The Gunslinger (Barnett Ranch) Read Online Free PDF Page B

up so they could all close up and leave.  When Jax pulled the buggy up in front, she grabbed her rifle and they walked out to join him.  Behind the buggy his stallion and her mare were hitched to the back.  She unhitched her ma re and climbed up in the saddle, then put the rifle in its sheath. 
    Jax helped Mrs. Ellen into the buggy then climbed on his own horse.  As they rode out of town, the sheriff stood in front of the jail propped against a post watching them.  Jax tipped his hat to him, and rode on. 
    “Here we are, welcome to the Barnett Ranch. As far as you can see and much more is nothing but Barnett land.” Virginia waved her hand in a wide arc.
      The Barnett ranch was huge.  Jax caught himself admiring it and wondered what it must take to run a place this big.  He’d never had much use for cattle but he’d wanted to start a horse breeding business of his own someday.  He would need plenty of land, but he doubted anyone really needed this much.  Mrs. Ellen and Virginia pointed out different things to him.  The pride in their voices, was all that needed to be said. 
    Virginia found herself pointing out a section of land that stretched as far as the eye could see with a great big hill dotted with trees and the most beautiful scenery he’d ever seen.  “This is all going to be mine,” she said.  “It’s my dowry.  Pa asked me to pick out ten thousand acres of my own, that would go to me on my wedding day.  That hill over yonder, sits right smack dab in the middle of it.  You can’t see most of it from here , but you are technically on it right now .”  “ Ten thousand acres is a lot of land.”   “It’s small in comparison to what my brothers will inherit.   All total there is a hundred thousand acres here.   The remaining land will be split between them, which means, they’ll each have forty five thousand acres a piece.  That’s enough for each of them to operate their own ranch.”
    He’d never thought about having children, so it never cro ssed his mind to think about own ing enough land to provide his children a future.  It didn’t quite seem fair to him, that she wouldn’t inherit as much as her brothers.  Some men didn’t see their daughters as equals to their sons.  He supposed her father was one of those men. 
    Mrs. Ellen pulled her buggy under a big shade tree and relaxed.  Jax took one side of the road while Virginia took the other.  They’d decided to have a little friendly competition.  Wh oever got the biggest game, would win .  The winner got to choose his or her prize. 
    Jax thought about what he might ask of her.  What kind of prize might he like to receive from her if he won.  He was sure he would.  He, kind of thought he might like a kiss.  He was daydreaming about kissing her when a buck jumped out in front of him.  He raised his gun to fire, but he missed.  He spotted a doe running off in the other direction and set his sights on her.  She wasn’t nearly as big as the buck but she would have to do.  He fired a steady shot right through the doe ’ s heart.  Happy with himself he gutted and tossed the deer on the back of his saddle.  He heard another gunshot and realized Virginia must have killed something too. 
    They got back to the buggy around the same time.  To his surprise, Virginia had the buck he’d missed dragging it behind her mount.  Damn, he thought.  He was really looking forward to asking her for a kiss.  He knew it would make her mad, but the thought of making her angry and knowing she was too daring not to do it just gave him , all the more , reason to do it.  However, he’d lost the bet and she’d scored the biggest game.  He waited for her to make him pay up.
    “Well, it looks like I win, so I guess you get to skin out both deer.”  That was all she said.  She didn’t come up with something ridiculous like he had.  She just simply put skinning the deer off on him.  He would’ve done it anyway. 
    They