Morning revealed what the storm had done.
Whole trees had snapped under the weight of ice.
Snow buried boulders.
The valley where the Lazy K cattle had once stretched for nearly a mile was empty.
Jo led Gideon, Clayton, Levi, Ezra, and three other riders toward Devil's Basin.
They took the strongest surviving horses.
The animals moved slowly.
Jo rode a broad-backed bay named Martha, one of the chuckwagon team's saddle-trained spares.
Clayton had once joked that the mare deserved hazard pay.
That morning, he helped Jo mount without saying a word.
The journey took nearly three hours.
Then they crested a ridge.
What Jo saw below stole her breath.
Cattle.
Hundreds.
Perhaps more than a thousand.
Packed into the white basin.
Some stood.
Some lay motionless.
Others had dug through snow searching for grass.
Steam rose from the surviving herd.
Gideon removed his hat.
“I'll be damned.”
Levi whispered, “They're alive.”
Not all.
But enough.
Jo scanned the terrain.
The herd had drifted against the southern cliff.
If they could open a path westward, the cattle might follow toward lower ground.
Clayton pointed.
“Look.”
Tracks.
Horse tracks.
Recent.
Gideon's hand moved toward his rifle.
“We're not alone.”
A voice drifted from the ridge behind them.
“No, Cross. You aren't.”
Five riders appeared.
The man in front wore a black wool coat and expensive gloves.
Jo recognized him.
Harlan Voss.
She had seen him at a cattle auction in Casper the previous spring.
Owner of the Broken Crown Ranch.
A man with enough money to make theft look like paperwork.
Voss smiled.
“Quite a storm.”
Gideon's voice turned cold.
“What are you doing here?”
“Inspecting my cattle.”
Clayton laughed.
“Your what?”
Voss unfolded a document.
“Two days ago, I purchased all abandoned livestock found east of Miller Creek under the territorial salvage statute.”
Gideon stared.
“These aren't abandoned.”
“Really?”
Voss glanced around.
“I found no riders with them.”
“You're looking at riders.”
“Now.”
Voss smiled at Jo.
“And the famous camp cook.”
Jo did not like the way he said it.
He had heard something.
“How'd you know who I am?”
“People talk.”
“Not much during blizzards.”
His smile weakened.
Jo looked at the horse tracks again.
Then at his men.
Fresh shovels hung from two saddles.
They had prepared in advance.
“You knew the herd was here.”
Voss shrugged.
“We saw them.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Before the storm ended?”
Nobody answered.
Jo understood.
“You were following us.”
Gideon turned toward her.
Voss's expression hardened.
Jo continued.
“You knew Tucker's herd was delayed. You waited for weather to scatter them.”
“Careful.”
“And now you intend to call them abandoned.”
Voss folded the paper.
“What I intend is none of your concern.”
“It becomes my concern when you're stealing two thousand head.”
One of Voss's riders laughed.
“Lady, those cattle don't have your name burned into them.”
Jo smiled slightly.
“No. They have Lazy K brands burned into them.”
Clayton grinned.
The rider stopped laughing.
Voss spoke calmly.
“Brands don't matter if livestock is legally abandoned.”
“Then you'll have no objection to waiting for the territorial stock inspector.”
Voss's eyes narrowed.
“Inspector won't reach this country for weeks.”
“Then I suppose the cattle stay exactly where they are.”
His smile vanished.
“You think you're in charge?”
Jo looked at him.
“I've been hearing that question a lot lately.”
Gideon stepped beside her.
Voss's men touched their weapons.
Jo raised a hand.
“No.”
Everyone paused.
“We don't need shooting.”
Voss looked relieved.
Jo continued.
“We need witnesses.”
She turned.
“Levi, count every Lazy K rider standing here.”
“Seven.”
“Count them.”
“Seven.”
“Good.”
Jo faced Voss.
“Seven witnesses heard you claim cattle carrying Lazy K brands under an abandonment rule while seven Lazy K employees are physically standing with them.”
Voss said nothing.
“That's a poor case.”
“You a lawyer now?”
“No.”
Jo looked at the herd.
“But I've cooked for enough of them.”
Clayton snorted.
Voss's cheeks reddened.
“You have one hour to leave this basin.”
“Or what?”
“You'll find out.”
Gideon quietly cocked his rifle.
Jo touched his arm.
Not yet.
She looked at Voss.
“One hour is plenty.”
Surprise flickered on his face.
“For what?”
“To move our cattle.”
Voss laughed.
“Through six feet of snow?”
Jo turned to her men.
“We're cutting a lane west.”
Clayton stared down the basin.
“With what?”
“Shovels.”
“We have two.”
Jo looked at Voss's riders.
“They have four more.”
Gideon smiled.
Voss did not.
“Those are mine.”
Jo shrugged.
“Then I guess we'll start with two.”
For the next hour, the Lazy K men dug.
Not through the entire valley.
Just enough.
Jo understood cattle.
They did not need a road.
They needed a suggestion.
A narrow opening.
A leader.
She selected three surviving steers near the western side.
Gideon and Clayton pushed them toward the cleared route.
At first the cattle resisted.
Then one stepped forward.
Another followed.
Ten.
Twenty.
A hundred.
The herd began moving.
Slowly.
Like a river breaking through ice.
Voss realized what was happening.
“Stop them!”
His riders hesitated.
Jo shouted toward Levi.
“Get behind the lead steers!”
Gideon fired his pistol into the air.
The sound echoed.
Cattle surged.
Voss's men scattered.
The Lazy K herd poured through the opening.
Not fast.
But steadily.
Their own movement crushed snow beneath thousands of hooves.
A path formed.
Voss rode toward Jo.
“You stupid woman!”
