THE JACKASS ROPERS 10

dan was parked three back in line at the livestock auction, waitting his turn to unload. he had a cold can of pepsi and a small bag of potato chips he was working on until he could get unloaded and to the lunch counter inside.he was watching the trailer at the unload chute when he heard a tapping on his window. turning to look he saw to men satanding at his truck door. he rolled his window down and the recognized the blm agent who had come looking for pete. the other man he didnt know. " how are you pete?" the agent asked. "ime good, i havent run into pete nowhere tho. but when i do..."dan was interupted by the agent. "we know where pete is, dont worry about that any more we just want to talk to you." "oh, ok but i need to unload my cattle in a minute, can we talk after i do that?" dan had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. a half hour later dan pulled his truck and trailer into a parking spot on the edge of the lot. he didnt see the blm agent any where so he thought maybe he was off scott free. he started walking topward the sale barn and the agent and his friend got out of a car parked about half way to the barn. dan lost a step and slowed to a stop. " we can talk over here dan"the agent pointed to spot behind their car. as dan walked over the blm agent was smiling and seemed friendly. " dan martin, this fbi agent harry towns."the blm man pointed at his partner. dan stuck out his hand and could feel the hand cuffs clamping around it already" pleased to meet ya." " pete is in jail in pheonix, he got caught branding the wrong calf. i dont think he will be around for a while.theres a blm alotment at lake pleasent that is over run with burros. for real. the fed wants to turn it over to the state to make a park around the lake. we estimate around a hundred and twent burros. can you handle the job?"the blm agent spilled the whole bag of beans at once. " i dont know, ill need to find a camp cook and a couple of ropers. why me? what about the other guys that worked for pete?" dan looked to each man. the fbi agent looked at dan" we are looking to you because we dont believe you were involved with petes fraud. the other ropers were. they have scattered to the four winds. we arnt going after them or pete since the state already has pete. we know we wont get the money back. you were the last man hired by pete and was the first to leave. pete told us you didnt know about the fraud. is that right?" " at first i didnt, down toward the end i was told. thats one reason i quit the other was i had my own ranch to look after. dont get me wrong, i could have left sooner but i needed the money pretty bad. and to be honest pete payed my real well if i need to repay that i will when i sell these steers."dan was scrubbing his boot toe in the dirt. "all that is history, we need this lake pleasent deal cleaned up. when can you get started? the blm man asked. " ill need to put my place in order. and find at least two more ropers. i promise i wont pull a dirty on you."dan looked from one man to the other, "DONE! you got my number, if its going to be longer just call."the blm agent and the fbi man got in their car and rolled out onto the hiway. dan stood there not believing his good luck at not being arrested and takeing up space next to pete.