Ch 15

Buck and Ike pushed past the crowd of people in front of the saloon. They walked on to find Teaspoon.

"Teaspoon! There's a crowd in front of the saloon. They are going after Jimmy."

"Damn, damn, damn!" Said Teaspoon.

"Ride out and warn em! Tell em to do whatever until we can find this other man! Kid and Lou are out looking as we speak!" Teaspoon said as he walked over to stand in front of the crowd.

"Simmer down y'all! There ain't no need for this! I'm working as hard as I can!"

"It's been two days and you still ain't found Hickok! We got three dead to account for! I say we find him and bring him to town! String him up!"

"This town deserves justice!"

Buck heard all the yelling as he and Ike rode hell bent back to Jimmy. Noah saw them coming and stood.

"Something's wrong, Jimmy."

Jimmy just sat and watched as they rode up.

"We got trouble." Said Buck.

"I figured." Replied Noah.

"There's a posse forming in town. More than thirty men. They are gonna be looking for Jimmy. They have already decided his guilt."

"Well we need to get moving. Come on Jimmy."

"What if I am guilty, Noah. I don't know what I did."

"You know you didn't do it. Let's just go until we figure this out."

"Y'all shouldn't get put in the middle of all this. I'm just gonna go."

"No you ain't. I ain't leaving you on your own. Now get ready to ride."

"I'd head down the creek into the far side of the valley. Ike and I will try to lead them in the wrong direction." Said Buck as Ike nodded.

Jimmy reluctantly mounted his horse along with Noah.

"I'll know where to look to find ya if Teaspoon figures anything out."

Buck and Ike galloped back across the plains toward town when they saw the posse heading out. They turned their horses in the direction away from Jimmy and Noah. The posse saw the cloud of dust. They turned to follow. Buck and Ike looked at each and rushed on.

Kid and Lou raced into the next town to find a crowd gathered around the saloon. Kid walked up to a man at the back.

"Excuse me sir? What's going on?"

"Saloon girl got killed last night."

Lou looked at Kid.

"Anyone see anything."

"Sheriff has got another girl locked up that said she seen a big man with the dead girl."

"Same man, Kid." Said Lou.

"My thoughts too."

"He is probably on his way to the next town."

"Let's see if we can beat him there. We got to get him back to Sweetwater."

"What if we can't?"

"We have to Lou. One way or the other."

Kid and Lou mounted up to race on to the next town.

Noah and Jimmy sat in the trees watching part of the posse go by.

"They split up. They're getting way too close. We got to find somewhere else to go." Said Noah.

"We can't keep running forever, Noah."

"Jimmy, you didn't kill anybody. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I can't remember where I was!"

"Don't you dare give up on me now. Let's go!"

Noah kicked his horse in the opposite direction. Jimmy followed.