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“Oh, no!” Zech said, looking down at the cow with its stom-ach slit open. “That’s the fourth one in two days.”

Skillit dismounted and examined the carcass. “All they tookagain was the heart and liver. They must have a powerful cravin’for that kind of meat. It sho’ is a waste.”

“I sure would like to get my sights on whoever’s doing this,”Zech said.

Skillit remounted and said, “They keep this up we won’t havemuch to brand.”

“Or sell either. Let’s take what we got on back to the corral.”Zech and Skillit popped their whips, causing the cows to lurch

forward. Far in the distance smoke drifted upward as Frog heat-ed the branding iron, waiting.

It was late May, a month later than they usually completed theroundup, but his father, Tobias, had been sick again and insistedthey wait until he could help. No amount of persuasion by Emmaor Zech could keep him at the house, and Zech worried con-stantly as he watched his father become more gaunt from the hotsun and the hard work of branding.

Frog opened the gate at the sound of approaching hooves, thenslammed it shut when the cows rushed inside. Tobias said to him,“How many did you count?”

“Nineteen.”“That’s what I got too. I thought there would be more than

that.”Zech reined his horse and said, “They done it some more,

Pappa. All shot in the head and the bellies slit open. That makesabout forty so far.”

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“How long you figure they been dead when you found the lastones?” Tobias asked.

“Not long. No more than a day, maybe less.”“Them thieves is getting awful brave. They must be out there

sommers right now, watching us. This keeps up we might all haveto go hunting, but this time it won’t be for four-legged varmints.I can’t understand why any man would shoot a cow for the heartand liver. He could get as much meat out of a rabbit.”

“Just pure meanness,” Skillit said. “Maybe they move on soonand let us be. They don’t, we ought to set their behinds on firewith the Winchesters.”

“You want us to go looking for them?” Zech asked. “Me andSkillit and Frog could ride the woods at night. They bound tobuild a fire, ’less they eat raw meat, and that ain’t likely.”

“No, better not,” Tobias responded. “I got a notion that sooneror later they’ll come to us. And besides that, we got to get readyfor the grazing drive. We’re late already.”

“If it suits all of you,” Frog said, “let’s quit the jawin’ and getdone with the branding. I don’t like to be late for supper since MizGlenda started making them huckleberry pies.”

“She’s spoiled us all, pure and simple,” Tobias said. “First thingyou know we’ll be taking baths before having vittles.”

“That wouldn’t be no bad idea for Frog,” Skillit said. “If he’d wash up some every month or so them buzzards wouldn’tfollow us all the time like they do. Pearlie Mae asked me just the other day if we had skunks in the barn, and it was Frog feedin’ his horse.”

“Ain’t nothing in the world stinks worse than your sweat,” Frogsaid. “It was you she smelled, not me.”

“No wonder Glenda thinks everbody out here is crazy,” Zechsaid. “Let’s go on and get done with the work. I got a chore to doat the house.”

“I know you have a lot of chores,” Frog said. “That new wife,Glenda, keeps you very busy. I knowed a man once who gothitched and his wife had him doin’ so much work, the first you

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know he got so skinny a dog buried him, thinkin’ he was a bone.”Skillit suddenly grabbed Frog, lifted him off the ground and

pointed his backside upward. He said, “Get the brandin’ iron,Mistuh Zech! See can you pick it up! Then stick it to him andwe’ll see how loud a frog can holler!”

Zech took the glowing iron from the fire and held it three inches from Frog’s rear, singeing his pants. Frog shouted, “I wasjust kiddin’, Mister Zech! Don’t put that thing to me!”

“He bellers loud, don’t he?” Skillit chuckled, releasing his grip. “He’ll draw all the ’gators outen the swamp fo’ a chomp offrog meat.”

Frog stood up and rubbed his pants as Tobias said, “Lordy,Lordy, I hope them rustlers ain’t watching us now. If they are,they’ll think this outfit is run by a bunch of loons. No wonderthey ain’t scared of us.”

