THE TRAIL TO TOMSTONE 23

BACK AT THE JK RANCH DALE WAS PUTTERING AROUND THE RANCH DOING LITTLE THINGS THAT THERE NEVER SEEMED TO RUN OUT OF. he even had fabricated a rake from scrape lumber and was rakeing the yard in front of the house. on the opposite ridge he could see the extra horses and his little match race horse grazeing he like to watch them graze and then later coome to the house corral for water. he was sitting on a stump he used for a seat out side watching those horses when john slaughters buggy rolled into the yard. johns wife ad to stand up in the buggy to rein in the high stepping team. slaughter sat next to her holding his hat on with one hand and his ever present shot gun with the other. " i say little, i say, do you have swallow of something cool? sitting behind this team sure parches a man!" slaughter croaked. dale heaved himself to his feet and took a canvas water bag off a hook inside the door to the house and walked over to mrs. slaughter and handed it to her"i dont have a crystal glass, sorry." dale looked over at slaughter " looks to me she is doing all the work so lets quinch her first." after she had sipped a goodly amount of water she handed the bag over to slaughter. she produced a lace handkerchef and wiped her chin. when the sherif had drank a amount to wet his dry throat he handed it back to dale." we came to warn you, evidently wilkinson had lost another horse race in douglas. he bet this ranch. the winner is in willcox raiseing billy hobb about you stealing his cows and ranch. my deputy there so far has things in hand, but the scoundrel may show up here some time. i advise you to go about armed. he is a notorious braggard abd bully. as my deputy told your men in willcox, what ever you do, do it above the law." "will i ever b fre from wilkersons reach? what is the name of this bully?" dale asked. " he uses the name of jonas blake. i have inquiries with other states to see if he is wanted some place else. but in any case take no chances. if you see frederico let him know , the scoundrel may try to rob them of the funds form the sale of your stock. i believe they are loading out the cattle today as we speak. so they should return in a day or so. keep a sharp eye out."slaughter explained. " i will would you like to step down and rest your team?"dale invited. ' no thank you, we have a peoblem up in gleeson to see to. e can spend the night there and rest the team there tonite.. " he waved to dale, then said stir them up my dear!" to his wife . she loosed the reins and the horses fairley jumped into the collars and the buggy lurched forward and into a turn on two wheels. the only saveing grace was the trail back to gleeson was up hill and in places steep.as they rolled out of sight the last thing dale saw was slaughter holding his hat down and the shotgun pointing skyward. dale carrried the water bag to the water barrel where it was running over. he pulled the cork and put the port under the stream and filled the bag soaking the outside of it in the process.putting the cork stopper back in place he took in back to the house and hung it in the shade.next to where he hung it his pistol and holsster hung. he looked at them a long time before slowley takeing them down and strapping them around his waist"wilkinson isnt cold in the ground and ime still dealing with his crookedness."dale muttered. in willcox franciscos men were loading the last rail car with the cattle. pete browning was over to one side with billy and was counting out the cash. 25 dollers a head was a good price, the cattle were full and gentle, a premium for those days and times. the willcox deputy stood to one side watching the count. francisco stood watching.. billy had his eyes glued to the stack of cash so as not to miss count or make a mistake. when the last animal walked into a rail car antonio stepped up and bumped billy. when he looked up a rider was comming from willcox it was jonas. the deputy turned to face him. billy folded the bundle of cash and stuck it down in the canvas bank bag that pete had brought it in. he tyed the neck closed then stuffed it inside his shirt front. the vaqueros all stepped upp and lined up beside fracisco. the deputy stepped up and met jonas." what you need johnas?" " come for my money from the sale of my cows!" that he had been drinking was plain to see. " its been proved to you plenty of times, these arnt your cows nor is the ranch yours. you need to get that out of your mind." the deputy rested his hand on his pistol butt in his holster. the train blew it s whistle and started with a jerk but kept rolling. jonas sat there looking at the deputy then the vaqueros and billy. " ill get it sooner than later!" he jerked his horse around and started south through willcox. turning to billy the deputy said" its a good thing you got those boys with you. i wouldnt put anything past that hombre. what ever you do out side of willcox i dont need to know just keep it above the law." he had a grim tone to his voice. billy turned to francisco" lets go home!"

THE TRAIL TO TOMBSTONE 22

for two more days the little herd traveled north toward willcox the vaqueros allowed the herd to spread out a little and graze as they traveled. the cattle were looking good..they had a full look and were gentle it was a easy dive almost pleasureable. out side of willcox they held the cattle up and prepared to go into camp. billy left the pack horse with the vaqueros to cook supper and he rode on into town to the deputy sherrifs office. when he went into the office the deputy looked up. "oh let me guess, your the cow theives from the jk in gleeson?"the deputy grinned. billy was stopped dead in his tracks. then walked on across the room" well i see the beligerent jerk has been here already." " well you tagged him about right, i sent a wire to the county seat , they verfed the true owner as dale little. i told that loud mouth that but he has been helling around town braggind what he is going to do to you guys for stealing the cattle off his ranch" the deputy explained. " we dont want any trouble, we just want to sell these cattle then go home.. but i wont back water from him either!" billy made sure the deputy understood. the deputy listened then nodded"just keep it legal. you may play hell selling those cattle with that sucker disputing the owner ship. i have the wire from the county saying who the true owner is. if you need to bring a buyer by and ill clear up the owner ship issue." billy stood up and reached over and shook the deputy s hand. " ill do my best"then he went outside. down the block toward town was a bar , he turned and walked down the board walk to the bar. inside a card game was going in the back, other wise it was empty of customers. billyy went to the bar and ordered a beer. when the bar tender came with the bar billy dropped a silver doller on the bar then placed his hand over it before the bar tender could pick it up. "i need a cow buyer, who do i look up?"billy grinned. the bar tender pushed billys hand away" he is in that card game , pete browning. ill go get him for you." when the bar tender leaned over and spoke to agray haired man with his back to billy. the man straightened and raked his money off the table and stood up. he turned and walked back to billy. "ime pete. you got some cattle to sell?"the buyer introduced himself. "one hundred fifty head we have the held up out side of town if you want to look them over." billy shook his hand as he told him about the cattle. "ill get my horse, lets go look at them before it gets to dark"pete went by out the door folowed by billy. a short hour later they had agreed on a price and a delivery time the net day. pete was to make payment when the cattle were counted into the railroad corrals. pete then turned and rode back to town . the vaqueros had a camp set up with food on the fire. francisco stood to one side"did you see the loud mouth man?" he asked billy. " no, but the deputy said he has been makeing a lot of threats around town. the deputy said what ever we do keep it legal, he will back us.when we go through town tomorrow ill get him to come to the corrals with us."billy was dishing up a plate of food.