Way of the Gun (9781101597804) Read Free Page B

number of men he had. So at first light, Rufus Jones led the first cattle into the river at the spot Carson had suggested. The crossing went well, with no real trouble, aside from the usual reluctance of the animals to take to the water. It was well up into the morning before the last of the disinclined steers were forced into the water and the drive got under way again. Duke Slayton rode out ahead of them to scout out the trail for water and good grass. Near the head of the herd, and a little to the upwind side to avoid the dust, Bad Eye drove the chuck wagon. Rufus and Johnny rode point, Varner and Marvin rode swing, with Shifty and Carson behind them on the flanks. The major complaint came from Lute Wilson. He had been riding drag, so he naturally thought he should be relieved of that post since Carson had just joined them. Lute looked to be as old as Duke, or maybe older, and he was quick to inform the trail boss that he didn’t see why he should be bringing up the rear and eating all the dust behind the herd. Duke was just as quick to remind him that he wasn’t an experienced drover in the first place, and Carson obviously was. A man who never seemed to complain about anything, Skinny Willis would have been the logical one to complain, since he brought up the rear of the entire procession with the remuda. This job was ordinarily given to a new man, or one with little experience as a drover. But he was happy with his job as wrangler, and seemed to accept the fact that he didn’t know much about driving cattle.
    Carson was glad it worked out the way it did. He didn’t want to drive the spare horses, or to be saddled with the job of riding drag. Shifty welcomed him as a partner on the swing positions. All the stations on a herd were normally worked in pairs of two men, and Shifty had been riding one-sided at swing before Carson came along. In Carson’s opinion, however, they were still undermanned for a herd that size. He felt especially sorry for the old man riding drag. He needed help trying to keep the stragglers and ornery strays up with the main herd, and Duke was right, Lute was ill-suited for the job. When he thought about it, he had to believe that the whole crew was perhaps the worst he had seen when it came to driving cattle, but he wasn’t planning on staying with them for long, anyway. When they got to Montana, he would most likely be heading his separate way.
    * * *
    A little past noon, Bad Eye drove the chuck wagon on ahead of the herd, expecting to find Duke waiting for them, since it was nearing the time to stop for the noon meal and let the cattle drink and graze. About a mile farther on, they drove the herd through a grassy draw and found Duke and Bad Eye waiting on the bank of a creek. Rufus signaled where he wanted to settle the herd, and the men drove them in that direction. As the rear of the herd caught up, Rufus rode back along the line. When he came to Carson, he pulled up and said, “I thought we could let ’em graze here. Whaddaya think?”
    Surprised that he asked his opinion, Carson replied, “Looks like as good a place as any.” Then he turned to look behind him where there were still a lot of cattle strung out. “Maybe I’ll go back and give Lute a hand,” he suggested.
    â€œYeah,” Rufus said, “that’d be a good idea. Help the old man out. Ain’t no tellin’ how many head we’ve lost.”
    Riding a bay gelding from his string of horses, Carson rode back to find Lute trying to drive a group of about a dozen cows back to the herd. Circling around to head the reluctant steers off, Carson turned them back toward Lute and together they moved them toward the creek to join the others. Carson sighted a few more mavericks trailing off toward the line of hills to the west, so he told Lute that he would go after them and catch up with him.
    Once the herd was bunched and settled, Duke picked the men who would eat