Nan’s decision to go to Cañonville was rather sudden. She wanted to see her father and ask him what he thought of her accepting that job at Morgan’s ranch. Rex was of the opinion that she should wait until Hashknife and Sleepy came back, but Nan was rather impulsive. She wanted to go right now.
Together they saddled the horses. Nan wrote the note and left it on the kitchen table, where she knew they would find it.
‘We’ll probably meet Hashknife and Sleepy between here and Cañonville,’ said Nan, ‘and they’ll ride back with us.’
Rex was not exactly sure of himself in the saddle; so they did not ride fast. His mount was a perfectly gentle horse, but Nan’s horse fretted and danced, fighting against the bit. But she was a good rider and handled the horse easily.
Rex showed her where the stage broke down the day he came into the country, and they laughed over the things that had happened to him during his short stay in the cattle country.
‘Do you really believe I will ever be a cowboy?’ he asked, as they started up the crooked grades of Coyote Cañon.
‘Do you want to be, Rex?’
‘I don’t know, Nan. When I look at Hashknife Hartley, I do. But when I look at some of the other cowboys, I’m not sure.’
‘He’s different,’ she admitted.
‘Yes, he is, Nan. Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here. I don’t belong here, and no one realizes it more than I do. If I had what Hashknife calls horse-sense, I—I would—oh, I don’t know. I’d like to go somewhere and make a lot of money, and—and then come back here and get you.’