TRAIL TO TOMBSTONE 6

that night dale and billy were setting on the porh of the boarding house it had been the only place in town that would serve them a meal. billy looked over at dale" can i tag along with you back to gleeson? i dont think i got much futur here. i got a copper claim there and i won enough on the horse race to get supplys to work it." " sure, but do you know where wilkins ranch is? i didnt thinnk to find that out" dale asked. "i know abouut where it is, i never been down in that country much. but we will find it. we better get there soon tho knowing that bird he will be waitting for us."billy explained. " well, i didnt cheat him, he cheated himself. but if he wants to take issue with it i wont run either."dale was sipping a glass of bourbon. billy looked over at him in the dark with a measure of respect. the next morning before day light dale leading the pack horse rode out of the ok corral and turned to the north east. at the edge of town billy sat there on his horse. he could see the shadowy figures comming his way. as they came abreast of him he reined his horse out onto the trail and joined the little caravan. gleeson lay ahead it was booming, while tombstone lay dieing behind them. when dale was saddling he saw wilkins race horse standing in a stall down the line from where his horses were. the animal was covered in dry sweat, no water or feed in front of him. dale had taken the time to put a bucket of water in front of him. dales opinion of wilkins went down a couple of notches. when he told billy of this billy stated that wilkins had started the ranch a couple of years before butt as soon as the house was up and the cattle turned loose on the dragoon foot hills he had gone to tombstone. he was a natural bully a coward in billys opinon. but he thought the man might be the type to back shoot you. dale took all that in. the horses started the long climb up the ridge trail toward gleeson. early afternoon they rode into gleeson. billy stated he knew of a place to put the horse up for the night then get aq bed. the whole town was a scattering of tents with no organization. billy turned up hill to the north wand rode up to a empty rock corral they put their horses in there for the night. a good stand of grass grew in the corral.. they had watered the horses at a small spring that crossed the trail as they neared town dale told billy he didnt feel good leaving his stock there and he planned to sleep on his saddle blankets here. billy agreed and told dale he was going for some food for supper and he high stepped back down hill into the mass of tents. a hour later he returned with a arm load of packages.. among the stuff was a coffee pot. while dale built a fire billy took the coffee pot and left. soon he returned with it full of water. while eating the supper of camp food billy told dale he had asked around for directions to wilkins ranch. he hadnt had much luck everyone was like him, they knew the general direction but nothing definate. dale explained that as soon as they found the place he wanted to go to the county seat and register the quit claai m deed to keep everything legal. billy agreed that was a good idea. they unrolled their blankets and went to sleep. it had been a long day.