Security Measures

   Security Measure 

 by

   Paul Patterson 

Reeder Webb, long Time sheriff of Odessa, with a prisoner in tow, accepted the Y roundup crew’s invitation to stay all night.  They were camped over in the sand, and had their calf crop been as bountiful as the crop of sand burrs (know as “goat heads’) they would have marked up 100 percent.

Come bedtime, Reeder rolled out his own bed and made his prisoner a pallet beside him. 

“Reeder, ain’t you gonna handcuff him or chain him, or somethin’ ?” This from a cautious cowboy rolled out nearby. 

“I took his shoes. Besides, a feller that can walk fifty yards through these damn things deserves to get loose.”