Tom nodded. The ones who weren't overburdened with thought slept well. He envied John that ability to just close his eyes and be asleep like a dog. He had a small impulse to walk over and kick John just so they would both be awake. But another impulse held him back, letting John sleep the sleep he needed, that they all needed. “His horse loosened a shoe. Probably at the fence. You got the things you'd need to take care of that?”

Sisson looked at his hands and nodded. “Probably. How bad?”

“I ain't no farrier, but it's something more than I should be after.”

Sisson considered this, then nodded toward John. “Want me to wake him so you can grab some sleep?”

“Nah. Let him sleep. He can't see no better than I can, anyway.”

Sisson walked heavily down the hill. Any terrain that wasn't flat as a dance floor hurt him, but going downhill seemed the worst. It wasn't as tiring as uphill, but it pained him, hip and knee. He was too old for this but saw no remedy. The fight hadn't started as his, but it had become his quick enough. When people started shooting at you, you didn't need to pause to ponder the imponderables. The fight had chosen him, and now it was his. That's the way with fights. Some of them you chose and were the fool for doing so. The rest just seemed to choose you. Maybe you were still a fool because you made some other choice, some other time, that led to this. He didn't have any answers, except that this was his fight now, whenever he had chosen it or not.

He took the leg of the sorrel mare. The shoe was badly loose. Most likely it had hooked on the fence, and that's what threw them over. He untied the horse from the others and walked it around in a circle. Its gait was off, but it did not seem to favor the leg beyond the loose shoe. He brought it back and tied it to the others.

He took his tool roll from his saddle, where he had rolled it before they left the cabin the other morning. He had a hammer, pliers, file, and, in a cloth pouch, a dozen or so nails. He put the nails in his pocket, walked back to the horse, and laid the tools on the ground next to the leg with the loose shoe.