BIG HORN 27

the next just at day lite a convoy of assorted pick ups and trailers pulled up to the gate at the cattle guard. con thre the dregs of his coffee from the cup and set it down and started walking to the gate. roy was at the barn saddling his horse. cons horse stood saddled where it was tied. roy took the horse and led him to the corral to wait on the trailrs to load. upon reaching the gate con was met by a short stocky papago indian who was driveing the lead vehickle. "is this the right place? the big horn ranch?" the man asked. con nodded and as he pulled the gate open hepointed to the chute for loading trailers" back up right there" he said. in short order roy was loading the indian cattle in trailers. he had mixed the 20 head of slicks with them so a few head were on each load. every one was smilling and happy. they shook hands all around then drove out. before con could shute the gate the arizona brand inspecter drove in. with out saying a word he crawled over the fence and started looking the cattle over. roy looked at con with a unasked question on his face. when the inspecter came back to them he had a serious appearence" where are the cattle belonging to george?" con blustered up" he has no cattle here. theres a restraining order to keep him off the property. the court has all the paper work on this deal who do you think you are comming here with that acusation?" the inspecter took a step back, he didnt expect to run into opposition on the subject." well, dont ship or sell anything until i get back from the office! that man has been raiseing holy hell around the state about you stealing his catle. as of right now these cattle are impounded!" " i got two trucks on the way. the cattle that are branded belong to my boss. the are going to marana to the sale barn. impound them there if you want. its your butt thats on the line. "con spit the words out. the inspecter put his hand on his pistol that was belted to his waist." dont make me enforce my order!" " then take your hand off that pistol and get in your truck. GET!"FAWN WAS STANDING BEHIND HIM. " ill have your badge before sun down. GET OFF MY RANCH!" the inspecter looked to con, then roy and finally the short wild haired woman who stood behind him.he marched to his truck without another word, then left. before anyone could catch their breath the cattle trucks turned in off the hiway. " load them boys ime going to go clean up ill go with them to willcox."fawn said. con had started ride away but stopped" willcox? not marana?" fawn grinned. let that popenjay go sit at marana waitting for them.george can keep him company." roy rode past con and started laughing" lets get them loaded. wheels under them and smoke over them." when the loaded trucks pulled out for willcox fawn was in her jeep right behind them. she said not to expect her home as she would spend the night in casa grande with miriam and earnesto. con turned to roy after he had shut the gate"build a firelets brand a few!" roy grinned.by middle of the afternoon the two cowboys had branded all the smaller slicks. a few big bulls and cows remained. they took a break and went for water letting the horses rest a minute. as the two cowboys sat in the shade sipping cool water a man walked out of the deser from the direction of the dead horse tank. he went to the pick up and opened the door peering inside. con reached into his chap pocket and produced his pistol. he hadt noticed but roy already had his out and laying in his lap.the man hadnt seen eith one and kept searching the pick up. " que pasa amigo?" con called the man froze. then turned slowley toward where he had heard the voice. " i need the truck. one of my people is hurt." " where?" con asked the man point back the way he had come from. con looked at roy then said" i dont know whats worse branding those big slicks or wet nurseing these guys. but maybe we will get some info out of them. what do you think?" " ill unsaddle the horses. see what you can find out, dont go alone with that guy."roy stood up and pt his pistol in his waist band of his pants" rerady in a minute. and turned to the horses. con went to the house and got the keys to the truck. he looked the mexican over when he came back but found no weapns. they put him in the middle with con driveing and roy at the passenger door. the mexican pointed the way. about a mile from the dead horse tank the found 5 more mexicans sitting in the shade of some mesquite trees, the all had back packs and sat there watching as con drove up close to them. no one moved. on the ground between two of the men layone more with his head pillowed on a back pack. roy walked over and knelt beside the man who pointed to his ankle. roy ran his hand down the leg and the mexican jumped and sucked in breath. looking at con roy shook his head"it could be broke." con was passing a canas water bag around to everyone. finally he asked the man they hauled back what they were doing. " we take these packs to the hiway. there a rich gringo takes them after he pays us each a hundred dollers. we meet him at mid night." the little man explained. " he told us he owns this rancho. so there is no problems." con listened shakeing his head." load the back packs and this hombre in the truck.then go back to mexico. your rich gringo wont be meeting you. he dont own this ranch. and if you stay here the border patrol will pick you up. they are watching now." the other mexicans started putting the back packs in the back of the truck then lifted the hurt one into the bed of the truck makeing him a bed among the back packs. then one by one they turned back south and started walking to mexico. con handed the one they gave the ride to the canvas water sack. then he and started back to the ranch. a couple hours later they had pulled up to a border patrol check point on the hiway. con explained what they had found out and showed them the hurt mexican. they radioe for a ambulance. then took the back packs they started going through them one by one. each one had a bundle of ragged clothes on top but on the bottom of the pack bag was a plastic wrapped bundle of drugs. " we will set up a surveylance there where they come out of the desert. if that guy is to meet them there at midnight maaybe we will get him. i want to thank you guys."the capitan was shakeing con and roys hands.

