Chapter 177: Chapter 178

"That damn hound is back again, Dan." Harley Shaw, one of his senior hands, let himself into the house through the rear door after his usual knock.

"You're kidding?" Dan looked up from the table where he was just finishing his breakfast. "Damn. The sun's barely up. It must be from around here somewhere."

"Not from any of the ranches near us." Harley helped himself to coffee. "Anyway, I got close enough to see it must have been hunting its food. It had blood on its jowls."

"No shit? Well, we don't need that around here."

"I told the men to keep an eye out for any small animal carcasses or see if them damn buzzards are flying around anywhere. And to be sure to chase it away from the cattle."

Dan pushed back from the table. "Yesterday it didn't seem like the cattle attracted it at all. Almost as if the thing was afraid of the beasts."

"Then why come around here?" Harley asked. "Doesn't make much sense."