HIDDEN SPRINGS 16

for two weeks all was quiet. latigo relaxed and spent his days prowling his pastures and checking his cows. irene seemed settled. the house was spotless. the mealss were above board. she even planted a garden and was hanging curtins, things were homey. she had mentioned to latigo of the possibility of adding a extra room onto the house. the idea appealed to him. irene appealed to him. they both were becomming comfortable with each other. latigo was seeing some of last years calf crop that had growen into yearlings makeing them much more profitable. in his mind he was planning on gathering them and selling them for enough to add onto the house. one morning as he rode away from the house, the tast of a good breakfast still fresh in his mouth he realized that he wasnt near craveing the hermit life that he had. he actually liked haveing irene to talk to. at supper each night she talked to him about the cattle and how things were going.his mind didnt go back to the killing feilds in namn near as much. a feeling of contentment was slowley creeping over him. he wasnt sure if irene was the cause of this but he did know she had a lot to do with it. he hadnt been down to the southern boundry in a while and he thought this day would be good to make a circle that way. as he came up to the boundry fence he slowed his horse and watched for any eveidence of people crossing the fence from the bombing range. all along the line he rode he saw nothing to indicate any activity.before he reached the spot he had always used as a spotters stand he pulled up and rode up the side of a steep hill that was covered in palo verde and ocatillo. he tied his horse in a clump of palo verde and sat down in the shade of another looking south. he really didnt expect to see anything, he just thought it was a good place to rest a while. soon he heard the whine of a jet engine comming from the north. he figguredm it was a trainee comming from luke air base. the plane streaked over him at 500 feet then opened fire on his old spot he had used! dust geysers flew up around where he had always sat. the plane headed on south into the bombing range. latigo sat there in shock. had he been there he would have been shot to peices. was it intentional? did a rookie pilot make a mistake? as he thought on it the answer came to him, no mistake someone wanted him dead. latigo sat still watching the horizon for the return of the jet. he knew if he tried to ride away and that pilot saw him he would be dust when they were through. after another hour the plane hadnt returned, the sun was low in the westrn sky so he eased over to his horse and snugged up the cinchas while watching the horizon. finally he decided to risk it and stepped up the horse and headed down the slope.he had to get home!