THE TRAIL TO TOMBSTONE 20

forty five daays later dale sat his horse on the edge of the round up.. don fredirico sat next him watching the vaqueros rope and brand every un branded animal. the don had brought 15 vaqueros to help out. dale was still shock at the generosoty. billy was off to one side with a fire going cooking for the big crew. when they had finished branding francisco rode over to dale" 280 branded senior." again dale was shocked. but he wrote it into a tally book. the crew of men had gathered well over 400 head of cattle.. he knew many ere don frederico s but he had no idea there was this many cattle under his brand. dale still suffered head aches.. he was weak and dizzy much of the time. the doctor told him on leaveing tombstone this may linger a good year he should stay in bed as much as possible. but he was so restless he had to get out do something if only set his horse and watch. ddon frederico turned to him" do you plan to market some cattle?" " i had planed on it. but i dont think i will be able and billy couldnt do it alone."dale explained. " if you would permit me, i have no place to market my cattle below the border. i would be indebeted to you if you would allow us to take our cattle as well as yours to the market. you are planeing on going to willcox are you not?" frederico was being proper in his proposition. dale nodded." that would be great.. we can send billy along to cook and negotiate the sale. if you agree? ?" almost on cue billy started banging on a wash pan that lunch was ready. half the men left and rode down to the cook site. the other half held the herd. when the first bunch was through eating then they would trade with the second bunch. after every one had eaten francisco rode into the herd and slowley started cutting fredericos cattle out. four of the vaqueros rode off to one side and held up the cuts when francisco had finished he rode over to dale." would you care to cut your market cattle out?" dale rode forward slowley" ill point them out if you will cut them out and put them with don fredericos cattle." francico nodded and followed dale into the herd. two hours later the market herd was holding a good 150 cattle almost a half and half split. "our corral at the house will hold these tonite. we can start to willcox in the morning.just turn the herd loose here.. " dale explained. frederico had told half the men to stay along with francisco and help drive the cuts to willcox. they would all camp at the headquarters this night whil frederico and the rest of the men started home. at the house billy already had his fire goeing.. seven men was still a sizeable bunch to cook for. no one was sure how to go to willcox , the only one haveing been there before was dale. billy didnt want dale going so told him to draw a map gor them. down on the floor of the sulphur springs valley the gramma grass was almost waist high.. dale told them to drive the herd slowley letting them graze as the went and fill them .. the first night they would stop at soldier holes for water. after that they would stop at the sulphur springs and then on into willcox. billy was to find a buyer and evenly divide any sales money with frederico, giveing the money to francisco. the next morning just at day light francisco opened the gate to the big corrall and started the herd up the trail to gleeson. once there they would turn east . as the last of the herd left the corral billy finished loading his pack horse and turned to dale "stay in bed or at least sitting some place.. you know what the doc said? ill be back as soon as possible. you want anything from town?" dale slowley shook his head" use your own good judgment just be careful comming back with that much cash" billy mounted and takeing the lead rope to the pack horse, he waved to dale and rode off to catch the distant herd.

THE TRAIL TO TOMBSTONE 19

when dale woke up a strange man was bending over him listening to his heart. he started to rise but the man pushed him back down. " you need to stay right here for at least 48 hours.. by rights that little horse back ride you mad in here should have killed you. you have a bad concusion at the very least and a cracked skull at the worse. i dont care what you think you need to do or how good you feel, you got at least 6 months to heal. so you just figgure on that." " who are you?" dale asked in a low voice " dr good fellow. ime the only doctor within a five day ride so you arnt going to get a second opinon.. just lay back and rest. you have some really good friends out there takeing care of your business. so rest AND STAY IN THIS BED !" the doctor closed his bag " ill check on you a little later" shug walked down the street to the jail. as he drew near he could see a fine team of sorrell horses hitched to a buggy. a fine looking brown haired woman holding the lines keeping the horses in check.. as he walked up she looked over at him and smilled " hellow shug." shug stopped and removed his hat" howdy mrs slaughter. is john inside?" " yes i believe he is waitting on you.how is that good woman you married?"mrs slaughter very hospitable. " she is fine when i left a few days ago. i want to get done here and get home. ime glad john is heree, it will speed things up a bit."he put his hat back on and turned to the jail door. inside a short older man stood next to the desk. the deputy sitting there was wearing a very un happy face. " good to see you john" shug stuck out his hand as he walked across the room. slaughter shook the hand firmly" shall we ask this scallywag a few questions?" slaughter asked by way of a greeting. they turned toward the cell where the phoney surveyor lay on his bunk. at the ok corral billy was bored to tears. he was wanting to know what the doctor said, he wanted to know what shug found out, he was in the dark. through the front gate walked judd wilkins whistling a tune until he saw billy , that brought him up short.billy stood up" well look who just walked into my arms?" billy spat it out. judd spun on his heel and broke and run back out the gate his coat tails flapping in the breeze. billy was moveing as well and as he cleared the corral gate he saw judd mounting his race horse. when he tried to rein the horse around the horse sulled, stuck his nose in the air and planted his feet. billy was raceing toward the horse. judd pulled a pistol from his pants waist band and started to point it at billy. from behind him came a roar that fairley lifted him from the saddle. he fell forwad into the street dust. behind him stood sherrif slaughter his shot gun with a tendril of smoke lifting from the right side barrel. slaughter stepped up " looks like he left the country." behind him shug stepped up. yep, ime going home. and he turnned and walked away toward the ok where his horse was. billy had to run to catch him. "what do we owe you shug we appreciate all you did.?"billy said. " nothing, billy foure pays me i was glad to help. take care of dale." shug was saddling his horse." i got a good woman up on the side of that mountain holding our outfit together. come see us." he mounted and rode out the gate without a backward glance.coming back out the gate billy could see dale in the window of cashmans looking out on the street. slaughter was comondeering men to remove the body off the street. they were loading it into a wagon . slaughter was reloading the shot gun. billy turned and walked over to cashmans to see dale.