Excerpt: View of the Valley

As they topped a slope that dropped off steeply into a rocky valley with moss-streaked sides, Lena spotted three riders making the descent from the other end. Ray saw them at the same instant, and as she looked at him inquiringly she saw a grim expression come over his face. “Sutherland,” he said. “His range meets ours on this end…might have figured we’d run into him somewhere along in here. Don’t let him bluff you; if he gets obstreperous at all you just let me do the talking.”

Lena had no chance to ask him any more, for already they were drawing close to the other riders. They met near the center of the narrow valley and all drew rein at once, horses snorting and hooves thudding dully on the hard ground. The leader of the trio was an individual of singular appearance to Lena’s eyes, an older man with a shock of white hair and a hardened, weathered red face that looked as if it had seen years of exposure to the elements. A pair of steely eyes fixed upon her, with a calculating expression that she fancied also had a touch of amusement in it.

“Good morning,” he said in a deep voice that had a queer grating sound to it. His glance flickered to Ray for just an instant, but mostly he kept his eyes on Lena. “The new owner, I presume?”

“Miss Lena Caldwell…Bill Sutherland,” said Ray.

“A neighbor,” finished Sutherland. “I’m pleased to meet you, young lady. How do you like the cattle business?”

Lena’s answer stuck in her throat. Something about Sutherland made her uncomfortable. “I don’t…really know yet,” she said. “I know so little—but I think I’ll like it once I learn.” She was far more reserved than usual. It was the first time since she had come West that she had encountered someone whose personality inspired caution rather than trust.

Sutherland laughed, a sudden harsh sound that made one of the horses jump. “Novice in the art, eh? Well, at least you can take comfort in the fact that you’ve got a good man running the place for you. See that you hang onto him.”

Lena looked over at Ray to see how he took this—it surprised her, given that Ray’s estimation of Sutherland had not seemed flattering. He was watching Sutherland with set face, but now a shade of contempt passed over it.

Sutherland leaned forward in his saddle, the leather creaking. “Did you know, young lady, that I once offered your foreman a job, for more than your grandfather was paying him? And he turned me down.”

Not knowing how to respond, Lena remained silent, but shot another furtive puzzled look at Ray. He was smiling, yet there was no humor in it. “Not what I fancied at the time.”

Sutherland shook his head with an exaggerated sigh. “Still, you sure threw me. Top wages I offered him, Miss Caldwell, besides being a better opportunity for a young fellow on the make.”

“Not everybody’s on the make, Sutherland,” said Ray. There was something hard in his voice this time that seemed to indicate a great deal more than he said. His horse moved restively, swung sideways, but he turned in the saddle to remain facing Sutherland, his eyes fixed on the older man’s face to read his response. Sutherland’s smile disappeared and for an instant he appeared to grapple with a surge of some emotion, as if swallowing an insult, but outwardly at least he remained calm.

“Disinterested as always,” he said, and the harshness was more prominent in his voice. “You’ll go far that way, boy.”

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” said Ray. “But you ought to know me well enough by now. You had your shot.”

“You’re right, I did,” said Sutherland.

There was a moment of silence that grew heavier until even the two men behind him, who had remained in the background with apparently no interest in the conversation, grew slightly uneasy and shifted in their saddles.

At last he turned back to look at Lena again. She found at this that she had almost been holding her breath, chilled by the unknown undercurrent of tension between the two men that ran beneath the whole conversation. “I wish you well with your enterprise, young lady,” he said, and this time a biting irony pervaded his words. “I’m sure I’ll see you again. Keep your men on the job.” He backed his horse as he concluded, and his companions reined aside to let him pass, then as he turned and made for the head of the valley closed in behind him as all three urged their mounts to break into a canter. Ray watched them for a moment, then without a word swung his horse round in the opposite direction.

* * * * * * * *

“I didn’t understand any of that,” said Lena to Ray once she was sure they were out of hearing of Sutherland and his men.

“Sutherland’s a hard case,” said Ray shortly. “He owns the biggest spread in these parts, but most of the cattlemen don’t have any use for him.” He added: “You did fine.”

“I hardly said a word,” said Lena, surprised.

“But you carried it off. You didn’t let him see you were afraid of him. Sutherland’s as good at reading people as they come, and if I’m not mistaken he saw that you’re no fool and that you don’t trust him. He’ll remember that in future and it’ll make a lot of difference in whatever dealings you have with him.”

Lena was silent as they rode on, considering all of this. Now that the unsettled feeling the encounter gave her had passed, it made perfect sense in retrospect. Sutherland had been sizing her up, there was no doubt of that. Unlike Ray she was not at all sure what he had seen in her. All she was sure of was that she had just had another lesson, and unbelievably she had passed the test.

She looked over at Ray. It occurred to her that his assessment of Sutherland’s perspicacity spoke a good deal about his own judgment. He had recognized the effect the encounter had on her and answered her unspoken questions—swiftly and reassuringly without being in the least patronizing. Until now she had been following blindly, but Lena now realized that she could trust him to the fullest extent. In that moment the last of her apprehensions vanished.

“Thank you,” she said quietly and suddenly.

He glanced at her and smiled—not the same way she had seen him do before, but a quick flash of genuine warmth and understanding that changed his whole face. “Just doing my job, Miss Caldwell,” he said.