Chapter 1

It was hot. Godawful hot. I thought Colorado would be cooler. What I get for thinking, I reckon. I wondered for the hundreth time why we were here.

I grinned at the thought. We were here because my brother Zeke and I got a hankering to go ‘yondering’ as our Pa liked to put it. I’m pretty sure he had no idea what was going to happen, or that I would be hiding from my enemies in a cave while they searched for me.

Zeke was the third son and I was the fifth in our family. Our father had a pretty big spread down in Texas, right on the Rio Grande, but it wouldn’t amount to much if it had to be split between five sons and a daughter. Our two oldest brothers had already left the nest. One was in Arizona. He had a horse ranch and was in the Arizona Rangers. The other was a County Sheriff in the Hill Country of Texas, with a ranch/farm. They were both carrying on a family tradition of service in law enforcement. My father was also a Captain in the Texas Rangers.

Zeke was 23 and I was a month shy of my eighteenth birthday when he started talking about heading for Colorado to try and get in on the gold strikes happening there. We were pretty much partners around the ranch. We worked well together and folks tended to leave us alone. Most of it had to do with who we were but some of it was because of our reputation.

Zeke was the most direct fellow I ever met. He didn’t believe in beating around the bush and if he had something to say he came out with it good or bad. I was the quieter one until I got riled. Even then I didn’t talk much, preferring to let my pistol, knife, or fists carry the conversation. Without bragging I was hell on wheels with a six gun. The only one even close was Zeke. He wasn’t quite as fast but deadly accurate and didn’t stop until everybody he was against died or gave up.

We never much talked about it and people didn’t realize how we were until the spring before we left. We were going out to a line camp next to the border to relieve the hands who had wintered over. I laughed, telling Zeke the lure of cold beer and hot women would have Jose and Dan ramped up and ready to go when we got there.

Chapter 2 »