Telegrams.
Duplicate invoices.
Bank transfers.
The cattle buyer had reimbursed Double Diamond for a full provision allowance before departure.
Jenkins had pocketed most.
Worse, he had been deducting “lost cattle reserves” from crew wages on previous drives even when losses later recovered.
A pattern.
The bank froze sale proceeds until wages paid.
Jenkins did not go to prison immediately.
Law takes time.
But his reputation collapsed where it mattered.
Cattle buyers stopped extending credit.
Trail bosses refused work.
Cowboys talked.
In cattle country, a man can survive insult.
Not inability to pay men.
Caleb received full wages.
So did crew.
Henrietta received the cook wage Jenkins promised plus the difference between actual food budget and what he had falsely withheld.
The stockyard agent handed her forty-seven dollars extra.
She stared.
“What is this?”
“Unused authorized commissary allowance.”
“Should belong men.”
The crew shouted no almost in unison.
Saul said:
“You fed us on nothing.”
Mason:
“Keep.”
Levi:
“Buy more goats.”
Everyone groaned.
Henrietta laughed.
Caleb watched.
He looked at her differently now.
Not cook.
Not burden.
Not employee.
Something else.
When everything settled, the crew faced next problem.
They had no employer.
A rival outfit offered jobs.
Better wages for several.
Two men accepted.
Reasonable.
The others hesitated.
Caleb had no ranch.
No cattle.
Henrietta had forty-seven dollars and a wagon that technically belonged to Jenkins.
Except stockyard determined Jenkins had not paid the wheelwright who built it, and title was unclear.
Complicated.
Eventually Jenkins surrendered wagon as part of unpaid expense settlement.
Henrietta became owner.
She stood beside it in disbelief.
Caleb leaned against wheel.
“You have business.”
“I have wagon.”
“Same beginning.”
“What business?”
“Trail cooking.”
She looked at him.
“You think men hire woman?”
“These men would.”
He gestured.
Six remaining cowboys nodded.
Saul said:
“I’d sign next drive if she cooks.”
Levi:
“Me too.”
Henrietta laughed.
“You all have sun fever.”
Caleb did not.
He looked serious.
“I have savings.”
Her smile faded.
“How much?”
“Two hundred.”
“You have been carrying two hundred dollars on trail?”
“Bank draft.”
“Good.”
“Thought I was about to rethink respect.”
He smiled.
“I could lease fifty head.”
“Small drive south to north.”
“Build.”
Henrietta stared.
“We?”
Caleb nodded toward wagon.
“You have commissary.”
“I have management.”
“Men.”
“Contacts.”
She crossed arms.
“What are you proposing?”
“A partnership.”
Her heart did something inconvenient.
“Business?”
Caleb held her gaze.
“To start.”
Henrietta noticed the last two words.
“To start?”