BIG HORN 26

just at dark roy came back in the yard with another load of cattle. he had been going hard all day hauling those cattle out of 13 tank. as he was uunloading con steppd up and leaned on the fence as the cattle filed down the chute and into the crowded corral. " is that all of them roy?" con asked the dark figure closeing the trailer gate. "nope, but this corral is full and its dark. i left the triggers open so the cattle down there can get in and out while we work these.i hope we dont get interupted tomorrow. just sorting these will take a while not to mention branding up the slicks."roy came around the trailer to where con stood. "anything intresting happen here today?"roy asked. " well the border patrol came picked up those back packs you found. they were mostley clothes and such but two of the did have some drugs in them. also george was here earlier. i just havent figured out why yet.the border patrol officer who was here wanted me to tell you your clear. whats that mean?"con looked at roy hard. " a few years ago i lived down on the border. had a little place there. one young mexican guy kept comming around wanting work. i couldnt pay him and told him so. one day i caught him loading up his pants pockets with fence staples. not a big deal but i told him to put them back and i would give him some. he pulled a knife on me. i had a branding iron in my hand. i hit him up side the head. . i called the law and told them what happened. turned out the shirriff was the kids unckle. before it was over i had lost my place and was on the run. i figgured there was a old warrent out there some place. its good to know its cleared up."roy seemed to relax a bit after he had told con the whole story.. the next morning con and roy were saddling horses when fawn walked out of the dark with her coffee cup in her hand.she looked rough, like she slept in her clothes and her hair was a matted mess. her face was puffy and her eyes almost swole shut. ro mumbled good morning but con stopped what he was doing and looked her up and down." hows earnesto and the girls?" "they are better than me! i left them set up for a few days , ime going to rest up a bit today. i see the corral is full. you going to have some sale cattle today?" fawn asked with a hopefull tone in her voice. "yes maam, we for sure need one cattle truck and depending on how they sort up maybe two. i know theres some papago cattle to but i dont have a clue as to how many. is there a problem?"con responded. " george has been raiseing hell all over the capitol. claiming we are stealing his cattle. the brand department has copys of all our legal stuff and they arnt buying his noise. but the state represenative from this area collered me yesterday at the hospital. nosey ole huldy. we went round and round. she claimed she was going to start a investigation. i swear that man has been more trouble than he was ever worth." fawn was visably shaken. " go on back to bed rest up, we will take care of this. ill come let you know how the count comes out."con patted her on the shoulder. roy was already mounted and con set foot in the stirrup. they rode down to the corral. fawn watched them go then turned to the motor home where she slept. with in just a short time the two cowboys had the dust boiling in the corral cttle going every which way. they stopped for a breather and roy saw a truck parked at the gate on the cattle guard" we wont ever get anything done around here. now who is that?" " go get a drink of water, ill ride over there and see."con pushed a gate open and roy closed it after they both rode out. con rode on over to the cattle guard gate and found the truck was from the papago nation. as he rode up a indian cowboy got out and walked to the gate. " hey! ime darren pedro, the brand inspecter for the tribe. can i come in?" he asked. con dug in his pants pocket and pulled the keys from them. he pitched the keys to darren and told him to lock the gate when he came in. he would wait at the corral for him. darren smilled a big toothey grin" ill be right there" roy was waittin at the corral when con rode back up. con explained the deal and roy nodded." good take some off the feed bill if they come get theirs. the two cowboys went back to sorting. when darren got to the corral he climbed up on the fence and sat there with a note book in hand. a good hour later con pulled up and rode over to darren"the stray brands are in that corral over there, if you want to look them over. our branded cattle are in the other corral next to them. this bunch here are mavericks. we will brand tomorrow after we ship our branded cattle. feel free to look them all over." con pointed everything out to the inspecter. darren slid off the fence and started easing through the stray branded cattle. then the ranch branded cattle when he was done he had a list of brands and the number of each. he came back to where con and roy sat. "now dont get mad but i got to ask a question, how many of the slicks do you think came from indian cows? i gotta look out for the tribe ya know"the toothey smile came back. con looked at roy and he shrugged. turning back to darren con smilled" what say we cut 20 head of the slicks and put them on the tribes cattle? do you think that will satisfy the tribe?"con asked. darren ducked his head and started writting." ill send some men with trailers to pick them up tomorrow. ill go fill out the papers now, you sighn them and we will be good." as darren walked to his truck. roy leaned over and almost whispered" thats a hold up for sure but i think we got off dirt cheap." con nodded as darren came walking back with the paper work. " they will be ready early, day lite or so, ill have the gate open. thanks." con shook darrens hand then watched him leave. " ime going to find us a truck or two for tomorrow for our cattle. shut the gate behind me when i leave." con handed his bridle rein to roy. " be back soon. count the slicks will ya?" as con drove out of the yard roy mumbled," wheeler dealer and i get the dirty work."