BIG HORN 17

when roy dove back in later in the day his horse was covered in dry sweat. roy unloaded the horse and led him to the barn to unsaddle.con had seen him drive in and walked down to the barn. roy ad his head down uncinching his saddle when con sat down on a bench by the front door. roy looked up"well your right. there is a lot of cattle down in that country.i dont want to even guess how many. i made a big circle and never ran out of them.the fence to the south is down. i fixed a few spots in it but left a couple open. theres cattle down below comming back to the 13 to water. what is that down there? its not part of this out fit is it?" " thats the luke air force base bombing range. i think the name was changed a few years ago but thats what it is. becareful going in there." con told him. " i went in a little ways but i saw more than i wanted to know about. maybe get down there earlier and catch them cattle comming to water. then fix all the holes in that fence."roy explained. "good idea, did you see any people tracks?"con asked. roy s head jerked up"yeah a few, but nothing fresh. they all seemed to go north to the hiway. they came through the bombing range tho." the two cowboys hadnt noticed but earnesto had walked up and stood quietly a few feet away.when roy said the foot prints came out of the bombing range earnest simply said" some of my family are coyotes, they lead the mexico mexicans accross the bombing range for a fee. thats how they live." con looked over at him" do you know the way accross that range?" " no i dont do such things. i know some people have died there. i want nothing to do with it."earnesto turned and walke away. con watcheed him walk away" that guy surprises me more every day" he then explained to roy what the border patrolman had told him. when he got through roy simply patted his chap pocket and nodded. " i wasnt going to wait for some one to tell me to do it." con stood up" did you set the triggers when you left?" roy nodded" they were tied open when i got there. but i set them. we going back in the morning?" con nodded. " unless something happenes here to stop us." " well the way this outfit runs it wouldnt surprise me if something does happen." roy led his horse to a close water hose and started washing the dried sweat from the animal. con mumbled " me either"