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that.”
    Tom stopped chewing. He seemed a little perturbed. “You sure bein’ a ranger is a proper thing for a married man?”
    “ I’m not a ranger anymore.”
    “ But you could be again. Governor Coke says one of the first things he plans to do is reorganize the rangers. He’ll be lookin’ for men of experience.”
    “ I’ve had plenty of experience,” Rusty said ruefully. “More than I ever looked for. I’m not sure I want any more like it.”
    “ It gets in your blood, like sheriffin’ got into mine. You’ll want to study on it before you take to double harness.”
     

CHAPTER THREE

    L en Tanner stood with hands in his pockets to keep them warm. He watched as Rusty and Andy lifted blankets, provisions, and Rusty’s saddle into the bed of the wagon. The sun was just breaking over the eastern horizon, looking crisp and frosty through a thin blanket of gray winter clouds.
    “ I don’t see why you want to take the wagon,” he said. “You’d get there a lot sooner if you rode horseback.”
    “ Josie’ll be wantin’ to bring all her things,” Rusty said.
    “ How do you know she’ll even come? You ain’t asked her yet.”
    “ She’ll come.” Rusty looked toward a new single log cabin standing halfway between the older double cabin and the livestock pens. “I hope you don’t mind finishin’ the roof on Andy’s cabin.”
    “ I got nothin’ better to do. And Shanty’s comin’ over to help me build the chimly.” Shanty was a former slave who lived a few miles away. Age had bent his slender frame, but his hands were still those of an artisan. “We’ll have the place ready for the button to move in by the time you-all get back.”
    Andy had been torn about making the trip. He wanted to stay and help finish the cabin, but Rusty had persuaded him that the Monahans would be eager to see him. They had come to look upon him as a member of the family.
    Andy saddled Long Red and tied Rusty’s dun horse behind the wagon. “Reckon we got it all?”
    Rusty said, “If we don’t, we’ll do without it.” He shook Tanner’s hand and climbed onto the wagon seat.
    Tanner said, “Tell that cute little Alice girl I said howdy.”
    Rusty grinned. “We’ll tell her.”
    “ And watch out for Indians. They may not all know they’re Andy’s friends.”
    “ I doubt they’ll come far enough south for us to see them. They’ve got their hands full fightin’ buffalo hunters.”
    Rusty had heard talk that large numbers of hide hunters had filtered down onto the Texas high plains from Kansas during the fall and winter. They had decimated the herds farther north in Cheyenne country. Now they were invading the Comanches’ best hunting grounds. The Comanches were not feeling generous.
    The news had disturbed Andy. His first thought was of his Comanche family and how the buffalo slaughter would affect them. “I thought there was a treaty that said the hunters couldn’t come south of the Cimarron River.”
    Rusty said, “The treaty was with the federal government, on federal land. The federals have no right to make agreements about Texas land.”
    “ I doubt that Steals the Ponies knows where the line is or that he would give a damn. Land is land. The Comanches figure they own all of it they’re strong enough to hold.”
    “ That’s what counts, bein’ strong enough.”
    Rusty had not tried to argue Texas’s case. Andy had strong feelings where Indians were concerned. Trying to alter his views was like trying to stop a flowing river with a leaky bucket.
    Andy looked back as they started away. He said, “I like my cabin, but a good tepee would serve me just as well.”
    “ You won’t feel that way when you’ve got a blaze goin’ in the fireplace on a cold night. I hear the reservation Indians have started buildin’ houses.”
    “ Yes, but a lot of them put up tepees beside their cabins. They like to sleep next to Mother Earth. She gives them their strength.”
    “ I’ve spent a lot of my