“Keep your voice down,” Paul said, glancing nervously around. None of the other dining guerrillas paid them any notice.

“There’re times I’d agree with you,” he went on. “We engage Union troops sometimes, but it’s always hit and run. Mostly, we attack civilian forces, supposedly sided with the Union. I’d be lyin’ to you if I said that was always the case. When we’re on a spree, some of the fellows ain’t particular who gets shot or what happens to the women and kids.”

“I don’t stand for that,” Pritchard said. “Rape, or the killing of those who ain’t fighting, isn’t soldiering and it ain’t right.”

“If you want to stay healthy,” Paul said, “you’ll stand for whatever goes and keep your mouth shut. I ain’t any prouder of some of what we’ve done than you are, but you voluntarily signed on with Cap’n Witherspoon’s company. You came lookin’ for us, remember? You took an oath, and now you’re ridin’ with hard men. Best remember that.”

“You don’t . . . ?” Ditch asked. “You’ve never . . . ?”

“Of course not,” Paul said. “I ain’t never touched a woman didn’t want me to, nor shot an unarmed man. But I’m ridin’ with those that will gladly do both. So are you. Cap’n Witherspoon already told you he stormed into Kansas with Quantrill and Bloody Bill. You know what them boys did to the town of Lawrence?”

“They say,” Ditch said, “women and children were executed right along with unarmed men.”

“They weren’t lying,” Paul said. “That’s the way of this war. Iffen you ain’t the raiders, you’re the ones bein’ raided. I don’t like it any more than you boys, but that’s how it is.”

The trio ate in silence for a while, as Pritchard and Ditch absorbed Paul’s words.

“How come,” Paul finally said, lowering his voice even more, “you’re going by an alias, Samuel?”

“Samuel Pritchard is dead and buried,” Pritchard said. He and Ditch explained what had transpired back in Missouri, and on their journey to Arkansas.

“If word ever gets back to Atherton that Samuel’s still alive,” Ditch finished, “his ma and sister are skinned and cooked.”

“I’m powerful sorry for what happened to you and your family,” Paul said. “Your secret’s safe with me. All the same, Joe, it might be just as well everybody believes you’re dead. Especially if you ever decide to go back to Missouri.”

“I’ve thought of that,” Pritchard said.

* * *

The next morning, Company B broke camp and rode west. Two days later, their column of nearly one hundred Confederate rangers entered Oklahoma Territory. At Broken Bow they turned north and headed for Kansas.