THE OLD COWBOY Part Fourteen 
(continued)


"Anyway," he spat again, "I remember your Grandma that first fall in Albuquerque. She had me make a mad dash in to town to get a couple hundred more cannin' gars. You know a man can be down right foolish when it comes to the wants of his woman.

She said, 'I need you to hitch up them mules you're so proud of, and bring me a couple hundred cannin' gars from 'Mc Curdys General Store', and I need 'em as soon as you can get 'em here.'

Well ya know the way it sounded, I'd better 'hi-tail-it'. After all, that was winters food she was fixin', and when that chore was done I had to get started on winters wood.

I had them mules up to a gallop a few time on the way in to town. Grandboy, it was warm and those two mules nearly empty'd that water trough by the store. Old man Mc Curdy said I ought to pay him some for all that water. Water was hard to come by in those parts.

I thanked him for the gars and said I'd find a way to make it up to him. When the wife says hurry, you'd best hurry. He said he was young once himself, he understood, and told me not to bother.

I headed them mules toward home and away we went. There were seventeen corners between town and home, mostly followin' the river. If ya needed to, ya could stop and get the team a drink along the way. Well, we'd gone around the eighth curve which was close to the river, and them mules seemed like they was thirsty so we stopped and had us a drink. When we got back on the trail them dang mules were downright frisky. They knew the road (I thought), and I let 'em go.

When we got home and I went to unload, most of that glass had broken. Your Grandma started laughing after we counted the good ones left."

"You mean she wasn't mad?"

"No sir, seems she only wanted 'a couple dozen.'" Grandpa laughed and I laughed too. It had stopped raining and I knocked the water off the seat of Ol' Tanner number two. I knew I'd remember glass breaks easy if you move to fast.

"You come back tomorrow young'n."

"OK. I rode off thinking. . ." 


To Be Continued. . .