Chapter 2

I gained on the four men, and it was obvious that they were so busy with their own immediate concerns that they did not know that they were being followed. The horses were getting tired, as I could tell from the tracks they were leaving. The fourth man was having to switch more and more often from horse to horse as they all got tired. It looked to me like the men would all be walking within half an hour if they didn't want to kill the horses. Either way, I was going to catch up to them pretty soon.

The group that I was following had now progressed far enough that they were no longer walking on grass, but had reached what amounted mostly to loose sand. This stuff is hard to walk on, no matter what condition you are in, so their feet were really dragging as they continued their escape try.

I could almost feel the relief they felt when they reached some large rocks which had a stream passing by. They immediately dismounted and hobbled the horses. They stripped the tack and other stuff from the horses and began to set up camp. One man found enough wood scraps for a small fire, so the coffee pot was working away almost from the moment the fire was lit.

My horses were in much better condition than those of my quarry, so I was not worried about them giving out on me. I had been able to switch the horse I was riding twice during the chase, so they were as well rested as could be hoped for. I had enough jerky and water along that I could eat supper without a fire, so I went for that option, since I did not want the bandits to know that they were under observation.

The bandits settled down for the night, so I did the same. I set my internal clock to wake me about two hours before dawn and lay down in my blankets. My internal clock had never let me down, and this time was no exception. I woke up in time to get all of my stuff packed up and ready to move.

Just as the sky was beginning to lighten, I crept into the bandits camp and sat down in a place where I was close to each of them and could watch all of them without having to move my head. I got comfortable and pulled out my gun. I cocked it and held it where it was readily visible. At this point, I hurried a little so that I could act while they were all still asleep.

When everything was ready, I yelled a warcry as loud as I could. This woke them all immediately, though they were still a little befuddled. I said loud enough to be heard by all four, "You are all covered, and I will shoot all four of you if even one comes close to upsetting me. Put your hands on top of your blankets where I can see them. Move slowly, and you can be sure that I will start shooting if any one of you does anything that looks dangerous."

Four voices started begging, "Don't shoot, Mister. I ain't gonna do nothin'." There were four variations on that theme and they kept on until I had to order them to shut up.

I had some ropes rigged up so that I didn't have to take my eyes off my prisoners as I went to each one and tied his hands together in front of him. When that was done, I ordered each one, one at a time, to put his boots on. That was all that was needed, since they had not taken off their clothes when they lay down to sleep. Once they had dressed, I ordered them to stand up and to gather in one spot. I had each one prepare his horse for riding and mount, after which I tied him to his horse. This consisted of tying his feet together under his horse's belly without letting him keep his feet in the stirrups. This way, they could not untie their own feet and they had no way to absorb the jolts of riding by means of their legs, as they would normally do if they had the use of their stirrups.

The fourth man was mounted on my spare horse, and I gave each man a piece of jerky to chew on for breakfast. One of them said, "Hey, Mister, I need to piss."

I said, "Go ahead and wet your pants. There ain't no way I'm cutting any of you loose before we get to town." With a groan, the man did just that.

It took a while, but I got their camp cleaned up and all of their stuff tied to my pack horse. We were later than I had hoped, but we were finally ready to leave. I had initially planned to tie their hands to their saddle horn, but decided that I would let them use the reins to guide the horses. I rode behind them where I could easily shoot anybody who tried to escape, so I wasn't worried about that.

It took most of the day, but we finally got to town. I guided them to the marshal's office and jail and called for the marshal to come outside. He was suitably amazed to see me and my prisoners, but he was quite obliging about locking them up in a cell. He and I went to the bank where I could claim my rewards. I walked out with $650, and I tipped the marshal $50. He was grateful and invited me to stop by any time I was in the neighborhood.

We talked for a few minutes and he suggested that I take up bounty hunting since I had been so successful in catching these bandits. He told me what to do, so I thought I would give it a try.

I rode to the county seat and picked up a stack of wanted posters, at least those with pictures on them. I have a very good memory, so it took me only a few seconds with each poster to memorize the face on each one. I was under no illusions about these people being easy to find, but I figured to stay alert. Maybe I would be lucky.

The marshal had reminded me that the saloons were the places most likely to have the latest information on people in the vicinity, and, certainly, they were the places to pick up the latest news. I didn't expect much, but I figured that I might as well start with the local saloons, there were five of them, so I would probably be spending all day hanging around town. I was so flush with money that I signed up for room in a hotel that had its own stable—that was cheaper than a livery stable.

The first thing I did was sell the three horses I had confiscated from the bandits, and I managed to peddle their guns. I got $39 for the horses and tack and the local gunsmith gave me $42 for all of their weapons. Hell, it looked like I could get rich at bounty hunting!

I did keep the best of the .44-40 Colts and holsters to use as a spare gun. I started wearing it around my waist and hanging low on my right thigh. If nothing else, it would be a good decoy for somebody who thought to pull a gun on me. He probably wouldn't even notice the gun on my left side.

As expected, I drew a blank at the saloons, so I decided to head south toward Eagle Pass. I had a feeling that I would get lucky in that direction. I headed out the next morning and stopped at every saloon I came to. God, I got sick of cheap beer! After about the third time I puked from the lousy beer, it dawned on me that I didn't have to drink it—all the bartender wanted was for me to buy it, he didn't care whether or not I drank it. After that, I had an easier time.

I had been on the road for three days without a nibble, and I was starting to get discouraged. It did take me a while to learn more patience. I was standing at the bar talking to the bartender when I heard some yahoo say, "I heard that there wuz a bank robbery in Hartsville two days ago." That was enough to catch my interest, so I asked some questions about it and decided to head to Hartsville.

In Hartsville, I stopped in at the marshal's office and asked what he knew about the robbery. He gave me some of the details, including the route he had taken with his posse to try to catch the bandits. Next, I went to the bank to get any more information and to find out what kind of reward was being offered.

There were five bandits and the bank was offering $75 per head, dead or alive. They had made off with $2,300, and there was a reward of $100 for the return of the money. That was not as much as I had gotten at my last job, but I didn't have any other prospects, so I decided to give this one a try. I didn't expect much, since I was so late on the trail, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a look.