked her.
    â€œSupper around six,” she said.
    Guthrey heard her and went to the barn. He unloaded the new cartridge revolver model .45 Colt he wore, cleaned the entire works, and lightly oiled the weapon. Since he had not recently fired the weapon, he didn’t boil the barrel and cylinders.
    â€œYou pay a lot of attention to that gun of yours,” Dan said, watching him all the time.
    He looked the youth in the eye. “I live by this piece of iron. If it doesn’t work when I need it, I’ll be dead. It ain’t a lot of work considering I am betting my life on it working right.”
    Dan nodded. “I guess if you think like that—it needs to be clean.”
    â€œTell me about the dance,” he said, slipping the weapon back in his holster.
    â€œIt’s a social. Everyone brings food. Potluck. Then they dance, slow, fast, and faster.”
    â€œDo you dance?” Guthrey asked.
    â€œSome. How about you?”
    â€œI can dance. Let’s look at the wagon and make sure it don’t fall apart going over there.”
    â€œSure, but it’s all right.”
    â€œLet’s look anyway.” That boy certainly needed to learn to check on things before they broke down. Maybe his father did all that and never mentioned it to him. Guthrey’s grandfather had taught him how to do those things. He made Guthrey respect examining things like wagon gears and saddles, cinches, horse’s backs and hooves.
    During their inspection of the buckboard, they discovered the wheels needed to be greased and planned to do it in the morning since Cally had called them to come eat supper.
    Washing up on the porch, Guthrey and Dan made small talk about other ranch things. Cally stuck her head out the door. “Are you two coming?”
    â€œYes, ma’am,” Guthrey said. They were coming. This was a peaceful enough corner out of the busy rest of the world. He found that some of his mental guards had become relaxed. That might be all right. He’d been under lots of pressure with his last Ranger job. Time would tell how his stay here would work out.
    * * *
    T HE REST OF the week they spent their days checking range cattle for any signs of screwworms. These flesh-eating maggots attacked any cut in the cattle’s flesh and soon killed the victim if not treated. They found several head that needed to be roped and treated with an ether-tar compound. Dan proved to be a good roper and caught anything they found that needed to be doctored or simply checked. Guthrey heeled the cattle’s back legs in his rope and held them for him, and Dan bragged about how their two-roper partnership sure beat his one-man operation out hollow.
    By Friday, Guthrey’s roping had improved a lot too. It had been years since he’d done much cowboying, but he soon fit in place, helping the boy. No problems came up with Whitmore. If anything, it was maybe too quiet—a man like that never quit doing underhanded things to suit his