“Now that we know where Toole’s headed, it takes some of the hurry out,” Conn said. “Not much, but a little. If the trail goes cold, at least we know where it leads.”
“Unless they blow out of there,” Sheffield said.
“Yeah, like I said, some of the hurry. Not all. But I reckon we have time to eat and sleep and haul Ben Blake back to Fairplay.”
“Good,” Sheffield said. “One thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
“We get to town, let’s not go telling folks where we’re going.”
“You mean Toole’s location?”
Sheffield nodded. “If they ain’t riding with us, don’t none of them need to know. Besides, someone might print it up in a paper. Or maybe Toole’s got a friend in town who would send a telegram.”
“We’ll keep it between us, then,” Conn said.
McKay nodded and yawned mightily.
Conn carried the lantern over to Ben Blake’s body, which still lay in the barn, and set it down beside him and searched the man’s pockets, quickly finding what he had expected to discover: a pair of shiny golden eagles.
“These were my brother’s,” Conn said.
Sheffield and McKay nodded.
Conn held out the coins to them.
Sheffield shook his head. “I ain’t doing this for money.”
“Same,” McKay said.
“Understood, but you’re welcome to it.”
Both men refused.
“Let’s eat,” Sheffield said.
They went into the house, which was surprisingly clean and well-stocked for the home of bachelors.
Conn lit some lamps and got a fire going in the stove and boiled some beans and fried up a few thick ham steaks. There was a loaf of sourdough on the counter, and he broke that into thirds and put it down beside their plates on the kitchen table.
They ate in silence.
When they were finished, Conn yawned. He needed sleep, but sleeping in here would feel too ghoulish. He said as much to the men.
McKay shrugged.
“I reckon we’re better off sleeping in the barn,” Sheffield said. “We don’t know how many Blake brothers there are. Last thing I want is someone coming home and finding us asleep in here.”
So they hid their horses around back and dragged Ben Blake out of the barn, figuring if anybody discovered him, they’d check the house first and make a racket hollering for the other brothers.
They slept with their boots on and their guns close at hand.
When Conn woke to a rooster crowing the next morning, he still lay in exactly the same spot. He’d been so tired he hadn’t even shifted around once.
Sheffield lay like a corpse upon his bedroll. McKay snored loudly from a hay-lined stall, his big boots jutting out into the aisle.
Conn got up and went outside. Blake was still dead out there, and they’d had no visitors.
