It was dark now and the campfire was crackling away as two men sat across from each other separated by the fire. They had spent much of the day tracking down some loose horses who had wandered away from the ranchhouse corral when a gate had been carelessly left open. Truth was they hadn't been trying all that hard to find the animals as if they had come back with them too fast they might have been assigned some other chore for the day. Neither of them had a lot of ambition . Yes, they were ranch hands but no one would label them all that good at their jobs. But they were kept on because they had the sort of loose morals necessary to work for people like the Steelgraves who flouted the laws at very convenience and needed cowhands who didn't mind that at all. That might include such things as a bit of bullying intimidation to rustling to if necessary bloodshed. Long as they got paid.

Their now unsaddled mounts were tethered to a horseline and three other horses roped next to them, so the job was done but they'd take their time getting back. Ride in again the next morning....maybe late next morning, so as to have a better chance to miss any new chores. Billy had taken a shot at a rabbit earlier but missed so they ended up settling for cooking up some beans and were eating those as they relaxed.

"Wish we coulda went on that bear hunt, instead the Lost Lake ranch gets credit for that," sighed the younger of the two.

Billy was seventeen but most folks didn't think he looked it.

"No, not what I heard happened. One of them got all torn up and it took some woman to go n' kill that bear. Talk about embarrassin'," chortled Greer in between shoveling in some more beans, he always ate like he was starving but that sizeable paunch above his belt showed that was definitely not the case.

Greer practically spilled his plate of beans on hearing the horse from closeby but not the direction where their horses were tethered. Then he froze in place and stared out into the darkness. Being so close to their fire, that only made vision past the blaze all the more difficult. He did manage a shout out though.

"Hey, anyone out there?"

Billy flinched but then recovered quickly to set his own plate aside and carefully place one hand on the handle of his holstered revolver but he did not draw it. For all he knew someone or several someones out there had aimed guns on them. He was no fool. But if shooting did start he was ready to dive away from the fire and go prone while at the same time having his weapon out and firing at any possible target.

"Just show yourselves...we don't want no trouble," he smiled and his youthful voice sounded a whole lot more calming than his gruff older partner.

The two cowboys tensely waited for............well something to happen. A reply, gunfire, the sound of a horse galloping away...something. Suddenly there was a voice from the darkness, a female voice! That was a good thing....probably.

Billy glanced over to Greer, "It's a gal."

Alright, so that was belaboring the obvious. Greer nodded without reply. So even though Billy was by far the junior of the pair he assumed the spokesman role.

"That's good, neither do we. We're eating some supper, nothing fancy but you're welcome to have some. Course you're gonna have to come over to the fire then."

For just a moment he thought of that rabid wildcat farm girl but no, it definitely did not sound like her. He'd remember her voice alright.

"Sorry 'bout your horse. But maybe we can find it come daylight. Besides we got us some extra horses," he added.

And then this mysterious woman finally appeared, emerging out of the darkness of the tree line as she approached the campfire. The woman replied that she already had her horse so that meant they wouldn't have to do a search when daylight came. That was a good bit of news because neither of the cowpokes had any ambition or desire to.

"Oh, that's a good thing then," Billy nodded as he studied the woman.

Definitely not that damn farm girl with her dark hair in pigtails....no this here was a grown woman. And looking a bit rough for wear but then if she had been wandering around in the wilds, small wonder. Billy wondered how old she was. He also wanted a closer look at her once she reached the fire so he could decided if she was pretty or not.

Now on the other hand Greer didn't pay attention to all that as his attention was drawn to the fact this woman had not just one but TWO guns in her holster. In all his years, he never could remember any woman heeled like that. Nope, this was no townie or ranch gal. Nobody like that would wear two six guns. This one could be real trouble.

The woman stated a willingness to partake in some dinner though. Afterall they had invited her to share their supper.

"Sure, it ain't fancy. Just beans though but we got plenty left," Greer invited her in then.

Billy kept his hand on the handle of his pistol but it remained inside it's holster, "Sure, you can use my plate, I'm done anyhow. Oh and we got some beef jerky too. Would you want a couple slices?"

As he was standing he waved with his free hand for her to have a seat by the fire, "Make yerself comfortable."

