COCHISE COWBOYS 11

late that afternoon denton reached the entrence to his canyon. from the west a stream of cattle tracks went into the canyon. he cursed. pulling his rifle from the scabbord under his leg he staarted into the narrow defile.the shadows were getting long and dark as he emerged into the main part of the canyon. before him he could see 30 or 40 head of cattle bedded down. off to one side stood two saddled horses. as quietly as possible he circled around to where the horses stood, dragging their reins. as he neared the strange horses one raised its head and nickered. "aw hell, the fats in the fire now!" denton muttered to him self. but still nothing moved. he rode on in closer. and found the bodys of two men laying close to the horses. as he rode up to them he noticed their weapons were missing.. both men had been shot. blood stained the ground under each body. he rode to the horses and picked up the reins on them and tied them to the pack saddle and continued on to the cabin. when he rode into his yard a single light showen through the open door. he rode to the front of the house and called out to inez. she didnt answer. he called a second time but still all was silent. denton slid to the ground and slowley approached the door. from inside a whispered voice called; " ime here, i need some help." inside he found inez stretched out on the bunk. pale and shakeing. " what happened?" denton asked as he leaned the rifle against the wall and stepped up to her. she had a red crease at the hair line above her ear." they were here before i saw them. one shot and i got this" they thought i was dead. i followed them to where the cattle were. i shot them. you didnt need to ride into them comming home. i picked up their weapons and came home. this is as far as i got."inez was holding her hand over the groove. denton went to the water bucket and takeing a rag from a hook above it soaked it in the bucket. giveing it to inez he told her to lie back while he tended to the horses.. after unsaddling the horses and carrying the supplys in the house he went to inez. she was asleep. he fixed some supper and ate while watching her. he didnt think the wound to be to bad but she could have a skull fracture. he pulled a blanket up over her and then went back to putting the supplys away. as he worked he kept a eye on inez who seemed to be struggling with the sleep. finally she seemed to relax so he turned the lamp out and went to his own bed roll. tomorrow was another day. next morning denton had the coffee going before sunrise. he sliced some bacon into a skillett and dug out 3 carefully hoarded eggs. he had packed them by haveing fed them into a sock with a knot tied between each egg. they were to be a treat for inez. while cooking breakfast he heard her stir across the room. he looked toward her and saw her sitting up on the edge of the bunk. "is this what a bad hang over feels like? she asked.. " probably, you want coffee?"denton asked. inez slowley raised her head and said " yes" takeing acup full to her denton told her" rest easy, ill have something to eat soon." after eating inez seemed somewhat better." you rest here, ime going to bury your handy work and check those cows out.if they are what i think they are we may get some reward for returning them. i put your new clothes over there by the end of the bed. while ime gone try to get into them. we dont need no more shots taken at a apache!" denton was grinning. inez forced a smile in return. back at the canyon entrence he found the cows up and grazeing. one of his bulls had found his way into them dureing the night. hee had brought a shovel with him so he went to the two corpses. he dug as deep as he could along the side of each one. he went through their pockets and found no identificaation but he find 40 dollers in cash and coin. he then rolled them into their graaves. he started shoveling the dirt over them. " thats mighty tidey little chore you got there puncher, who are they?"the man sitting the horse watching him said. " denton looked up slowley, he hadnt heaard the man ride up. dentons rifle was still on his saddle and the side arm hung to the saddle horn. he looked at them figuring his chances to reach them. "they were warned about comming here. they shot first. so i hope that is the end of this nonsense." " i didnt care for them either. i was to meet them here to rebrand the cattle. but no one told me about you. my name is wes bryce. ime thinking this may not be the peice of cake i was told it would be." " i warned myles not to do this, i couldnt find no identification on them so when ime done i was going to drive the cows over this fresh dirt. as far as anyone knows they left the country." denton leaned on his shovel handle. " sounds reasonable. what can i do to help you? ime not much with that idiot stick but i aint a bad hand horse back"wes leaned on his saddle horn. " we can gather these cows and drive them over the graves then take them back out of here. then you can have them,"denton said gravely. " ill help you, but i dont want the damned ole cows. i figgured they was high graded but i was broke and hungry. myles gave some eating money yesterday. thats why ime late to the party."wes explained. " lets get around them then. try to leave the bull, he s mine."denton stepped up on his horse. leaveing the shovel in a mesquite tree to be picked up later.