Chapter 1
Six months later
Bobby paced behind the brightly speckled rump of the young mule, driving her with long reins. Just a yearling, she was too young to ride, but ground work, he had learned, could go a long way toward easing that final critical part of a mule’s training. This little gal was his pride and joy. At a big sale, a month ago, to which he had gone with Orr while Jase minded the home ranch, he had picked her out and bought her himself. The fact he actually had money he had earned still amazed him at times.
Things had gone better than he could have hoped. Within the first two weeks, Orr had offered him a weekly wage. Most of it had gone into savings. Bobby now knew you could live adequately without the junk food and drinks Jase called “gedunk,” a slang term among the mili
