Rusty wondered about the instinct that had awakened the boy. Perhaps he had heard something but did not realize it. Or perhaps his time with the Comanches had given him some sort of sixth sense. “No, you stay here. Keep off of that leg as much as you can, and don’t go anyplace ‘til I come back.”

Rusty and James did not have to compare notes. Both guessed Pete’s first destination would be his father’s farm. Even granted that the old man had disowned him and thrown him off the place, Pete would probably go there for fresh horses and, likely as not, to take any money his father might have. In times of trouble he had always run to Colonel Dawkins.

They put their horses into an easy lope for a while, then slowed to a trot. Sergeant Bailey was impatient to keep up the faster pace. “I ain’t so bad hurt.”

Rusty said, “We’ve got to think about the horses. We’re liable to have to chase Pete a lot farther than his daddy’s place.”

James added, “He’s bound to figure somebody is grabbin’ at his shirt-tails. He’ll be makin’ all the tracks he can.”

As they rode, James asked Rusty how things were at his farm down on the Colorado. Rusty told him they had managed a good harvest, but what they produced would be mainly for their own consumption. Barter trade was limited. There was no cash market at all.

James said, “Me and Evan spent a lot of the summer catchin’ and brandin’ wild cattle. Nobody paid much attention to them through the war, so they’ve multiplied. They’re there for the takin’.”

Rusty replied, “But they’re not worth a continental. About all you can sell is hide and tallow. Even to do that, you have to be on the coast where the boats can load it up.”

“That’s now. By next year it’ll be different. There’s a cash market for cattle in Missouri, live and on the hoof. They’ll pay in Yankee silver. Soon as the grass rises in the spring, I’ll gather everything I can rustle up and drive them to Missouri.”

“All that way afoot?”

James nodded. “Before the war lots of cattle were driven to Missouri and Illinois and down to New Orleans. I heard of a bunch that was walked all the way to New York City.”

“That’d take time.”

“Time we’ve got a-plenty of. Money we don’t. You can’t do much farmin’ in the winter. You could be out puttin’ your brand on unclaimed cattle same as me and Evan.”

Rusty found the proposition interesting to contemplate. “It’d be somethin’ to do.”