Midnight
Privately , Midnight preferred the Forest Reserve . It was a pleasant , soft life in these pinewood pastures . Even if it was pretty dull for a good cow-horse after the Free Range , it was easier on old bones . And though Midnight was not insensible to the compliment Pete had paid him by picking him from the bunch for these long excursions to the Southland deserts , he missed the bunch . They had been together a long time , the bunch ; Pete had brought them from the Block Ranch , over in New Mexico . They were getting on in years , and so was Pete . Midnight mused over his youthful days -- the dust , the flashing horns , the shouting and the excitement of old round-ups .