“It doesn’t matter where they are now. I’ll get them back,” Matt insisted.
“Matt, I know you are just trying to make me feel better. But I don’t see how you are going to find them.”
“I know you have some wonderful horses, Kitty. But they can’t fly, can they?”
“Fly? No, of course not.”
“Since they can’t fly, they are going to have to go over the ground and that means they will leave a trail,” Matt said. “And there are five hundred of them, which means the trail is going to be as easy to read as if the rustlers left arrows painted on the ground.”
“Yes,” Kitty said, brightening a little. “Yes, I guess that is right, isn’t it?”
“They can’t have that big of a lead on me, and with five hundred horses to drive, it’s going to slow them down. I don’t think it’ll take more than a couple of hours for me to find them.”
“What are you going to do when you do find them?” Kitty asked.
“I’ll bring them back.”
“You can’t drive five hundred horses all by yourself,” Tyrone said. “We’ll come with you.”
“No,” Matt said. “Get the men ready. Once I find the horses, I’ll need them. But for now I don’t want you to come with me. Too many men along with me will make it harder to track.”
“What if there are people watching over the horses when you find them?”
“They won’t be watching over them long,” Matt said.
“Sure they will. If they’ve gone to all the trouble of stealin’ ’em, they aren’t goin’ to just leave ’em somewhere without watchin’ over ’em,” Tyrone said. Then, he suddenly realized what Matt was implying.
“Oh,” he said. “Oh, I see what you mean. But, in that case, I would think you would want some help.”
Matt shook his head. “Tyrone, this is what I do,” he said. “I don’t want to get you or any of your men killed, and I don’t want to be worrying about you and the men because that might take my mind off what I’m doing and get me killed. Do you understand?”
Tyrone nodded. “Yeah, I reckon I do,” he said.
“Good. You just have the men ready to come bring the horses back, once I have recovered them.”
“All right, Matt, whatever you say,” Tyrone said resolutely.
Chapter Twenty-six
Back in Medbury, Clay Sherman stepped into Marshal Spark’s office. Sparks had parts of a kerosene lantern spread out on his desk and was busy trimming the wick. He looked up as Sherman came in.
“What can I do for you, Colonel?” he asked.
“No doubt Mrs. Wellington is going to come see you sometime today, reporting that some of her horses have been rustled.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I took five hundred horses from her during the night. It was the horses she had ready to sell to the army.”
“What the hell, Sherman?” Marshal Sparks replied angrily. “You steal five hundred horses, then you have the audacity to come to my office and tell me about it? What is this, a challenge?”
“Take it easy,” Sherman replied, holding out his hand. “I didn’t steal the horses. That’s what I came here to tell you.”
“What do you mean you didn’t steal them? Didn’t you just tell me that you took five hundred horses from Kitty Wellington in the middle of the night?”
“I did.”
“What is that, other than stealing?”
“Legal confiscation,” Sherman replied.
“What?”
Sherman pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Marshal Sparks.
“Kitty Wellington was, and is, in violation of the herd management law. If you will read this, you will see that it is a violation to raise anything but cattle in this herd management district, unless you have specific authorization from the territory and county herd management council. Kitty Wellington has no such authorization. Therefore, I confiscated the horses on behalf of the territory of Idaho.”
“I’m sure Mrs. Wellington never even heard of that law,” Marshal Sparks said. “Nor have I heard of it.”
“It is obvious you haven’t heard of it, Marshal,” Sherman said. “If you had, you would have done your duty and prevented her from raising horses in cattle country.”
“I wouldn’t have arrested her,” Sparks said. “I would just have told her about the law so she could get a permit. I can’t imagine the county or the territory, for that matter, withholding the permit.”
“It’s too late for the permit,” Sherman said. “The law has been violated, the penalty must be paid.”
“Where are the horses now?” Marshal Sparks asked.
