AC dBooks

The T-Bar-T outfit especially grudged him the water that they had
previously used to such good advantage. This water was now under
fence. To make this water available to cattle would disrupt the
homestead. It was at this time that Young Pete first realized the
significance of these hard-riding visitors. He was cleaning his
much-polished carbine, sitting cross-legged round the corner of the
cabin, when two of the chance visitors, having washed and discarded
their chaps, strolled out and squatted by the doorway. Old man
Annersley was at the back of the cabin preparing supper.
One of the riders, a man named Gary, said something to his companion
about "running the old man out of the country."
Young Pete paused in his task.
"You can't bluff him so easy," offered the companion.
"But a thirty-thirty kin talk business," said the man Gary, and he
laughed.
Pete never forgot the remark nor the laugh. Next day, after the riders
had departed, he told his pop what he had heard. The old man made him
repeat the conversation. He shook his head. "Mostly talk," he said.


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