Double The Bounty

Chapter IX

He got to the livery before the sun started to come up, and Felicia was there already.

“Good morning,” he said, handing her the book.

“I saddled your horse for you.”

“You did?”

“I told old Hiram to stay asleep.”

Decker checked the cinch on his saddle and found that she had done a good job.

“Picked up your supplies for you, too.”

“Did you, now?”

She nodded.

“Mr. Walker at the general store is friends with my grandfather.”

Actually, Decker usually had coffee and jerky in his saddlebags and little else in the way of stores. He believed in traveling light and eating light. It made the first meal when you came off the trail taste that much better.

Felicia handed him a canvas sack, though, and he accepted it.

“You got bacon and coffee, some jerky, some biscuits, and a can of peaches.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure.”

He hefted the sack and said, “Not enough here for two.”

She looked sheepish.

“That was silly of me, to think you’d take me with you.”

“Yes, it was.”

She touched the hangman’s noose while he tied the sack to the back of his saddle.

“Did you read the book?”

“I did.”

“What did you think?”

“It wasn’t bad.”

“But was it you?”

He turned and looked down at her. Her eyes were wide and shining, her nose pug with freckles on the bridge. She was going to be a beauty when she got older and filled out.

“No, Felicia, it wasn’t me. I admit it was real close, but somebody’s imagination is pretty good, is all.”

“Mr. Buntline’s.”

“Yes.”

“I have heard of you, though,” she said, still touching the noose.

“Have you?”

“Or read about you, I should say. The bounty hunter who carries a hangman’s noose on his saddle. I always wanted to ask you why.”

“When you get a little older, I’ll come back and tell you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Great! And maybe then, if I’m pretty enough, you’ll take me with you when you leave.”

“You’ll be pretty enough,” he said, mounting up, “but we’ll have to talk about that when the time comes.”

“Wait,” she said as he started to ride out. “Don’t you want to hear my ideas?”

“I don’t have time, Felicia.”

He was riding away when he heard her shout out, “You’re a fool if you don’t realize that you’re looking for two men!”

In Doverville, Arizona, a rider left town at first light the same day, traveling light. The intention of this rider was to ride in a straight line from Doverville to Heartless, Wyoming.

Decker made excellent time and crossed into Utah in three days. Ol’ John Henry may have lacked the speed of younger horses, but his stamina was as good as ever.

Along the way he had not stopped in many towns. He was trying to put himself in Brian Foxx’s place. The man had just pulled a bank robbery and would be looking for a place to light for a while—maybe even the same place after every job.

One thing Decker had learned about Brian Foxx was that his jobs—the “dual” jobs—were confined largely to Wyoming and Arizona, with an occasional foray into New Mexico.

Why not Utah?

Why not Colorado?

The answer was simple. Foxx’s home between jobs was in one of those places, and Decker’s immediate guess was Utah.

He also figured that Foxx wouldn’t stop in any towns for supplies or whatever until he entered Utah. His face was too well-known to risk stopping in a Wyoming town, especially when he’d pulled a robbery so recently

Men in Decker’s profession often relied on hunches, and he had a hunch that Foxx was heading for a hole somewhere in Utah.