Pete (The Cowboys) Read Online Free PDF Page B

get a new foreman.
    “It’s all that Eastern money,” Belser complained. “They think the grass is endless, that all they have to do is bring in a thousand cows—or twenty thousand—and they can make twenty-five percent profit a year.”
    “Can they survive a tough winter?” Pete asked.
    “That depends on how tough.”
    “I came along the Missouri and down the Yellowstone to the Powder,” Pete said. “The Indians say the signs are bad. They’re preparing for the worst winter within living memory.”
    “We won’t survive anything like that,” Eddie said.
    “Then round up everything you can and sell it.”
    Eddie looked startled, but Belser looked shocked and angry. “I knew you were a fool. Those steers are fifty pounds underweight. They won’t bring what they’re worth.”
    “They won’t bring anything dead,” Pete said.
    “Uncle Carl wouldn’t have sold early,” Belser said. “You know what he used to say?”
    “Of course he doesn’t,” Anne interrupted. “How could he, being in Illinois all this time?”
    “He always said the same thing,” Belser said, glaring at Pete. “I don’t think you know what it is.”
    “He said never send a steer to market until both the weight of the steer and the prices on the market are as high as you think they can go,” Anne said.
    Belser had been doing this all evening, tossing out things he seemed to think Pete ought to remember, trying to catch him. Anne had come to his defense from the beginning, answering Belser’s questions, often adding information to help fill in Pete’s knowledge of a past that wasn’t his own. Pete just sat there smiling and letting Belser get more and more angry. It didn’t surprise Pete that no one on the place seemed to like Belser. Pete was becoming more and more convinced Belser was responsible for Peter’s death. Pete couldn’t figure out any other reason he should be so certain Pete was an imposter.
    “Selling now is a pretty big gamble,” Eddie said.
    “I’ll ride out with you tomorrow,” Pete said. “We’ll decide then.”
    “You’ve got no right doing anything like that,” Belser argued.
    “He owns the ranch,” Anne said. “I can’t think of anybody who has a better right.”
    Belser looked as though he was bursting to say something, but he bit his tongue. “You’ll have to tie him to the saddle to keep him on his horse. From what Uncle Carl said, he not only can’t stay on a horse, he’s afraid of them.”
    “That horse in the paddock doesn’t look like the mount of a man who’s not very good in the saddle,” Eddie said, then looked angry at himself for defending Pete.
    “Ten years can make a big difference,” Pete said to Belser. “A man can learn to do all kinds of things. Now,” he said, turning back to Eddie, “I want to hear more about this rustling.”
    Pete listened carefully as Eddie outlined what had been happening over the last year. It seemed as though it had started as a small-time operation—a few steers now and again. But this summer it had turned into a regular problem.
    While Eddie and Belser argued over solutions, Pete took stock of where he stood. Except for Belser, everyone at the ranch took him at his word that he was Peter. But sooner or later he’d foul up somewhere, and his deception would be discovered. There was no point in fighting it. It was going to happen. He had to figure out how to get as much done as he could before that happened.
    He kept asking himself why he was doing this. Any sane man would have simply tried to stop Anne’s uncle from dragging her away. It would never have occurred to him to pretend to be her husband.
    But having done so, Pete now found himself playing a false role. He was determined to save her, but he didn’t know how. So he had to keep up the pretense until he could find an answer.
    “I want to see the books,” Pete said. He rose without waiting for Eddie to respond. “I’d like to know how we stand before I look at the