And three others,” Sheriff Cody said.
“Have you ever run across the Mueller brothers?” Bates asked.
“No.”
Bates smiled. “I didn’t reckon you had. ’Cause if you had, both them bastards would be dead by now.”
“Who were the other three?” Falcon asked.
Sheriff Cody shook his head. “We don’t know. Barnes recognized the Muellers, but he had never seen any of the others.”
“Are you going after them?”
“By now, they have more than likely left the county,” Sheriff Cody said. “Even if I found them, I would have to work with the sheriff of that county. But you hold a special deputy’s commission from the governor, which gives you authority all over the state. I was hoping you might take a personal interest in this. Reverend Powell was a friend of yours, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, he was a close friend. He did the funeral for my mother and my father, and he baptized nearly every one of my nieces and nephews. I guess I’ve known the Reverend and Mrs. Powell for just about all my life. They were among the earliest settlers of the valley, and they were good people.”
“He had already retired when I came here,” Sheriff Cody said. “But I knew him, of course, and from what I knew of him, he was a good person. I heard that he could give one stem-winder of a sermon.”
“Yes, he could,” Falcon said. He remembered, as a young boy, sometimes getting very impatient with the length of the good parson’s sermons. Falcon was usually anxious to get to a fishing pond or some such place, and he would squirm until his mother or one of his older sisters would fix him with a steely glare.
“Did anyone see them leave? Do we know which way they were going?” Falcon asked.
“Yes, we had quite a few people who saw them ride out of town. The only thing we know for sure is they were headin’ east when they left here. Bates and I went out lookin’ for ’em, but didn’t see anything.
“I know you probably have other things to do, but I was hopin’ you’d take a look around for us, see what you could come up with.”
“Sheriff, they killed two people who were as close as family to me. I would go after those men whether you asked me to or not. Yes, I will find them.”
It did not escape Sheriff Cody’s attention that Falcon said I “will find” them, rather than I “will go after” them.
“Thanks,” Sheriff Cody said.
“I told you he would,” Bates said with a smile of smug satisfaction on his face.
“Good, good. So, what do we do next? What can I do to help you?”
“The teller was the only witness?” Falcon asked.
“Clyde Barnes was the only witness to the actual hold up, though several saw them riding out of town.”
“Let’s start with Barnes,” Falcon suggested.
For the next half hour, Falcon gathered as much information as he could about the robbers.
“Well, you know what the Muellers look like, don’t you?” Barnes said. “I guess just about ever’ one knows what they look like. They’re little short, dried up, evil looking men. As for the others, one of them has only one eye. That’s his left eye. There is nothing but a big old ugly mass of purple flesh where the right eye was. And another one had only three fingers on his left hand. Don’t know as I saw anything particular about the third man, I mean, he was pretty ordinary as men go.”
“What about their horses?” Falcon asked.
Barnes shook his head. “I didn’t see them. I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right,” Falcon said. “You’ve given me a good description of the men. It will be very helpful.”
At least half a dozen citizens who had seen the bank robbers ride out of town at breakneck speed reported two were riding roans, one was riding a black horse, one a white horse, and one was riding a paint. Falcon examined the ground where the horses had been tied up outside the bank and saw something that made him smile. One of the horses had a tie-bar shoe on his right forefoot.
Riding out to the east end of town, he looked around until he found that same tie-bar. He chuckled. They may as well have left behind a series of arrow shaped signs reading, WE WENT THIS WAY.
Somewhat farther into the trail, Falcon realized the Mueller brothers weren’t going to make it as easy as he first thought. They had been on the run for nearly all their adult life, so they knew how to confuse and disorient anyone who might be tracking them. They took great pains to cover their true trail, while leaving false trails for anyone to follow. To that end they rode through streams and over hard rock, trying every trick in the book to throw off anyone who might be following them. But Falcon hung on doggedly.
In trying to shake off anyone who might be following them, the Mueller brothers and their cohorts were actually helping Falcon. Since it was always the same five horses who broke the trail, he had a way of identifying each of them, not just the one with the tie-bar shoe. One of the horses had a slight turn-in of its right rear hoof. Two of the horses had noticeable nicks in their shoes, one on the left rear and the other on both rear shoes. Only one horse had no noticeable features and that, in itself, became a way of identifying it. In addition, all the horses had grazed together for the last few days, because their droppings were filled with the same kind of wild, mountain meadow grass.
“Whoever that feller is that’s a’ doggin’ us is still on our trail,” Terrell said.
Luke twisted around in his saddle. “Are you sure?”
“Hell yes, I’m sure. I just got me a glimpse of ’im on the other side of that far ridge.”
“That makes ’im a little more’n a mile back.”
“Ain’t they no way we can shake ’im?” Caldwell asked.
“You got ’ny ideas that we ain’t tried?” Luke replied. “We done ever’thing I can think of, an’ it ain’t even slowed ’im down none.”
“Whoever the hell he is, I swear, he could track a fish through water,” Poole said.
“I tell you what we ought to do,” Clete said.
“All right, brother, let me hear your idea.”
“We ought to just wait behind a couple rocks and shoot him, soon as he comes up on us.”
“If I thought for certain we would get ’im, I’d be all for it,” Luke said. “But we’re not likely to get a clean shot at ’im out here.”
The five men had stopped for a few minutes, not only to discuss the situation of the man on their trail, but also to give their horses a breather. All five were looking back, trying to get a glimpse of the man who was following them. When Luke turned back around, he chuckled.
“I got me an idea,” he said.
