Chapter Seven
Cam, and the two nine-year-olds, went out to the big side yard followed by Duncan who attached himself to Mike. Cam smiled at the sight. One half grown puppy and his new best friend were pretty picture.
The boys started throwing sticks for Duncan. "Fetch" was a command he knew, understood and sometimes obeyed.
When they tired of that they sat down on the bench in the sunny yard and started talking. The talk escalated into an argument for Billy had a reputation as a skeptic and for being somewhat of a loudmouthed bully.
"Slim 'n' Jess are the best!" Mike declared.
"Best at what?" Billy wanted to know.
"They can both ride real good and fish - "
"Better not mention the fishing," Cam said jokingly.
"Oh, okay," Mike said suddenly remembering the outcome of their joint fishing trip during Cam's first visit.
"Tell him about the ranch and the stages," Cam suggested.
"Well Slim and Jess can both drive the stage and sometimes they guard the money that's being sent to some bank or something. They both break wild horses but Jess does it more than Slim. Not too many of the horses fight him for long though. They know who's boss."
"And they take care of the horses that pull the stages - even making new shoes for them sometimes and doctoring them when they're sick."
"So what? Anybody can co that!" Billy wasn't impressed.
"Aunt Daisy takes care of the house and us and feeds the passengers. She says Jess eats more than all the rest of us do!"
Billy just scoffed. "That's nothing. My brother won a horse race on a horse he trained himself."
"Billy, you forget, that I won a horse race last summer even though I wasn't the one to train the horse I was on. And your brother," Cam said pointedly, "came in second on a horse he's been riding for years."
Mike beamed when he heard that. He'd been at the race Cam won. Jess was supposed to have ridden his new colt, Galway, but had disappeared. By the time Slim found him, and they got to the starting line the race was over and Cam had won.
"Told you Jess was better!"
The two boys argued back and forth, about what their brothers - and other relatives were best at - until the shouting match turned into a shoving match and a knock down drag out fight. It didn't help matters when Duncan got excited and started barking and running around the two combatants.
Cam tried to put a stop to it but got kicked for her trouble by Billy. She couldn't get hold of Duncan because he was running in circles around the two boys. Finally, desperately, she put two fingers to her mouth and whistled.