COCHISE COWBOYS 11

late that afternoon denton reached the entrence to his canyon. from the west a stream of cattle tracks went into the canyon. he cursed. pulling his rifle from the scabbord under his leg he staarted into the narrow defile.the shadows were getting long and dark as he emerged into the main part of the canyon. before him he could see 30 or 40 head of cattle bedded down. off to one side stood two saddled horses. as quietly as possible he circled around to where the horses stood, dragging their reins. as he neared the strange horses one raised its head and nickered. "aw hell, the fats in the fire now!" denton muttered to him self. but still nothing moved. he rode on in closer. and found the bodys of two men laying close to the horses. as he rode up to them he noticed their weapons were missing.. both men had been shot. blood stained the ground under each body. he rode to the horses and picked up the reins on them and tied them to the pack saddle and continued on to the cabin. when he rode into his yard a single light showen through the open door. he rode to the front of the house and called out to inez. she didnt answer. he called a second time but still all was silent. denton slid to the ground and slowley approached the door. from inside a whispered voice called; " ime here, i need some help." inside he found inez stretched out on the bunk. pale and shakeing. " what happened?" denton asked as he leaned the rifle against the wall and stepped up to her. she had a red crease at the hair line above her ear." they were here before i saw them. one shot and i got this" they thought i was dead. i followed them to where the cattle were. i shot them. you didnt need to ride into them comming home. i picked up their weapons and came home. this is as far as i got."inez was holding her hand over the groove. denton went to the water bucket and takeing a rag from a hook above it soaked it in the bucket. giveing it to inez he told her to lie back while he tended to the horses.. after unsaddling the horses and carrying the supplys in the house he went to inez. she was asleep. he fixed some supper and ate while watching her. he didnt think the wound to be to bad but she could have a skull fracture. he pulled a blanket up over her and then went back to putting the supplys away. as he worked he kept a eye on inez who seemed to be struggling with the sleep. finally she seemed to relax so he turned the lamp out and went to his own bed roll. tomorrow was another day. next morning denton had the coffee going before sunrise. he sliced some bacon into a skillett and dug out 3 carefully hoarded eggs. he had packed them by haveing fed them into a sock with a knot tied between each egg. they were to be a treat for inez. while cooking breakfast he heard her stir across the room. he looked toward her and saw her sitting up on the edge of the bunk. "is this what a bad hang over feels like? she asked.. " probably, you want coffee?"denton asked. inez slowley raised her head and said " yes" takeing acup full to her denton told her" rest easy, ill have something to eat soon." after eating inez seemed somewhat better." you rest here, ime going to bury your handy work and check those cows out.if they are what i think they are we may get some reward for returning them. i put your new clothes over there by the end of the bed. while ime gone try to get into them. we dont need no more shots taken at a apache!" denton was grinning. inez forced a smile in return. back at the canyon entrence he found the cows up and grazeing. one of his bulls had found his way into them dureing the night. hee had brought a shovel with him so he went to the two corpses. he dug as deep as he could along the side of each one. he went through their pockets and found no identificaation but he find 40 dollers in cash and coin. he then rolled them into their graaves. he started shoveling the dirt over them. " thats mighty tidey little chore you got there puncher, who are they?"the man sitting the horse watching him said. " denton looked up slowley, he hadnt heaard the man ride up. dentons rifle was still on his saddle and the side arm hung to the saddle horn. he looked at them figuring his chances to reach them. "they were warned about comming here. they shot first. so i hope that is the end of this nonsense." " i didnt care for them either. i was to meet them here to rebrand the cattle. but no one told me about you. my name is wes bryce. ime thinking this may not be the peice of cake i was told it would be." " i warned myles not to do this, i couldnt find no identification on them so when ime done i was going to drive the cows over this fresh dirt. as far as anyone knows they left the country." denton leaned on his shovel handle. " sounds reasonable. what can i do to help you? ime not much with that idiot stick but i aint a bad hand horse back"wes leaned on his saddle horn. " we can gather these cows and drive them over the graves then take them back out of here. then you can have them,"denton said gravely. " ill help you, but i dont want the damned ole cows. i figgured they was high graded but i was broke and hungry. myles gave some eating money yesterday. thats why ime late to the party."wes explained. " lets get around them then. try to leave the bull, he s mine."denton stepped up on his horse. leaveing the shovel in a mesquite tree to be picked up later.