Billy figured it was in the end the food that drew her in as she made her up to the campfire then sat down. He now took his hand off his gun and relaxed a bit. He wasn't a trusting person, most of his life he had lived with and dealt with people you wouldn't want to trust. That included his current employers but they paid decent so he stayed on. The woman seemed quite content with beans then was rather pleasantly surprised with the tack on jerky offer.

"Alright, here use my plate and spoon, I'm done eatin' anyhow," he passed over the utensils then got up again to go pull the jerky out of his saddlebags. Those were piled with his saddle on top of the blanket he would be sleeping on.

While the young man did that, Greer just stared at the gal. She probably wouldn't want to know what his current thoughts were but whatever, he did not voice them. When Billy returned he had a few long sticks of jerky to give her.

"So what's yer name then? Oh, this here is Greer - he don't like his first name none. And I'm Billy...Billy Watlow. "

Billy nodded as the woman identified herself. Dotty...Jackson. Now he knew a Jackson family over Billing's way but he didn't recall them having a Dotty. Still it was a very common family name, lots of Jacksons.

"Dotty. That's a right pretty name, " he lied thru his teeth, he actually didn't like it but he was trying hard to be friendly with this gal.

She turned to meet his gaze then even as she asked a question about towns.

"Oh yeah. Closest is Kalispell. Then probably Whitefish. You got family around?" he had his own questions.

So did Greer who was far less diplomatic, "Why in tarnation you wearing two sixguns? What kinda woman runs around with guns like that?"

Actually Billy thought that too but hadn't voiced it, leave it to his lummox partner.

A little bit more progress, Billy thought, the gal didn't have any family locally. Still meant though a lot about her was a mystery. Then Greer went and was a bit too blunt with his questions, especially the second one. The woman bristled.

Greer was no gunslinger. Oh he had a gun and he'd used both a rifle and a revolver during his lifetime but he preferred the odds to be all stacked in his favor as he was both an indifferent shot and a bit of a coward.

"Well, don't have nothin' ta worry about with us. We are just plain law-abiding cowpokes. But mess with our employers and you could well wind up regrettin' it. The Steelgraves are hard folks," Greer replied.

Billy almost chuckled about the law-abiding part but let it go. You didn't work for the Steelgraves if you were fussy about breaking laws. The only law was do whatever the Steelgraves told you to do.

"Yeah, no need to get upset. You can't blame us for being at least a mite curious when some unknown woman comes inta our camp. Ain't we been welcoming though and proper gentlemen?" Billy added to their defense.

He decided to move on to a different topic to break the tension, "So you got a job already or maybe lookin' for one, Dotty?"

"Well, we damn well know how to use our guns too, just gotta be willin'. Some folk just freeze up," Greer remarked.

Billy smiled, "Greer when were you ever in a gunfight?"

"I killed Zeke Crowley back when," Greer defended himself.

"That wasn't no gunfight, that was an ambush," Billy pointed out.

"Life ain't always fair is it?" Greer smirked.

Billy figured he'd better get back to talking to their campfire guest though, "If you're still interested, sure I can bring you to the ranch and introduce you to the foreman. If he's of a mind to, he'll have you meet Mr. Steelgrave. He makes those kind of decisions afterall."

She wanted to bring in her horse, tied up somewhere out in the trees, a reasonable request.

"Sure go ahead, ain't like we're goin' anywhere," Billy nodded.

As the woman left the camp temporarily to go fetch her horse, the two long time companions watched her backside til it disappeared into the dark. Greer spoke up first but only in a low tone of voice lest the woman hear him.

"Whaddya think?"

Billy frowned, "Whaddya think what?"

"About this here gun-toting gal....who the hell you think I'm referrin' to," Greer frowned right back.

"I don't know....maybe they'll hire her. Don't take a big strong man to pull a trigger ya know, females can do that too....I guess," Billy shrugged.

"Ya don't say, well yer proof of that, you so scrawny and all," Greer smiled, he often made fun of the younger man.

"Well, I damn well could outshoot you, we both know it," Billy snapped back.

She returned so enough leading a fine looking (leastwise in the poor light of evening) horse.

"So we are plannin' on turnin' in now. It's been a long hard day for us roundin' up these strays," Billy referred to the string of horses they had.