Follow The Wind by Janelle Taylor

Author:Janelle Taylor [Janelle Taylor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington

Wednesday morning, Jessie, Matt, and the hands mounted up soon after dawn to ride fence. Tom was given permission to accompany them for a while. Before they broke into groups to check each direction and the scattered stock, a blast came from the eastern section. Everyone glanced that way, then looked around as more explosions sounded from the west and south.

“What was that?” Jed shouted.

All scanned the horizon and listened. The thundering and tramping of thousands of hooves soon reached their ears. Dust clouds rose in all three areas and soon merged into one enormous billowing of flying dirt and grass. It wasn’t long before they felt the ground trembling and heard snorts and bawls. Dynamite had spooked the clustered herds around their property and was sending the charging and terrified animals straight toward the settlement. Soon the frantic creatures were in sight. Stock of many sizes, ages, and colors made straight toward them. Longhorns had their heads lowered, and piercing horns aimed at targets in their paths. They dashed at full speed and headlong toward the shocked people, racing wildly and powerfully over everything in their path: bushes, grass, and rocks.

Matt took command in a second. “Let’s go head ’em off!”

The foreman, Jessie, Jed, and the men galloped to control the stampeding steers and horses. All knew they had to join the mad rush and ride along the outer edge of the stampede. It would take brave and skilled riding to prevent the stock from trampling anything and anybody in their path, and the herd could be injured or ruined if not checked swiftly. During such a panic, limbs could be broken, horns snapped off, animals gored, and weight lost. Sometimes stock would speed for miles before halting or being halted. The noise of the horde rapidly became deafening and ominous as it closed the distance between men, fence, and beasts.

The men reached the herd and dashed alongside, trying to capture the animals’ attention, with familiar voices and songs. Yelling and singing at the top of their lungs, they separated into point, swing, and flank positions, and worked to string out the bunched animals. They were skilled at this task, as cattle often stampeded during drives to market. Sometimes a storm set them off—or thirst, or rustlers, or predators. Or steers with panic habits; those had to be killed or sold to prevent spreading the perilous trait.

In the excitement, Tom kneed his horse and rode to help the men protect his family and property. Gran yelled for him to stop and return but couldn’t be heard over the thunderous commotion.

Mary Louise grabbed her arm and shouted, “Let’s get into the house before they trample the fence and us, Gran!” She almost dragged the protesting woman from the scene. Both knew what damage the charging beasts could cause.

Jessie’s eyes and cheeks stung from the dirt and debris being kicked into her face. Dust choked her, but she kept riding and singing and shouting. Animals nearby were being hooked by long and sharp horns or tripped by entangled hooves.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.