THE TRAIL TO TOMBSTONE 7

the next morning dale and billy left gleeson just at day light headed south. they took a big tall ridge that was dropping south. they had asked everyone they met for directions to judd wilkins ranch and everyone shook their heads and stated they never heard of it. the country to the south of gleeson was broken and cross cut with arroyos and deep draws. dale had pack a bit of provisions on the little pack horse so he felt they could spend a fair amount of time searching.. mid day they stopped on a high point and took a rest. neither man had much to say. while spearing sliced peaches from a can and looking south billy suddenly stopped. he stared south for a few moments then finally said" there" pointing south with his fork. below them they could just make out the outline of a roof. they mounted and started on down the ridge. a half hour later they rode into a flat spot between two arroyyos. a rock and adobe house stood to one side, long and narrow. the door hung by one hinge. the roof was thatched with yucca fronds. opposit it was a large corral made from rock and adobe but not finished. it would hold 500 head when finished. but parts of the walls were only 3 feet tall.behind the house next to a arroyo bank was a patch of green , a small tree and some grasses. rideing over to it dale realized it was a seep. turning to billy he grinned " how ever so humble home sweet home." billy only grunted. at the corral billy found a adobe brick with the jw brand inbedded in it." well i guess this is it for sure" dale stepped off his horse and went to the house door. looking in he saw the floor was dirt and a few basic peices of furniture a small table, a couple of wooden bed frames and a wooden chair or two. no stove, just a fire place in one end of the building.scrapping around in the house trying to make a place to cook and sleep they realized the dirt floor was just a covering . the real floor was flagstone! the dirt had been carried in by livestock, wind and such. the thatch roof showed day lite in places.the basics was there but a lot of work lay ahead shapeing it up. billy decided he would clean the seep out while dale was gone to the county seat. dale stated he would try to find some help while gone to the county seat.. many plans were needed..

TRAIL TO TOMBSTONE 6

that night dale and billy were setting on the porh of the boarding house it had been the only place in town that would serve them a meal. billy looked over at dale" can i tag along with you back to gleeson? i dont think i got much futur here. i got a copper claim there and i won enough on the horse race to get supplys to work it." " sure, but do you know where wilkins ranch is? i didnt thinnk to find that out" dale asked. "i know abouut where it is, i never been down in that country much. but we will find it. we better get there soon tho knowing that bird he will be waitting for us."billy explained. " well, i didnt cheat him, he cheated himself. but if he wants to take issue with it i wont run either."dale was sipping a glass of bourbon. billy looked over at him in the dark with a measure of respect. the next morning before day light dale leading the pack horse rode out of the ok corral and turned to the north east. at the edge of town billy sat there on his horse. he could see the shadowy figures comming his way. as they came abreast of him he reined his horse out onto the trail and joined the little caravan. gleeson lay ahead it was booming, while tombstone lay dieing behind them. when dale was saddling he saw wilkins race horse standing in a stall down the line from where his horses were. the animal was covered in dry sweat, no water or feed in front of him. dale had taken the time to put a bucket of water in front of him. dales opinion of wilkins went down a couple of notches. when he told billy of this billy stated that wilkins had started the ranch a couple of years before butt as soon as the house was up and the cattle turned loose on the dragoon foot hills he had gone to tombstone. he was a natural bully a coward in billys opinon. but he thought the man might be the type to back shoot you. dale took all that in. the horses started the long climb up the ridge trail toward gleeson. early afternoon they rode into gleeson. billy stated he knew of a place to put the horse up for the night then get aq bed. the whole town was a scattering of tents with no organization. billy turned up hill to the north wand rode up to a empty rock corral they put their horses in there for the night. a good stand of grass grew in the corral.. they had watered the horses at a small spring that crossed the trail as they neared town dale told billy he didnt feel good leaving his stock there and he planned to sleep on his saddle blankets here. billy agreed and told dale he was going for some food for supper and he high stepped back down hill into the mass of tents. a hour later he returned with a arm load of packages.. among the stuff was a coffee pot. while dale built a fire billy took the coffee pot and left. soon he returned with it full of water. while eating the supper of camp food billy told dale he had asked around for directions to wilkins ranch. he hadnt had much luck everyone was like him, they knew the general direction but nothing definate. dale explained that as soon as they found the place he wanted to go to the county seat and register the quit claai m deed to keep everything legal. billy agreed that was a good idea. they unrolled their blankets and went to sleep. it had been a long day.