Suicide Plunge by Philip Arnold

Author:Philip Arnold
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, suspense, coming of age, adventure, young adult, horse, native american, western, cowboy

CHAPTER 12

In the weeks that followed Billy kept up his grueling routine. If anything, the coming of spring meant an even harder day’s work. Calves were born during the spring and if they were not cared for properly, then an entire year’s profit would be lost. Luckily the Johnstones had arranged for a team of two Mexican ranch hands to help out during this critical time. Their names were Pedro and Rey. They spoke little English but Billy learned quickly that they knew exactly how to work with cattle. As a matter of fact, Billy learned more about ranching from these vaqueros in two weeks than he had known in all of his previous life. The two weeks of prime calving season passed quickly. Many calves were born and often times this happened at odd hours. So it was not unusual if Billy found himself up at two in the morning standing knee deep in thirty-five degree mud helping a reluctant calf successfully enter the world. After the three men had ensured the cattle were all properly cared for, the new calves and their mothers had to be separated from the other cattle. This involved placing them into separate enclosures. A job made more difficult by the fact that the new mothers were prone to fight when anyone came near their calves. Those jobs usually took up most of lunch time, so it had to be eaten as rapidly as possible. Tortillas and beef were the usual meal.

After lunch all of the cattle had to be fed. Since these were beef cattle, they required extra food so that they would fatten up to their required weight. Therefore countless bales of alfalfa had to be hauled from the cavernous barn. This task would last until well in the afternoon. The evening chores would consist of filling up water troughs, fixing fences, shoveling manure, and snow, taking care of the other animals and finally taking care of any personal chores. The days flew by and ran together in a jumbled and exhausting flow. They were complete prisoners to the needs of the cattle.

One day in late spring, Pedro approached Billy and said, “We about got things all finished up for dis year. Maybe tomorrow we take three of the horses out and check all the fences.”

Billy didn’t have to think twice, he almost shouted, “SURE!” He was very excited about the prospect of going out on a ride with Samson.

The next day the three riders set out into the chilly spring morning. The last time two cowboys and an Indian rode through here, they were probably shooting at each other. Billy chuckled at the thought. The horses trotted out in an easy ground eating pace. They had many miles of fences to check and all day to do it, so the men were in no hurry. Every so often they would come to a section of fence that was completely broken through or had a strand or two of wire missing. When

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