It would take nearly twenty minutes from the time they first got in line until they were able to get their plates full, but when they did, all the wranglers migrated to a small area off to the side and under a tree where they stood eating their breakfast off of tin plates, and drinking coffee out of tin cups. Most of the guests were sitting on fallen trees, stumps and rocks, also eating off of tin plates, and Henry had found himself a rock a short distance from where the guests were sitting, and opposite the campfire from where the horses were tied.

Henry had only gotten a few mouthfuls of food down when he heard a commotion over by the horses. Two of the mounts standing next to each other apparently got into a kicking contest, when one of them pulled back, breaking its reins and becoming loose in the process. The wranglers, having all saw what happened, dropped their plates and ran to the area. Henry looked up briefly, but didn’t move from his spot. He was hungry, and this was surprisingly a very good meal. Besides, there seemed to be plenty of help there already, considering they only had to catch one horse, which one of the wranglers did without incident.

Chad was quickly on the spot to assess the damage, and when he saw the broken reins, became unusually angry. Moreso, Henry thought, then the situation allowed.

“Which one of you idiots tied this horse with the reins?” he shouted. Nobody answered. “I see,” he ranted. “Nobody’s man enough to take responsibility for this. Is that it? Well that’s just great!” Chad’s voice rose to the point where he had gotten the attention of all the guests, who were looking in his direction. Henry also looked up to see what the commotion was about, but was uninterested.

“I don’t suppose any of you illiterate bastards thought to bring any extra reins, did you?” he yelled. The wranglers all looked at each other and sheepishly shook their heads no. “Well lucky for you, I did. Dan, go to my saddlebags and get that spare set of reins.”

Dan, a nice-looking young man with a quick smile and easy demeanor trotted over to Chad’s horse and dug through his saddlebags. First looking in one side, then the other, then back to the first side.

“There aren’t any reins here, Chad,” Dan smiled from his place next to Chad’s horse.

“What do you mean there aren’t any reins?” Chad blurted. “There’s got to be!”

“Well, I sure can’t find them.”

Chad angrily handed the broken reins to Jake, stomped over to his horse, pushed Dan aside and dug through the bags himself. He, too, came up empty. “Dammit! Who took those reins out of here?”

Jessie had been casually watching the entire ordeal while visiting with one of the guests, and suddenly took more interest. “Would you excuse me?” She smiled to the lady she’d been talking with. She walked over, placed her plate in a washtub by the fire and walked over to Chad.