Stepsons of Light

“I suppose you couldn’t put them in the barn-yards?” asks a young woman, baffled by the cowboys’ Sunday work. The narrator’s answer opens onto a West where cattle roam free—and a week’s roundup cannot simply be undone.

Eugene Manlove Rhodes sets his story on the open ranges of the Jornada, where ranch hands from rival brands gather twice a year to work the cattle together. Their world is dusty, demanding, and held fast by an unlikely fellowship: the Bar Cross crew takes pride in its horses, its work, and one another, while narrator and cowboy Johnny Dines meet the daily trials with a quick tongue and a ready laugh. Behind the banter lies the larger gamble of the pioneer—the restless pursuit of a better life across a hard country. When the roundup brings men and cattle together, what will test this company’s cheerful confidence?

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