Maybe the whole notion would run its course and blow over like a whirlwind that raises a lot of dust, then falls away. Rusty did not relish the prospect of having to make a choice.

He harnessed old Chapultepec. The mule had recently caused a fist-fight between Rusty and the Gaskin brothers. Twice Mike had asked Fowler Gaskin to return the animal he had borrowed without a by-your-leave. Gaskin always had an excuse for keeping it a little longer. Seeing Mike’s growing impatience and afraid he was on the verge of getting into a serious quarrel with Gaskin, Rusty rode to the neighboring farm alone, determined to fetch the mule home whether the Gaskins liked it or not.

They had not liked it. Fowler Gaskin had a way of looking pathetic as a beggar on a village square when he wanted something, and he usually wanted something. “Boy, you don’t know how it is to be poor folks. We can’t afford to buy a good strong mule for ourselves. We’d be obliged if you-all’d let us keep the use of this’un just a few more days.”

Rusty acted as if he hadn’t heard. “Where’s he at?”

“He ain’t real handy right now. Tell you what, I’ll have one of the boys take him home the first of next week.”

Suspiciously Rusty demanded again, “Where you got him?”

Gaskin backed away, half a step at a time. “Truth of the matter is, he ain’t here. He’s over at the Joneses.”

By this time the two Gaskin brothers had come up to stand on either side of their father. Rusty could see fight in their eyes.

Anger rising, Rusty was in a mood to accommodate them. He balled his fists. “How come he’s at the Joneses? Thought you borrowed him for your own use.”

“Old Man Jones offered me fifty cents a day to hire him, and me and the family sure do need the money.”

Rusty could feel heat rising in his face. He prepared to remount. “I’ll go over to the Jones place and fetch him.”

Gaskin took hold of Rusty’s bridle reins. “You can’t do that. Old Man Jones paid me for ten days, and he ain’t used them up yet.”

Rusty trembled with anger. “Then I reckon you’ll have to give him his money back.”

“But it’s done spent, and I don’t know how I’ll go about gettin’ any more.”

“You might try sendin’ your boys out to work.”

“You act awful high and mighty, Rusty Shannon, because you-all have got a bigger farm and a lot more money.”

“You’ve got just as much land, but you’re all too lazy to work it proper. As for money, I can’t remember the last time we had twenty dollars cash.”