Crack and Jake rounded up the dead posse men. There were six of them, including Scraggs, who had been shot in the back. Now, all the bodies were laid out alongside the barn.
“I hate taking them into town,” Tyrone said. “What with the four that Matt killed the other night, that would be ten bodies we’ve given the good people of Medbury to have to bury and pay for.”
“I sure can’t see buryin’ them out here though,” Prew said. “No sense in spoilin’ good range land by plantin’ scoundrels like these polecats in the soil.”
“Somebody’s comin’,” Crack said.
Looking through the arched gate and out onto the road, they saw an approaching team and light wagon.
“That’s somebody in a surrey. More’n likely it’s Kincaid,” Jake said.
“No,” Matt said. “It’s George Gilmore.”
“Who?” Crack asked.
“Gilmore,” Prew said. “You know, that little lawyer fella.”
“Wonder what he wants?” Tyrone asked.
Matt and the others watched as Gilmore drove through the gate, then around the curved driveway, the wheels making a crunching sound as they rolled through the pea gravel. From inside the house, Kitty had seen him as well, and now she came out to greet him. Matt walked over to join her.
“Mr. Gilmore,” Kitty said. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“Mrs. Wellington, Mr. Jensen,” Gilmore said. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face. “I wish I had better news to report.”
“What is it?” Kitty asked.
“Mr. Kincaid is dead,” Gilmore said.
“Marcus, dead?” Kitty replied. “How?”
“Clay Sherman killed him. Sherman also killed the marshal.”
“Oh, my!” Kitty said.
“Right now, Sherman and his men have taken over the town,” Gilmore said. “Jenny heard some of them talking. I believe it is their plan to ambush you when you come to town, then confiscate the herd.”
“Confiscate? Is that a fancy name for stealing?” Matt asked.
“To be truthful, it is nothing but stealing. Sherman is using something called the herd management law as his authority, but it would never stand up to scrutiny.”
Kitty shook her head. “I’ve never heard of the herd management law.”
“It is a law that nominally prohibits someone from raising anything but cattle in a district that is set aside for cattle.”
“If I was violating the law, why didn’t someone tell me?”
“It was not to Marcus Kincaid’s advantage for you to be in concurrence with the law. That’s why he hired Sherman to enforce the law, and thus prevent you from fulfilling your contract with the army.”
“But you said Sherman killed Marcus,” Kitty replied.
“Yes, he did.”
“Why?”
Gilmore shook his head. “I’m not sure. Evidently they had a falling out of some sort.”
“Mr. Gilmore, do you have any idea what Sherman has in mind now?” Matt asked.
“Yes, I do. He plans to set up an ambush for you. I believe he intends to kill every one of you when you come to town, then taking the herd to Chicago himself.”
“That’s it,” Kitty said. “We aren’t going to town.”
“Kitty, do you think if we don’t go to town, they will just go away?” Matt asked.
“Oh, I-I don’t know what I think,” Kitty said.
“You hired me to see to it that your horses get to Chicago. Why don’t you just let me do my job.”
“I told you, Matt, these men are my family,” Kitty said. “I lost Hank and Timmy. I don’t want any of the others to be killed.”
“I’ll handle it,” Matt said. “There is no need for any of the men to go into town.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t want you killed either. And you can’t go into town to face them, all alone.”
Matt looked at the bodies of the posse men who had been killed the night before.
“I won’t be alone,” he said, mysteriously.
Word spread quickly around town that Sherman had now lost a total of eleven men to failed attempts to take the horses Kitty Wellington was planning on shipping to Chicago. Word also spread that Sherman and the five men he had remaining were planning on ambushing Matt Jensen and Kitty Wellington’s riders when they brought the herd into town today.
