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.

BIG HORN 23

the border patrol captan marched up to con. "wheres that cowboy who works for you?" he demanded. "doing chores, why?" con didnt back down. that mans wife told me he got her away from being abducted, i want to know the details, and where the crooks got in here."the capitan was all business. " come on, he s over here feeding." con spun around and started to the hay stack. he didnt even look back to see if the patrolman was following. rounding th edge of the hay stack they found roy forking hay into a feed rack for the horses. he didnt even look up. " roy this man has some questions for you. might be a good idea to answer them for him." con spoke first. roy stuck the fork into the loose hay at his feet and leaned on the handle" ok what you wanna know?" "what did you do with the abducter? do you have any idea how he came to be here? and just what are they trying to bring ascross the line?"the capitan asked. roy looked at con then back to the officer" ok last question first, i dont know what they are bringing up. i didnt see anyone else but the one guy. second i think he came out of the south, but wont know until i back track him.third i left him where he lay about a mile out that way." roy pointed south east. " the capitan took a sour frown and looked in the direction roy pointed" did you have to kill him?" " i dont know if i did kill him. i just taped him on the back of his head with a mesquite limb. but if i did i have no regretts. he shot earnesto, kidnapped his wife and would have shot me had i been there. i dont make a habit of killing people but i wont regret this one" "ill send some men to pick him up. maybe we can get a handle on what is going on here. i dont blame you for doing what you did. pretty heroic if you ask me."the border patrolman turned to go back to his truck. " why didnt you want to talk to him awhile ago?"con asked. roy turned and went back to feeding the horses."thats private. i dont want them looking into my life, now or in the past. ime playing as straight as i know how with you, thats all that matters." con stood there a minute then started to the house. " now what did all that mean?" he asked himself the next morning fawns jeep was parked at her motor home. con took a cup of coffee and ambled over to the door. fawn opend the door as he got there. " i left miriam and wanda in a motel close to the hospital. the doctors think earnesto was lucky and didnt have any real bad injuries they are going to keep him a while to make sure theres no infection setting in. whats up around here?" fawn poured more coffee in cons cup. "roy left this morning going to back track that kidnapper. he was dead when the border patrol got to him. i think roy bashed his brain in with that mesquite club. we decided that until this deal gets settled the head quarters is to always have at least one person here armed " con explained. " good idea, what do you think this is all about?" fawn asked. " i dont know for sure but i think we cut off some ones smuggling trail, its costing someone a bunch and they dont like it. dumb thing is kidnapping only draws more attention to it. they would be better if they just moved on"con took a sip of coffee..