The Rescue 37
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Matt anxiously glanced back yet again at Kitty. Though stoically riding along without complaint, he could tell she was about done in. She was not going to be able to ride much further.
They had traveled the night through and most of the morning, going ever south west taking a brief break here and there but not stopping for any long period of time. His neck and shoulders were stiff from hunching over his horse to ward off the cold and his hands and feet were getting close to numb. He knew Kitty was in probably even worse shape.
Keenly, he scanned the surrounding countryside as they rode, praying for some sort of shelter where they could get out of the cold wind and get at least a few hours of rest before having to press on.
Another mile further on, he found what he was looking for.
"Hang on, honey." He told her, as he slowed his mount to match the stride of hers. "There's a town up ahead. Maybe we can find a place there to get in out of the cold for a little while anyway."
Kitty looked fearfully ahead. "Do you think it's safe? I mean whoever the law is here may have a poster on me by now."
Matt considered that for a second before nodding and bending over slightly to get into his saddle bag. "I'll think it'll be fine, as long as you don't mind being my prisoner for a day or so."
A slight smile graced Kitty's face as she looked lovingly over at him. "I've been your prisoner in one way or another since I met you, Matt Dillon."
With a return grin, Matt took the badge he'd kept, despite his resignation, and pinned it in its familiar place on his chest.
Kitty watched him pin it on and then looked up at him curiously. "I thought you resigned and turned that in?"
"I did resign," Matt answered. "But I held onto this. You never know when it might come in handy. I figure no one here will likely know that I'm no longer a Marshal and I don't see why we need to tell them. Do you?"
"No." Her smiled returned. "I guess I don't. Take me on, Marshal. Your prisoner is ready to get inside someplace warm."
Matt's grin broadened a little as he reached over and took the reins to her horse and placed a warm kiss on her lips. "Yes, Ma'am." Turning, he kicked his horse back into a walk and they moved on towards the small hamlet.
Back at the trading post, Doc sat wearily in a chair beside the bed where Festus was laying. He'd removed the bullet and gotten the bleeding stopped. Though his friend's temperature was elevated, it wasn't dangerously so. Doc had pretty good feeling that Festus would make it. He just hoped the same for Matt and Kitty.
Buster and Percival had carried Ak and Harry out of the trading post and back to the same area where Quaid Hill, Seth Brody and Hill's men were now residing. Cash had been buried in another place on the property at Buster's request. He didn't want his friend associated, even after death, with the likes of Hill and his men.
The ground was too frozen to dig a grave, but the men found enough rocks to do the job and Buster declared he would check on the graves later in the year to make sure they weren't disturbed. As Buster and Percival trudged exhaustedly back towards the building, Buster suddenly gave out a small cry of alarm. "Look there!" He pointed at the heavy tracks made in the snow.
Percival walked over, bent down and looked but stood with a shrug. "Just the tracks Matt and Kitty made last night when they left."
Buster shook his head. "Yeah, but there's another set there too. Look." He pointed to another set of markings, not as deep, following the first group. "Somebody followed them out of here."
Percival shared an uneasy look with the trading post owner as he ran a hand through his rapidly graying hair. Looking back towards the building and then back down at the tracks, he made a decision. "Let's not tell Doc Adams or Festus." He told Buster. "There's nothing any of us can do, if someone did follow them, it would only serve to worry those two more than they already are."
Buster swallowed hard, but nodded. "Probably right." He acknowledged. "Where ever our friends are, they's in God's hands now. All we can do is keep em in prayer, anyways. And I figure Doc is a doin' that as we speak."
As the two men tramped back through the snow to the warmth of the trading post, Clark Grafton walked frozen and furious still following the horse tracks. While following the trail left by his prey in their escape, Grafton had paid little attention to much besides the tracks which would lead him to his bounty. That unfortunately proved to be a disastrous thing for him to do as, head down; he didn't see the low hanging branch, his horse had ridden under.
In one fell swoop he was knocked backwards from the saddle and onto the frozen ground below as his horse continued on without him. Rising quickly to his feet, he ran after the animal only to slip on the ice beneath his feet, resulting in his taking a tumble down a small slope to his left. Tumbling head over heels, he landed with a crash against a tree, jarring his back and twisting his ankle. When he was finally able to stand, he pulled himself up, climbed back to the well-worn trail and set off on foot.
His head hurt, his back and ankle pained him tremendously but he refused to give into it. A sizeable reward had been offered for Kitty Russell and the man, or men, who were with her. He wanted that reward and he was bound and determined to get it. No matter what he had to do.
TBC