THE LONE OLD TIMER 15

at the sunday ropeing buck and cloe were haveinga good time . she had brough a lunch box full of sandwiches and between go rounds they sat on the trailer fenders with a sandwich and cold beer. wes had come by a couple of times but wisely moved on. romance was in the air.buck had just finished his beer when wes returned" hey pard, theres a deputy over yonder looking for you. sounds serious." did the deputy walked up.in his hand hehad a set of hand cuffs." buck your under arrest, hold out your hands" wes stepped between them" whats this all about?" he demanded. "suspision of murder. i got a warrent" the deputy explained. the ropers were gathering around listening. murmering. " just who is he supposed to have murdered?" wes demanded. " the owner of that bike, bill young."the deputy was looking around at the crowd of ropers nervously. " you got a body"wes demanded " not that i know of , i got a warrent tho." the deputy was getting scared the ropers were moveing closer buck stepped around wes" ill go with him, take care of my horses, and find me a lawyer. theres no need for a scene here. cloe clung to bucks arm as the deputy put the hand cuffs on buck. he turnned to her" its ok doll, help wes with ole baldy will you? find me a lawyer this wont stand i promise you." the next morning buck was brought to a interigaton room.he had spent the night in a single call and had eaten two good meals. when he got seated a door opened and we and tall dark haired man came in and seated accros from hin wes said" buck, this jimmy roer, the best attorney in town bar none." roer extended his hand accros the table and buck shook it" i already tried to get the judge to set bail but with murder he dont have to. from what i can see all they have is the fact that you were there at the scene, they still havent found a body nor do they have your finger prints. with the amount of blood they think it was a large caliber weapon that was used. do you posses something like that?" buck ducked his head, in my chap pocket, a pistol. but it hasnt been fired in a year or more." roer turned and looked at wes" can you take care of that?" wes nodded. "its my understanding that someone killed some of your cows and stole their calves and tried to sell them. do you think this man on the motor cycle did it?"roer asked. " i got no idea. wes was with me up until the day we found the cycle i had tried to move all my cows away from that area. i do know that guy tried to vandelize my truck and trailer. butt i never saw him that day i swear"buck swore, " well, sit tight, ill try to get bail set, but they really have no case against you other than the fact you were there. sit tight and let us work on this." roer got up and shook bucks hand again.+