Lucky seemed to be in his element. He dashedthrough the snow like a trooper, excited and occasionallybarking.
The north wind blew hard and Wes was glad hetraded an old Indian some coffee for his buffalo jacket. He kept agood supply of coffee as in the winter it was essential, and hisfriends the Indians loved to trade for it. The Indian's name wasBlack Feather, and he just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Wes gotalong well with the Indian as he thought them caretakers of theearth and told them so.
But as night fell, Wes thought of Kate andDickens. The memory of Kate's kiss warmed his heart. He sighed, heloved her, he understood it now. He loved her with all his heart,and he was determined to make his idea work. And his old friendDickens, Wes was so glad he decided to stay on at Kate's. Dickenswas getting up in age, and had lost most of what he loved, hisfriend, and his animals. Now, being with Kate they could help eachother survive.
Wes pondered too about his past. Why had hespent so much time grieving over something he couldn’t change?
The young girl he thought he loved was justa passing fancy. He'd never kissed her or courted her. He just wentto the same dance with her twice, that was all. His Uncle had beenthere for him when he needed him most and he thanked God for that,but he hadn't taken into consideration that his Uncle was aging. Hewas doing work that young men did, and the tree falling was nothingmore than an accident.
It was clear to Wes that if he wanted anykind of life, he needed to start planning it out. Him and his Unclehad chased the mustangs long ago and Wes had enjoyed it. He coulddo it again. He was good with animals like Dickens had said, andhis plan was a good one.
But the one thing he wondered was if Katewould wait for him. He hadn't asked it of her. It wouldn't be rightto ask such a thing of her. So when he went back, he'd know if shewas the right lady for sure. If she were, she would wait. He knewone thing for sure, if that kiss affected her half as much as itdid him, she'd wait. Because it was a kiss of love. A promise.
He sighed, fixed himself some coffee andwarmed some cold beans up. He fed and watered his horse and
Lucky, and then he made his bed as darknessbegan to surround him. Lucky came over, and laid down beside hisbed, and closed his eyes.
Finally a week later, Wes found some tracksand felt he might be onto the herd. The tracks were heavy as thoughthey were running.
It would be hard work mustering all thosehorses and getting them down the hill and through the forest, buthe was determined to do it. Before he bedded down, he got his whipout and examined it, to make sure it was in good shape. The whipwas a necessary tool to keeping the horses in line and respectinghis authority. He wouldn't use it on them, only to scare them intoobeying his commands instead of the wild stallion who was leadingthem.
Satisfied that he was ready to deal with themustangs he went to sleep and dreamed of going home to Kate.
But tracking the horses wasn't easy. Evenwith Lucky helping him. They moved all the time and he realizedhe'd have to be patient to get to them.
He made up his mind not to get into ahurry.
But he'd been here a month and still hadn'tfound them when suddenly he heard them, and he mounted up andwaited to figure which direction they were headed.
He caught sight of them, and he took off.Lucky was running and barking beside him.
***
Meanwhile winter had settled in at Kate'splace and her and Dickens took turns with the chores.
"Come early spring, you ought to buy yousome hogs." Kate told him.
"Yeah, I been thinking about that. But I gotanother chore to take care of now."
"Oh, what's that?"
"I gotta make the corral a lot bigger. Youthink you could help me out some?" Dickens asked her.
"A bigger corral, for what?" Kate asked.
"Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you Iguess, but Wes is going after mustangs." Dickens said quietly,waiting to see how she'd react to that news.
"Mustangs?" she turned her head and gaveDickens a look.
"Y-you mean he intends to bring them here?"She shrieked.
"That's his plan, yeah!" Dickens smiled.
"Why didn't he tell me?"
Dickens folded his lips and frowned. "Well,I guess it's time to tell you everything."
"Yes, I think that would be a good idea."Kate nodded.
She sat down at the kitchen table and rubbedMoby's tummy for him as she listened to Dickens.
"You woke Wes up. Someone sure needed to,and I begin to think it wouldn't happen. I don't know when or how,but now he's got the idea that it's time he did something with hislife, aside from drift. He's very fond of you Kate. But he can'tact on his feelings until he proves his worth… "
"His worth… my God Dickens, he saved me fromlosing this place, that proves his worth." She nearly shouted.
"Now don't get all riled, but sometimes aman has to prove things to himself first. Waking him up out of hisdang stupor, he began to realize he was wasting time doing nothing.He's ready for some roots. He said he thought of us as family andhe's crazy about you girl, but he's got to get this done. And Iunderstand it, because I'm a man, and you probably don't. But whenhe comes back in April, you'll see a changed man."
"He's crazy about me?" She let a smile leakonto her face.
"But you got to be patient and let him findthings out for himself." Dickens stared
