THE LONE OLD TIMER 6

all the rest of the week buck roamed the ranch.he did his best to keep the cattle drifted away from the road to the head quarters and the nesters house. he found no more problems except a water trough with a broken float which he was able to fix on sight.. it could have been broken by a cow rubbing on that part of the float so he didnt think much about it. he had caught it before it had wasted much water. the western part of the ranch ran up into the foot hills of the dragoon mountains. while not steep they were rough and brushey in places but there was a good stand of grass therebuck had been saveing that pasture until all his cows had calved but now as he rode along the fence line that divided the hills from the rest of the ranch he thought maybe he could start putting the cows with calves up there. he would need some help but it might discourage his neighbors from helping themselves to his calf crop. sunday morning he cleaned up and loaded ole baldy in his trailer and headed into town. when he entered town he drove to cleos house and parked in the street. as he walked up the side walk to the house cleo pushed her screen door open and smilled at him. "i was afraid you got lost or forgot where i lived " she said " nope, just makeing a lot of tracks at home. you want to go to the ropin with me today? ill buy ya supper if they dont clean me out." he laughed. " we got time for me to clean up?"cleo asked, "yep, but how you gonna improve on perfection?" buck asked as he came in the house. " oh you silver tounged devil, i think ime gonna like being with you," cleo laughed" the coffee is on the stove help your self while i scrub up." buck walked into the kitchen and found a cup and poured himself some coffee. he like cleos little house. it was well aportioned and clean she had lots of cowboy pictures and trinkets. he felt comfortable there. soon she came out of her bedroom, she was a bright beam of sun light to buck her hair was styled, she had a white blouse and snug wrangler pants that showed off her figure. "ok cowboy , lets go see how well you can catch a cow." she bubbled. bbuck got up and started to the door, she came behind him and pulled the door shur behind them. "well if i dont catch enough of them you may well go hungry" buck opened the truck door for her. " well i know how to cook, supper, and breakfast" she hinted. " this is gonna be good" buck said to him self as he walked around the truck. the local arena sat just outside of town. it belonged to a roping club made up of ranchers and different people around town. they had a jack pot ropeing once a week there. in the winter months on sunday afternoons and in the summer on saturday nights. they allowed nonmembers to enter which added to the number of teams and raised the pot pay off. when buck pulled into the parking area there was already a half dozen rigs there a tracter was working the arena ground smoothing it up. two other men had thirty head of roping steers in the chute putting horn wraps on them. buck unloaded baldy and tied hime to the trailer then got a brush and curry comb from the truck and started grooming the good soreel. cleo sat on the trailer fender and watched, when baldy was failey shinning from the brushing buck started saddling him and checking his gear. while all that was going on more rigs rolled in crowding the parking area. a ford car pulled thru the crowd right up to the edge of the arena and a woman dressed in a dress with a flared skirt got out and pulled a box and cash box out of the car. she carried it all up into the announcer stand." shes the book keeper and announcer."buck explained to cleo." theres a ice box down by the back of the chute by the storage shed. it has beer and soda. its on the honor system just help your self. ill pay for it when we are done." " i drink soda while ime ropeing. but you get what you want and keep track of how much." buck slipped a silver mounted garcia bit ito baldys mouth. then slipping the reins over his head buck hung a coiled rope on the saddle horn and mounted," theres a lawn chair in the back of the truck. ill be in the arena warming up." buck rode away into the arena. cleo watched him go thinking how when he got here his whole attitude changed. serious and all buiness. she pulled the lawn chair out of the truck and as she walked by the ice chest pulled a soda from it and walked on around until she found a spot that suited her. there were a lot of ropers warming up. looked like it was going to be a long afternoon.

THE LONE OLD TIMER 5

the next morning the bransd inspecter wes livingstone rolled into bucks yard. when buck explained te reason wes took a law mans attitude. buck shoed wes the two big bagged cows with milk dripping from them. wes decided on a direct plan. he told buck to load the two cows in his trailer and follow him. when they pulled into the trash pile buck drove as close to the make shift corral as he could. the cows in the trailer start bawling at the calves who in turn were bawling and trying to escape the corral. a skimpy little flake of hay lay to one side of the corral and a bucket of water. wes had his camera out takeing pictures. the trashey woman came storming out of the house her war paint on. wes met her half way to the corral " good morning ime wes livingstone........" he never got to finish. " you cowboys get off this property! i told that one yesterdy to leave/ now ime telling you both!"the scroungy woman was yelling. wes simply pulled a wallet from his hip pocket and opened it to revieal a badge and a printed title under it. he showed it to the woman" now where did you get those two black calves?" the woman stammered and took a step back." they wandered into the yard looking for something to eat so i fed them i didnt think they belonged to any one, they were lost." wes had heard it all befoore, he turned and told buck to let the cows out of the trailer. when buck opened the trailer the two cows jumped out and went right to the make shift fence with their heads over the top and pushing on the pallets. after a second the pallets lay down and cows got in next to the calves who went to sucking at th milk laden bags. all the time wes was takeing pictures he had seen enough " buck, turn them cows out of here then go get a horse and gather them up and take them to your corrals until i tell you other wise theya re evidence." wes turned to the woman only to find her gone and the door to the house slamming. he walked over and helped buck dismantle the pallet corral enough to get the cows out of it.when the cows were across the road and grazing they returned to their trucks. " ime going to the judge and get a warrent for this ole gal. but i dont think any thing will come of it. i would keep everything hazed away from here as much as possible. these damn nesters are more trouble than they are worth. but at least this time we saved your stock."wes explained.he slapped buck on the shoulder and got in his state truck and drove off. buck drove back home and caught little brother and sadled him so he could go for the two pairs.un like wes he wasnt mad. he was just glad he had his cattle back. buck trotted down the road until he came to the two pairs then started them back home he could see the woman standing at her door watching. he shook his head. some folks moved out here to get away from the city life and its restrictions but they tended to run over ranchers rights. and in this case they turned to out right theivery. just as buck drove the cows into his yard a man on a motor cycle roared up behind him. he was a big man with a pot belly. he wor bin oerhauls with one strap missing his red hair and beard sticking out everywhere." hey! i want to talk to you!" he yelled. buck turned his horse back to the man" what can i do for you?" he asked. " where you come off threatning my ole lady and takeing her calves. she found them they were hers. just who you think you are? you arnt the boss of the whole country." the big man was beligerent. " first i didnt even talk to the woman, the law did. second she had stole my stock. and we retreaved it. now i got work to do if you will excuse me." buck turned his horse away to corral the two cows. the bifg man stood there yelling and cussing at buck as he rode away. finaally the man picked up a rock and threw it at buck, hitting little brother in the butt. he jumped forward almost dumping buck. at that point buck had had enough. he took his rope loose and built a loop and started back for the man. the big man jumped o his motor cycle and roared out of the yard before buck could get close to him " damn scuum" buck said as he watched the man out of sight.