THE RUNNING IRON 1

the ridge he rode down was littered with rock, big rocks. the trail he folowed had been beaten out by cattle over the years. his horse steped along, head lowered so as not to stp on somehing painful. the rider was watching the canyon below. he trusted the horse to travel safely. the rider ws a man just passed 40. his dark hair had streaks of gray. he wore wrangler pants with a bul hide pair of chaps pulled over them his olathe mule hide boots were stuck deep into tapaderos. they were made from rawhide with the hair left on. the rider had on a long sleeve denim shirt but also woore a denim jacket his hair creeped out from under a black resistol hat pulled down snug. the horse was stepping along being as quiet as possible. it wasnt intentional, but it worked well. no cow brurte would hear them comming. up ahead the rider saw, down on the canyon slope, three head of cows with calves. they were grazeing walking slow as they did. the rider stopped the horse by simply laying his hand on the horses neck and almost whispering whoa. he eased to the ground snd snugged up the cinchas on his saddle. then in almost slow motion remounted. they move on by the cows then turnned down hill to be behind them these cows were gentle. as he eased up on them they simply tried to walk away. he pushed his horse around them and stopped them. he sat there looking at the cows. the cows wore his brand 66 on the left hip. two of the calves wore the same but the third had been freshly branded with a ladder on the right rib. he didnt know that brand. " damn , now we gotta take them to the house." the rider spoke to the horse. they ased back around the cows and started them toward his house and home corrals. they were a good two miles as the crow flys back to the north but the way the cows had to ws farther. when in sight of the house the rider loped ahead and opened a corral gate. the cows went in with no proble. once in the corral the man shut the gate and went to a interior gate to another corral. that gate he opened. he the went to the cattle and carefull cut the cow and calf off that was misbranded, he then let the other two pairs back out on the range. as he was unsaddlig his horse a shaply woman came from the house a apron tied over her wrangler jeans. " your back early. get home sick?" the man pulled the saddle from the horses back and looked her over. a auburn haired woman shapley and tall. not yet in her mid 30 s. " you could say that any time" he smiled " but i need a brand inspecter. after putting his saddle on the rack he turnned to see the woman leading his horse away to its corral." maybe ought to let her do the riden and ill stay and cook" he spoke to himself. when the womn came back she handed the bridle to the rider" if your going to riverside to the phone i want to go to. i need a few things from the store." the man nodded then hung the bridle on a nail. he turned to see the woman trotting to the house , pulling the apron off.shakeing his head he walked to his truck and got in and startred to let the engine warm up. when the woman was in the truck she scooted over next to him and nudged him with a elbow"let er buck cowboy!" he let the clutch out and they headed to the little village of river side. five miles away.

THE BIG HORN 34

within six months con had the big horn operating like a legitimate ranch. he and roy had gathered and shipped almost all the old branded cows. they had kept enough of the slicks after branding them to restock the ranch. a few of the wildest cattle still remained at large but they were trapped a few at a time and sold the southern boundry was remaining stable and they had become fast friends with the papago cowboy across the boundry line. con had moved into the new bender house. earnesto and his family took over the trailer house. fawns motor home was kept and used when ever they camped and worked at the farthest reaches of the ranch. then one day in late winter roy came to con and said he wanted to move on. things had gotten to quiet here he said. but if he could he would like to return in the fall for the fall round up and shipping of the calf crop. con understood but wasnt entirley happy about it but paid off roy. they had fixed up cons old truck and he gave it to roy. he pulled out early one morning before day lite. things at the big horn had slowed down considerably. con had his morning coffee on a little porch faceing the north east. he could see the gate from there. in the evenings he had a small glass of bourbon at the same place. he kept watch on that gate but no one came to it. he had bought earnesto a jeep pick up and he spent his time checking waters, repairing corrals and fences. miriem was cooking and keeping the bender house clean for him. occasionaly money would leave the bank account. but no other word came from fawn. con knew at some point this would all change, but for now it was settled and quiet.