DENTON CROUCH 25

early the next morning denton was saddling his horse in the gray dawn. he wanted to give the cattle time to get off their bed groundhe knew he wouldnt be able to see all the cattle he bought with the ranch but he wanted to see as many as possible. the brand on the cattle that came with the ranch was fw. when he got back into willcox he wanted look into registering his own brand , a c spear.. but the bank had transfered the f w to his name. it was his and every snimal carrying it was his. he pulled the door on the clap board house shut and stuck a old knife he found in the hasp to hold it shut. sticking a foot in the stirrup he swung over the horses back and set out to look at his cattle.as he rode away from the house he didnt have any problem rideing into small bunches of cattle branded with his f w . the baby calves hadnt been branded. a few cattle wearing the K3 brand were mixed in. this was open range so it was expected he would be shareing the range. the farther he rode the more cattle he came upon. wearing the fw and the K3. lots of mother cows with unbranded baby calves. but no yearlings. this concerned him. he rode on. he found some young cows with their first calves at their side. these wernt branded at all. as he prowled the country every once in a while he came onto a small pile of ashes. some one was range branding. not a uncomon practice. finally late in the morning he came to a earthen pond. it was half full of water. as he rode around it he realized there was a lot of cattle here. after circling the pond he estimated a hundred to a hundred fiftey head were beded after they watered here. he eased through the cattle trying not to disturb them but he wanted to see what was here. more mother cows and baby calves. he found the first bulls that were his. they were middle age. but still no yearlings. then as he started to ride away a cow stood up almost in his way. the cow had the fw brand but the big , weaning age calf was fresh branded with the K3.this brought him to a stop looking them over. on a open range it was possible to make a mistake and mis brand a calf. but if he found any more he would need to call in the brand inspecter. he took down his rope and flipped a loop over the calves head then draggind the calf to a open spot he got down and flanked the animal and tied three legs to gether. then he built a fire and useing his spare horse shoe he heated it for a running iron. useing two green sticks when it was hot enough he ran the sticks through the shoe at oposite angles . then he burned the fw on the calf then ran a bar through the K3.. while the horse shoe was cooling he turned the calf loose. and scattered the fire. he didnt know who he shared this range with, but he would have to look into it.