SMALL TOWN BIG CATCH 16

del was brushing his horse in preperation for another dayrideing through jakes cows. for a couple days now all had been quiet and he had relaxed a bit.he looked up at the sound of a car comming across his cattle guard. it was jerry and he wasnt in a big rush. everyone was letting down just a bit. jerry didnt stop at the house but came on down to the barn where del was. he rolled to a stop a respectful distance from the horse del stood next to. getting out of the car jerry had a large manila envelope and came walking up. but the usual smile was missing. " whats up jerry?" del asked. " nothing good ime afraid. this is from the judge and county attorney." jerry handed the envelope to del. opening it there was three sheets of paper. a letter from the attorney, a letter from the judge and a letter from the state land commisioner. del read slowley, letting the order set in. all three had the same order, just different wording. he had to clean the ranch of livestock and any other posetions with in a week. del looked at jerry" they cant be serious. a week? " " that german has some pull some where , ime sure he is behind this. the judge is furious but unless we find something big we gotta comply."jerry had ducked his head. " even the stuff in jakes house, its gotta be cleaned out. the judge said donate it to a charity. send the cows to the auction barn. after the week nafzigger takes over and takes posetion of what ever is left. its a steal for sure."jerry wasnt happy about the situation either. " let me go see if sharon will go takele jakes house? that way i can start on the cows right away."del had dropped his brush in a bucket and was walking toward the house. jerry sat on the hood of his car with his arms crossed. i a few moments del and sharon were walking back to the barn. little mike was running and playing as they came on. "sharon is going to work on jakes house. she will need some help with the big furniture but i think she will be ok. let me get saddled and we can go start."del went into the saddle room. a hour later dels pick up rolls to a stop in the yard of jakees ranch. sharon and mike jumped out and headed to the house. del unloaded his horse and started for the area he knew had the biggest bunch of cows.jerry had told them he had the day off the next day and would help where he could. " he may get some stuff but that german crook wont get it all!"dell told his horse as he jogged trotted up country.by mid day del had a bunch of cows moveing toward the house. the horse pasture only had jakes horses so it would hold almost all the cows for a week or so. the cows moved slow but held together well there were lots of big weanable calves in the herd. del was amazed at the rapid growth since the branding. when they neared the corrals the lead cows struck a trott and went in the open gate with the rest following along. a bif smile creased dels face it had been almost to easy. he shut the corral gate then opened the horse pasture gate and as the cows started trickling out he was counting when done he was amazed at the count being just a bit more than half of the cows the ranch held. he was writting the number into his note book when he heard a car cross the cattle guard. when it rolled into the yard del realized it was karl nafziggler.his hackles stood on end. the big man lurched out of the seat and started stomping toward del. del had unbuckled his chap pocket and was resting his hand on the handle of the pistol. "well cowboy i see you got some of my cows gathered. when will you have the rest?"nafzigglers arrogence was thick. " they arnt your cows yet, and i hope to have them all in the next day or so. you might have engineered a steal for the ranch but you wont get nothing else. so until i finish why dont you just move along. or are you gonna send your back shooters around on me too?"del was bitter and hard. nafziggler stood there drawen up to his full height"cowboy, i can buy and sell you three times a day and not even notice the draw down at the bank account." at that point sharon stepped through the screen door at the house with a laundry basket and set it down. nafziggler took notice and stared rudely at her. " dont get any ideas karl, they could lead you some place you dont want to be."del had left the pistol just a touch. nafziggler turned and went to his car, got in and roared out of the yard.del went to help sharon she had a few things to load in the truck clothes from jakes closet, his dirty clothes hamper and this laundry basket full of bedding from jakes bed. " we did good today brother." sharon proclaimed. " you got cows i got everything except the furniture. ill take tomorrow and wash all this up then take it to the good will store. then when jerry gets here we can move the furniture out side" del was still fumming. if i never see that scum bag again it will be to ssoon."he hefted the dirty clothes hamper into the back of the truck" damn, was ole jake washing rocks in there?" that thing is loaded." " just like any batcholer, istead of washing just bought new clothes."sharon was laughing.