Chapter 2
Although laconic, Sombra proved to be a font of information. Chaz learned a great deal about the D-Bar during the course of their ride. A land grant from the Spanish crown in the days when Arizona had been part of Mexico before it gained its independence from Spain, the ranch had been lost in a game of chance by a descendant of the original owner. The winner had conveyed ownership to Dabney Darwin some forty years earlier. The exact amount of land had never been determined, but it included thousands of acres, much of it rough broken land with mountains, canyons and barely explored spots too rugged for even sure-footed cowponies to navigate.
The cattle were shorthorns, the distinctive red-and-white breed that thrived in the short grass ranges of the near-desert southwest. The ca
