Chapter 26
Sam dumped the cold remains of his cup of coffee onto the grass. He placed the cup on the ground as he looked
around him. He and his men had been following
the Flemington gang's tracks for a full day, making good progress. Now they were stuck. He shook his head, not believing that Mitchell,
his tracker, could lose their trail.
He squinted up at the late day sun, hoping Jimmy and the others got there
soon. The trail they were following was
leading them toward Rock Creek so Sam was sure the two parties would cross paths
before either expected. There was another
reason he wanted Jimmy's group to join his as soon as possible:
Buck. Sam knew Buck had a way of finding a track where
there wasn't any or picking up a trail in the rain.
"Riders coming!"
Sam turned toward the voice as his men got their guns ready.
"Now, hold it!" Sam ordered.
"Just take it easy. It's
more than likely Hickok and Willis. There's
no way we'd be running into the gang out in the open." He put his hand on his holster just to be sure
though as he waited for the figures approaching to become more than just blurs.
"It's them alright," one of the men called out. Several others went to meet the four riders.
The riders out of Rock Creek had made good time; they weren't even a full
day’s ride out of town. They knew there
was a pond up ahead so had planned on taking a break there before continuing
on until nightfall. However, as they
approached the body of water, Buck informed the others that he could make out
a campfire with riders assembled around it. Cautiously they had made their way toward the
camp, knowing they were still supposed to ride further until they met up with
Sam. It was only when Charlie called
out that he recognized several of the horses that they realized their rendezvous
was to take place sooner than expected.
"Jimmy, Charlie, it's good to see you boys," Sam said as the
two dismounted. "Buck, Kid, it's
been a long time." Grinning, he
shook hands with both ex-riders.
"It's good to see you, Sam," Buck told him as he started unsaddling
his horse.
"Kid, I hear congratulations are in order," Sam said. "Me and Emma were sure happy to hear the
news." He patted a grinning Kid
on the back.
"Oh, Kid here is full of news these days, aren't ya, Kid?" Jimmy said, grinning at his friend.
"What's that mean?" Sam asked, as Charlie and Buck started laughing
at the cold stare Kid was giving Jimmy.
Kid finally shook his head and chuckled. "You find this amusing, don't you, Jimmy?"
"You bet I do. Now if you
don't tell him the good news, I will."
Kid looked at Sam and began to blush.
"Lou's expecting," he finally told the older man.
"No kidding?" Sam asked.
"Good for you, Kid. That was fast." He looked around confused as Jimmy and Buck
broke out laughing. "What's so funny
with you two? I'm happy for the man."
"Oh, we are too," Buck agreed. "We just can't get over how fast the Kid
actually is." He tried to sound
serious but failed as his and Jimmy's laughter got louder. He quickly avoided Kid's stare and went back
to his horse.
"Very funny," Kid replied, good natured. He took Katy as far away from the laughter as
he could.
"I still don't see what's so funny," Sam said, feeling left
out of a very good joke. "Do you
know what's going on?"
Charlie just shrugged and shook his head. He couldn't figure any of these guys out and
felt glad that the marshal was having just as hard a time. Still, he wished he was included in on the joke,
since it seemed to be a good one.
Fifteen minutes later, the newest arrivals to the posse sat around the
campfire while Sam filled them in on his findings in
"You're sure the gang came this far?" Buck asked, after hearing
how the tracker had lost the trail.
"Yeah, it was easy following them up til
now," Sam told him. "They're
moving pretty slow, not covering their tracks real well."
"Why is that?" Kid asked.
"Well it appears that one of the good deputies of
"They shot Jeff Flemington's brother?" Charlie asked.
"Yep, see boys, that's our ace in the hole - he ain't about to leave
his brother behind, no matter how wounded he is. He's taking it easy, more than likely trying
to keep the man alive. It'll slow 'em down; give us the chance to catch 'em
where we want 'em."
Sam stood up and looked at the landscape surrounding them. "My guess is that they're headed toward
a smaller town where they might not be recognized. I'm figurin' from
the direction they're takin' us in, it could be either
Seneca or Rock Creek."
"But, Sam, we just came from Rock Creek and passed the turnoff for
Seneca," Jimmy told him. "We
didn't come across anyone or anything out of the ordinary."
"Which tells me they're still around here," Sam pointed out. "Maybe his brother has taken a turn for
the worse and Flemington's holding the gang up until Joshua can ride again.
If he's not hurt too bad, he might make it to a town in a couple days."
"Well we still got some daylight left," Buck observed as he
stood up. "Why don't we start with
the last set of tracks you found and we'll go from there."
"Mitchell!" Sam called
out.
The riders watched as a man in his mid-thirties joined the group. Introductions were made then Sam told him to
show the newcomers where the tracks ended.
"They're over here," Mitchell said and led them away from the
pond, behind where they were sitting. "It
looked to me from the direction the tracks are facing that the gang was headed
toward the pond to water their horses. It's tough land around here - the grass isn't
keeping any noticeable tracks." He
paused as Buck got down and started observing what the other tracker had already
gone over. "But surrounding the
pond is nothing but mud and rocks. It
would be real easy to pick up any hoof prints there but I couldn't find any.
Went around the whole pond, too."
Buck nodded as the man was talking then started walking toward the pond.
He looked out at the serene beauty in front of him.
It was so still and dark in color due to the late day sun.
It seemed almost untouched; there wasn't a ripple evident to its surface.
He wondered if its beauty was a mask, if this was the calm before the
storm. He could sense that things weren't
as they seemed, something had changed here.
He noticed how the pond jutted out at one side, creating a shallow puddle.
Buck looked at the mud and rocks, which were more the size of pebbles
than anything else. The pebbles were a border for the puddle, except
for in the center. There the stones made
their way into the water. At first glance,
he hadn't noticed it but now it appeared to form a sort of path.
"You see anything, Buck?" Sam asked, watching the Indian bend
down and put his hands into the water.
Buck pulled his hands out, along with fistfuls of stones. "They crossed here," he announced.
"It looks like the last man across tried to cover their trail with
the pebbles but they'd already dragged most of them in the water as they headed
across. There are deep hoof prints as the horses tried
to get their footing."
"Well I'll be damned," Sam said. "Now that you point it out, there aren't
as many stones on this side as the others."
"Nice work," Mitchell acknowledged. "Now we just have to find their exit point."
"Straight ahead," Buck said, as he stood up and wiped his hands
on his pants. "Just look around
you." He paused and pointed to the
openness of the plains on this side of the pond.
The others saw the same as him then looked at one another, wondering what
Buck was getting at.
"We see it - there's no where to hide," Jimmy agreed. "So where then?"
"The other side of that hill -