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She chuckled and they walked arm in arm back inside.
Chapter Twenty
Lance hoped Trudy got his first letter. He missed her so badly, he took the picture of them out of his pocket every night, kissed it, and went to sleep dreaming about their future together.
The boys had gotten a real kick out of his story of Boston and the girls. He knew he'd take a ribbing from them for a while, but if it kept them happy and the herd moving along, he didn't mind.
George was shaking his head a few days later when he rode up to Lance. "I can't believe you got snookered by two young girls like that."
Lance chuckled, "Well hell, George, they were good writers. What can I say?"
"You didn't tell their folks what they'd done?"
"Naw, no use stirring up trouble. Actually, I was kind of relieved myself."
"Relieved, for being made a fool of?"
"George, I was expecting a woman, Priscilla to go into a tirade for marrying someone else. I was glad there was no grown up Pricilla to face. Last thing I wanted was to listen to some wailing female."
"Oh yeah, I see your point."
"What would you have done if she was beautiful and crying, and hurt?"
"I'd have been very uncomfortable. I got the right lady, George. That much I'm sure of. But I gotta admit going to Boston took more nerve than a stampeded herd."
"You didn't have a clue about those girls?"
Lance studied on it a moment, "Only that in her earlier letters she said her Mom died. Then she turned around and said her Mom was sick. That worried me some, yeah. But I figured it was just a lie, to cover up the real reason she hadn't come out here when she said she would."
"Then there was no other man, huh?" George laughed at him.
"No. Their parents wouldn't let them be courted. I guess they were pretty strict on them. They were good girls, just bored and wanting some kind of entertainment. It turned out; I was just that."
"Well, I'm glad I’m past the age of female problems." George chuckled.
Lance slanted him a glance, "Oh yeah, what about Judith?"
"Judith? The lady that runs the General store in Smithville. What about her?" George frowned.
"She's been sweet on you for years and you won't give her the time of day. You go over there just to see her; I know that much for fact. Too bad you haven't told her how you really feel."
"Aw, we're just friends." George blushed.
"You want me to tell her that?" Lance raised a brow, as he steered his horse away from the dust.
"Hell no, our bickering is like some men's courting."
"Un-huh, you better watch out, you just might get caught one of these days, yourself." Lance chuckled and rode off to keep from hearing George's tirade of excuses.
But along about noon, one of the boys got thrown off his horse by a rattlesnake that he stumbled onto. He'd been chasing
some steers out of a dry wash. One of the other men saw his horse throw him and headed that direction to check on him. He was bit and the boys carried him quickly to the chuck wagon. It was all the boys could do to protect Willis and keep the cattle calm at the same time.
Cookie saw the problem right away, as they carried him to the wagon. Cookie had some old Indian treatment for it, and he didn't hesitate to cut the affected area out, then clean it.
The boy was unconscious, and he left him in the wagon after putting some kind of poultice on his leg.
"Tell the bosses he'll be out for a few days." Cookie told them.
