Chapter Ten

Heath and Andrew continued checking Andrew's traps for the rest of the afternoon. For the most part, nothing was said between the two men. Heath was trying to get himself to relax as he hadn't had a headache all day, and he seemed better able to control any outburst that rose to the surface.

On the other hand Andrew had his mind on not only the men Jackson had talked about, the ones stealing from his and Jackson's traps, but his missing son and his late nephew as well. Glancing at Heath through the corner of his eye, as he knelt down to check on his second to last trap, which had indeed been tampered with by someone, He was having a fight with his conscience. Andrew knew that Heath had the right to know he was actually with the man he sought. Only, Andrew inwardly sighed, it was like he'd told Jackson…he just knew Heath wouldn't head home if he was given that knowledge. It was the idea of a man who was most likely dying going who knows where; doing heaven knows what, that kept Andrew from admitting everything and asking Heath to tell him everything. Well, that and the quiet blonde was making quite the impression on him, to the point that Andrew just hated the idea of the young man dying alone.

"Someone took your catch," Heath stated as he knelt down too and looked at the trap in his new friend's hands even if he did know he didn't really need to state the obvious. The trap seemed to have a couple strands of hair attached to the jaws of the rap.

"Looks like it," Andrew stood up, a look of pure disgust on his face as he looked around. Why the men simply get their own traps was beyond Andrew. He looked at Heath. The man looked as healthy as the next man. If Andrew hadn't witnessed the headaches and seen Heath fly off the handle in a fit of rage more than once, he would wonder what gave the young man the idea he had been infected and was dying. "I have one more trap to check only it's growing dark, so I won't check it until tomorrow morning. My cabin is just over the hill. Let's head there. First thing in the morning we can check the trap and then see what we can do about finding the man, or men, responsible for these thefts."

Heath wasn't about to argue. He was tired, growing hungry and wanted to rest. "Sounds like a good idea," he said, keeping his eyes open as he headed in the direction Andrew had indicated. He couldn't help it, knowing there were thieves roaming around. Any man willing to steal from another would most likely be willing to kill them. In his case, Heath told himself that might be a blessing only Mr. Philips still had a number of years in him. Heath was sure of it and he didn't want to those years shortened after the man had begun treating him like a son.

. ~oOo~

"I tell you, I saw him myself!" Benjamin Matthews, a black haired, twenty-four year old stood in a cave that lay five miles from Andrew's last trp. He was actually standing up against the wall of the cave while his friend Harris Tippen, a brown haired, twenty five year old who had been born in Colorado, but raised outside Stockton, stood a few feet away. "Heath Barkley is with that old mountain man, and they know animals are being taken out of the steel traps!"

"You've been drinking or something! It's affected your eyes and thinking!" Harris growled as he sat down on some of the grayish rocks he had used to make a fire-pit inside the cave. "Heath Barkley has no reason to be up this way. He'd be on the Barkley ranch helping that loud mouth brother of his run the ranch!"

Benjamin didn't like being told he had been taking anything that would alter his reasoning capabilities. He knew who he'd seen and that Heath, along with the old man, had been inspecting the traps. "Isn't a thing wrong with my eyes or anything else for that matter! I tell you, Heath Barkley is with that old man and they will be looking for us now!"

Harris, who could see how serious Benjamin was, began to become worried. His friend was a lot of things and, more than once had his information wrong. However, when Benjamin became this insistent about anything, the man was usually right. Harris didn't like the idea that, for whatever reason, Heath was now running around with Mr. Phillips. One old man he was pretty sure they could handle should they cross paths. But the old man and Heath Barkley, he wasn't all that sure about that one. Still, as long as they didn't let themselves be seen, there'd be no reason to worry. "So, we remain calm and keep our wits about us! They don't know where we're at and they haven't seen us! Let's keep it that way!"

Benjamin still did not like it. He was sure that Heath being up in the Sierras was a bad sign. He just knew they needed to take Mr. Barkley's presence seriously, not just ignore him. He had to get his friend to see that. "It doesn't matter if they haven't seen us! They'll track us! Mr. Phillips has roamed these hills for a number of years from what I hear. And we both know Heath has done a lot of tracking himself! One, or both, of them will insist on looking around!"

Again, Harris knew his friend had a point. Even so, he didn't want to have to confront both Heath and mountain man if they didn't have to. "Just sit down and calm down!" He barked as he gestured towards the other side of the fire-pit. "We've covered up our tracks before; we can do it again!" He was more than relieved when Benjamin shut up and sat down. The last thing Harris needed was to continue to have to listen to Harris' rantings and watching the man get himself worked up over something that they could handle, if they did things right.

A/N Just so you know, there really isn't going to be a lot of drama in this story...just a tiny hiccup.