“Don’t you worry none about that, Mistuh Tobias,” Skillit said.“We jus funnin’ now. We come on them polecats, the funnin’stops. Ain’t gone be no play time with them.”

“That’s right,” Frog agreed. “It’s gone be a whole lot worse thana brandin’ iron and singed britches.”

“I still think we ought to go after them,” Zech said. “If we don’tfind them first, they’ll do us just like somebody did the dogs.”

Glenda became a member of the MacIvey clan with ease, and Emma liked her immensley, finding in her the companionship of a daughter she always wanted. Glenda refused to stand idly by as Emma and Pearlie Mae prepared meals. She peeled potatoes and chopped onions, reddening her eyes, and when there was nothing more to do she went alone into the woods andgathered berries for pies. In her spare moments she changed the bare cabin Zech built for them into a home, putting up curtains and covering the bedroom floor with a braided rug, decorating the walls with little knickknacks she brought from

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Fort Drum. Zech enjoyed her pampering more than he wouldadmit, and each evening as he headed for the hammock he ranIshmael faster than usual.

She also convinced him to spend one hour each night beside a coal oil lamp, learning to read and write. At first he resisted, but as the words gradually took on meaning he went at it eagerly,realizing a previously unknown world was opening for him.

Emma watched it all with deep satisfaction, knowing that whenchildren came Glenda could give them something more than shehad been able to offer Zech, a chance to break free and do some-thing more than grub for survival. There were other things in theworld besides planting collards and skinning coons and herdingcows and fighting wolves, things such as books and music andchurch services, and Glenda would lead the way. These thingswere now beyond Tobias, and maybe Zech too, but her grand-children could sample them if they so desired. At least they wouldhave the opportunity to choose.

It was not that Emma regretted any part of her own life. If thechoice were offered to her again, she would follow Tobias into thewilderness with only a frying pan and the clothes on her back. She never looked back or complained about things she might have missed along the way. She wanted a better life for Zech and his wife and for those yet to come. If someday she could besurrounded by grandchildren whose faces were filled with joy andplay, and not just work, then the long and difficult journey wouldhave been worthwhile.

Emma took the coffee pot from the stove, poured two cups andput them on the table. She said to Glenda, “Come and sit with me.Those men will be coming in soon with their stomachs growling.We can have a few minutes of peace and rest before they get here.”

Glenda sipped the coffee, and then she said, “I don’t see howyou cooked for so many before you had Pearlie Mae to help. Itmust have been a chore.”

“Oh, it wasn’t so bad. It’s as easy to cook for six as it is for

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three. You just add a little extra to the pot. And there were timeswhen the only things I had to cook were cattail flour and coonmeat. That makes it simple. You should have seen poor old Skillit when he came to us. He was so hungry he would have eaten boiled cypress bark. Frog and Bonzo were just about as badoff too.”

“We knew hard times too, but not that bad,” Glenda said.“When we first came to Fort Drum it was nothing but wilderness.Daddy brought the lumber down from Jacksonville in an ox cartand built the store himself. It was a long time after that when the little settlement began to grow up around the store. I canremember Daddy going to Fort Capron to meet the schooner andbringing back goods a piece at a time, whatever he could get.Sometimes he traded a few turns of cloth for deer meat, and asack of nails for potatoes. Zech doesn’t know this about my fam-ily and I haven’t told him. He thinks the store has always beenthere, stocked with food and other things. But it hasn’t.”

Emma put down her cup and took Glenda’s hand in hers.“Glenda, I know why you’re helping me so much in the kitchen,even doing the wash when Pearlie Mae could do it. Just don’t tryso hard. You don’t have to prove anything to Zech. If you askedhim how I spend each day, he couldn’t tell you. He knows Ialways have food ready when he’s hungry, and I wash his clothes,but that’s all. He’s not here during the lonely times. What heneeds now is a wife to love, not a cook and housekeeper. He’s hadthat all his life, and that’s all he’s ever had.”

