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Dix.”
    â€œIt was just plain stupid for you two to go separate ways.”
    â€œI wouldn’t say she’s done all that bad since I left. She’s got a good man in Marsh Merritt. The ranch looks better’n ever.”
    â€œI don’t catch her laughin’ often, Caulie.”
    â€œWell, she’s had little enough to laugh about in this life. It’s been hard on her.”
    â€œHarder than on you?”
    â€œI didn’t ride out here to talk about me. Fill me in on what’s been goin’ on.”
    â€œLet’s sit a bit. I’ve been ridin’ all day, and I’m not young anymore. Too much shopkeepin’, I suppose.”
    â€œYou?” Blake said, dismounting and following Dix to a nearby oak grove. “I once remember you stayin’ in the saddle thirty-six hours runnin’.”
    â€œRunnin’ from Yanks. Caulie, that’s been fifteen years. I don’t know as I could do it now.”
    â€œI imagine you could.”
    â€œI’d hate to have my life hangin’ on it. Caulie, have you seen the boys?”
    â€œCarter and Zach?”
    â€œYou got any others? That Carter’s grown another foot every time I see him. Zach’s the one to watch, though. He’s quiet, but that mind’s always workin’. He’s like you, Caulie. Rides the same, too. I swear sometimes there’s a cyclone roarin’ across these hills, but I look close and find out it’s only Zach.”
    â€œThey weren’t any too glad to see me.”
    â€œDon’t expect they remember you much. And they’re worried about their ma. Hannah’s been showin’ the strain lately.”
    Blake frowned. The words weren’t pleasant to hear. Still, she’d endured hardships before. He sat across a small pond from Dix and stared at the dying sun.
    â€œSimpson’s got no hold on us legally,” Dixon said. “The deeds all spell out rights to water from Carpenter Creek. I talked to Jefferson Perry, a young lawyer out of Austin. He says we’re within our rights to bust the dam.”
    â€œSo, why haven’t you?”
    â€œSimpson keeps a small army up there all the time. Who is there besides Marty and me to do it? You know I never used explosives, Caulie. What we need is help with some dynamite.”
    â€œBlack powder’d do it.”
    â€œNot so sure. Simpson put rocks in the foundation. It won’t go easy.”
    â€œNeither did the rail bridges at Good Hope Church. It can be done.”
    â€œWe may not have a choice. Perry filed papers, but somehow they got lost short of Austin. What’s more, Simpson had dinner with the new land commissioner.”
    â€œSo we’re unlikely to get help from the authorities.”
    â€œâ€™Bout as likely as for the old man to get hit by lightnin’ eatin’ his breakfast.”
    Blake laughed at the thought. Dix was less amused.
    â€œCaulie, first thing we’ve got to do is meet with the colonel, see if we can reach an understandin’.”
    â€œNot much chance of that.”
    â€œGot to try just the same.”
    â€œAnd when that doesn’t work?”
    â€œThen we get serious. We can hurt Simpson as much as he can hurt us. He gets his supplies off the road that runs through the off quarter of my property. We can close that road.”
    â€œIt’d take a hundred men. Anyway, he’ll just cut a new road.”
    â€œThat’d take time, and lots of manpower.”
    â€œLeavin’ the dam open.”
    â€œAnd the fences. Fences are easy to cut. Cattle all over means a roundup.”
    â€œAnything else?”
    â€œNot on our part. But there is another factor.”
    â€œOh?”
    â€œHe’s started bringin’ in men. Not ranch hands. These men ride tall horses and wear Mexican spurs.”
    â€œKillers.”
    â€œAnd you’re bound to be the first target, Caulie. Done much shootin’