Page 21 of Stockman's Showdown

‘What?’ He approached her.

Bree dropped her head, looking at the ground. ‘Can you feel that?’

Ryder felt the ground rumble beneath his boots and the rise of dust. It only meant one thing. ‘Aw hell, no.’

‘STAMPEDE.’ Charlie climbed onto the log and waved his hat in the air.

The earth rumbled like an earthquake as over a thousand head of cattle pounded the red soils to stir the largest cloud of red dust to stain the sky. And it was heading straight towards them.

Ten

‘Get on your horses, now.’Bree swung into her saddle. She unsheathed her bushman’s knife from her belt and sliced though the rope to safely release the horses, knowing they wouldn’t run far. Right now, she focused on her grandfather where he stood in the path of the thunderous herd of cattle heading straight for their campsite.

Bree let her stockwhip crack as she urged Black Hand to leap over their campfire and gallop straight for the herd that had yet to cross Koala Creek. She had to protect her grandfather and the others, that included little Mason. ‘Pop?’

‘Cap and I will hold ‘em off. You get in front, kid.’ Charlie swung his stockwhips in the air, their crack like a thousand guns as Cap, and his team of muster dogs, created a barrier between the creek and their small stock camp. It was enough to force the cattle to head upstream.

Aw come on!Why couldn’t they have gone downstream in the direction of the drafting yards?

Gritting her teeth, she nudged her horse, aiming to cut off the stampeding herd.

‘BREE!’ Ryder’s voice shouted over her radio.‘Don’t you dare get in front of them.’

Ignoring him, she rode hard, doing what Charlie had taught her. Her stockwhip’s long length whirled like a helicopter toCRACK!

The cattle closest shied away, pushing against the others to turn the tide of thundering beef.

Before her the ancient sandstone formations rose from the horizon like a battalion of soldiers guarding the front line. They were impassable. And if the herd didn’t slow down, they’d crush themselves in their panic, with nowhere to turn.

‘Come on.’ Black Hand’s hooves pounded as they raced for the front of the herd, with Bree driving him hard in the saddle as the deafening noise of a thousand bellowing cattle filled the air. A gritty dust storm stirred against her eyes, nose, and ears, but she blindly pushed forwards with Black Hand, powering fearlessly through the dust cloud to finally break through.

Ahead of her was a small rise, and she raced towards it. There she turned the horse and stood fast and pulled out her shotgun.

KABOOM!

Its sound echoed like thunder bouncing off the massive wall of sandstone that rose behind her like a rock giant facing down over a thousand head of Brahman, with their white, wild eyes and sharp horns, barrelling towards her. With the reins in her teeth, whirling the stockwhip in one hand,CRACK,she gave a well-practised pump of the shottie with the other, then squeezed the trigger.

KABOOM!

The first row of cattle stalled. Then the next. And then the next, starting a wave of white-coated cattle slowing down to a stop.

Only then did she breathe, letting the reins fall free from her teeth, to slide her shotgun away. ‘Well done, Black Hand. Well done.’ She slid off the saddle and patted her trusty horse, who stamped his hooves and snorted with fire, raring to go again.

But her legs were shaky, and so full of adrenaline right now, with her heart beating a bazillion beats she could only laugh at what they’d just done.

Ryder rode up in a fury. ‘Are you freaking crazy?’ Jumping off his horse, he was all in her face.‘Do you have a death wish?’

‘Bit harsh, cupcake. When all you had to say was thank you.’ Considering she’d just stopped his herd from hurting themselves while also protecting his family. But, no, Ryder typically had to go and ruin the moment with a lecture.

‘I just want to protect you. Don’t you get it?’ He ripped off his hat, roughly raking fingers through his thick hair.

‘I—’

‘No.’ He pointed his hat at her. ‘No, you are not some convenience. You are not some urge or itch to scratch. And you are not something I want to own, like a possession I bought from a store. You are someone I truly care about, and when you go and do dumb crap like this—’

‘I was helping you.’

‘Stop it.’

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