By Lyn
Copyright 1999
Teaspoon stood staring at the ground for the hundredth time that day. Once again they had lost the tracks and were having a hard time finding them. It was now mid afternoon and he wasn’t sure that they had even managed to put twenty miles behind them. And it wasn’t because the riders they were following were making any attempt to cover their tracks. They weren’t. But the area they were riding through was dry and rocky and often times there were no prints left.
Teaspoon looked up and scratched the back of his head. He scanned the area, locating each of his boys, and hoped that one of them would call out that they had found sign, and soon. But even as he watched them, each one continued moving slowly and methodically, eyes to the ground, or examining bushes and plant material for signs of horses passing through.
An hour later they were still looking, their search having progressed to such a distance so that he could barely see each boy. But not a one of them suggested stopping. Their stubborn tenacity made Teaspoon proud. His boys would not abandon one of their own.
But even Teaspoon began having doubts that they would pick up the trail when they were still searching at dusk. He set out to gather the wandering boys and stop for the night, riding toward one boy at a time and marking where they had stopped, then moving on to the next.
He had located Kid and Jimmy, and was riding toward Ike when a gunshot filled the air. The three kicked their horses locating Ike within the half mile. The young man stood next to a tree, pointing excitedly at the remains of a fire. Teaspoon dismounted as Cody rode up to join them.
"What’d ya find?" the blonde rider asked as he, too, jumped to the ground.
Teaspoon examined the ashes as Kid and Ike looked over the ground, locating the shoe prints that they had been following all day. And better yet, there were clear tracks leading away from the encampment.
"Good. Now we have a direction to go again. We’d best make camp for the night, get a fresh start in the morning."
We can’t stop now, Teaspoon! Ike signed. We’ve wasted too much time already today.
"I know how you feel Ike. But we’ve got, maybe, half an hour of light left. We’ll set up camp and be on our way at first light."
Ike reluctantly agreed, nodding his head as Teaspoon patted his shoulder.
"Let’s get some wood gathered while we can still see." The boys somberly headed off to follow the man’s instructions.
"I don’t see why I can’t go after them, Emma!"
"Because someone has to stay here and take the runs. Besides, how would you know where to go? I don’t even know where they started from."
Lou flopped down on a bench at the table.
"You’re right." she grumbled, grabbing a handful of snap beans from the table and ripping each bean in half. Emma watched her, understanding the helplessness the girl felt. If Emma thought she could have helped she would be out there with the others searching herself.
"Still, I should be out there helping." Lou wasn’t ready to give up the argument quite yet, feeling the need to make that one last statement before getting up to feed the horses and check the barn one last time before supper.
None of the search party slept much. At any given point in time during the night there was at least one of them up pacing, or poking at the embers of the low fire. And most times there was more than one of than doing so. Teaspoon tried to rest, knowing that with the others not resting, their tempers would have short fuses, and he wanted to be sharp enough to put out the fires and still get them all through this in one piece.
When the sky began to lighten ever so slightly, each rider rose and began to saddle their horses. They ate a cold breakfast and started on their way as soon as they could make out the tracks. They were all silent and Teaspoon took this as a blessing. If any one of them made a wrong comment, another was bound to blow up over it. Teaspoon hoped they would have sense enough to hold their tongues until this was over.
They followed the tracks easily, the ground having turned more sandy as the rocky terrain was left behind them. But they still could only travel at a walk, for fear of missing where the prints made a turn. They all knew without saying it that they were falling behind the people they tracked. The only hope they had was if the other riders would stop soon. Otherwise they would get further and further behind. The chances of losing the trail grew with each mile traveled.
On to Chapter Five