COCHISE COWBOYS 10

denton pulled out a chair from the table and sat down. inez brought him a plate of food and cup of coffee. "who was that man? did you know him?" inez asked. " no i didnt know him but if he is who i think he is thats myles compton. he took over the leader ship to the cochise cowboys gang. after the earps got through with curley bill, ringo and the clantons myles moved up. he s just as bad but just not as loud about what he does. they steal cattle in mexico, run them up north and trade them for cattle stolen uup there. bring them here and resell them."denton took a swallow of his coffee. " i think he wants to use this place to hold his stolen herds before they run them on up north. they will ruin it." denton was forking the food into his mouth. "i dont think he ever understood that ime a woman. i had a feeling he would have shot me first just because i look apache."inez stated. " yes thats why we need to get you dressed different. its not a hard ride down to douglas on the border.make a list of what you need and ill go tomorrow and get them plus a few things for the kitchen. maybe ill run into sherriff slaughter while there. you keep a low profile here. knowing that bunch of myleses they would shoot first and ask questions later. i dont think they would try to bring any cattle in here except through the canyon bottom. so you will see them comming a while before they get in the main part here."denton finished his meal and inez slowley nodded. the next morning before day light denton left at a long trott with the pack horse in tow. he was grumbling that he was spending all his time dragging the pack horse around. by good light he was out of the canyon and turnned south toward the village of douglas arizona. it was growing in importance but was still a singlle street lined with about four or five buildings on each side. by ten in the morning he trotted up that single street draggind the pack horse, his saddle horse dripping sweat. he wanted to get this done and back home. inez maybe needing some back up. the general store sat right next to the border crossing. two mexican soldiers stood at a small shackwith rifles. denton laughed as he dismounted, you could go a mile in either direction and cross the border and no one would even know. in the store he handed the list to the clerk . then showed him the pouch of gold dust he had gotten in pearce. the clerk took the pouch to a scale and weighed it. then scratched on a pad of paper figgureing the value. he turned to denton and nodded. denton stood next to the door and leaned on the wall as the clerk started putting the list together. he glanced out the window and saw a fancy team of horses hitched to a buggy. it was john slaughters mode of transpertation. telling the clerk he would be back he went out the door and crossed to the buggy. just as he got to it a pretty, attractive woman came out of a store and started climbing into the buggy. "good morning mrs. slaughter, is the sherriff about?"denton lifted his hat. "yes he should be along soon, he just went to that blacksmith shop over there." she pointed up the street. denton turned to walk toward the blacksmith shop when he saw slaughter come out of it. his shotgun over his shoulder. denton was always amazed at the way the short man carried the shot gun. it was actually longer than slaughter was tall.. denton stepped to a shady spot next to the building and waitted. " i say, i say crouch its good to see you!"the short man extended his hand as he approached. denton shook the sherriffs hand firmley and asked if he could talk to him a few moments. slaughter nodded when he saw the seriousness of the ex rangers attitude. denton then commenced to explain to slaughter about the visit from the cowboys leader. while he was taalking he could see a dark cloud spread accross the sherriffs face. "don salazar from down at santa cruz has complained to me lately about gringo banditos running off his cattle. i told him if he catches them at it not to let them return here. i advise you the same.look here." slaughter squatted down and drew a brand in the dirt between his feet." thats the old dons brand. ime sure that if you returned any of his cattle he would reward you some how." " understood, but what would i do with the rustlers?"denton was sure of the answer but wanted it to be official. " just make sure they leave the country. less paper work you know."slaughter climbed into the buggy."just keep me apraised of what happens." his wife touched the team with her buggy whip and they lurched into their harnes and went into a u turn, slaughter waved a jaunty hand as they left in a cloud of dust. at the general store denton could see the clerk loading his pack horse. time to go.