Dutch walked across to where Hosea was sitting. He looked troubled.
"Is Casie OK?" He asked "I saw her come back with Arthur earlier."
Dutch shook his head. "Honestly Hosea, I don't know. Physically she's fine, mentally, she's a broken little girl." He said.
"So the tough little cookie, that everyone sees is just a front?"
Dutch nodded. "A means of protection. You know her father used to beat and starve her, and the sheriff." He spat out the word, like some poison that had found its way onto his tongue "He forced her to watch her father hang."
Hosea shook his head "That's an evil thing to do to a child."
"I know we did right, taking her in." Dutch sighed, "I just wonder if the love she is now getting is breaking her even more."
"Of course not Dutch. Its a bit like a gun, you take a dirty gun apart clean it and put it back together and its as good as new"
"She's a little girl, Hosea. Not a gun. You know, she thought I was going to beat her. I probably scared her half to death when she first arrived. I hate to think how frightened she must have been, riding home with Arthur."
Hosea smile at Dutch "You worry too much. Even if that is the case, she's not frightened now."
He continued. "Have you seen the way she looks at you?"
Dutch frowned. "No, What do you mean?"
Hosea laughed "She's not frightened of you. She's in awe of you. You can do no wrong in her eyes. Even if you beat her, she'd still love you. Your everything her father wasn't. She hardly ever speaks of her father, haven't you noticed."
Dutch stared at Hosea "No Hosea, I hadn't but now you mention it..."
Hosea continued. "You had the same effect on Arthur when he was just a little older, I seem to remember. And he was just a boy. If she grows up to be like him, you can be really proud of yourself." He paused. "That's if your head can get any bigger than it is already."
Both men laughed. "What would I do without you, Hosea. Your the one that always keeps me grounded."
Hosea patted Dutch on the shoulder. "Well someone has to." He said.
Casie walked out her tent sheepishly, mid afternoon, after sleeping for a good four hours.
Even after what she had done, which in hindsight, was pretty stupid. She hadn't really been punished. She felt so bad that she started doing extra chores anyway. She cleaned up all the empty beer bottles for Miss Grimshaw and chopped some vegetables for Pearson for that nights supper. She was about to get some hay for the horses when she heard her name being called.
"Hey Casie, what's with all the extra chores" Casie turned around to see Sean, with a beer bottle in his hand leaning against a tree.
"I've been a bit bad." She said. "So I'm trying to make it right."
Sean patted the ground next to him. Casie went and sat down. "If I did extra chores every time I got into trouble, I'd never sit down." He laughed.
Casie smiled for the first time since she had returned. "Arthur says you don't do any chores anyway".
Sean laughed."That."he said "is because Arthur Morgan is a grumpy bastard."
Casie punched him on the arm and laughed "Don't be mean."
Sean put his beer bottle down and tried to give Casie a stern look. Which looked more like a grimace. "No one punches Sean Maguire and gets away with it." with that he pounced on Casie until she was on her back and started to tickle her.
Casie was squealing half with laughter half with irritation. Sean continued despite her pleas for him to stop. After about 5 minutes of this, Sean, eventually stopped.
Leaning over Casie and grinning, Sean asked "So are you gonna try punching me again."
Casie laughed and shook her head. Sean helped her to her feet. "Now wasn't that much more fun than doing chores?"
Before she had a chance to answer. Arthur came over and looked at Sean.
He rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath "Idiot."
Arthur then turned to Casie. "Come on he said, we've got to go out on a job."
"You never take me out on a job, Arthur Morgan!" Sean exclaimed.
"Thats because you're and idiot, Sean Maguire." Arthur responded.
Casie jumped to her feet excitedly "What sort of job?"
Arthur headed towards the horses with Casie running after him.
"An unsavoury one" he said grumpily.
Arthur and Casie rode South along the road.
"Where are we going and what does unsavoury mean." She asked.
Arthur laughed. "Unsavoury means, not very pleasant. And the what we're doing this afternoon is just that."
He continued. "We're doing some work for Mr Strauss. He lends people money, then we have to collect it when they don't pay, and sometimes they need…..a little encouragement."
"How do you do that?" she asked.
"Well mostly, we threaten, sometimes we have to get physical."
Casie nodded. "But you don't shoot them?"
Arthur laughed "No we ain't gonna be using 'em for target practice, if that what you mean."
Casie laughed "So where we going?"
"Up near Emerald Ranch, a farm near there. You know it?" he asked
Casie nodded.
"Well lets get going then" and with a quiet yah to the horses they galloped off in the direction of Emerald Ranch.
They found the first debtor, but he decided to make a run for it.
Arthur looked at Casie. "C'mon, we'll have to chase him down."
As they chased after him, Arthur, was impressed with Casie's riding skills. He couldn't understand why she second guessed herself the other day when they were doing target practice from horseback.
He thought for a second. "Hey Casie. Have you ever used a Lasso." He asked as they were giving chase.
Casie Nodded.
