THE JACKASS ROPERS 16

eating supper that night travis looked over to his son, who had been extra quiet that afternoon. " how come you didnt get any donkeys today son?" he asked. dusty looked at his plate and mumbled" i didnt see any, only the orejanos." when he said that travis and dans heads snaped around"where did you see any slicks?" travis asked. " theres a little basin back up that way high up, they were bushed up in there. i didnt bother them because i wasnt sure what to do. they got a good trail down to the lake , over yonder" dusty pointed up stream from the lake. travis looked at dan" now what do we do?" " ime not sure. our contract only calls for jackassses. ill ask the agent when he comes to load out the corral in the morning. i bet he dont even know about them"dan shoveled a fork full into his mouth. at day light the next morning the BLM car rolled into the camp site. behind him came a double deck stock truck. behind him was two sherrifs deputy cars. behind them was two car loads of women . the deputys got out and stopped the two cars back away from the corrals. the cars vimited women, every shape color and age waveing signs and yelling at the top of their voices. the BLM agent walked over to dan as the truck backed up to the loading ally in preperation to load donkeys. dan was looking at the mob of women when the agent said" wild horse annies. i dont know how they found out about this but they been protesting at my office and they swear they will stop this truck. load the truck we got to get these jackasses out of here." dan nodded and waved at travis and dusty and they went in the corral and started sorting the donkeys to load. the woman from the day before broke past the deputys and ran to the corral with her camera. as she leaned over the fence to take a picture dan stepped up with his pocket knife unfolded. he cut the strap holding the camera around the banshee s neck then snatched it from her hands and dropped it into the loading ally where the donkeys were crowding to the truck. that sent to wild haired woman into a screaming fit louder than usual. the deputy walked up and grabbed the woman by the arm and started high stepping her back to the others. he looked back over his shoulder" these damn sun city broads aint got enough to occupy them at home." dan smiled and waved. when the truck rolled out loaded the deputys blocked the road and allowed the truck to onto the hiway and stopped the two car loads of wild horse annies from following. as the truck and deputys disapeared dan asked the agent " what do we do with the cattle?" " the agents head snapped around"what cattle?" dan explained then told the agent there wasnt many burros left. "your contract calls for the removeal of all the burros it says nothing about cattle so what we dont know wont matter. just dont get cross ways with the state. we would like EVERY THING removed tho."the agent explained after he thought on the subject for a few moments." ill give you a letter giveing you permission to gather them. will that work?" dan nodded" jack asses first then the cattle we keep them it wont cost you. fair enough?" the agent wrote out a letter on a legal pad then tore it out and gave it to dan. he then wrote a check for the jackasses.he waved as he pulled out of the camp ground. dan looked at the check, he had never had one this large. he folded it and put it in his shirt pocket. "saddle up " he yelled we got donkeys to gather!