The riders were back into Wyoming and more than halfway home when they ran into Big Bill Bury and his sons, Lon and Pardo, with a no-account deputy sheriff from somewhere up around Cody who made it possible for Bury to pose as the law. Bury also had two new recruits riding with him, Willie Thaw and Zeke Ketcham.

Bury was on foot, leading a horse that had come up lame. Eli whispered to Juanita to take Emaline with her and head on back, but she refused to budge. He gave her a look but let it ride, dismounted and untied his bullwhip from the saddle. He nodded at Ezra, who eased his rifle out of the scabbard. Farron and Two Spuds did the same, fanned out a little so they could keep an eye on Bury’s men, especially Willie Thaw. Willie could tell Spuds was just hoping for a reason to shoot his hat off. He put his hands up nice and slow, although no one had asked him to.

Eli strode up to Bill Bury like a man with nothing more on his mind than the price of hogs in Omaha.

“Howdy, Bill.”

“Don’t you howdy me, you horse-thievin sonofabitch.”

“Only horses I got is the horses you see here. Every last one of them has the 8T8 brand, all registered proper.”

“You know damned well what I mean.”

“No, I don’t. If you’re talking about that bunch of mustangs I seen back there a ways, they don’t belong to nobody and never did. Not even the federal government. There wasn’t a branded critter in the bunch.”

“You busted up government fences.”

“We never touched a fence.”

“Then how’d you get them horses out?”

“I’m surprised at you, Bill. All these years in ranching, you never heard of a gate? Supposin that we took ’em, which we didn’t, we could a led them right out the gate.”

“That gate was locked and anyhow, the wranglers would a stopped you.”

“Not on a Saturday night, they wouldn’t. My understanding is that they were cutting a wide swath over in Gillette. Now if that little deputy there is goin to try to arrest the bunch of us, I’d suggest you get started. I’m hungry and tired and I’m anxious to get a bed and some grub, even if it’s in jail. Only I can’t imagine what the charge would be.”

The deputy scuffed his toe in the dirt. “I expect we got no reason to haul ’em in, Bill. I mean, they aint got any horses with them and nobody saw them do anything. A judge would laugh me right outa his courtroom.”

Bury threw his hat in the dirt in frustration. “Dammit, Paint! No other rancher hereabouts would have the infernal cheek to do what you done. Once a horse thief, always a horse thief.”