His horse stopped when Gideon moved between them.
Voss pointed at Jo.
“You think this is over?”
“No,” Jo said. “I think the cattle are moving.”
“You'll lose half before sundown.”
“Maybe.”
“And then I'll collect them.”
“You can collect whatever isn't branded Lazy K.”
Voss glared.
Something in his expression told Jo this was about more than salvage.
“Why Tucker?”
His eyes flickered.
That was enough.
“You wanted this herd before the storm.”
Voss turned away.
Jo followed.
“What happened? Amos refuse to sell?”
No answer.
Gideon looked at her.
She kept pressing.
“You planned this.”
Voss spun.
“Watch yourself.”
“That's not a denial.”
His hand moved toward his revolver.
Clayton raised his rifle.
This time he was standing in front of Jo.
Voss noticed.
“So now you're defending her, Barnes?”
Clayton's jaw tightened.
“I learned a few things.”
“Like what?”
Clayton looked at Jo.
“Which people are worth listening to.”
Voss cursed.
He wheeled his horse.
“Come on.”
His riders followed him out of the basin.
Jo watched until they disappeared.
Gideon approached.
“You think he'll come back?”
“Yes.”
“With more men?”
“Probably.”
Clayton sighed.
“Couldn't we have one simple disaster?”
Jo almost laughed.
They spent the rest of the day guiding cattle toward a sheltered valley below the dugout.
Of the roughly two thousand animals that had entered the storm, they counted just over twelve hundred survivors.
The loss was terrible.
But twelve hundred head could still save the Lazy K.
More important immediately, the herd meant meat and warmth.
They slaughtered one badly injured steer and returned to the dugout carrying fresh beef.
For the first time in nine days, everyone ate until the edge of hunger softened.
Jo made stew.
Real stew.
Beef.
Beans.
A little flour.
Salt.
When she opened the sourdough starter, Gideon watched.
“You saved that through all this?”
“My mother kept it alive crossing Kansas.”
“Seems wrong to let Wyoming kill it.”
She looked at him.
“Exactly.”
She baked bread in a Dutch oven over coals.
The smell transformed the dugout.
Men closed their eyes.
Tommy started crying.
Nobody teased him.
Jo handed him the first piece.
He took a bite.
“My God.”
Clayton chewed slowly.
“If I ever insult your bread again, shoot me.”
“I'll use the cleaver.”
That brought laughter.
Even Amos smiled.
That night Gideon sat beside Jo near the tunnel.
The others slept.
“You were right about Voss.”
“I don't know that yet.”
“He had paperwork ready.”
“Could've been opportunistic.”
“You don't believe that.”
“No.”
Gideon looked at her.
“You know what I believe?”
“What?”
“That I owe this storm something.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“That's a strange thing to say.”
“Before it hit, I spent six months trying to find reasons not to tell you something.”
Jo became very still.
“What?”
“That I think about you when I'm riding night watch.”
Her breath caught.
Gideon stared at his hands.
“I think about the way you laugh when nobody's trying too hard to be funny.”
Jo said nothing.
“I think about how you put extra sugar in Tommy's coffee because you know he misses his mother.”
Her eyes softened.
“I think about how every fool in this outfit looked at you and saw the size of your body, while I kept wondering how one person could carry so much without complaining.”
“Gideon.”
“I know Samuel mattered.”
“He did.”
“I wouldn't ask him not to.”
Jo looked down.
“He was a good man.”
“So are you allowed only one?”
She turned toward him.
His gray eyes held hers.
For years, Jo had trained herself not to interpret kindness as affection.
Men could be kind privately and embarrassed publicly.
They could compliment her cooking while mocking her body.
They could want warmth from her without wanting her beside them in daylight.
“Are you ashamed of me?” she asked.
Gideon's brow furrowed.
“What?”
“If we weren't trapped in a mountain with fourteen freezing cowboys, would you still say this?”
He stood.
Jo's heart sank.
Then Gideon walked to the center of the dugout.
He kicked Clayton's boot.
“Wake up.”
Clayton jerked upright.
“What?”
“Everybody wake up.”
Groans filled the room.
Gideon waited until they were looking at him.
Then he returned to Jo.
She stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure nobody can accuse me of hiding.”
He took her hand.
The room became silent.
“I am not ashamed of Josephine Miller.”
Clayton blinked.
Levi grinned.
Tommy sat up.
Gideon continued.
“I think she's the bravest person I've ever met.”
Jo's face burned.
“And when this storm is over, if she allows it, I intend to court her properly.”
Clayton whispered to Ezra, “About damn time.”
Jo glared.
Clayton raised both hands.
“Supportive comment.”
Laughter broke out.
Jo looked back at Gideon.
“You could have told me quietly.”
“I tried.”
“And?”
“You asked if I was ashamed.”
She squeezed his hand.
“All right.”
“All right what?”
“You may court me.”
The grin that appeared on his face made him look ten years younger.
Then a shot cracked outside.
Everyone moved.
Another shot.
Gideon grabbed his rifle.
Men rushed toward the door.
A voice shouted through the night.
“Tucker!”
Amos struggled upright.
Jo's stomach dropped.
The voice came again.
“This is Harlan Voss!”
Gideon opened the viewing slit.
“How many?”
Levi whispered, “Can't tell.”
Voss shouted.
“You have until sunrise to turn over those cattle!”
Amos tried to rise.
Jo pushed him back.
Voss continued.
“Or I'm burning you out.”
Silas sat upright.
His face went white.
“You can't burn a dugout.”
Jo looked toward the tunnel.
“No.”
Silas's eyes widened.
“But you can smoke one.”
Outside, something shattered near the entrance.
A clay jar.
Then Jo smelled it.
Kerosene.