Page 90 of Stockman's Sandstorm

‘Harper will be fine. She’s a lot stronger than we give her credit for. If not, it’ll be one helluva learning curve for her. I have faith she can do it, otherwise, I would have gone home last night.’

‘Why did you stick around?’

‘We haven’t finished the muster. We both know the job’s only done when all your cattle are safely behind a fence that’s standing.’

‘We have a lot of fencing to do.’ Plus, the other big list of duties to get the station back on track. ‘At least we have cattle now.’

‘You do. So, can we get a wriggle on, snowflake? It’s your strays we’re playing hide-and-seek with.’

‘So they are.’ Keen to finish this job, which he was actually good at, he realised he had every right to be a part owner of this station.

He just had to prove it to his brothers.

Thirty-eight

With the drone high in the air, Ash, Bree, and Charlie rode through the many twisting corridors that made up the Stoneys. Bree took the left, Charlie on the right, with Ash down the middle, as they gently mustered the stray cattle towards the mouth.

‘What’s that?’ Ash rode up to Charlie, who was guzzling on his water bottle, and showed him the drone’s screen. ‘Is that some sort of machinery?’

‘No machinery out here. You’ve seen how narrow and rocky this place gets, you can only go by horseback.’

Bree came up behind them with a calf draped over her saddle. ‘This guy is exhausted. I’m thinking of adopting him.’

‘I doubt management would agree to that.’ Charlie nudged Ash’s shoulder. ‘I’m talking about you, kid.’

‘Oh, yeah.’ He was supposed to be the boss, and that calf was part of his herd. But this was Bree … ‘Do you really want that devouring your veggie patch?’

‘Good point.’ Bree’s grin was mischievous. ‘So, I was thinking, you should buy that cream stockhorse for Harper. It’s an excellent gift for the lady.’

‘Leave ‘em be, kid. I wouldn’t want anyone telling me what stockhorses to get.’

‘You told me you liked that cream one, Pop.’

‘Hush now, kid. I know what I said, coz I was thinking of getting that one to add to our horse plant.’ Charlie scowled at Bree, who only grinned wider.

‘I told you it was a good stockhorse way back in Wombat Flats.’

‘And I saw how calm it was during that sandstorm, and that horse has skills.’

‘I know, right?’

Ash just sat on his borrowed horse, between Bree and her grandfather, listening to them talk about another horse. It’d have to be good, considering the condition of Bree and Charlie’s stockhorses, they knew what to look for. And so did Ash.

How did he miss that? It was another brutal example of how he’d been too busy focusing on Harper and not on the job—no wonder he copped the lecture.

‘Excuse me, before you buy out all the decent stockhorses, can you tell me what this is?’ He held out the drone’s screen where he zoomed in on the object wedged in a corridor of rock. ‘It’s a metal roof. It’s not a ute or a truck, but it’s big.’

‘Let’s go take a stickybeak.’ Bree nudged her horse, taking the lead with the calf draped over her saddle like it was a blanket, but it looked comfy there. ‘Did you know they used to fossick for gold through here?’

‘Oi. You’re not meant to tell them that.’ Again, Charlie scowled at Bree as he rode alongside her.

‘You and Lenny haven’t found anything for years.’

‘Who’s Lenny?’ Why did Ash know that name?

‘The Hungarian chef from the pub. Fossicks for gold with Charlie once a month—if Lenny isn’t too hungover.’

‘Did you find any gold?’

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