“Thank you, Mr. Forester,” Rufus said, “but no thank you, sir. We’re free men and working for ourselves.”
Forester looked at Rufus for a few seconds, filling the room with tension.
Then the old rancher grinned and slapped the table. “Good for you, Rufus. Answered like a true cattleman. By God, if I were a younger man, I’d throw in with you two right now.”
Will sipped his cold coffee. “You’re welcome to come along, sir.”
“Me?” Forester snorted. “Not a chance, son. My gathering days are over. I have arrived at the sitting years. But what brings you here? You didn’t come here to sip coffee and hear stories. What can I do for you boys?”
“I’m hoping to buy a horse, sir,” Will said. “A good one. And some equipment if you have any to spare.”
“Long on grit and short on gear, huh?” Forester laughed. “You got any money?”
“I do, sir.”
“Well, then, I’ll sell you one of the best horses in Texas. I’ll warn you, though. He ain’t much to look at. But you won’t find a better cutting horse than Clyde. I guarantee that. Horse gets in among mean bulls, he moves like a collie.”
“I appreciate that,” Will said. “How much would you ask?”
Forester studied them both for a moment. “Tell you what, Will. You’ve captured my imagination. Your little venture is the most interesting thing I’ve heard about in quite some time. Whatever capital you’ve got, you’ll need it. Trust me. If there’s one thing a cattleman always needs more of than he thinks, it’s hard, cold cash. Whether it’s for ferrying cattle or passage fees or hiring hands or a trail boss or a good cook, you always need money. You keep your money and pay me in cattle. Bring me twelve head of young stuff, help me brand them, and we’ll call it even. I’ll even throw in some chaps and whatever else you need. You got gloves?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You, Rufus?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. What about rope then?”
“No, sir,” Will said.
“No rope?” Forester laughed. “What were you gonna do, lasso them with a kind word? If you boys aren’t something, I don’t know what is. You got grit, though. I’ll give you that. Not much more than grit, maybe, but I’ll tell you something, if you ain’t got grit, you’ll never make a cattleman, no matter how much money or gear you got.”
Forester launched again into the dangers of the Thicket. The swamps and gators and snakes and the cattle themselves.
“We’ll be cautious, sir,” Will told him.
“Cautious ain’t enough. Look, I got two good men still on the payroll. Fletcher and Hill. Top hands, both of them. Don’t know why I even keep them on with no cattle to work. Habit, I guess.”
He chuckled humorlessly, shaking his snowy head.
“But I’m sending them with you. Fletcher and Hill, I mean. You want some other men, they can probably point you in the right direction. This country’s full of hungryhombres, and some of them even know a thing or two about cattle. But that’d be on your dime, you understand, not mine.”
“Yes, sir.”
Forester nodded, the light in his eyes brighter than ever, having grown almost manic with excitement.
“You sure you don’t want to ride with us, sir?” Will asked.
“Me?” Forester laughed. “No, I’m too old and too fat, no matter how much I’d like to ride along. I won’t deny that. I would give this whole ranch to go on one more good drive. And by good, I mean all of it. Not just the grub and money. The rain, the snow, the lightning storms, the flash floods, the mean bulls and Indians and bandits… all of it.”
Forester shook his head. “But no, I can’t ride along. I will send Fletcher and Hill with you, though. They’re good men. Top hands. They know cattle, and they know the Thicket. They’ve never been up Chisholm’s new route, but they’ve both ridden long trails many a time. You couldn’t hope for better men.”
“Thank you, sir,” Will said. “How much for them to ride along?”
“You sure are in a rush to part with your money, Will. I’m not charging you a dime. Not in cash, anyway. Like I said, you’ll be needing that. Let’s call this a partnership.” He glanced at Rufus. “A partnership between free men.”
Rufus smiled at Forester’s choice of words but still asked the important question. “How would our partnership work, sir?”
