“What’s the other?”
“Your pa, he gave me the option of saying no, said he still wouldn’t tell anyone who I was. How could I say no to that kind of an honest plea?”
“That’s Pa,” Thomas said. “He’s real honest.”
“I understand he wasn’t always that way.”
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Just another example of how honest he is, now.”
“I realized that,” Macky said. “I tried to convince myself to say no anyway, but I couldn’t do it.”
“So then the stories weren’t true?”
“No,” Macky said. “Oh, I brought some men in draped over their saddles, but only when they gave me no choice. Soon, though, none of them did.”
“So that’s why you’re such a good tracker?”
“Experience,” Macky said. “I tracked so many men that soon it was my strength.”
“So you think you can track these men?”
“As long as they don’t manage to find some surface that won’t show sign.”
“Like solid rock?”
“You can track over solid rock,” Macky said. “Shod horses, anyway.”
“We gotta catch these men, Mister…what do I call you? Cory? Macky?”
“Call me Ralph,” the man said. “Ralph Cory is the name I’m hoping to go back to after this is all over.”
“All right, Ralph.”
“I expect you to tell your brother,” Cory said. “And Colon, I guess.”
“Yes, but I won’t tell anyone else, Ralph,” Thomas said, “I swear.”
“I believe you,” Cory said. “I’m sure your brother will keep quiet as well.”
“And Rigoberto?”
Cory hesitated, then said, “Go ahead and tell him. I get the feeling he’s got some secrets of his own. We all do.”
“I don’t,” Thomas said.
“You and your brother are young,” Cory said, getting to his feet. “But you will have secrets, eventually. I’m going to turn in, Thomas.”
“Good night, then…Ralph,” Thomas said. “Thanks for bein’ honest with me.”
“Seems to be what you Shayes value,” Cory said.
Cory rolled himself up in his bedroll, as it had gotten chilly during the night. Thomas poured himself another cup of coffee and dwelled on the fact that he was tracking bank robbers and killers with the famous—and infamous—Bloody Dave Macky.
38
In the morning, Thomas decided to start the day by introducing James and Rigoberto to Dave Macky. This way, at least they all knew they were riding with a professional.
“I am impressed,” Colon said, after “Ralph Cory’s” real identity was revealed.
“Don’t be,” Cory said.
“And what do we call you, now that we know who you are?” James asked.
The answer was the same one Thomas had gotten during the night.
“Just call me Ralph,” Cory said. “That’s the name I answer to.”
“Now that we’ve got that settled,” Thomas said, “let’s break camp and get movin’. Ralph, you’ll take point again. Berto, you ride drag.”
“Sí, mi jefe.”
As they collected their gear and saddled their horses, James said to Thomas, “I feel odd.”
“About what?”
“Us bein’ in charge when we got Bloody Dave Macky riding with us.”
“He’s not Macky, James,” Thomas said. “He’s Ralph Cory. Let’s try to remember that.”
“But Macky, he’s a legend.”
“Remember what Pa told us about him bein’ Shay Daniels?” Thomas asked. “If we allow him to leave that in the past we got to allow Ralph Cory the same thing.”
“I can’t believe Pa knew about him and never told us.”
“Pa doesn’t tell us everything, James,” Thomas said, “and we don’t tell him everything.”
As Thomas led his horse away, James called after him, “Hey, what are we keepin’ from Pa?”
With the campfire stamped cold, the members of the four man posse mounted up and headed off single file in the direction of the tracks. They rode in silence for some time, each apparently alone with his own thoughts.
About midday Cory called a halt to their progress and once again dismounted to inspect the ground.
“Rigoberto?” he called. “You want to have a look?”
Colon handed the reins of his horse to James, dismounted and walked over to where Cory was crouched.
The two men examined the tracks left by three horses, exchanged a few words, then stood up and faced the two young deputies.
“We’re agreed that we think we’ll catch up to the third man before he catches up to the first two.”
“That’s not who we want,” James protested. “He wasn’t in the bank when the people were killed.”
“If we run him down first,” Colon said, “we will not have much choice, Deputy. We cannot just let him go.”
“Berto is right, James,” Thomas said. “We’re gonna have to take them as they come.”
“Then will one of us have to take him back to town?” James asked. “I don’t want it to be me, Thomas.”
“I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t keep him with us,” Cory said, before Thomas could reply. “He might come in handy predicting where the other two might go.”
“Why don’t we deal with that if and when it happens,” Thomas said. “Right now whataya all say we keep movin’.”
“You two are in charge,” Cory said.
He and Colon mounted up. James handed Colon back his reins, and Thomas did the same for Cory.
“We do have something to secure these men with when we catch up to them, don’t we?” Cory asked.
“Um, we can tie them up.”
“No chains? Or manacles?” Cory asked.
“Sorry.”
“That’s okay,” the ex-bounty hunter said, patting his saddlebags. “I have my own.”
39
Ben Cardwell dumped the remnants of the morning’s coffee on the fire and shook out the pot. Simon Jacks came walking over, leading both their horses. At Cardwell’s feet were his saddlebags with his share of the money. Jack’s saddlebags were already on his horse. They hadn’t actually gone through the saddlebags to see how much was in each, because they were on the run, so their split hadn’t yet been made. Cardwell wanted to wait until they were someplace safe, and until then they were joined at the hip.
“Ready to go?” Jacks asked.
“Just let me put this coffeepot away,” Cardwell said.
While he did that, Jacks took the time to look behind them, around them, and ahead. Nobody was in sight.
“If I was Davis,” he said, “I woulda traveled at night to make up some time.”
“Not him,” Cardwell said. “He hates to ride at night.”
“Maybe I should just wait here and ambush him,” Jacks suggested. “Get rid of him once and for all.”
“Sure,” Cardwell said. “Just let me have your saddlebags and I’ll take care of the money.”
“You don’t trust me to catch up to you with the money that’s in my saddlebags?”
“Let’s just say I trust you more than anyone else, Jacks,” Cardwell said, “and the answer is no. When it comes to this much money, I don’t trust anybody.”
“You know what?” Jacks said. “Neither do I. Why don’t we both wait here for him and get rid of him?”
“Because on the off chance that there actually is a posse coming after us,” Cardwell said, “we better just keep movin’.”
Jacks handed Cardwell the reins of his horse and said, “Okay, so let’s go.”
Both men mounted up and took the opportunity to look around them again.
“Nothin’,” Jacks said.
“For now,” Cardwell said, “but I coulda swore I smelled a campfire last night.”