THE BRONC PEELER 3

it was still dark the next morning as billy was saddling his brown horse. the partner to jim hadnt shown up. just as he snugged the latigo pulling the cinch tight he heard a step behind him. turnning he found jim standing there leaning on a walking stick. " partner never came in, if i give you directions to the horse camp think you can find it?" " i suppose, give me the low down . can i take a pack horse with some supplys?" bily asked. " of coarse. come up to the house before you leave. use the paint mule for a pack animal. you will find everything you need in the barn get your supplys out of the bunk house." jim turned to walk away , stumping along. two hours later billy rode away from the ranch yard with the paint mule following. jim had drawen a rough map and billy had it folded and in his shirt pocket. it felt good to be out moveing along with a purpose. under his breath billy whistled a little tune about a cowboy finding a home. as he rode along he took note of the country about him. rolling hills with grass ankle deep. along the creek bottoms was a good stand of oak trees. the farther he went from the ranch headquarters the more cow sighn hee found. he rode up to a wind mill with a big steel storae tank. he stopped and let his saddle stock drink. cattle sighn was everywere. the wind mill turned slowley creaking as it turned , pumping a pipe full of water to free flow into the storage tank. by the map jim had drawen for him this was about half way to the horse camp. billy reined his horse around and booted him into a fast walk. the mule was jerked into following . later billy rode up to a pole gate closeing off the trail hown below a half mile or so he could see the cabin, corrals and a wind mill. on the other side of the gate was a lot of horse tracks. according to jim this was a 4 section pasture around the horse camp and this held the 40 broncs he was to tackle. when he rode into te yard at the horse camp he was astonished to see a clean and well maintained set of corrals that ran up behind the little barn. the cabin was a wooden affair but was fresh painted and even had a little covered porch over the front door.he rode to the front of the cabin and hobbled his horse and pack animal then started carrying the supplys into the cabin. the interior was as clean as the rest of the camp. after throwing his bed on the wooden bed frame he took the horse and mule back to the barn and started unsaddling them. after putting his animals in a corral he went back to the cabin and began putting things away. when done with that chore he built a fire in the stove and opened a can of beef stew . he was starveing. out side he could see a string of horses comming down a low ridge to the corrals to drink. quietly he watched as they all went in the corral he counted 42 head. walking quietly to the gate he locked the broncs in. the horses were all good sized and raw boned. every color in the world. manes and tails long and full of cockleburrs. only two had saddle marks where they had been ridden a lot. this band of bronc s didnt act wild, they had been handled enough to be gentle when working around them a foot. billy couldnt understand why some one hadnt started this bunch of good solid ranch horses. " well, tomorrow we get at it!" he spoke to the bunch in the corral.