Chapter 12 - The Tracks That Led Into Trouble
They found the chuck wagon abandoned.
One wheel was broken.
Blood marked the driver's seat.
Walker touched it.
Still wet.
His stomach turned.
Then Ellis found Sam’s blue cloth sling.
Walker picked it up.
Empty.
Silas had them.
Dusty watched Walker's face.
“Boss.”
Walker tied the cloth around his wrist.
“We get them back.”
They followed the tracks into rocky country.
By sunset they found Silas’s camp.
Josephine was tied inside an abandoned line shack.
Sam was with her.
Alive.
Walker wanted to attack immediately.
Dusty stopped him.
“That's what they expect.”
So Josephine's cowboys did what cowboys did best.
They used cattle.
A small herd grazing nearby belonged to Silas.
Ellis and Perry circled behind it.
At midnight, they fired two shots.
The cattle ran directly through Silas’s camp.
Men scattered.
Walker entered the shack.
Josephine looked up.
“You followed me.”
He cut her ropes.
“You stole my wagon.”
“You're angry about the wagon?”
“Very.”
She threw her arms around him.
Walker held her.
Then Sam began crying.
Walker took him.
Josephine stared.
He had never held the baby before.
Sam immediately stopped crying.
Josephine smiled.
“Traitor.”
Walker looked down.
“Smart boy.”
Then a gun cocked behind him.
Silas stood in the doorway.
May you like
And the barrel was pointed at Walker’s heart.
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