Then Venters rested the horse and used his eyes.

Near at hand were a cow and a calf and several yearlings, and farther out in the sage some straggling steers.

He caught a glimpse of coyotes skulking near the cattle.

The slow sweeping gaze of the rider failed to find other living things within the field of sight.

The sage about him was breast-high to his horse, oversweet with its warm, fragrant breath, gray where it waved to the light, darker where the wind left it still, and beyond the wonderful haze-purple lent by distance.