Choices

Written by Wendy

Disclaimer: This story is in no way meant to infringe on the rights of the creator of the series The Young Riders, Ed Spielman and Ogiens/Kane. All other characters are copyrighted by the author.

Chapter 58

Kid paced anxiously back and forth in front of the hotel as he waited for Jimmy, Buck and Ike to show up. His search of Ft. Kearney had proved futile and he had returned to the hotel to await the arrival of the others. He hoped that Buck, Ike or Jimmy would return with a lead on Lou.

He had only been waiting for a few minutes when jimmy rode up on Sundancer. Kid could tell by the scowl on his friend's face that Jimmy hadn't had any luck either. Jimmy reined Sundancer to a halt, dismounted and tied his horse's reins to the hitching post before joining Kid on the sidewalk.

"I take it you didn't have any luck either?" he asked Kid.

"Nope. Let's hope Buck or Ike had better luck than we did."

"Looks like we're about to find out" Jimmy said, pointing down the street. "Here they come now."

Kid turned his head in the direction that Jimmy had indicated and watched as Buck and Ike rode up. He tried to judge by their expressions whether their searches had been successful, but couldn't read either rider's face. He was just going to have to wait until they came to a stop and spoke. Kid didn't have too long to wait cause as soon as Ike had reined Thunder to a halt, his hands began to move. Ike's hands literally flew through the air in his excitement to convey to the others what he had found out. After a few minutes both Kid and Jimmy gave up trying to follow what Ike was signing and waited for Buck to tell them what Ike had found out.

Buck waited until Ike's hands had stopped moving before turning to Kid and Jimmy. "Ike found a boarding house about three streets back and to the far right. The boarding house lights were still on so Ike went inside and inquired if they had any rooms available. There was..one.. so Ike paid for it and signed the register. As he was signing, Ike let his eyes stray over the pages and found that someone had signed in the night before under the name of Lou Boggs."

"Wasn't that the name Lou's pa went by?" Jimmy asked Kid.

"It sure is." Kid said excitedly.

"Ike said he didn't question the woman at the boarding house about the signature, for fear it would get back to Lou and she'd take off before we talk to her." Buck continued.

Ike slapped his chest to get their attention. (I also found another livery. Treva, that's the lady who owns the boarding house, she told me her brother owns it.)

"Great job Ike!" Kid told him. "How much do you all want to bet that we'll find Lightning there?"

"Only Cody would be fool enough to take a bet like that." Jimmy joked.

The others laughed at Jimmy's joke, agreeing that only the blonde haired rider would be willing enough to take such a bet. As quickly as their laughter came, it faded.

"So what are we going to do now?" Buck asked.

"One room isn't going to be enough for us all." Kid said thoughtfully. "How's this? Ike and Jimmy will share the room he rented at the boarding house and Buck and I will stay here in the hotel."

"Sounds good to me. That way Ike and I'll be able to keep a look out for Lou." Jimmy told him. "That okay with you Ike?"

Ike nodded his agreement. (Jimmy and I will take the horses and get them bedded down for the night.)

"Good idea. After Buck and I rent our rooms we'll go into the dining room and order us all something to eat." Kid said.

Buck swung down off of Racing Moon's back and then handed the horse's reins to Ike. Jimmy mounted Sundancer and then untied the palomino's reins and Katie's from the hitching post and followed after Ike as he kicked thunder into motion. Buck and Kid watched them for a moment before heading into the hotel.

Chapter 59

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