BIG HORN 21

in the little mexican border town of sonoyta was a little, dark cantina. it sat in a old building and was long and narrow. at a table at the back of the room george sat with a mug of warm beer. it was bitter. he really didnt want it but he was killing time waitting for his meeting. through the door came a mexican man. he was dressed in a high end polo shirt, pressed and creased canvas slacks and adidas tennis shoes. a red scarf was knotted around his neck. it was there not for style but to cover a long scare. behind him stepped two hefty mexican me. also dressed impecably. they say down at a table by the door. one of them nodded at the bar tender and pointed out the door. the bar tender scurried out on to the side walk where he lit a cigarett. the first man walked straight to the back table and pulled a chair out and sat down. " ok gringo, when will you be ready for another shipment?" the man asked. george looked at him and shook his head" i dont know yet. we are still trying to make arrangments with the new owners. they are pretty straight up. we might need to open a different rout. move to the next ranch to the east. it has absentee owners." george had a alternative in mind. the cartel man glared at george"but wont that be a longer trail, less water and not as good a load out on the hiway?" " yes, but it wont have as many people moveing about. i never dreamed my exwife would do all the things she is doing. hell, half of casa grande is working out there. we tried to get a mexican employee to work with us. he just moved his family out there. now theres more than before. ill work out the details on the next ranch. ill put water at places along the trail. its empty, no one lives there. its safer."george was selling the new rout the best he could.. the cartel mexican stood up, " we are ready to go with a train now. ill send some armed men to open the trail if possible. you just be at the pick up point in 4 days at mid night. you drop the ball and you wont need to worry about a different trail." the man turned and walked back out the door his two body guards stood up as he passed and followed him into the street. the body guard slipped back behind the bar, visable shaken. george dropped some money on the table and left the warm beer where it sat. he stood there a minute then walked to his car parked outside on the street. he tried not to show it but he was scared stiff.

BIG HORN 20

for the next week all was quiet. the cowboys stayed busy catching cattle at dead horse and 13. the house crew were working long hours getting the bender house finished. the moralis crew was working on a water lot and corral on a dirt tank and windmill farther south. they reported lots of cattle sighn the wind mill was in bad shape but they were repairing it. con continued to be amazed at the amount of cattle the big horn had on it. they had gathered enough to justify the blm permit and still there were cattle under every bush. earnesto and roy spent a few days repairing the fence line next to the bombing range and the papago reservation both places had been cut to allow foot traffic through. smugglers con refered to them as. fawn was keeping a low profile but nothing had been heard from george in over week. but one morning when con opened the gate for the house crew he found 2 cigarett butts like the ones they had found before, dureing the night some one had parked at the gate. con suspectioned george. when con and roy had shipped a third load of cattle to the auction the brand inspectr had told them in a few days the papago inspecter and some cowboys would be out to look at the cattle with all the different brands. that was a relief to con. they had been feeding those cattle , not wanting to have to go out and regather them later. con had ordered two more truck oads of hay. he and roy had branded over 300 mavericks and was holding them at the head quarters. it was almost a full time job for earnesto to keep them fed. con pushed the inspecter for a ruleing from the state to ship and sell them. but no onee wanted to take on the responsability of the decission. con though maybe george had something to do with it. so every day they rode con and roy added to the numbers. the pickup and trailer they were useing was cons, and they were takeing a beating. almost every day earnesto was repairing something on one or the other. fawn had promised a new set to replace them but with the house work no one had time to go shop for them. then one day when con and roy rode back into the yard they saw earnesto talking to two mexicans at the barn. roy looked at con with a unasked question on his lips. con shook his head" lets wait and see whats what." as they rode up the two visitors turned and walked off toward the hiway. earnesto had a worried look on his face" some of my family, they want me to keep you away from the trail at dead horse so they can bring a train of smuggleed dope through.they didnt tell me when." " i know they are family, but we cant have that going on. did you tell them that?"con asked. " yes, they threatened to take my wife and children to mexico if i didnt do as they asked. they will be back in a day or so."earnesto was crestfallen. fawn had walked up and over heard the conversation" take my jeep, go get them and bring them here! we cant let that happen." all three of the men looked at fawn in disbelief. finally earnesto asked"where will they stay? " " we will make room. ill move into the bender house and camp there. we will make it work." fawn was determined and had a hard set to her jaw. earnesto turned and walked off toward fawns jeep. con looked at fawn" you know your buying into a lot of trouble dont you?" " i dont care, you cant threaten a man with his family like that. we got a lot of ground here. if we have to we can bury a lot of trash!"she turned and stomped off. roy looked at con " i dont think i wanna make her mad . george better stay gone!"