Arthur pointed at Chick Matthews, the debtor. "Go on then," he said "take him down."
Casie grabbed the lasso from her saddle bag, after three rotations she launched the lasso, which landed squarely over his head. As he came off the back of his horse, Casie quickly jumped off of Maggie, and tied his hands behind his back.
"Nice work, Casie" Arthur exclaimed.
Arthur got off of his horse, grabbed Chick Matthews by the hair and jerked his head back. "Where's our money Mr Matthews?" He said menacingly.
The young boy was slightly panicked and slightly embarrassed to have been taken down by a girl. "Its hidden." He yelled "The map's in my pocket."
Casie immediately searched his pockets and looked at the map.
"I know this place." she said with a smile.
Arthur untied the boy and handed the Lasso back to Casie.
"If you're lyin' boy, I will come and find you, and it won't be pretty." He warned.
The boy ran and Arthur and Casie, mounted there horses. This time Casie took the lead, and they headed up to wards a hill, where an old oak tree stood. They both jumped off their horses, and Casie eventually found a hole in the trunk.
Casie turned to Arthur "give me a boost." She said.
Arthur lifted her up and she put her hand into the hole and pulled out a bundle of dollar bills and handed them to Arthur with a smile.
Arthur smiled and winked. "One down, one to go." He said.
They both mounted their horses and headed north. After they had been riding for a while Arthur asked. "Where did you learn to ride like that, and handle a lasso"?
"Mostly when me and P..." She stopped, after talking with Dutch earlier, it made her realise even more that her Pa hadn't been so great.
"Before...I used to mostly steal horses, or rope wild ones and sell 'em. Been doing that since I was about ten." she said.
Arthur nodded.
Casie quickly changed the subject, not wanting to talk about her past, but more interested in what her future might hold. "So who's next?" she asked.
"A man who lives just outside Valentine, a do gooder called Thomas Downes, he owes us quite a lot of money." He said.
Casie gasped. "No Arthur you can't!"
Arthur looked at Casie "Casie, its what we do, he owes us money. If you know him and you would rather sit this one out, then fine go back to camp." he said a little frustrated that she seemed to be bottling out.
"No Arthur, it's not that, its dangerous." She said panic in her voice.
Arthur laughed "What's he gonna do, shoot me?"
"Arthur, he's dyin', he's got a real bad disease. If he coughs on you, you'll get it, and if you try and beat him up, he's bound to cough, he always coughing."
Arthur slowed down his horse. "What's it called Casie, this disease he's got?"
"Its Turb...Turboc..." she tried to get the word out and was struggling to remember exactly how it went.
Arthur knew what she was trying to say "Tuberculosis!" he exclaimed.
Casie nodded, relieved that she had finally managed to tell Arthur.
Arthur looked at Casie. "You know kid, you just might have saved my life! Just wait until I get my hands on Strauss." He said.
With that the pair changed direction and headed back to camp.
When they got back to camp, Arthur gave Casie the money that they had recovered.
"he put two ten dollar bills aside, that's our cut, ten for you and ten for me, put the rest in the box by Dutch's tent. I've got business to attend to." With that Arthur strode off to look for Strauss.
Casie headed to Dutch's tent and put the money in the box as instructed. Dutch peered out the tent.
"So what have you and Arthur been up to?" he asked.
Casie smiled, "We've been debt collecting for Strauss, I had to help Arthur chase someone on their horse, and lasso him. We then got a map of him, which showed us where he hid the money. Arthur says I get ten dollars for that!"
Dutch squeezed her shoulder. "Indeed you do, and how did you enjoy it."
"It was fun." she said, but then a serious look crossed her face.
"But..." Dutch said.
"We were going to get another one." She said, "but the man is real sick and the sickness he has is really catching, and he's dying. If he had coughed on Arthur, Arthur would have got sick too and died." She caught her breath after trying to tell everything to Dutch without taking a breath.
"Where is Arthur now?" he asked.
Casie pointed towards Strauss's tent "He's gone to see Herr Strauss." She said.
Dutch held her head in his hands and kissed her on the forehead "You're a good girl, Casie. You probably saved Arthur's life today. Now go and get some supper and go to bed. You didn't get any sleep last night and you've been working all afternoon."
Casie nodded with a smile and headed off towards Pearson's tent to see if supper was ready.
Dutch headed towards Strauss's tent. He could already hear raised voices.
"You're an idiot, Strauss, loaning to people that are dyin' and putting peoples lives at risk." Arthur growled.
Dutch intervened before Strauss could respond.
"Herr Strauss, Arthur is right. If it wasn't for Casie, then Arthur would be in serious trouble. And if Arthur is in serious trouble, then so are the rest of us."
Herr Strauss stood up. "Its legal work, which is more than can be said for what the rest of you do." He shouted.
Dutch glared at the small German man, and brought his face as close to him as he could.
"Have a care Herr Strauss...have a care."
With that Dutch strode back to his tent, calling after Arthur.
"Come on Arthur, we need to talk."
