Part 2 (2/2)
”You know she wants us,” Marshall said.
”I know, but you embarra.s.sing her isn't helping our cause none. Lay off her.” He wrapped the towel around his waist and opened the door.
”I'll be down in a few minutes. Don't start anything without me.” Marshall stuck his head around the shower curtain. ”I don't want to miss anything.”
Jeb shook his head and closed the door behind him. Sometimes Marshall acted more like a teenager than a grown man. Then, Marshall had been the one who'd suffered the most in prison. Jeb did what he could to protect him, but in the end, Marshall had been the one to always pay.
He finished dressing and loped down the stairs to find Kenny already in the kitchen with Drew. He stood by the sink with a cup of coffee in his hand and a biscuit in the other.
”Starting without us?” Jeb asked.
”Naw, just sneaking one before everyone got to the table.”
”What are the main needs for today?” Jeb asked, refilling his coffee cup.
”Need to bring the herd up closer to the house while we check the back fencers.” Kenny took another bite of his biscuit.
”How well can you handle a gun?” Jeb asked.
Kenny looked serious. ”I'm a pretty good shot. I don't hesitate.”
”Good.” Jeb sipped his coffee, waiting on Marshall to make it down stairs.
When the other man finally showed up, Drew had breakfast on the table.
”Marshall, I want you to stick close to the house today. You can work the barn and the horses. Kenny, take me around the land, and we'll also move the herd a little closer since we have someone messing around the place,” Jeb said.
”What do I need to do today?” Drew asked.
”Stick close to Marshall and the house. You need to rest that arm anyway. You pull those st.i.tches, and you're going to have a mess.
”I've got plenty of paperwork to keep me busy for a month.”
Jeb noticed she didn't look any of them in the face. If Kenny noticed anything, he didn't let on. He'd find out more about Drew while they were out riding.
”Anything I need to know about the horses?” Marshall asked Kenny.
”No, nothing special about any of them. They all are good horses. You might want to be careful of the roan one. It likes to bite sometimes. Don't know where he picked up that bad habit, but started about the time we had the fire in the other barn.
”I'll keep my body parts away from his mouth, then,” Marshall said with a chuckle.
”He went after my hair the other day. I thought I lost an inch off of it before I finally got it out of his mouth,” Drew said.
When they had all finished breakfast, they sc.r.a.ped their plates into the sc.r.a.p bucket and stacked the plates by the sink. Jeb, Marshall, and Kenny walked outside to the barn where Jeb selected a spirited black horse by the name of Lightning, and Kenny saddled his horse, a pretty bay by the name of Gracie.
They left Marshall talking to the roan from a safe distance about not biting the hand that fed him. Jeb just shook his head as he and Kenny set out to ride the property.
”How many acres does she have?” Jeb asked.
”Close to a thousand, but part of it is in mountainous terrain. The good part of it is it has natural water and has a good pa.s.sage to get to some really good grazing land that the government leases on a yearly basis.” Kenny led him around a fence line they both checked as they rode by.
”She have to do that?”
”Nope, not so far, but it's there if she has to. They let you lease if you can drive your cattle there. Only two other farms have access.”
”How many head she run?” Jeb asked.
”Normally around four fifty. This year we ended up with some good breeding and have close to five hundred. I think she needs to increase the heard, but she says as long as we don't have enough help, we're wasting money 'cause we'll end up losing them. I guess she's right.”
”No doubt.” Jeb looked around them and liked what he saw. Good grazing land and the stream that ran right through the property.
”Water ever dry up in the summer?” Jeb asked.
”Never has. Gotten low a time or two, but never has completely run out. If it does, we have the water barrels we can cart water out to with the truck, but I sure don't want to do that if we don't have to.” Kenny stopped and slid off his horse. ”Well, s.h.i.+t.”
”What is it?”
”d.a.m.n cut fence again. Can you help me pull it back and tack it?” Kenny asked.
Jeb dismounted and grabbed the puller off his saddle and handed it to Kenny. The other man lifted an eyebrow.
”You were prepared. I don't normally bring it with me if I'm not doing fence duty. Should have thought about it.”
They worked together to fix the break in the fence, then Jeb looked around on both sides of it for anything to tell him who might have cut the wire.
”Find anything?” Kenny asked when Jeb swung back into the saddle again.
”Nope. Too dry for prints of any kind, and evidently the cattle have been through here. Do you think we lost any to that side?”
”Naw, I moved them yesterday while I was out there. That's why I know that wasn't like that.”
”When does it start to snow around here?”
”Most any day now. I know it seems sort of warm today, but weather report this morning called for a cooling off and some chance of snow by the weekend.” Kenny nudged his horse forward.
”How much snow we talking about?” Jeb asked.
”Start off around a foot or two. Before it's over with, we get close to six or eight feet. It thaws and refreezes until we have solid ice in some places. Once winter sets in, it never thaws it all away. Just builds on top of it.”
Jeb nodded and continued riding beside Kenny.
”You and Marshall partners?” Kenny finally asked.
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