Henry crossed the mesa and gently pulled his horse to a stop near its edge. He looked down into the small valley below at fifteen of the seventeen ranch horses that had run off during the night. He stopped for a few minutes to admire the day’s sunrise and warm his cheeks in its heat. He then eased his horse down into the valley and gathered the herd. It wasn’t difficult. By all appearances the herd seemed to want to go back anyway and all Henry had to do was get behind them, turn them for home and the whole bunch picked up an easy trot and went straight back to the ranch. The herd and Henry kept the trot up until they rounded the bend that took them through the sand wash, up the little rise, through the yard and straight into the corral they left some four hours before.

A genuinely surprised Chad closed the gate behind them. “You’re the first one back,” he said. “How’d you get ‘em gathered so fast? Where were they?”

Henry dismounted, ignored Chad’s questions, and led his horse away. While he was walking away, Henry thought of something he had heard in a bar somewhere. Chad was a “step over.” Meaning, if Chad had been lying in the dirt, having a heart attack the most Henry would have done is step over him so he could continue with whatever it was he was doing. Henry didn’t think he would have ever thought of another human being in these terms, but with Chad, he was inspired to it.

Jim had been busy, angrily packing his clothes and other gear in a large duffle bag when Henry came in, walked to the little table toward the back of the room and took a tin cup from the shelf. He blew the dust out of it, and then took the coffee pot from the little stove and filled his cup. He placed the pot back on the stove and sat in a chair next to the table.

“I didn’t forget to close that gate, Henry,” Jim said. “I know I didn’t. Something’s going on here. This is the fourth time this has happened to me.”

“Mr. Head Wrangler out there. Has he got something against you?”

“Not that I know of. Why d’ya ask?”

“No reason in particular,” Henry shrugged. “Just wonderin’, I guess.”

“I don’t know.” Jim pulled up a chair and took a seat. “I heard he was mad that Jessie said somethin’ to me about staying on in the off season.”

“Stay in the off season?”

“Yeah. Jessie’ll be closing the place down soon for the summer. Nobody wants to come to a guest ranch in the middle of the desert in the summertime. Every year when the season is over, she usually asks one of us to stay on to give her a hand with things. The last few years it’s been Chad. This year she said something to me, but I can’t do it because I got a summer job up in Colorado. I was actually going to tell her that today.”