Captain Anderson was fascinated. "Mr McCain, I have to take my hat off to you and your son. Mark, you're an extraordinary young man."

Luke gazed fondly at the boy. "Yes, sir, he is."

Mark flushed under the praise. "All I had to do was keep my mouth shut and my eyes open. Pa was trailing us and every night when I went out for water, I left him a note." The boy frowned. "That's where I was going when they brought you in camp. How'd they catch you?"

"That's why this kind of work is so dangerous, son. All it takes is one moment of carelessness. I was scouting ahead of Micah and Nils and I didn't even have my rifle because I didn't want to take a chance of a shot being heard while you were in the camp." Luke rubbed his head. "I thought I was far enough out to be safe but I wasn't. Those two ran right across me."

"They were out looking for a deer. Tom was tired of eating dried beef." Mark shivered at the memory of Luke being dragged into the camp.

His father turned the conversation. "Captain Anderson, what's going to happen now?"

"We'll take them back to Fort Harker. I'm afraid the payroll will be late but there's no help for that."

"I wonder why they wanted to meet up in North Fork?" Mark shook his head. "That's an awful long ride out of their way."

Micah said, "I got some more information from the authorities in Kansas. Seems Alvin White was a very careful planner. He always got the money and nobody ever got hurt in any of his robberies."

"He said he didn't hold with killing." Mark said soberly, "That man Tom Sullivan wanted to shoot you, Pa, but Mr White wouldn't let him. Jake didn't want you to get hurt either."

Micah snorted. "Are you forgetting Dan shot your father when we tried to arrest him?"

The boy looked taken aback and Luke said quietly, "Micah's right, son. A man can't follow a violent trade without hurting somebody sooner or later."

"White did a fair job, as robbers go." Micah shook his head. "He was smart. Going to North Fork, that was very smart. It got his gang out of Kansas and away from the authorities and it gave them time to plan."

Anderson said, "It sounds like taking our payroll would have gone off without a hitch if it wasn't for you, Mark."

"I couldn't have done it without my pa," said the boy softly. "The worst was last night when they brought him in the camp. Tom wanted to shoot him right then but Mr White agreed to let us tie him up. Then all I had to do was slip a knife in his hand while I was gagging him and tell him we had business today."

"I just waited until you were gone and cut myself loose." Luke smiled. "Micah and Nils and I moved in close and watched you ride out this morning and get up on those rocks. When the driver got down to check on you, we slipped up behind them while they were getting the drop on the soldiers and we got the drop on them."

"It was very well done," said Anderson. "My commander will be in touch with all of you. We'll need your statements for the trial."