Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 14, 2025
I recollect when Steve Gary quit over the T-Bar-T and come over here lookin' for a job. Ma she sized him up, but didn't say nothin' right away. But Gary he didn't stay long enough to git a saddle warm. Ma didn't like him, nohow. He sure was a top-hand but that didn't help him none. He's over to the T-Bar-T now. Seen him the other day. He's got some kind of a drag there, for they took him back.
"Our job is to ride to the Ortez rancho and get that outfit movin' up this way." "Goin' to turn the cattle over to 'em?" queried Pete. "Yes and that quick they won't know they got 'em. It's a big deal, if she goes through. If she don't, it's like to be the finish of the Olla." "Meanin' if the T-Bar-T and the Concho gits busy, there's like to be some smoke blowin' down this way?" "The same.
Again the plod, plod of the horses, and then: I was top-hand once for the T-Bar-T, In the days of long ago, But I took to seein' the scenery Where the barbed-wire fence don't grow. I was top-hand once but the trail for mine, And plenty of room to roam; So now I'm ridin' the old chuck line, And any old place is home ... for me ... And any old place is home. Bartley grinned.
Bailey had closed the question for the time being with the rather vague assertion, "I should hope so." The first real inkling that Andy White had of Pete's deeper nature was occasioned by an incident during the round-up. The cutting-out and branding were about over. The Concho men, camped round their wagon, were fraternizing with visitors from the Blue and T-Bar-T. Every kind of gossip was afloat.
And they usually came alone, perchance from the Blue, the Gila, the T-Bar-T, or from below the border, for their business was with the border rustlers and parasites. Sheriffs of four counties seldom disturbed the place, because a man who had got as far south as Showdown was pretty hard to apprehend. From there to the border lay a trackless desert.
As it was, Young Pete was crafty. Already he distrusted the sheriff's sincerity. Then, the fact that two of the T-Bar-T men had been killed rather quieted the public mind, which expressed itself as pretty well satisfied that old man Annersley's account was squared. He or the boy had "got" two of the enemy. In fact, it was more or less of a joke on the T-Bar-T outfit they should have known better.
Rumor had it that Pete was a bad one a tough kid that he had even killed two cowboys of the T-Bar-T. Mrs. Bailey had never seen Pete until that morning. Yet she immediately formed her own opinion of him, intuition guiding her aright. Young Pete was simply unfortunate not vicious. She could see that at a glance. And he was a manly youngster with a quick, direct eye.
"Where'd you get all that money, Pete?" "Why, I done stuck up the fo'man of the T-Bar-T on pay-day and made him shell out," said Pete. The storekeeper grinned. "Here you be. Goin' huntin'?" "Uh-huh. Huntin' snakes." "Honest, now! Where'd you git the change?" "My wages!" said Young Pete proudly. "Pop is givin' me a dollar a week for helpin' him. We're pardners."
He was mentally rehabilitating the cabin when a boot-heel crunched on the ground outside and Andy appeared in the doorway. "The T-Bar-T boys are comin'. Seen 'em driftin' down the Ranger Trail." "They was to be here this mornin'," said Pete. "Reckon they aim to bush here all night and ride to-morrow. Hope they brought some grub along." "We got plenty. Come on outside.
Birds sang among sprouting aspen twigs, and lean, mangy-looking coyotes lay on the distant hillsides soaking in the warmth. Gaunt cattle lowed in the hollows and spring calves staggered about, gazing at this new world with round, staring eyes. Houck, the T-Bar-T foreman, had discussed with Bailey the advisability of defining a line between the two big ranches.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking