Forever Texas by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2022-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

A week had passed since Regis and Tut had rescued Shep, and they weren’t expected back to the ranch anytime soon, though Regis swore he’d send men. Bone and the boys had been busy. By then it sported a tidily built corral and an expanded shelter that verged on cabin quality, all thanks to the industrious Percy and the six Pushaw ranch hands that Bone had hired on his travels northward.

It had been a challenge to convince them that the budding ranch would require them to be off their horse’s backs more than in the saddle. Bone had dangled the prospect of lots of eventual cowboying before them like steak before a hungry dog. They bit. They grumbled a whole lot, but they kept chewing.

“Still don’t see why we can’t go wrangle up some of those mustangs. They’re everywhere down here, like flies on dung, for Pete’s sake.”

“Because,” said Bone, emerging from the latrine—one of the first proper structures they cobbled together with planking and a branch-lattice roof—as he tugged up his braces. “I said so.”

The complainer was a tiresome fellow named McCurdy who’d come along as part of a package deal with other men Bone knew and liked.

McCurdy wasn’t fond of the foreman, either, as Bone had an annoying habit of popping up when you didn’t expect anyone to be popping. It was unnerving and often set the tense little Irishman back on his heels.

He’d sort of thought that because he and Bone shared a lineage that stretched back to the auld sod, he might be able to shirk more than he’d been able to. And on this hot May morning, he’d finally had enough.

“Now then, this ain’t exactly what none of us signed on for, you know, Bone,” he said.

Bone had been pouring himself another cup of coffee and figuring on the best way to commence the day’s chores. They had to get a bunkhouse proper built, and the men, just the day before, had been spooked to their boots by a close-riding pack of what sounded to him like Apache.

Or it could also have been some of the border trash that still tried to pick off his men from a distance. So far only one had been wounded. He managed to squeeze out the lead pill from his forearm before he made it back to the ranch. He’d intended to keep on with rounding up the wild-eyed scrub cattle that roamed the ranch, feral and vicious with their horns if cornered in the brush. But the finicky wound hadn’t stopped bleeding, and he figured he ought to seek some of Percy’s ministrations.

“This is awful food, Bone.”

The boss man’s eyes widened. By gaw, but he was getting it from all sides this morning!

The lanky Ranger gritted his teeth. He would dress down the offender in front of the other men to show he didn’t put up with any bucking of his authority. As he turned, he found the man who’d said it was Percy.

Percy had come to earn a valued position about the place, not only for his quick mind.

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