“We woulda been dumb to try.”
“Dumb and dead,” Ian said. “But if you recall, Johnny, you had a notion there, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Johnny admitted sheepishly. “I had a notion.”
Once he reached Thistledown, Morrison rode through the gate unchallenged. Then, dismounting, he walked up to the front door and pulled the bell cord. Teasdale himself answered the door.
“You took quite a risk, coming here like this, didn’t you?” Teasdale asked. “I thought we were going to keep our meetings secret.”
“I suppose I did, but it is a risk that needs to be taken,” Morrison said. “We need to talk. I suppose you know that Sam Logan is dead.”
“No, I didn’t know that,” Teasdale responded with a gasp of surprise.
“And he isn’t the only one who is dead. Jensen wiped out Logan’s entire gang. Every one of them.”
“I’ll be damned,” Teasdale said. “Who is this man? Is there no way to stop him?”
“You had better hope there is,” Morrison said.
“Why, what do you mean?”
“He knows about you.”
“He knows what about me?”
“He knows everything about you. He knows that you were the one backing Logan. He also knows that you are the one who put the reward out on him.”
“Bloody hell,” Teasdale said. “How does he know that?”
“He overheard some of Logan’s men talking. Now he’s coming for you,” Morrison said.
“What?” This time Teasdale’s gasp was a ragged expression of terror. “What do you mean? Coming where? When?”
“Today.”
“I’ve got to get out of here,” Teasdale said.
“No, you don’t. That won’t do you a bit of good. He would just come after you.”
“My God, my God, what can I do, what can I do?” Teasdale asked, now verging on the edge of raw panic.
“How many cowboys do you have working for you?”
“Twenty-two,” Williams said.
“How many of them do you trust? I mean absolutely trust?”
“I—I don’t know. I’d have to find out from Reed.”
“I’d say no more than ten,” Reed said when the same question was put to him.
“Do you know which ten?” Morrison asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“Send the others away,” Morrison said. “The rest of us will establish a defensive position, and when Jensen shows up, we will take care of him once and for all.”
“What about Frewen?” Teasdale asked.
“Without Jensen, Frewen is weak. My guess is, once Jensen is dead, and he knows he is dead, he will be anxious to sell out.”
“Good.”
“Just don’t forget the arrangement we have,” Morrison said. “One quarter of his ranch comes to me.”
“I made the deal and I’m sticking with it,” Teasdale said. “One quarter to you, and one quarter to Reed.”
“You got ’ny ideas about how to set up this defensive position you were talkin’ about?” Reed asked.
“I was a major during the war,” Teasdale said. “I have set many defensive positions.”
“Yeah, well, I was in the war too,” Reed said.
“There’s a difference,” Morrison said.
“What’s the difference?”
“My side won.”
Before Matt left the bunkhouse, he loaded his rifle, then his pistol, plus three extra cylinders. With seven rounds in his rifle and a total of twenty-four accessible rounds for his pistol, he was ready to take on whatever Teasdale might have ready for him.
As he was tightening the cinch on Spirit, Frewen came out of the house to talk to him.
“Are you sure you want to do this alone?” Frewen asked. “I could ask Mr. Morrison to get some men together to go with you.”
“They would just get in the way,” Matt said. “And I don’t want to get any more of your men killed. You’ve lost enough.”
“That’s the truth,” Frewen said. “Besides which, I don’t know where Mr. Morrison is. Some of the boys tell me he rode into town, which I think is quite strange. It is not like him to just disappear, especially at a time as critical as this.”
