Chester began to squirm slightly in his saddle. He and the marshall had been moving at a slow but steady pace and another sunset was approaching. His back ached from all the riding, and his eyes were tired from having to stare so diligently at the tracks on the trail. Dillon's voice startled him.
"Chester, take a look at that..."
Goode followed the lawman's pointed finger to a cabin nestled in some trees. There was smoke coming from both chimneys and unless he was mistaken he caught the faint waft of stew floating toward him.
"That stew sure smells nice..."
Dillon stared at him for a moment, unbelievingly. "Nevermind about the stew, Chester, the tracks we're following head right up there."
Goode's eyes widened. "You mean that's where Miss Kitty and Doc are?"
"Most likely."
"Well Mr. Dillon, what are we gonna do? I mean there's only two of us and judging by the amount of hooves on the ground, we're looking at facing about four men, maybe more if they was already there."
"There's only one way for us to handle this, Chester."
"There is?"
"Uh-huh. You're going to stay outside in the trees, your rifle at the ready, and I'm going in."
"What do you mean 'you're goin' in'? You make it sound like you're gonna walk right up to that there front door and knock and ask for some stew." Dillon smiled slightly. "Oh now, Mr. Dillon, you can't do that. You know them's outlaws up there and they've got Doc and Miss Kitty!"
"Exactly, Chester. They have Kitty and Doc. We can't go in shooting. Look, they didn't try to disguise their tracks, so it stands to reason they wanted us to find them. They wanted me to find them. I don't wanna disappoint them."
"And you'll be in that nice warm cabin eatin' stew..."
One of Dillon's eyebrows raised. "Well if you wanna be the one to knock on the door..."
"That ain't funny, Mr. Dillon."