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the next morning leo was at the breakfast table with his coffee when zane came in and told him travis was hooking up his trailer and getting ready to load his horses. leo got up and took his hat from the hook by the door as he went out. he found travis leading his hores to his trailer. " where you going travis"? leo asked. " after i screwed up yesterday i figgured i was through. the demming rodeo starts in four days, i thought i would drift over there." travis was a bit sheepish. " what happened yesterday could have happened to anyone. it turned out more funny than anything. i could use you here a few more days. your just getting into the swing of things. go put them horses up and come to breakfast." leo explained cassie had walked up behind travis and reached over and pulled the lead ropes out of his hand and started leading his horses back to their corral. over her shoulder she said" breakfast is on the table." travis stood there rooted in place. he watched his horses as they were led away. then turned to the house with leo leading the way. after breakfast everyone was saddling a horse. leo explained he wanted to gather the rest of the cows and calves on the ranch then turn the cattle they had worked back out. leo felt they should be able to get the bulk of the remaining cattle gathered in a hard day. when he scattered the riders and started them back toward the home corrals. for once travis seemed at ease. leo left him between zane and cassie. this was going to be a short drive in easy country. a couple hours later they had brought the gathered cattle to the home corral. leo had left the gate open and the cattle entered with out any problems. as the riders came together at the gate zane was bragging on travis for takeing the time to clean out a small arroyo that everyone had missed. travis didnt say much but you could see he was happy being bragged on. but for some reason cassie had quit oogling him, he was just one of the boys today. all this had leo scratching his head. after lunch they had gathered the holding pasture and turned those cattle back on the ranch. when the days gather was counted leo announced that they were only short 8 head of cows.. they wuldnt worry about them. they would work these cattle the next morning.