Quentin sat his horse beside Captain Barlow as the patrol slowly walked a short distance behind the trackers. After a time of watching the two men work, Quentin stirred as a thought occurred to him. He glanced over at Barlow.
"Well, I know why I am after them, but this seems a lot of effort for two deserters...may I ask what they did to earn the wrath of you, the trackers, and your patrol?"
The pair of scouts were ahead of them as the cavalry detachment proceeded at a more steady pace. No sense wearing the horses out, a good cavalryman always thought of their horse's condition. Time might come when they would need some harding riding out of them.
Their cattleman volunteer was next to Benjamin.
"Well, I know why I am after them, but this seems a lot of effort for two deserters...may I ask what they did to earn the wrath of you, the trackers, and your patrol?"
"You may certainly ask. They are deserters but to be honest desertion is a fairly common problem for the cavalry out here on the frontier. But these two did far more than that. To leave the Fort that night, they murdered the luckless sentry who was on duty. Stabbed him to death. And he was a man from their own company. My company. It was a step too far. The colonel, and myself of course too, will see them hanged for that offense. Or if they won't go back to face justice, throw their dead bodies over a saddle, and return that way," Benjamin explained calmly but the look in his eyes hinted strong anger.
****
Somewhere up ahead toward the east in the direction they were heading came the sound of a shot. Followed by maybe 20-30 seconds and another shot. This then happened a third time. Barlow figured he knew the gun, a rifle of some kind maybe even a Sharp's carbine. Distance was hard to tell, it seemed to echo thru the hills but the report was from the east. Three shots.........then silence.
"Well, interesting. Maybe our two murderous fugitives?" Barlow frowned.
The shots came from the direction they were traveling for sure, distinguishing what they were, a bit more difficult, as the distance was substantial, though both MacIntosh and Ke-Na-Tey both believed they knew, except it mattered little. Three shots spaced apart from one another, it did not seem to be defensive fire, maybe a hunter? Perhaps the desertes had happened upon another poor unsuspecting soul.
The two men in flight were armed with a stolen Winchester, a pair of Sharpes Carbines, and their standard-issue Colt side arms. But three shots, and well spaced, was that intentional, or poor shooting? Whatever the reasonoing or the cause, MacInosh looked at the Apache and said,
"Easy, we ride toward the sound hard but slow up when we're close. If it's the deserters they will fire on us, rather we wuz the ones with the advantage!" With that, the pair laid spurs to their mounts and galloped forward.
Quentin's head snapped up at the sound of the first shot. He listened intently and was surprised to hear the second and then the third report. He turned to regard Barlow but he had a puzzled expression.
"They have to be a little worried about pursuit...either from you boys or the local law. Why would they attract so much attention?" Cantrell pondered another moment then remembered the pair of scouts out in front of them.
"Should we catch up to the scouts or let them do their job without making enough noise to wake the dead?"
Benjamin and his detachment, with a rancher now included, heard the three shots. It seemed odd. But that's why he had scouts and in MacIntosh and his Indian two good ones.
"We will head that general direction but in no hurry unless a lot more shooting breaks out. Let our scouts do their job. Might not have anything to do with our fugitives," the veteran captain decided and duly informed Cantrell.
***
As the scouts cleared a low ridgeline down below on level ground a good five hundred yards ahead and near yet another woodline were some figures, three men and horses. Something was on the ground, harder to make out. Though perhaps the Apache could. It appeared to be a dead beast, something with horns? Too big for a deer most likely. Maybe an elk or even moose?
The scouts paused looking down at the men below. Ke Na Tay looked over at MacIntosh. "Elk. Not see one like that, but Elk for sure. Maybe, not even men we hunt." The Indian said.
MacIntosh leaned and spat, then righted himself, "Maybe not. Guess we'll just ease on down there an' see if maybe they seen our quarry." Both had their rifles across the saddle brows, close to hand in case they did run onto the two deserters. So, with MacIntosh in the lead, they eased their way down the side of the slope toward the three men and the dead elk.
A ways out, knowing that had been seen, MacIntosh raised his hand "Hello! Trackin' a couple men, wondered if you seen 'em as they was headed this way?" He called out before he and the Apache got too close."
Storyteller / Shared NPC
The trio saw the approaching pair of riders and stopped what they were doing. One of them had been gutting the animal with his big hunting knife but stood up. The other two held long buffalo guns at the ready just in case but did not bring them to bear. They were a grizzled looking trio.
A ways out, knowing that had been seen, MacIntosh raised his hand "Hello! Trackin' a couple men, wondered if you seen 'em as they was headed this way?"
"Hello! We mighta. Yeah!" the shortest of the threesome smiled and waved them on in.
No sense them standing there shouting at each other when a normal conversation would be easier.
"These two, probably with a saddle horse in tow, two cavalry saddles, both have uniform parts on, issue pistols and rifles, but one has a Winchester," MacIntosh explained. "Nice elk a got there. Anyway, got a patrol comin' up behind us after them hombres, Killed a man back aways, that's be his horse and Winchester. Tried to make it look like injun got him."
Ke Ni Tay was unsure of the mountain men he was looking at, but there were still some of those hardy souls about, MacIntosh also was not quite sure of the three, yet he was willing to hear what they had to say about the deserters and then they could be on their way.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
At the description of the men these two were looking for was given, one of the men just grinned like he'd heard a grand joke. The one doing the speaking for the trio had a bit of a smile too and nodded in the positive.
"Yeah, sure we done seen 'em. Matter a fact we talked ta 'em too. They came riding up ta us awhile back."
He glanced to his partners, "Well, we got hornswaggled alright then, didn't we?" One laughed, the other nodded quite solemnly.
Then it was back to facing these scouts.
"They tol' us they was part of a patrol out lookin' fer Injuns. They'd been killin' white folk all over. We said we ain't seen none for a good few weeks and them was friendly. Leastwise ta us," he now explained.
"They asked us fer a favor. Said they'd appreciate it if we'd wait for a short while then fire three shots spaced between inta the air. As a signal, ya know. They said that would help the rest of the troops followin' 'em. Guess they was right. Here ya are and I see comin' up behind ya are yer soldier boys."
He was correct, Barlow and the detail were now riding their direction within sight.
"I asked what should we tell youse boys and one said just give 'em a little message. All he said was..... we know yer comin'."
He gave a shrug, "That was it. Didn't make a whole lotta sense ta us. But then none of us ever been in the army."
One of the two behind him corrected him, "Not true. I was in the army, jus' not the yankee army is all." And grinned.
That caused McIntosh to smile, "So then, I guess the question is, which way were they headed?" Now the idea would be to look out for an ambush. "Tracks are sortta muddled what with theirs and thos'a you men." And that was true, not that they would not be able to sort out the tracks.
Ke Ni Tay was looking over the ground already for signs of the deserter's trail unless they blended theirs in with those of these Mountain Men. Now a smart man on the run would ride in the tracks of others to make his less distinguishable, but that was n soft soil, the ground here was hard packed, and that would make a difference. However, the Apache doubted that the men they were after were that trail-savvy. Then again, maybe they were.