Bring all of yours along, though, so you can at least keep track of âem.â
Lodge spoke up. âDid you get anyone else?â
âIâve got a wheat farmer named Mullins and his twelve-year-old kid lined up to do the cookinâ and wranglinâ. Him and his brother farm together, and they take turns hirinâ out. They donât want to take any horses off the farm if they donât have to, though. They donât have many to begin with, as far as thatâs concerned, and theyâre probably all plugs and nags anyway.â
After a couple of seconds, Lodge said, âThat gives us a little more than twenty-five head.â
âWe should be all right,â said Selby. âWeâre not goinâ to be ridinâ long and hard every day.â He looked around the table again. âMullins and his kid are cominâ down this afternoon. Iâve got all the grub, and theyâll double-bag it and load it in the wagon.â He paused. âWhat else? Tom, what do you think of a tent?â
Fielding had raised his coffee cup and now set it down. âIâve got a couple. I think the bigger one would be good for a mess tent or other general purposes, even sleeping. Do you have poles?â He pictured a typical chuck wagon with a couple of long poles tied alongside.
âNo, I donât. Canât we use yours?â
âTheyâre kind of long to pack down here on horses. I could drag âem, but that might not be good. I usually just leave âem put, and use âem the next time Iâm there. Make new ones if I go to a place I havenât been. But I donât think weâll see many lodgepole pines where weâre goinâ.â
Lodge spoke again. âIs it too much trouble to send a wagon up to his camp?â
Selby moved his head back and forth. âI guess I could. I didnât have that much time figured in for such a little thing.â
âI donât see anything wrong with it,â said Roe as he rubbed his face.
âAh, hell. Go ahead. Richard, maybe you can take my buckboard up there. Iâve got to stay here for Mullins. Itâll be worth it to have a good tent, though. Do you sleep in it, Tom?â
âI do now, but Iâll bring along a tepee tent for me and the kid to sleep in. This big one will sleep half a dozen, though. Thatâs why the poles are so long.â
âYou think that kidâs all right?â asked Selby.
âI think so. He catches on pretty quick.â
âHe looks like he eats a lot,â said Roe.
âThey all do,â Lodge said. âWeâll be glad to have him along.â
Fielding spoke again. âOne other small thing. I was hopinâ to find a place to store the gear I wonât be using. Packsaddles, panniers, canvas, the gear tent.â
Selby pushed out his lower lip. âWeâll find a place in the barn.â
âWe can bring all that stuff in the wagon, too,â said Lodge. âSave you the trouble of packinâ âem all up.â
Selby laid his hands flat on the table. âThat should be pretty good, then. You boys come back this afternoon or eveninâ, and we all roll out in the morninâ. This ought to be an easy job.â
Chapter Five
The roundup camp came into view as Fielding pushed the cow and calf down the last draw toward the valley. Bracken the day herder, on Fieldingâs white horse with speckles and dark mane, was easy to pick out on the other side of the small herd. He waved to Fielding and worked his way around.
âLooks like dinnerâs ready,â said Fielding.
âI think it is,â said Bracken. âThe others came in a little while ago.â
âIâll go eat, then, and Iâll come back and relieve you.â
âSounds good.â Bracken reined the white horse around to watch the cow and calf that had just come in, and Fielding headed for the chuck wagon.
Selby, who