Darrel Sparkman - After the Fall

“That’s a mean horse you got there. I’d let him loose to run with the mustangs, was it me.” Jake just shook his head. “Why do you keep him?”

He shrugged, appreciating the change of subject. “He’s not too bad. Besides, he’s the best trail horse I’ve ever had—go all day and night. Sometimes I need that in my line of work.” Both men were guarded, but still relaxed. As they started to leave, he spoke to them. “Boys, if you travel straight north from here, you’re going to hit some small farms. They’re mostly new folk up there, and probably have unbranded cattle. They’d get kind of lost in that mixed herd of yours. The thing is, that meat will be life or death for them come winter. I’d consider it a favor if you go around them. I wouldn’t want to hear any complaints.”

Jake gave him a hard look. “We don’t take anything that belongs to someone else.” When Coble didn’t comment he continued. “I’ll pass the word on. We might even have some calves we could drop off.”

Calves were hard to deal with on any cattle drive. Usually, they died because they couldn’t keep up or cluttered up the chuck wagon.

“I’m obliged, gentleman. If you’re around the Cattleman’s in KC, I’ll buy you a drink.”

He lost sight of them immediately in the trees and brush, but could hear their progress for a few minutes. They were working north along the creek, looking for strays—it was nice to see some honest folks for once. The people he met in his line of work usually weren’t. He gave Red a little nudge. Time to cross the creek and go find that beer.

Cowboy up with Dusty Richards’s Spur Award-winning novel, The Mustanger and the Lady !

“Dusty Richards is a natural born storyteller, and Vince Wagner is the kind of straight-talking, straight-shooting hero that won the West one bullet and one woman at a time.”

Copyright © 2017 by Darrel Sparkman

Second Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book or any of the stories herein may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

ISBN: 978-1-63373-

Cover Design and E-Book Formatting by Casey W. Cowan

Editing by Gordon Bonnet

Galway Press

Oghma Creative Media

Bentonville, Arkansas

www.oghmacreative.com