THE WILL 7

tobey spent the afternoon wandering around the yard, he watched roberto load pick upsm with hay any where from one to te bales. he even saw him put a bale in the trunk of a smallcar fora elderly woman who had a pen full of goats.he was totally amazed at the amount of hay going out the gate, in all cases roberto was a complete gentlman a few times comming to tobey for change for large bills. and juana hadnt lied. she was back in a little over a hour tobey helped hr carry sacks of food into the house when they were done she hung the pick up keys on a nail by the door. then turned to tobey and handed him twelve dolers annd 37 cents. change from the hundred he had given her. out side roberto between selling and loading out hay was cleaning up loose hay and bad or broken bales. he was stacking at the feed bunks at the empty corrals. tobey sat there watching and decided he should gather as many cattle and cut off enough to eat up that pile. he might even find somthing to take to the auction. he kept running the story that blake was mean to and hated mexicans. these two didnt act like abused people. who would have killed him if he wasnt abusive to people. no one had a reason to kill him. he wasnt robbed. the police report stated he had over a thousand dollers in his pocket. tobey kept telling himself what was done was over and past and to move on. but the rumors floating around, the lies and the story of why he was killed kept preying on his mind. but the dailey work still went on. he would saddle a horse and go try to bring some cattle in from the ranch to eat up that pile of wasted hay.he wasnt a hay salesman, he would do what he was good at. cowboy. he still hadnt seen the out side fences.. he needed to check them out. he left the next morning in the dark at a good easy jog trot. following the fence headed south.. he knew it wuld corner a mile south and then run west for five miles.. when it cornered again and would run back north. at that point he planned to leave the fence and drop down to the windmill and gather what he could and start them to the corrals.he idnt know what other water improvements there were but he could start at this point. once he got the corrals stocked he could ride out the rest of the fence and maybe look for other waters. the cattle he found at the windmill were reasonably gentle. when he put them in a bunch and started them east to the corrals they lined out like a herd of saddle horses. this had been done before. mid afternoon when he drove the cattle into the waitting corrals he foundthat roberto had filled the feed troughs with the loose hay. the cattle filed into the corrals and lined up at the feed bunks.with roberto watching a gate he cut all the cows with unbranded calves into a seperate corral. then he cut ten big framey steers into another corral. these he would take to the auction barn.the rest he planned on turning back on to the ranch the next morning. then with robertos help he would brand all the unbranded calves. the more he looked the more he found to do. that was fine with him. he would need to call a inspecter for the big steers. he didnt have the brand transfered to his name yet. he didnt know if this was going to be a problem or not. when he pulled the saddle off the sweating bay horse he had ridden that day he was very pleased . uncle blake knew good horseflesh. when he got in the house he found juana had fixed him a supper meal and had it warmming. he found it excellent. he decided he was liveing like a king, better than he deserved.after eating he poured a glass of bourbon to top off the meal. takeing it he went out on the porch in the dark and sat down in a easy chair. looking back over the past few days he suddenly realised he had stepped into a turn key business. i asked himself if he really deserved it. a hard working man had put this deal together and then lost his life for tobey to have stepped in to it. tobey swore he wouldnt let it fail.

THE WILL 6

tobey strolled into the lobby ofm the first american bank. he stood there a moment trying to decide who he needed to see. then a tall, thin woman walked over to him, " can i help you? she was pleasent enough. tobey explained what he need to do . the woman showed him to a chairm at her desk. tobey dug out the documents from the court and laid them out for her.after looking them over the woman opened a desk drawer and pulled some forms out" i think we can get this taken care of. its good to see the heir takeing over. i hope your better to the mexicans than yyour uncle was." tobey started to boil" thats the second time ive heard that. in the first place i think its pretty slimey to degragate a dead man who cant defend himself, second from what ive seen and the mexicans ive talked to, itsmall a lie. i dont want to hear that again. where did you hear it?" tobey leaned forwad across the desk. the thin woman looked like she wanted to run. " nick hadley told me" the woman was washed out white. when tobey sat back in his chair she attacked the forms. no one said a word until she pushed them over to tobey to sighn. he scribbled his name on them and pushed them back. she took the papers to a teller and explained what tobey needed, then went to a copy machine and made copys of everything. then returned everything to tobey." jean at the first window will take care of you" the thin woman was releaved when tobey got up and walked over to the window. he told her what he wanted and she counted it out with out a word. he sighned for it, then put the csh in the folder and told her thank you. they had given him a hand full of counter checks and deposit slips. back at the hay yard he got the invoice for the hay then made out a check for the load. as the truck pulled out a pickup and trailer rolled to a stop in front of the hay barn tobey heard the driver talking to roberto in spanish. when through he came around to where tobey was standing. he extended his hand " ime rod benson pleased to meet ya" tobey shook the hand and smiled looks like you had this timed. if you had been earlier we could have you loaded with the squeeze." "this is fine. roberto does a first class job loading and tie ing it down. he s a good man" rod bragged. " ime lucky to have him. did you ever see blake abuse him or the house keeper?"tobey came right out with the question. " oh no you heard that b s rumor didnt you? no he didnt abuse them, he treated them better than the slimey white man spreading those lies." rod was disturbed. " who is nick hadley?. i was told he was the one spreading the rumors." tobey asked. " he ranches over on the east side of the valley spends all his time in the coffee shop or the sale barn. he dont buy nothing but to hear him tell he is a big time order buyer."rod s dislike for nick was evedent." well he needs to stop that. blake is dead and gone he cant defend crap like that. since i been here the two mexicans who worked for him have nothing but good things to say about him." tobey was not happy. roberto finished loading rods trailer and gave the bale count to tobey and rod. rod wrote out a ranch check and handed it to tobey. " i didnt mean to get a fuss started but i dont agree with that crap either." tobey and roberto watched rod drive out the gate roberto looked over at tobey" he s a good man and friend nick hadly isnt." just then another hay customer drove in. tobey and went to the house while roberto loaded them. juana was dusting the things in the liveing room when he came in."do you drive juana?" he asked. " yes, but my car needs two tires."she said in a soft voice. " well i didnt get your things you asked for. take the new truck out there and go get what you need."tobey handed her a hundred dollers. she took the money and the list and picked up her purse" i wont be gone to long" was all she said as she went out the door. as she was going out roberto came in" i need change for a hundred," he said. tobey sorted through the cash he had and broke the hundred doller bill. as roberto went back out the door tobey decided they needed a cash box. he wouldnt always be around with enough cash to get the job done.