THE BORDER SEARCH 6

del rode down the little main street of ruby leading the pack nule. behind him came maxine then andys wagon with the little mexican mules leaning into the collars. the weeds grew deep in the street. many of the buildings were hollow shells, their windows back empty eyes on the caravan passing by.here and there was evidence of occupation. at one ramshackle house a woman in a tatered dress stood watching them pass. up ahead was a sighn advertiseing a general store. two men sat on the prch their legs dangling into the street. as del rode up to them one stood and saluted" howdy , come far?" " tucson, would you know of a harry collier here abouts?" del asked. the man turned to his friend who shook his head. maxine pushed past del"he is my brother. i have mail post marked here, i havent heard from him in months. you must know him!" "maam, there hasnt been any mail service here in over a year. the post office is right over there." the man pointed to a building with the roof caveing in on one corner"all the stuff for the post office is there. you can go in and stamp your own letter but theres no one to carry it any where." maxine was crest fallen , her shoulders slumped and her head bowed over her saddle horn. " is there some place we can camp for a few days? that man in the wagon is a peddler who has some goods if your intrested" del pointed to andy in the wagon seat. " right yonder is a open lot you can use. as for the wagon he can set up right here in front of this open store. they aint got nuthin no how"the tall thin man answered. del turned and rode across the little street to a open lot between two rock and adobe buildings the lot was ankle tall in grass and weeds. he rode around the lot to see if any snakes were at home. looking back at maxine he saw she was sobbing. he rode back to her. he got down from his horse and held his hand up to her to help her dismount.she glanced at the hand then said "what am i going top do? harry isnt here" "lets set up camp and see what we can can come up with." del was trying to be sympathetic. behind them andy was un harnessing his mules. the two pants polishers were walking away down the road.del hobbled his and maxines horses and the pack mule in the vacant lot to graze. andy came with his mules and did the same. "those two said they would spread the word around the mineing claims that ime here. maybe when folks show up we will find out something about harry." the store keeper came to the door of his store. as the three walked back to andys wagon. " you got any likker in that wagon?" the man asked as andy walked up. "no, mexican bandits got some of my stuff back up the trail." andy shook his head. " they are a bad lot them mexicans. steal what they can then run across the border and hide, these folks would leave here but they got claims they dont wanna give up. everyone here is short on everything you can think of."the store keeper was chewing on a stub of a pencil " do you know a harry collier?"maxine had pushed past andy. " he was here a few months ago, havent seen him since. he said he was going to start up a ranch useing his silver claim as a hone base. but he hasnt come back since."the store keeper told her. "well, its a start" del told maxine