Goodnight's Dream (A Floating Outfit Western Book 4) Read Online Free

Lane of the opportunities,
Leonard put in, ‘My men’ll be ready to ride in fifteen minutes, Mr.
Goodnight.’
    ‘ I’ll take half of them while you
command the rest here and escort the remainder of my battery,’ Lane
corrected, not meaning to share any glory with a Cavalryman if he
could help it. ‘Sergeant Major! One, Three and Five guns, four
ammunition mules. I want two carrying solid shot, two with
spherical case. Move it.’
    ‘ Yo!’ answered the sergeant major and
galloped off to obey.
    ‘ Keep with the cattle until we rejoin
you, Mr. Leonard,’ Lane commanded. ‘In fifteen minutes, Mr.
Goodnight.’
    ‘ We’ll be ready,’ the rancher
promised.
    Knowing the serious nature of
the situation, everybody concerned with the rescue attempt worked
fast. Fine cow-horse as it was, Goodnight would not be using
the bayo-cebrunos for the work ahead. Instead he selected a powerful
roan stallion, fast, with endurance to spare and steady in any kind
of emergency. All the cowhands also picked from their mount—no
Texan said ‘string’ for his team of workhorses—animals suited to
long, hard riding.
    Within fifteen minutes all was ready. Lane’s
three howitzers were already carried by top-quality animals and it
only remained to pick the four best of the remaining twenty-seven
mules to carry the ammunition panniers. Having learned the need for
mobility by fighting against the superb Confederate States cavalry,
Lane’s men were all mounted, instead of working on foot as was
usual among Mountain artillery batteries. From the way they handled
their horses, Goodnight concluded Lane’s men had been well trained.
They and the cavalry escort were veterans with combat
experience.
    Fifteen Texans, twenty-five cavalrymen and
the crews for the three howitzers carried on six mules followed
Goodnight and Lane away from the herd. The cavalrymen were armed
with Army Colts and Springfield carbines, while the gunners wore
revolvers only. Every Texan carried at least one revolver and a
rifle or carbine of some description, although very few owned
repeaters. For all that, they made a powerful addition to the
rescue party.
    After watching Goodnight depart, John Poe
swung to the waiting cowhands. He saw that the herd had been
deserted and its members stood grazing. Which was not what his boss
wanted to happen.
    ‘ Get them cattle moving!’ Poe
bawled.
    ‘ Just us?’ yelped a cowhand, for only
eight of the actual trail crew remained. The cook and his louse
were needed to drive the chuck- and bed-wagons, while the two
wranglers left by Goodnight would be fully occupied with handling
the remuda of reserve horses.
    ‘ Naw!’ Poe spat back. ‘There’s half of
the blasted Texas Light Cavalry coming up to lend a hand. Move it.
Head ’em up and keep ’em going!’
    Whirling their horses, the cowhands dashed to
the herd. Watching them, Poe wondered if such a small body of men
could deal with the fifteen hundred head of longhorn steers.
    Much the same thoughts ran
through Goodnight’s head and he wondered if he had done the right
thing by telling his segundo to keep the herd moving. If anything happened to
the cattle, he and Loving would be in bad shape financially. That
did not worry Goodnight for himself, but Loving had a wife and
children dependent on the success of the trail drive. Of course,
the loss of the herd would mean that Goodnight would have to try
some other method to make his dream come true.
    Riding through potentially hostile country to
a friend’s rescue was neither the time nor place to think of
schemes for the future, important as they might be. So Goodnight
put them from his mind and concentrated on the work in hand. At his
suggestion, a pair of men skilled in such matters rode ahead as
scouts. When they had found they could not hope to catch up with
Spat, the braves who took after him stopped trying. Probably they
had returned to their companions, looking for easier prey than the
fast-riding cowhand, but there was