TO FIND PEACE 17

after supper that night ty threw his bed roll on the porch. katey watched him get situated for bed with a longing look. ty was doing his best to not get taken in. cleve bid them a good night . the long days were showing on him. he tired easily. when his bedroom door shut katey was watching ty through the screen door. the nights were warm and you didnt need a lot of soogans. ty slipped his shirt and boots off and pulled his belt off then exhaled a breath as he laid back. through all that katey had watched from her cot. when ty had laid back she stood and picked up a navajo rug she used on her cot it was tinted red and blue. she started shakeing it. with each shake it would pop. she would pop it louder and louder but ty paid it no attention. aggrivation crossed kateys face. she finaly laid the navajo on the foot of her bed and fell into the cot. she lay where she could see ty through the screen door. a look of desire was traced on her face. cleve was awake when she was popping the navajo , and he hoped ty had enough elf control to stay in hiss own bed, he didnt want his new partner traipsing off with a boy friend. but knew it would be inevitable. a young woman with her figgure and angelic face would have them lined up sooner than later. before ty came to work he had laid the law down and so far ty was keeping to it. but was he strong enough? cleve admitted i his younger years he wouldnt have been strong enough. tomorrow he would tell ty when the works were done the brakes were off. cleve chuckled" it wont be to soon for kateys wishes." the next day cleve had a fire going in a propane branding pot with the irons heating. ty and katey were in the back of the chute. katey would have to keep the cattle loaded while ty worked the chute. it ws a old mechanical chute that was never used much as cleve was a rope and drag man , but he never had this many big animals to brand he had oiled the old chute and greased the hinges. he knew it was going to be a long day he looked to the back and ty and katey were engrossed in conversations.. cleve stood up tall and yelled" loadem and lets roll!" that broke up the conversation ty helped katey load the first batch in the crowd ally then went to the front and started working the chute.he would open the tail gate and let a animal in then when the animal stuck its head in the front he would catch them around the neck and pull the squeeze to hold the animal still. the second he did that cleve had the animal branded .then ear marked. then ty would release the animal to the corral and the process started all over again it wasnt long that sweat was running from under cleves hat down into his eyes. he was constantly wiping them with his bandanna/. ty asked him a couple of times if he wanted to take a break but cleve only shook his head . they were almost half way through the cattle when cleve asked the to young people if they wanted lunch. both ty and katey shook their heads" lets finish this." katey stated. ty looked at her then at cleve with a strong feeling of concern. cleve stated it was fine with him to finish. but he had noticably slowed down. ty slowed things down as much as he could but they kept branding until they were done around four that afternoon. katey told them while they put the cattle away and all the tools she would go start a meal. ty looked at cleve, he was beat and maybe worse. " set down there a while cleve ill go turn these out and get a good count on them."ty pointed to a good place to set and rest. he walked across the corral and opened the gate to the trap. the cattle started trickling out the gate ty counted them as they went. he looked over toward cleve and saw him leaning back against the fence with his eyes closed. when he was done counting he wrote the number on the back of his hand and walked back to cleve. as he walked up cleve opened his eys and looked at ty. " help me up, and dont say a word to katey about this , you got it?" ty nodded and takeing cleves arm pulled him to his feet. slowley they started to the house.

TO FIND PEACE 16

katey was moon eyed and mesmerized as she rode along watching ty up on the point keeping the herd toogether. cleve rode up next to her and she didnt realize he was there. presently hen grabbed her arm and shook her. "pay attention gal, keep these ole nellies in one pile , your gonna leave some behind." katey was startled, looking around she realized she had ridden up into the drags and left 8 or 9 head behind. pulling old bob around she went back for them as cleve went up the flank of the drive keeping the herd moveing along. soon the ranch corrals at cleves out fit came in sight. ty loped on ahead and opened the gate to the main corral and blocked it open. then turnning back resumed his place guiding the drive. when the lead cows reached the corral they turned in almost automaticly. they surrounded the big steel water trough. they were dry.ty sat his horse out in the road to be sure no cattle walked past the gate. when cleve rode up he entered the corral and rode over to the gate that would let the cows out into the eighty acre trap he pulled it open and put the horse shoe on a chain over the end of the pipe gate it would hold it open. when katey arrived with the drags she stopped in the road and let the cattle enter the corral. cleve rode back out to ty and katey and shut the gate behind him. as he rode past them heading to the house he said one word" LUNCH". while katey was head over heels with ty being about and working at the ranch, ty seemed to keep her at arms length. he was polite and friendly but that was as far as he was going. cleve took all that in but kept his mouth shut. these young people needed to work this out. he didnt want katey hurt but at the same time a love affair while trying to get the cattle worked could be disasterous. after lunch they saddled fresh horses and went back to the corral. cleve had them ride into the trap and make a guess as to half the cattle there and drive them into the corral. cleve then started sorting off slicks. grown cattle or yearlings and putting them in a seperate corral when done he had 65 head of slicks needing branding. cleve was happy to see katey picking up the moves and being in the right places when he cut a animal out of the herd. they put this left overs from the cut into a seperate corral yet and went to gather the rest of the cows. when they had them in the corral he opened a gate for the first bunch and let them return to the trap. this time he had ty start the cutting of the slicks. as time went on cleve saw the young man was a top hand. he moved through the herd quetley and with ease. he would ease a slick to the edge of the herd with out the animal realising what was happening. cleve had to admit he was probably better than he was. it was almost dark by the time they had all the slicks cut from the mother cows. one hundred and ten head were srtuffed in the small corral. the let the cows all back in to the trap them let the slicks have the big corral for the night..