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Page 251

| to find someone else to do the honor of sawing off this poor cow's horns. |

| But no one was in sight. They all had their own duties to attend to today. |

| Her thoughts went to Ashton, wondering if he would find out anything at Stanford's sheep station. She doubted it. Stanford had ways of covering up all of his dirty deeds. Even Bianca had surely been coerced by Stanford to lie to Sasha about her bruises. |

| Sasha hurried into the barn and searched for a hand saw. When she found one hanging on a peg on the wall, she took it down with trembling fingers. Clutching its handle, she went back outside to the cow. She felt a sick feeling at the pit of her stomach. When she began sawing on one of the horns, the cow not only bawled now, but emitted loud screams that made shivers race up and down Sasha's spine. |

| The cow kicked and jerked, and its eyes were wild, but finally one of its horns dropped to the ground. |

| Sasha tried to reassure the cow. "Perhaps I won't have to saw the other one off," she said, placing the saw on the ground. She tried to force the cow's head back through the fence, but it would not budge. |

| "I'm sorry," Sasha whispered, now sawing on the other horn. "But you will soon be free. That's all that matters." |

| Finally the other horn dropped to the ground. The cow lurched and bucked, and when it discovered that it was free, it backed up and ran in a crazed circle until it got its bearings, then wandered peacefully into the barn. Sasha followed it and replaced the saw on its peg. |

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