He was the boss, and that was one reason they did so, but they probably would have anyway. Something about Josh Logan gave him an air of authority that other people just naturally respected. He wasn't especially tall, not more than an inch or so taller than any of the other men, so it had to have been his manner that commanded attention. Or perhaps it was the way he looked, the calm steadfastness of his gray eyes or the venerable mane of silver hair. Like all the men in his family, Josh had begun to grow gray at the age of eighteen. Now, ten years later, his hair was completely white, lending him an air of dignity far exceeding what he had earned by living twenty-eight years. "What's all this about a girl?"

Cody looked up at him with relief,, happy to be rescued from the taunting. "I found a girl out on the range, Mr. Logan, about five miles east of the line shack. She's all alone with her wagon. She said her pa was out hunting, but I didn't see no sign of him, so I think she was lying about that, and I tried to get her to come back to the ranch with me, but she wouldn't do it, and-"

"Hold up there, son," another voice admonished. Cody turned impatiently to Bill Grady, Mr. Logan's foreman, who was chuckling good-naturedly. "Are you sure you really saw a girl? Maybe you just wanted to. You've been out on the line a long time, you know," he allowed, referring to the custom of having men posted at various outlying cabins during the winter months. Their job in this era of open range was to ride the boundaries of the ranch on a daily basis and drive back any cattle they found drifting onto a neighbor's property. The men would be stationed out there months at a time, alone, and Cody would not have been the first to start imagining outlandish things.

Cody scowled, first at Mr. Grady and then at Mr. Logan and the ring of grinning faces that surrounded him. "She was real, all right. I talked to her," he said defiantly. Seeing only skepticism, he appealed to Mr. Logan again. "We can't just leave her out there. Something might happen to her. We've got to do something."