THE BIG HORN 4

when con got back into casa grande he went to the sherriffs posse rodeo grounds and unloaded his horses. he had a corral rented there. then he went on down town to the EL RANCHO apartments where he had a one room apartment rented. after a shower and shave he put on clean clothes and went to the corner phone booth and called george and made a appointment to meet him and fawn the following day. he was ready to get on with this project. he just hoped george and fawn were. he rightfully figured that they had no idea what they had bought into. but he decided he would ride this wave just as far as he could. the next day they met at the holiday inn coffee shop. george looked out the window while con explained everything he found. fawn was on the edge of her seat listening and writting down notes on a legal pad.con was almost to loose his temper at george. he never asked any questions or commented but fawn had a bundle. when done con sat back and looked at the two dudes. finally george turned his head and looked at con. " when can you get started rebuilding the improvements"? " ill need to hire a crew, get some equitment together and figure out about liveing quarters.do you want two crews? one for corals and one for the house?" con decided to push this as far as he could. before george could answer fawn leaned in " get a houseing contracter, ill get you some prints for the house. you can get laborers for the corrals?" " as you say. ill start in the morning."con answered. george had returned to his stare out the window. con finally asked" did you get posetion of the brand there or are you going to use another?" " we have one registered already. we will get you the paper work on it." once again fawn answered, george didnt even act like he heard. " we have a ten wide mobil home for you to camp in while your building everythin. as soon as you think it prudent start gathering the cattle, the cash flow will help." fawn was once again lineing everything out "here is a check for expenses. save the recipts. you need more or need to pay for something above that call me. ill watch for your call." george still hadnt turned his head, he was watching a long legged brunette in short shorts out on the side walk. fawn ignored him.

THE BIG HORN 3

for the next three days con rode day lite to dark.he checked all the dirt tanks and ponds he could remember. all but two were dry. at the dead horse well he found the wind mill pumping but the stream of water was small. it needed leathers. at the antelope well there was plenty of water in the storage tank. lots of cattle tracks and sighn. he at times would ride up on small bunches of cattle only to have them stampede away. but one thing he did find was there were more unbranded cattle than branded. lots of the young unbranded heifers were nurseing calves, there was plenty of cow work to be done and the income from those cattle would more than pay for the improvements. but the improvements had to come first, corrals and liveing quarters. a couple of truck loads of hay to hold the sale cattle on while the brands peeled. the cattle were framey and lean, mostly brahma crosses. but they seemed healthy. con hadnt found a lot of areas with much feed growing. the ranch was pretty much grubbed out. he did find a few carcasas of cattle that had died off, but not many. the cattle needed to be cut back on their numbers and soon. every night he would write down what he had seen dureing the day. then work on the cost of improvements. corrals were what he needed and in a couple locations.summer was comming on and you could easily kill cattle and horses in the heat. with good corrals and fenced waters he could trap cattle when they come to water. he would need a crew of four or five men and some equipment. the bill was adding up.he didnt know if these dudes were going for the deal. on the sixth day he was out of hay for his horses and had seen enough to know what needed doing. he didnt know what these folks had paid for the ranch but he thought it had better be a cheap price. he loaded up and pulled out for town. one thing he had found was a well used trail of foot traffic from the south, straight accros the narrowest part of the ranch. it hadnt been used much of late. he decided to keep that info to him self for now. but the thought of all those slick cattle there made his mouth water. he hadnt seen that many on one outfit ever. his best guess was 700 head. there were some of the branded cattle still there in that count. but the calf crop from 3 years of neglect was running the numbers up. he had to get his salesman britches on when he met up with george and fawn. he fingered the business card from george as he drove back to casa grande.