A set piece would be when Texas Rangers with the help of a local sheriff are making their way through the impregnable thickets that cover the floor of the piney forest. All is quiet. All of a sudden dogs rush out of nowhere and everywhere in the underbrush, barking, snarling, and howling. The Rangers raise their weapons, expecting to see the feudists burst out of the woods. Instead, their ears are met by the sound of cow horns blowing through the tree limbs. One comes from the northeast. Does another blow come from the south? Southeast? As soon as the dogs appeared, they vanished toward the blowing of the horns. “Well, that does it,” says one of the Rangers, lowering his Winchester. “We’ve lost the element of surprise and might as well head back to Hemphill.” The local sheriff smiles with relief.
