Double The Bounty

“I can’t understand their ways, though. I asked Sara how she could marry a man so much…older than she is.”

“And?”

“She said she considered it an honor that he wanted her.” Shaking her head, Felicia said, “I don’t ever think I could be a Mormon. Imagine, not being able to talk while your husband is talking.”

“Yes,” Decker said, “having to be that obedient would be a strain, wouldn’t it?”

Chapter XVIII

“All right,” Brent Foxx finally said, “I’m tired of sitting here doing nothing. We’ve been here a week and nothing’s been accomplished.”

“Which means?’” Brian asked.

“Which means we can either split up, or I can go your way. Those seem to be my only two choices.”

“Brent—”

“Then again, you only have two choices. We could split up, or you could go my way.”

“Brent—”

“I know, I know, you’re the older brother, the big brain. You’ve made all the decisions up to now, and we’ve done all right.”

Brian decided to keep quiet and let his brother work it out. He poured himself another drink and waited.

“Well, I guess if I go with you we can at least keep this scam going. It’s worked too well up to now to let it just die. Of course, poor Sam here will be out of business if we leave.”

“We’ll pay him enough to keep him going until he can get himself another setup. There are always men on the run looking for a place to hide out.”

“And the girls?”

“We’ll give them some money, too.”

“I was kind of hoping to take the cute one along.”

“That kind of trouble we don’t need.”

“You’re right. I guess one more night with her will have to do it. Will you be ready to leave tomorrow?”

“In the morning,” Brian said.

“Fine. I’ll go and give the ladies the bad news. Will you be over later?”

Brian nodded.

“See you later, brother.” Brent started for the door and then stopped and turned. “I’m glad we got this all worked out.”

“So am I, Brent.”

As Brent left the saloon, Brian poured himself another drink. He was genuinely glad that it had been worked out amiably—but he was concerned that it had come too easily. His brother had something up his sleeve, and it made Brian nervous as hell.

On his way to see the two girls, Brent was glad he had finally figured out a way to break the stalemate that had existed between his brother and himself. Brian had always been the boss, and that had been fine when they were younger, but Brent was older now and he thought that it was time he started thinking for himself.

Chapter XIX

As darkness started to fall, they came to a fork in the road. Ahead of them Decker could see the rock formation Hudson had told him about. It was several hundred feet high, coming to a peak at the top and then widening out as it came down.

They stopped at the fork and looked at the two crudely made signs. One said: fenner’s fork and pointed to the left fork, or the east one, and the other said: eaton’s fork and pointed right, or west.

“What do we do now?” Felicia asked.

“We’ll camp off the road a ways and in the morning we’ll pick a fork.”

They rode about fifty yards off the road and camped in a dry gully.

“Why here?”

“I don’t want to take a chance on being seen from the road, just in case someone is traveling at night.”

They took care of the horses, then Decker told her there’d be no cooking that night.

“We’ll build a small fire, but I don’t want the scent of coffee or bacon giving us away.”

“Well, let’s see what the Hudsons gave us in the sack.”

She began pulling out food.

“Cold chicken, some cans of fruit, some biscuits. With this, who needs hot food?”

They had their dinner and laid out their bedrolls.

“Decker?”

“What?”

“Did you want me to stay with the Hudsons?”

“No.” His answer came without hesitation.

“Why not?”

“I didn’t want to see you become wife number three.”

“Oh, God!” she said. “There’s no chance of me ever marrying a Mormon.”

“Or an older man.”

“Well, not somebody a lot older, anyway.”

“Go to sleep.”

“I’m not sleepy.”

“I am.”

“No you’re not,” she said. “You’re never sleepy. I’ve never met anybody like you.”

“I’m just a man.”

“Decker,” she said, “when you lie down and close your eyes—I mean, when you decide that you’re going to sleep—you’re asleep like that. Then in the morning when you wake up, you open your eyes and you’re awake right away. You don’t even rub your eyes! That’s not normal.”

“It is for me.”

“See? You’re not normal.”

“Well, neither are you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Fourteen-year-old girls should not be traveling with bounty hunters. They should be home going to school, cooking for their grandfathers, and having boyfriends their own age.”

“Boys my own age are…boys.”

“They’re supposed to be.”

“Yech!”

“Felicia.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve just decided to go to sleep.”

And he did.