Thomas Murray whistled happily as he approached the entrance to the cave. Those two fellas should be well on their way, trying to catch up to their injured friend. Only thing was, there was no one out there to catch up to. He shook his head, smiling.

"You're a smart man, Murray," he said out loud, "but then you already knew that." He stepped into the cave, headed toward the back, and froze.

Everything was missing. He'd left his son's shirt, hat and coat on a rock nearby the fire and they were gone. Looking past the fire, he noticed the pallet his son had laid upon was empty.

"Damn!" he cursed, looking around the campsite. Nothing else seemed disturbed. Maybe Joey was feeling better and just needed to answer the call of nature. Yeah, that must be it. He hurried outside and started looking around. The only problem was that with the tall grasses and trees in the area it was hard to get a clear view of more than a few feet in front of him.

He opened his mouth to call out then clamped it shut quickly. Yelling was out of the question - he couldn't take the chance, in case those boys came back. What was Joey doing out here anyway? He was hurt too badly to be wandering in territory he didn't know, what if he lost his footing and fell? Murray didn't wait around to find out, he ran inside once more and came out carrying his rifle. He then took off around the bend in the rock wall, his eyes darting every which way.

Buck and Charlie rode up the path they had come down just the day before. Once at the top, Buck jumped off his horse and started checking the ground. It was marked with hoof prints going every which way. He surmised they were from the posse, from when they'd arrived and when Sam and Jimmy left with the prisoners.

He walked back and forth around the entrance to the path, seeing nothing but evidence of horses.

"Hey," Charlie interrupted. "Didn't that old trapper say he left his mount up top here?" When Buck nodded, he continued, "Well, then where is it? He didn't get up here before us and this is the main path into the valley ... so where's the horse?"

In his excitement, Buck had forgotten that information. He berated himself for not thinking clearly on this search. Personal feelings were getting in the way of his logical thought process. Ever since Kid and Lou's wedding and the other riders leaving the station, Kid and Buck had grown close. Not that they weren't close before but where they only felt like friends in the past, now they felt like close brothers. Buck valued Kid's friendship, more than he realized.

"Maybe the man came into the valley another way," Buck offered.

"I didn't see no other way in, did you?"

"No," Buck had to admit. "But there might be openings in the rock wall we don't know about. You might not see them unless you're on top of them." He turned his eyes back to the ground for one last look.

Charlie nodded, seeming to be satisfied with that conclusion.

Looking at Charlie, Buck said, "He didn't come this way."

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked as he dismounted and joined Buck.

"There is not one footprint to be found anywhere up here. Kid didn't come this way." Buck walked to the edge of the hill and looked below him. "He's still down there somewhere, fighting for his life."

There was silence for several moments as both young men tried to analyze the situation.

"Maybe in the confusion our eyes played tricks on us and the bullet just grazed him. Maybe his horse got scared and threw him, that's why he fell," Charlie offered.

Buck stared at Charlie then turned his eyes to the bottom of the path. "Katy," he mumbled then in his excitement, his voice took on a higher pitch. "Katy - why didn't I see the connection before?" He strode to his horse and mounted quickly.

Not wanting to be left behind, Charlie followed suit. "What are you talking about?"

"When we found Katy yesterday, she was well down the path heading away from where the gang was hiding. She and Kid have this strange connection - she would not wander far from him. If he was injured, she would have stayed by his side no matter what. So what I'm figuring is ..."

"Kid left the area and Katy followed him," Charlie concluded.

"Exactly. Only what musta happened is that her reins got tangled and she couldn't continue. Let's go back to where we found Katy and take over where she left off." He smiled at Charlie and as the blonde rider returned the sentiment, Buck led the way down the path.