'This Is Your Last Drive, Old Man.' Then the Young Boss Led the Herd Into Eighty Miles Without Water

In front of the whole crew, the young trail boss threw the old cook's coffee into the fire. "Too weak, old man," he said. "This is your last drive." Texas, 1871. Jubal Hays is sixty-one, a trail cook who has crossed the eighty dry miles between the Middle Concho and the Pecos River twice. Wade Prentiss is twenty-four, the owner's son, racing a rival herd to an army beef contract in New Mexico. He means to take twenty-two hundred head across that dry country fast, his way, with three days of water in the barrels. Then Wade buys a map from a stranger, and the herd turns off the trail toward a water hole that may not be there. Back on the trail, an old man waits with his wagon, a sourdough starter twenty years alive, and a few things he learned the hard way. An original Old West story of an old hand, an arrogant young boss, an orphan boy learning a craft, and a long, thirsty road to the Pecos. Pour a cup of coffee and settle in. This is an original work of fiction. Narration and visuals are AI-generated.