by Kate Whitsby
“So,” Jude continued. “Tell me what we have going on here today.”
Allegra cleared her throat. Alma shot her a glance and pressed her lips together. “We’re just getting ready to round them up and drive them down to the river. We water them once in the morning and once in the evening. That’s our daily routine. Why don’t you help us? That way you’ll learn where things are around here.”
“Why don’t you water them in the middle of the day?” Jude asked. “They don’t need water now. There’s dew all over everything, and the plants are cool and juicy. They’ll be getting enough water from their food. You should take them down to the river in the hottest part of the day when they really need it.”
Alma cringed. She didn’t need to look at her sisters to know where this conversation was going. “They get too stressed if we take them in the middle of the day. We do it now because they have more energy now. The water they get from their food in the early morning gives them the strength to make the trip down to the river and back. They’re too weak in the middle of the day, and they fight too much because they don’t want to go. It’s too hard on them and on us.”
“Well, I’m here now, so that will make it easier,” Jude declared. “They don’t need water now, and they do need it in the middle of the day. You should take them then.”
Alma braced herself. “We do it this way, and we’re going to keep doing it this way. We aren’t discussing whether to do it. We’re doing it now. We’re going down to round them up. Do you want to come along and help us or not?”
Jude frowned down at the cattle spread out below them, but he didn’t answer. Alma sensed her sisters watching her. She tugged her reins and wheeled her horse around. Then she kicked him forward and cantered down the hill toward the herd.
Amelia and Allegra followed her lead. Alma heard the pounding of their horses’ hooves on the powdery clay behind her. When she reached the bottom of the hill, she charged forward and skirted around the cattle. Her sisters went the other way around the other side of the herd, driving them toward the center of the plain.
Only when she was part of the way around the cattle did Alma happen to glance back and see Jude riding after her. She heard a shrill whistle, and he steered his horse left and right to send the stock toward the middle of the circle.
Alma’s heart soared, and she tore off to the other quadrant of the circle, relieved and happy to leave him in command of the area. On the other side of the plain, Amelia and Allegra split up, too, so each rider drove the cattle in from one quarter of the circle.
In no time at all, the herd converged in the center of the plain. Allegra took off her hat and waved it over her head. She waved it back in the direction of the hill they just sat on. Jude and Alma pressed in on their animals and sent them stampeding toward the hill. At the last moment, the cattle shot down a side gulley and thundered down it with the riders driving them from behind.
Jude and Alma raced their horses after them, keeping them moving into the gulley until the last crowd of cattle disappeared into the cloud of dust in front of the gap. Alma flushed with happiness as she pulled up her horse next to her sisters.
Jude waved his hand and shouted at them. “Don’t stop! Keep them going. You don’t want to lose the advantage you’ve gained. Keep them running. Let’s go!”
“We don’t have to keep going,” Alma called back. “This gulley takes them all the way to the river. The cattle in the rear will keep the ones in front running until they get there. We don’t have to chase them. They’ll be calmer and they’ll drink more if we leave them to take their time. Then they’ll wander back here and keep grazing. We always do it this way.”
Jude scowled. “It’s sloppy. I never saw such a sloppy operation.”
The smile fell from Alma’s face and her lips stretched into a hard, straight line. “We know the terrain, and we know our own animals. We’ve done this enough times that the cattle know the routine. They know how to water themselves and then they’ll come back here. They’ll have enough water to keep them going, so they won’t be completely dry at the end of the day. They’ll have the energy to get down there again.”
Jude pressed his lips together. “You’ve done it this way for years, I guess.”
“That’s right,” Alma replied.
Jude shook his head. “It just goes to show you haven’t had anything to do with real cattle punchers. You’re women. You don’t know any better. And you’ve been working alone all this time, so I guess it stands to reason that you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Alma didn’t dare glance over her shoulder at Amelia and Allegra, but she knew for certain they heard the exchange. “Maybe it isn’t what you’re used to, but it works for us and it works for this herd. Now, come on, let’s get back up the hill. We have to keep a look-out for coyotes. They’ll be after our calves before you know it.”
Jude frowned again, but followed Alma back up to the top of the hill, where the sisters took their positions in the same mounted line. Alma settled into her saddle.
She loved the cool morning best of all. A bloom of green lightened the landscape. It would disappear in a little while, as soon as the morning sun heated everything and dried the dew from the rocks and bushes. She smiled down at the landscape.
Chapter 19
