Buffalo Gal by Mary Connealy

Author:Mary Connealy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2012-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

Seven

Wyatt sent the truck racing backward in time.

It was as if history were erasing itself as he barreled over the rough pastureland toward the hulking buffalo in the middle of his cattle. He was driving Buffy’s own truck, near as he could tell. It had Oklahoma plates and her name on the registration. And Wyatt hadn’t seen Wolf consult Buffy, so Wolf had probably not been in the right to lend it out, but Wyatt kept it anyway.

He raced his truck toward the buffalo and wished he had Gumby. He hadn’t even been back to his place. He didn’t know if Gumby or any of the rest of his horses were alive or dead. He didn’t have time to go check, and besides, he couldn’t stand to. Wolf had promised to send someone by and to take care of any injured animals. Wyatt had to see to his cattle.

He’d talked to Anna and the boys on the CB radio. Anna was still furious, but they were safe. He stuck his head out of Buffy’s window and yelled, “Git out! Hyah!” He aimed the rig straight for the buff, and the big animal only raised its shaggy head and stared. Wyatt quit acting like a madman and stopped the truck so the buff was out the driver’s side window about twenty feet away. He lifted the tranquilizer gun off the rack in the back window, took careful aim, and fired. The buffalo barely flinched, and that was more from the noise than the bright red dart stabbing into his flank.

While Wyatt waited for the sedative to take effect, he radioed Wolf. “It’s a bull, and it’s had plenty of time to breed with my cows.”

“We’ll be over with a stock trailer in fifteen minutes. We’ll have him quarantined and checked for brucellosis and any other contagious diseases that could affect your cattle. If he’s healthy, the worst that’ll happen is a few of your cows’ll have a calf that’s half buff. This is the first one you’ve seen?”

“Yep. How’s the head count?” Wyatt watched the buffalo waver and go down on one front knee and then the other.

“We’ve got twenty-five still missing. Now with the one you’ve got, it’s twenty-four. We’re hoping a few more will wander back to the Commons.”

“Twenty-four buffalo running loose? We could be finding them for a long time.”

“No, we’re not letting up until we’ve got them all.”

“Check along the creek. Grass is good. Lots of water. And there’s tree cover, so they might be overlooked.”

“I’ve already sent men on horseback along the river.”

Wyatt sighed as he saw the buffalo’s back end collapse. He lay with his head up, panting. “He’s down. Are men on the way?”

“I’m halfway there already, Wyatt,” Seth broke in on the CB. “Is there any damage to the school?”

“None I can see. What if this had happened a month later and the kids had been in school?”

Wolf broke in. “Don’t go borrowing trouble.”

“Yeah, I remember. I’m a whiner,” Wyatt said acidly.

“I’m signing off.

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