Dry Divide by Ralph Moody Page A

were nodding to each other, and Jaikus was nudging Old Bill. It was enough to let me know that I’d turned the crew my way for the moment, but I couldn’t be sure it would stay turned if we just stood waiting for Hudson to bring the horses in, so I said, “Those barge wheels have dried out enough that they’ll fall to pieces before the day’s over unless we get ’em off and put to soak.”
    It probably took us a half hour to take the wheels off and put them to soak in the tank, but there was no sign of Hudson, so I had a mental picture of him; chasing the frightened horse herd around the pasture, cursing, lashing, and trying to drive them into the lane. Paco had finished milking and was carrying the buckets to the house when he suddenly set them down and came running to me, shouting, “
El jefe! El jefe! Completamente aplastada!
”
    My Spanish was far from good, but I knew that
jefe
meant
boss
, and that
aplastada
meant
crushed
or
smashed
. For a moment I couldn’t make sense out of what Paco was shouting, then he turned and pointed toward the windmill. Beyond it, and part way down the pasture lane, Kitten came slowly, turned quartering, and dragging a motionless load from the off stirrup of the saddle. None of us needed to be told what she was dragging, and we all ran toward her, but at sight of us she spooked and turned back toward the pasture. I motioned the others to wait, then walked ahead slowly, keeping up a steady babble of talk, just loud enough to reach Kitten’s ears.
    At the sound of my voice she stopped, swung her head toward me, and stood with it high, ears erect, ready to plunge away if I made a quick move. I stood and waited a minute or more for her nerves to let down a bit, then moved on again, talking all the while. She kept her head high and her ears up until she caught my scent, then all the sap seemed to drain out of her. Her head drooped, and she stood quietly while I went to her. I had to pass Hudson’s body to reach her. One foot was hung in the stirrup, with the end of the whip coiled twice around it, binding it as tightly as a living blacksnake could have.
    There was no reason to hurry about releasing the foot, but Kitten needed comforting if ever a horse did. She was trembling in every nerve and muscle, and I had to pet and stroke her several minutes before the trembling quieted. Then I untied the latigo straps, let the cinch fall free, and eased the saddle to the ground. It wasn’t until then that I looked back toward the house. The others, with Judy and her sister among them, were standing by the windmill, motionless, and looking toward us as sheep will stare at a sight that awes them.
    I led Kitten to the mill, passed the reins to Paco, and told him to put her in the corral. Then I went straight to Mrs. Hudson. She was dry eyed, and I could see no grief in her face; only horror and confusion. “There’s nothing that can be done,” I told her. “If a bed can be made ready, we’ll bring him to the house.”
    She just stood, looking at me in a confused sort of way for maybe a minute, then asked, “Could you wait till Judy takes the children away? She can drive the. . . .” Before she could finish the sentence she slumped in a dead faint, but Doc caught her, lifted her in his arms, and carried her to the house.
    Judy had seemed awestruck until her sister fainted, then she became nearly hysterical. She started to follow Doc, then turned and ran back to me, clutched my sleeves convulsively, and pleaded, “Don’t bring him, Bud! Don’t bring him now! Don’t let the children see him! With Sis fainted and all, I don’t know when I can take ’em away. Bud, you won’t. . . .”
    With each word she was becoming more hysterical, so I put an arm around her, led her toward the house, and told her, “Of course I won’t, Judy, and with a doctor right here to take care of your