 Wes just smiled as Merlene brought the coffee pot around. "'They've courted on us live for twenty years.' McCarty said, "'Old buddy, you ain't been here in a while.' Old Wes looked up and grinned from ear to ear. "'Boys, I've been at the wagon. We've been out for thirty days. With all this rain that Brandon got behind and the cedar brush gets thicker every year, it seems to me, them cows are mule deer wild and hard to find.'