SINGLE TREE 6

single spent the next day greaseing the wheels on the frieght wagon. it was a pretty good chore but he had done it enough on even bigger rigs he had a few tricks. just as he got through the mexican miners started carrying sacks of ore and stacking it all around the wagon. when they realised he was done working on the wagon they started loading the sacks. single stood by and supervised makeing sure the load was distributed evenly. he spent some time with his team checking for harnes sores and galls. . all the time hanford was watching him. single was aware of it but shrugged it off. he had to stop the mexican miners from over loading the wagon. he wanted to make the trip back to tucson faster than they had come here. raymundo came to him and told him he would be following along and would carry enough hay and grain for the trip. this was good but it would slow them down single wanted to be out of the area of the bandidos as soon as possible. but the lure of the good cooks food was strong. he asked ramundo if he carried a fire arm. ramundo shook his head and said he was afraid of guns. at that point single realised he would be alone in protecting his load. but a bandit who wanted the coarse ore wasnt very smart. so chances of them trying some thing were slim. but when hanford started crushing and extracting the gold then it might be different. over by the mine shaft the crew were assimling the crusher and boiler. it wasnt very big but would turn out a sizeable amount of product. single guessed it would be up and running in a few days. the next morning single had the horses hitched and was ready to rollout a hour before sunup. hanford came to him with a sealed envelope" take the load to the tailway station, then give this to the station man." he then produced another sheet of paper" then go to ronstadts and have him fill this order. we have good credit there so you should have no problems. come back as soon as possible" single put the paper work inside his shirt and shook hanfords hand. looking back he saw ramundo and his cart roll up behind. " ok , ill do my best to see you in 5 days." hanford nodded as single smootched to the team and they rolled out of the yard . as he passed their tent he saw clara standing in the glow of a lantern in her night shift. single ducked his head as if he hadnt seen her. she was a attractive woman. a man could get in a lot of trouble disrespecting her. he pointed the team north east and settled into the rythem of the team and wagon.