“I’m not sure love is enough by itself,” Glenda said. “I know ithas taken hard work as well as love for you to do the thingsyou’ve done to keep your men alive. When we first met, Zechthought I wouldn’t be up to it, that all I wanted was to be inJacksonville and go to theaters and dances. I’ve never wantedsuch things, and I can’t even imagine myself married to somebank clerk in Jacksonville who plays the piano. I want to be here,riding with Zech, being his partner as well as his wife, chasing

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cows if he wants me to, doing whatever he wants and being what-ever he wants me to be. I love him that much.”

“Zech will make you a kind and loving man, like Tobias, in hisown way,” Emma said. “But there’s one thing you’ll have toremember. He was brought up in the wilderness, and that’s allhe’s ever known. It’s inside him. He didn’t shy away from youbecause he thought you couldn’t live out here. It was because hethought he wasn’t good enough for you, and that if he marriedyou, you would make him leave the wilderness and go elsewhere.This he will never do. You’ll have to understand that, Glenda, andbe patient with him. Zech will do the best he can to make youhappy. He may not always show it, like his father sometimes does-n’t show it, but he will.”

“You know,” Glenda said, “I’m glad you’re you, Emma. I couldnever talk like this with my mother.”

“You’ll never know how many times I’ve yearned to just sit andtalk with another woman, like we’re doing now. That’s what I’vemissed the most. I’m so glad you’re here, and I’m proud to haveyou as my daughter. “

“While we’re talking woman talk, I have a secret to share,”Glenda said, smiling. “I’m going to have a baby!”

“Oh, Glenda, that’s wonderful!” Emma exclaimed. “I’m sohappy for you and Zech! Have you told Zech? He hasn’t mentioned it.”

“No. I’m not going to for a while yet. And I don’t want you toeither.”

“Glenda, I don’t understand,” Emma said, puzzled. “Whywould you keep it from him? He’ll know sooner or later.”

“I want to go on the drive with all of you. If Zech knew aboutthis he wouldn’t let me go. I just know he wouldn’t.”

“The drive isn’t as important as this,” Emma reasoned. “I haveto go because I’m the cook, but Pearlie Mae can stay here andlook after you. You shouldn’t hide this from Zech.”

“Going with Zech this time is important to me. I’ve got to proveto him I can do it. I know it would be foolish to take the baby out

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there next summer, and that’s why I must go now. I just have to,Emma!”

“I’ve already told you. You don’t have to prove anything toZech! If you’ll stay, I’ll stay with you. The men go on roundupsby themselves and take along smoked beef and hardtack. Theycan do the same thing on a drive. It would be hard for Pearlie Maeto go by herself and look after her boys and cook too. And besidesthat, Zech and Tobias know how to cook rabbits and coons.They’ll do fine without us.”

“No, I want to go,” Glenda insisted. “I won’t stay behind!”“Is it really that important to you?”“Yes, it is.”“Well, I’ll say one thing,” Emma said, “you’re a MacIvey for

sure. You’re as stubborn as Tobias or Zech ever hoped to be. I’llshare your secret under one condition.”

“What’s that?” Glenda asked, glad that Emma was about toagree.

“If you get to feeling poorly you and I will turn back. This babymeans more to me than all the gold in Punta Rassa, and I know itwould to Zech too. Will you promise me this?”

“Yes, I promise. But I know I’ll be fine.”“When we get back this time we’ll really have something to cel-

ebrate,” Emma said. “We’ll have a party, the first one we’ve everhad out here. You can make the pies, and I’ll do the rest, and we’llinvite your mother and father.”

“That would be wonderful,” Glenda said. “And when the babycomes, we’ll have another. It should be close to Christmas. We’llhave our own Christmas frolic.”

“I don’t know how I’ll be able to keep this to myself, but I’ll try.And I’m so happy, Glenda. I’ve wanted a baby around this placefor such a long time. I just might take it away from you.”

“We’ll share,” Glenda laughed. “And if it’s twins, you can haveone and I’ll take the other.”