“Chad,” she said quietly, trying to hold her own temper at his unnecessary outburst. “Let’s not make a scene here.”

“Dammit Jessie. I’m tired of this crap! Every time I turn around I’ve got to fix something that one of these idiots screwed up.”

“Chad, this is not that big of a deal.”

“The hell it ain’t!” He turned to the wranglers. “One of you, and I don’t care who, is going to ride back to the barn and get another set of reins. Now who’s it going to be?”

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Henry mumbled. He let out an exhausted sigh, stood up and very deliberately walked toward where the wranglers and Chad were standing. As he passed the campfire, he dropped his plate and coffee cup unceremoniously into the washtub, then pulled out his knife, which was in a sheath on his belt. All the wranglers, including Chad, saw Henry with his knife drawn and coming toward them, and a look of concern crossed all their faces, but it was Chad who seemed the most concerned.

As Henry drew nearer, Chad casually stepped behind Jessie. Henry walked right past him and went to Jake. He grabbed the broken reins from his hand and went to a nearby tree. Henry placed the broken ends of the reins against the tree and cut a small slit in the middle of each rein near where they had been broken. He then went to the horse and took the remaining broken pieces of reins from the horse’s bit. Again, he cut slits near the broken ends. He then slid the good ends of both broken pieces through the slits he had made and pulled the ends taught. By doing this he had quickly and effectively repaired the reins, which were once again in one piece.

With a look of disgust, he walked over and tossed the now fully repaired reins at Chad, then went back to the fire and poured himself another cup of coffee. Impressed by how Henry had just handled himself, Jessie smiled ever so slightly in approval, and then headed back toward the guests. The wranglers went back about their business, and Chad was left standing by himself, the repaired reins clenched in his fist.

After the ride had returned to the barn, guests were dismounted and horses watered and fed. Henry pulled his saddle from the horse he’d been riding, took it to the tack room and heaved it up to it’s place on the top saddle rack. He turned to see Chad standing in the door of the tack room.

“Pretty cute, what you did out there this morning,” Chad said in disgust. “You trying to make me look bad so you can get my job?”

Henry barely acknowledged him.

“Well, I can tell you right now,” Chad continued. “You’ll be in for a fight if that’s the case. Nobody’s gonna have this job. Not you, not Jim. Nobody.” Henry turned and walked past him on his way out the door. As he passed, Chad grabbed him by the arm. “Hey! I’m talking to you, you damn drunk!”