Hank groaned. “Damn you, Cal, what do you mean a’wakin’ me up like that. I was talkin’ to the purtiest little lady you ever did see, in my dream. And iffen I had seen you in my dream doin’ somethin’ like what you just done, why, I would’a shot you down and that’s a fact.”
Cal laughed. “You’ll dream her up again, I’m sure,” he said. “’Cause, truth to tell, dreams are about the only place you’ll ever be talkin’ to a pretty girl anyway.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, what about after that baseball game? I danced with lots of pretty girls.”
“They wasn’t dancin’ with you,” Cal said. “They was dancin’ with a baseball player. Anyhow, what are we standin’ here gabbin’ for when Miz Sally has gone to all the trouble of cookin’ up a good breakfast. I figured you’d want to eat the biscuits while they’re still hot.”
“I tell you what I would like to do with those biscuits while they’re still hot,” Billy grumbled. “And it ain’t got nothin’ to do with eatin’ ’em.”
Cal laughed. “Come on, boys, we’re burnin’ sunlight,” he said more softly.
After breakfast, all the cowboys saddled their mounts, then rode out to get the herd moving again. Nearby, three thousand head of cattle, fully awake on this, a new day, milled around nervously. The animals, used to the freedom of the open range, were now forced together in one large, controlled herd. That made them acutely aware of different sights, sounds, smells, and sensations, and they were growing increasingly anxious over the change in what had been their normal routine. So far there had been no trouble, but Smoke knew that the least little thing could spook them: a wolf, a lightning flash, or a loud noise.
He listened with an analytical ear to the crying and bawling of cattle. He was also aware of the shouts and whistles of the wranglers as they started the herd moving.
Although Sally’s job was to cook, sometimes in the morning she would saddle her own horse and help the others get the cattle moving. Smoke watched her dash forward to intercept three or four steers who had moved away from the herd. She stopped the stragglers and pushed them back into the herd. Smoke couldn’t help but marvel at how well his wife could ride. It was almost as if she and the horse were sharing the same musculature and nerve endings.
Once the herd was actually under way, though, Sally returned to the chuck wagon. The vehicle was being drawn by a particularly fine-looking team of mules. Smoke had hitched up the team for her, and he was standing alongside the wagon as Sally approached.
“Maybe you should break those three steers up,” Sally suggested, pointing toward the animals she had just pushed back into the herd. “I swear, this is the third day in a row I’ve had to deal with them. I believe if they were separated, we wouldn’t have a problem.”
“Or maybe we would have a problem three times as large,” Smoke suggested. “How do you know each one of the cows wouldn’t just recruit new cows to help them out? Then you’d have three eruptions instead of just one.”
Sally nodded. “You may be right,” she said. “I guess I can push them back in tomorrow, or every day as far as that goes, just as long as we’re on the trail.”
“That’s my girl,” Smoke said with a broad smile.
Sally walked up to the side of the chuck wagon and tied a knot in a hanging piece of rawhide cord. Each knot represented a day, while a double knot indicated a Sunday. As they knew what day they left, the strip of rawhide would serve as an effective calendar.
“How is the chuck wagon working out for you?” Smoke asked. “Is there anything we need to change?”
“Nothing needs to be changed,” Sally said. “I have to hand it to you, Smoke. When you built this wagon, you did a great job.”
“All I did was put it together,” Smoke said. “You’re the one that had it all laid out.” Smoke ran his hand lightly across the chuck box, which was a shelf of honeycombs and cubbyholes.
“Well, I guess I’d better get going,” Sally said. Kissing him, she climbed up onto the wagon seat and, with a slap of the reins against the backs of the team, the wagon moved forward.
Smoke watched Sally move out at a rather brisk rate, going much faster than the herd. It was her job each day not only to find a spot that would be suitable to bed down the herd for the night, but also to have the camp established and the supper cooked. By the time the weary cowboys arrived with the herd, they would be ready to eat, then turn in, leaving Sally to clean up and roll out the bread dough for the next day.
Smoke watched Sally drive her wagon by the herd. Then he swung into the saddle and turned his attention to the task at hand, moving the herd another twenty miles.
Chapter Thirteen
The cowboys knew something was different one morning a few days later when Sally did not go ahead of them, but stayed with the herd as it started out. Then, at mid-morning, Smoke called a halt and gathered all the cowboys around him.
“Boys, just over that rise there is the little town of Braggadocio.” He pointed to the east. “Sally says we’re going to need a few more supplies, so I’m going to send some of you into town to pick them up.”
“I’ll go,” LeRoy said quickly.
“Yeah, me too,” Andy said.
“Heck, I want to go as well,” Mike said.
“May I go?” Jules asked.
Smoke held up his hands. “You can’t all go,” he said. “I’ve got to keep some of you back to watch over the herd.”
“I’ll stay back,” Pearlie offered.
Smoke shook his head. “No, I want you to go in with the others. Cal, you stay back.”
