Hunter Dalton by Ed Law

Author:Ed Law
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Culbin Press
Published: 2023-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

“Dutch isn’t up there,” Rocky said when he returned from searching the high ground.

“He’s not down here either,” Dalton reported with a sorry shake of the head.

Rocky slouched over the saddle and shrugged. “Then we’ve lost him.”

“We have, but I’m not giving up that quickly.”

Rocky had followed Dalton’s advice and they had been cautious in their journey away from town by stopping frequently to check that they weren’t being followed. They’d detected no sign of a pursuit and when they had reached a high point that overlooked the town, a distant dust cloud had been to the north.

They had presumed that Sheriff Coleman was leading a substantial number of riders in pursuit of Dutch. So they’d taken their time in moving on to the pre-arranged hide-out, but when they’d arrived a day after the failed bank raid, the area was quiet.

“I’m not giving up either. Somehow I’ll make Dutch suffer, and I still have business back in Wilmington Point.” Rocky smiled. “It seems that I’m not the only one. You appeared to be having some problems with two of the bank guards.”

Dalton had wondered how much Rocky had seen of his activities in Wilmington Point, but he hadn’t mentioned them for fear of making Rocky think that he was concerned.

“I didn’t lie when I told Dutch that I’d had some trouble when I worked for Nugent, but only the first man you saw me struggling with was a bank guard. The second man that I pursued was a deputy lawman.”

Rocky rubbed his jaw. “With all those trigger-happy bank guards in Wilmington Point I could do with some help to get the man who shot up Wesley, so do you need help dealing with this deputy?”

“I might, but let’s concentrate on our first problem.” Dalton waited until Rocky nodded and then pointed west. “I reckon we should head back to Lerado.”

“Dutch is no fool. He’ll not go back there.”

“He might not, but we have to start somewhere.” When Rocky still looked dubious, Dalton smiled. “Besides, as we’re now planning to complete unfinished business, I reckon I’d like to settle a few scores there.”

Rocky chuckled, now getting his meaning and they rode on toward Dutch’s base. On the way, they found no tracks or suggestions that they were heading in the right direction, and neither did they talk much.

Despite the silence, Dalton found Rocky to be better company than he had expected him to be based on the opinions about him that he’d heard in Wilmington Point. On the other hand, Finnegan had provided many of those opinions so Dalton was prepared to accept he might have misjudged him.

As Rocky appeared to have gotten involved with Dutch under duress, Dalton reckoned that if it wasn’t for the fact he was keeping a terrible secret from him, they might have become friends. They took a direct route back to Lerado and at noon on the second day after leaving Dutch’s hide-out they caught their first sight of the town.

The state of the settlement made them draw to a halt.

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