BIG HORN 25

con stood at the barn door and watched roy and his mount trudge up to the place they unsaddle. when roy stepped to the ground and tied the horse without a word con handed a half full class to roy. " you look like you could use this."con said. roy took the glass and without a word put it to his mouth and turned the glass up, swallowing a goodly amount of the brown liquid.he handed what was left back to con' "thanks , i needed that." was all roy said as he turned to uncinching his horse." hows earnesto?" he asked. "he will be laid up a while but he will ok, nothing serious was hit i guess. what all did you find?"con asked. roy explained about the cattle at the 13 tank, and the foot prints that came to shoot earnesto comming from mexico. he saved the part abo t the back packs and the camp for last. when he told con of it con raised a eye brow. "in the morning you take the new rig and start bringing the cattle from 13 here. ill send fawn for the authorities. just tell me how to get to the back packs." con understood roy s reluctance to be around the border patrol. roy later that night in the trailer drew a rough sketch of a map on how to get to the camp site where the back packs were hidden. con admitted it would get them to the site. the next morning when fawn left to go check on miriam and earnesto con had given her instructions to send the border patrol back. and a phone number of a machanic to repair the down truck. roy had already left while it was dark , headed to 13. in short order con was alone at the ranch with the exception of the two men in the bender house doing the finish work and installing appliances. con ambled down to the cattle guard. fawn had left the gate open for the border patrol. just as he reached the cattle guard georges suv rolled to a stop on the hiway side. con swallowed a sour gulp and touch his pistol on his belt to reassure himself he had it. george got out and walked up to the cattle guard. "hey con, how are you?" george called. con stopped on his side of the cattle guard"you know theres a restraining order keeping you off this ranch?"con said without any preliminary. " well thats not very friendly. i just came to see how everyone is doing." george sounded hurt. "you better move on george, the bordr patrol will be here any time. every one here is fine."con said with a hard tone inhis voice. " well ill go, i dont want to cross a court order." george started backing up. con looked up and could see the outline of a woman in the suv. while george was backing up she rolled her window down the flipped a cigarett butt out onto the ground. down the hiway to the east con could see the border patrol comming his way. george looked up at them then turned to con" ill see you another time." he saluted and got in the suv and backed out and drove off toward gils bend. con stepped to the gate as the border patrol truck rolled into the yard. he shut the gate but didnt lock it. while george and con had been taking roy had brought in and unloaded a trailer full of cattle. he was pulling out as con stepped up to the officer. they shook hands and con explained why he needed them there. he handed them the rough map and pointed the way out of the yard. they left in a cloud of dust. con walked over to the bender house and ploped down on a bench along the wall. he watched the border patrol leave but his mind was on george why was he snooping around?

BIG HORN 24

roys roan horse was jogging easily along the trail to dead horse. the single set of foot prints the kidnapper left had come from that direction. roy was in a foul mood.he had hopes of working here would be a quiet cattle job that wouldnt bring any notariaty. now he had killed. there wsnt a better way to bring attention to your self. but he couldnt let the scum take miriam away either.he laid his hand on his chap pocket, as he rode along he wasnt seeing hardly any caattle tracks as he rode along. that was good. they wouldnt be working here for a while. maybe the border patrol would get this mess cleaned up before they came back here to work. as he rode up to dead horse he saw a few cattle in the water lot drinking. he rode around the outside of the lot and tried to get a count on them. there were a few slicks and some branded cows with little calves sucking. on the back side he picked up the foot prints again comming from the south. he jogged on.a mile or so south of dead horse he caught the smell of mesquite smoke on the air. he pulled to a stop and looked all around but saw nothing. but he was still cautious as he eased forward. the foot prints entered a mesquite thicket. when roy pushed through the limbs he came to a opening. a small fire smoldered in a ring of rocks. this was a established camp. and roy knew if it hadnt of been for the smoldering little fire he wouldnt have found it. stacked back under soe mesquite trees he could see some back packs. but no one was about. a string of foot prints went out the south side headed back south. he pulled the pistol and laid it in his lap right behind the saddle forks. he rode carefully forward watching all around. as he cleared the thicket he could see a string of men trotting south away from him. he watched them for a few minutes until they were out of sight then started to follow. this ground was open and flat with no place to set up a ambusch.in a bit he came in sight of the boundry fence. it was up. he full well expected to find it cut, but as he rode closer he realized there was a gate cut into the fence and it was shut.. he put the pistol back in his chap pocket. roy turned his horse to the west. he was going to ride by th 13 tank on his way home. it would make for a long day but he didnt feel like answering any more questions form the border patrol. he would tell con about the camp and the back packs, he could deal with the border patrol. as he rode up on the 13 tank he was seeing lots of cattle scattered around through the brush then as he got closer remembered they had locked cattle in the tank lot. cattle on the out side thirsty and cattle on the inside hungry. he entered the water lot and opened up the gate to the corral then started pushing the cattle toward it. the corral wouldnt hold all of them but he filled it with as many as he could. then he rode to the triggers and opened them. he rode on out into the desert toward home. now with earnesto laid up they were short handed. with even more to do. and if the border patrol looked at his past they would be even shorter handed. when he rode into the ranch yard at dark he was in a deep gloomy mood..