“That the reason for the 10 gauge?”

“Not really,” Spence said. “More for bear and lion. It's pretty much lousy with them up here.”

“Are they a great bother to you, running goats and all?”

“Not so much. Summer's pretty good. Sometimes in the fall before the berries and whatnot get going full out, the bears get after them. A bear would rather eat berries than meat, though. Always lose a few goats, usually at the end of summer. Lions is unpredictable. Mostly they leave us alone. Plenty of deer and sheep up in the hills. Lions don't like the smell of people much. Can't say I blame them.”

“You're what they call a hermit, then?”

“No. I don't think so. I'm just Pete Spence, goat herder. Used to go down the canyon a lot to sell milk, cheese, and goats. Your Mexican is very fond of goat. Don't go down so much anymore, unless I got an abundance of something. Mostly, I just keep myself fed. I believe I'm more lazy than unsocial. Fact of it is, it's a relief to talk to something that can talk back.”

“Well, I admire a man who keeps to his own business. There seems to be a shortage of them,” Charlie said.

“What's the news of statehood? Since you was just speaking of people who don't mind their own business.”

“Looks like they're going to do it. Lots of fighting about this or that. Should we go in death or no death, wet or dry? All claim their own view will carry us into the United States.”

“How's it going to come out, you think?”

“Don't really know. We're already dry. We got that worked out. That will make the Mormons happy and someone else rich. Mostly it's just an aggravation. Whiskey is still around. More expensive, though. It kind of looks like we're going for no death.”

“Sorry to hear about the whiskey. That will make it a little tougher up here. I'll be looking at the goats and counting them up against bottles of whiskey. Tough on the goats.”

“Not a lot of people willing to deliver way up here, I guess. Of course, you'd want to make acquaintance with my kid brother, Tom Power. That boy would walk on his hands to the moon, rolling a barrel of whiskey with his feet if he thought there was a dollar up there. Summers will still be hot and winters cold. Nothing is going to change much. Of course, I don't really follow the news.”

“I don't, either. I didn't ever think I would want to need it, but I'm finding a hunger for it more and more. If I was an ambitious man, I would go to town and hear of the happenings. But, as I said, I'm mostly just lazy.”

“This here's an awful nice spot. Real pretty and handy to water and grass.”