"No, but it is always well to learn new ways. I have been in Kentucky, Kirby. Perhaps some of their methods would not work on the Range. On the other hand, others might. As you have said--we can but try." He picked up the top sheet of paper and began to read:
"_Bayos-blancos_--light duns--two. _Bayos-azafranados_--saffrons--one. _Bayos-narajados_--orange duns--none----"
"There was one," Bartolomé interrupted. "The mare, she was lost at Cañon del Palomas."
Rennie frowned, "_Sí_, the mare. _Bayos-tigres_--striped ones --three. _Bayos-cebrunos_--smoked duns--two. _Grullas_--blues--four. Roans--six. Blacks--three. Bays--four. Twenty-five three-year-olds. You won't be expected to take on the whole _remuda_, Kirby. Select any six of your own choosing and use your methods of gentling on them. We'll make a test this way."
Bartolomé uttered a sound closer to a snort than anything else. And Drew guessed how he stood with the Mexican foreman. Rennie might have faith, or pretend to have faith, in some new method of training, but Rivas was a conservative who preferred the tried and true and undoubtedly considered the Kentuckian an interloper.
Drew finished the sherry with appreciation. He was beginning to see the amusing side of this conference. Drew's work on the Range settled, Rennie was about to get to what he really wanted. But _Don_ Cazar's first words were a little startling.
"We'll keep him close-in the water corral. To turn a stud of eastern breeding loose is dangerous----"
"You mean he might be stolen, suh?" Drew clicked his empty glass down on the table.
"No, he might be killed!" And Rennie's tone indicated he meant just that.
"There are wild-horse bands out there, though we're trying to capture or run them off the Range. And a wild stud will always try to add mares to his band. Because he has fought many times to keep or take mares, he is a formidable and vicious opponent, one that an imported, tamed stud can rarely best. Right now, coming into Big Rock well for water is a pinto that has killed three other stallions--including a black I imported back in '60--and two of them were larger, heavier animals than he.
"The Trinfans are moving down into that section this week. I hope they can break up that band, run down the stud anyway. He has courage and cunning, but his blood is not a line we want for foals on this range. So Shiloh stays here at the Stronghold; don't risk him loose."