GO EN RODEO EN 9

dutch gervin was a big man.. a mean man and a man who people feared. he was a bull dogger who hadnt won a dime in over a year. but he kept showing up to rodeos. he didnt ask for a ride on your bull dogging horse, he told you. no one had turned him down at 6 foot 6 and 260 pounds and a mass of muscled across his chest folks just handed him the bridle reins. after all what was one run? what no one could figgure out was where he got the money to keep going down the road. but if they had taken the time to check his back trail they would find that after each rodeo shut down and moved on to another western town there was always a armed robbery of a small business. as joe and ed and jerry walked through camp leading sox back to camp dutch had stood there alone and appraised the sorrell horse.. he was already scheming on how to own the animal. he was so busy watching the smooth way of going the horse had he didnt notice that jerry had seen him doing just that. dutch had never approached jerry or ed about rideing on of their horses. he knew that he couldnt intimidate the brothers. it was also rumored that jerry always had a loaded pistol on him at all times. dutch knew he could win a fist fight with just about any one except a 45 caliber lead injecter. at camp joe had strung a picket line ovrhead between two pine trees. just at dusk he noticed both of his horses wernt grazeing. their bellys full. they were standing with a hind leg cocked and at rest.this was a good sighn. he went out and unhobbled both horses and took them to water. when they had finished drinking he returned to camp and tied each to the picket rope with enough slack they could lie down should they wish to joe went about his camp chores like he normally would. the fact that ed sat against a pine tree with his rifle resting across his lap was like it was a every day ocurence. he started cooking a supper. presently jerry came sauntering into camp. he sat a bag of food next to the fire. "you didnt know it but you got house guests for the night."he grinned over at joe who didnt even look up " your welcome at anytime, the coffee is hot, help your self. "joe was peeling a potato and pointed toward the coffee pot with his knife. jerry poured him self a cup and one for ed. when he took eds to him he bumpted eds foot. when ed looked up jerry pointed back to the main part of camp with his chin. dutch was standing there looking after them. ed accepteed the cup , took a sip and mumbled" i see him." it was going to be a long night.

GO EN RODEO EN 8

as they were walking back through the contestants camp ground joe was walking along with his bowed a bit and talking about the bull dogging wreck he had. but ed and jerry was takeing notice of the out of state contestants watching joe and sox as they walked along. jerry looked at ed with a knowing look and ed nodded. when they reached camp ed dropped out at their camp while jerry and joe continued on to joe s camp site with sox. joe began unsaddling the good sorrell with jerry standing there his hand resting on the horses rump. " i wouldnt stake this horse to far from camp.. theres to many of those out of state rodeo bums eyeing him. that horse, with the three of us on him is going to make a dent in the chances to win a little at this rodeo. theres a bunch of those boys might need some cash to get out of town when this show is over. dont trust them joe."jerry layed it on the line. joe turned to look at jerry" you cant mean that? they would do something like that to keep us from wining a little? or steal him to resale him?" joe was shocked. " we dont know all those guys, but just now they were looking at this good horse with some hungry eyes. some of them would do just about anything to get out of town. not everyone in this world is a honest cowpuncher ya know?" jerry was keeping his voice low. " eds back in camp watching the rest of them. you own the horse but we have a intrest in him too. stake him in close to camp until almost dark. then bring him in to camp for the night. we will take turns guarding him through the night. dont take that bunch over there for granted." joe was looking at jerry like he didnt know him" you mean this dont you?a lot of those guys are your friends arnt they? i havent seen a piker among them. the feed close to camp isnt great he needs to be out there a ways to get a good fill." joe was stammering. " you want him full and gone or a little hungry and here to use. friends or not, some of those bums arnt to be trusted. they live from one rodeo or little town to the next. theres no telling what they might pull." jerry looked up and saw ed comming with a rifle in hand. a hard look on his face. when joe took note of ed with the rifle he gulped" would you use that thing?" " i hope it dont come to it. but if push comes to shove , yep ."ed answered" i made sure a bunch of those guys saw me when i left camp with it. better to warn them than have to plug one later." joe took sox a little ways from camp and hobbled him and left a stake rope dragging from his halter. he could see him from camp very easy. surpriseing enough sox was finding enough grass and was working hard at filling his belly. back at camp ed was propped up against a pine tree with the rifle laying over his knees. jerry had returned to their camp. joe was throwing a meal to gether. soon joe noticed out of the corner of his eye that ed was getting to his feet, two cowboys were walking past sox on their way to some destination. they slowed down a bit as they came abreast of sox. ed levered a round into the chamber of the rifle and stepped out where he could be seen. the two lookers turnned and almost ran on . ed looked over at joe" see what we are talking about? they were checking out how you had him hobbled." joe nodded slowley. " it will be dark in a hour ill bring him before that. thank you."