Tales of the Last Frontier by James D. Crownover

Author:James D. Crownover
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

KEEN SIGHTED IN THE TULAROSA

I was a little early getting there the next afternoon and Zenas was just finishing lunch. I entertained myself walking around the place and inspecting his garden he had been working. When he came out, he was back to his usual cheerful mood, having put the memory of yesterday’s tale behind him. “I’ll bet you’re anxious t’ hear about our encounter with ’Paches in th’ basin, aren’t you?” He grinned.

Well, if it hadn’t been for th’ light of th’ fire, we would have missed camp that night comin’ back from Ol’ Van’s grave. I don’t remember crawlin’ into my roll, but I woke up there next mornin’. Th’ moon had come an’ gone and it was still very dark. Th’ fire had been stoked up an’ by its light I could see that Tomas’s bed was rolled up. Juan was stirrin’ around th’ food and Lupe was just stirrin’. Pulling on my boots, I looked up as our horses came walking in with Tomas riding behind.

“Thee leetle cows are fine, Señor Zee, they are just beginning to stir,” he said with his big grin. I saddled up my horse and Juan’s while he cooked, and we had a quick bite before packin’ up an’ headin’ out. Just before we packed it all up, I diluted th’ two fingers of mescal left in th’ bottle an’ gave th’ two vaqueros each a sip. They looked grateful and with a nod, we were off.

Tomas took drag without a word being said. It was Lupe’s turn t’ lead an’ I was on th’ right flank. That bunch of little cows gathered up at Lupe’s call, an’ fell right in behind him like always. We pushed them hard and by sunup, we were as far out in th’ basin as we had been two days ago. I kept my eye out for that blessed coyote, but he didn’t show this time and we passed on some distance south of where Van had fallen. We were not halfway across by noon, but th’ herd was ready for their customary noon rest, so we eased up an’ let them graze on what little was there. I got out th’ coffee pot as Juan built a fire an’ we all had a cup. Not much was said with three headaches in th’ crowd.

Now I’ve seen longhorn cows go days without water, I’ve seen them walk fifteen miles to graze and then a couple days later walk fifteen miles back to water, but I never seen what those yearlin’s did. We moved on an’ by sundown had walked them near twenty miles. It was still a good five or six miles to th’ well, an’ the cows were gittin’ restless. Ever once in a while, one would bawl out, especially those in th’ drag an’ I thought they might be sufferin’ for water. Just about th’ time it got full dark, that herd started milling. We couldn’t stop the mill, an’ gradually, they all lay down an’ wus quiet.

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