Sometimes Pete wondered why he put up with Scully. His partner was always asking questions, always expressing doubts even when everything appeared clear as crystal. Someday, when he didn’t need him anymore, Pete would ride away and leave him afoot to manage on his lonesome. Like as not, Scully would wind up in jail before the chickens went to roost.

Just at dusk they trudged into the edge of a small farming town. Pete saw no sign bearing its name, but the name did not matter. A town was a town. He observed a tired-looking woman bent over a washboard and tub. Behind her, wet clothes hung on a line, flapping in the evening breeze. He guessed she was a professional washerwoman. A regular housewife should have finished her family wash earlier in the day unless she had a terribly large family.

Pete said, “Late as it is, them clothes won’t be dry enough to take in the house before dark. Ought to be somethin’ there that’ll fit us.”

“They don’t look like much.”

“They’re better than what we’ve got on. We’ll circle back this way after a while.”

“How far do you think we’d get, afoot like we are?”

“Maybe when we leave here we won’t be afoot.”

“Takin’ other people’s horses is what got us into the army in the first place.”

“And it’ll get us away from here. Stay close to me and maybe you’ll learn somethin’.”

“I learned a lot the last time.”

From up the street Pete heard singing. He thought at first it might be from a saloon, and the thought made him thirsty. But he soon realized the music was not the kind that went with whiskey. Lamplight spilled from the open windows of a frame church. Several horses were tied on the street outside, along with a few buggies and wagons.

Scully quickly surmised what was going through Pete’s mind. “Stealin’ horses is bad enough, but from a church?”

Pete smiled. “Now, where would you find more cheerful givers than in a church house?”

Scully followed, as he always did. Pete made a hasty choice for himself and pointed to another for Scully. “That saddle may be big for you, but you’ll grow into it when we start eatin’ regular again.” He tightened the cinch, for the owner had loosened it to let the horse breathe more easily during the services. He mounted and jerked his head. “Come on, we don’t want to be hangin’ around here when the sermon is over.”

“Hangin’? That’s apt to be the outcome if they catch us.”

“Ain’t nobody goin’ to. Dark as it is, they won’t have any idea which-away we went. Let’s go back and get us them clothes.”