Riding For The Brand: Sage Country Book Three by Dan Arnold

Author:Dan Arnold [Arnold, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: danielbanks-books
Published: 2016-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

As we approached, one of the men called out.

“Howdy, Ace. I see you have most of your older kids here with you. How’s the Missus?”

“She’s fit as a fiddle and about as high strung, Kermit. How’s Carol? I expect she’s pretty busy with the little ones, huh?”

“Yep. She’ll probably come on out when we’re finishing up. Who’s this you have with you?”

“My name’s John. I ride for the Rocking M.”

The men at the table all glanced around at each other.

“Welcome, John. I’m Kermit Wilson. I own the Flying W, just south of here.” The first speaker said.

“Pleasure.” I said. I looked around at the three other men who hadn’t spoken up.

Their attention turned to a well-dressed man sitting at the end of the table. He wore a sombrero with a silver studded band. Beyond that he was dressed like a business man., right down to the celluloid collar and tie with a pearl stickpin. His grey wool suit pants were tucked into fancy custom boots with a −C− brand worked into the front of the uppers.

Grabbing the lapels of his vest, he tilted his head back and looked down his nose at me.

“The Rocking M is finished. I don’t know who you think you are, but you have no business here.”

I nodded.

“I can see how you might think that, but we just gathered and drove in over a hundred head of cattle. Of those, twenty three cows carry the Rocking M brand. They all have calves. There were another eleven head of Rocking M steers. I expect once the gather is done, there’ll be at least three hundred head of Rocking M cattle on this range. Probably more than a dozen horses, too. I don’t call that finished. Like I say, I’m repping for the Rocking M. Who are you to say different?”

The man’s face turned beet red.

“I’m Jud Coltrane. I own the biggest ranch in these parts. I took over the Rocking M when it was abandoned. You say you brought in cattle wearing the Rocking M brand? Unless your name is Murphy, you need to ride away before we mistake you for a rustler!”

Four riders leading a packhorse were approaching in a cloud of dust. Everyone’s attention turned to them. The four bearded men rode right up to the edge of the tent.

“Howdy, John, how the hell are you?” Curt Cross said. “Ace.” He added, with a nod.

“Mornin’, Curt, Carl, Ken. How are you, Calvin. Glad to see you boys could make it.” I said.

Jud Coltrane and the other men with him observed the greeting with mixed expressions.

“How do you know each other?” Coltrane snapped.

“I told you, I ride for the Rocking M. I’ve visited with some of the other ranchers. I asked the Johnsons and the Cross brothers to throw in with me. We’ll help each other sort and brand our stock. The Rocking M has a lot more cattle than I can handle alone. Seems like a good arrangement , don’t you think?”

Coltrane just sat there, his face red, struggling to respond.

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