“Hell no!” Booth answered at once. “Like I told that feller, every party of four men on the road will have folks thinkin’ they’re the ones that done for them Quakers.” With his mind still working on Hawk’s reasons for tailing them, he uttered one more statement, he wished he could take back. “Besides, there was five men that rode away from that massacre, and we ain’t but four.”

As soon as he said it, Bodine knew Booth and his boys had done that low-down job. Dinah Belle had come to the same conclusion when Booth had said he hadn’t heard anything about it, then referred to them as Quakers. No one had said they were Quakers before that. As far as her husband was concerned, Bodine was not above such evil disregard for human life. Instead of compassion for the poor innocent victims, Bodine was quick to think about the money Booth and the others must have gotten. Talk was that those folks were going to Helena with the intention of buying land for all of their families plus building a meetinghouse. They must have been carrying a great sum of money to do all that. And Booth and his three partners were acting like they had plenty. Bodine was happy to see them so free with their money; it was good for his business. But he’d like to figure out a way to get more of it. In line with that thought, he made a suggestion. “Looks like to me the best thing for you boys is to stay right here in my cabin till talk about that massacre dies down a little. We got everything you need and then some. Josie’s near ’bout done with her female sickness and she’ll be rarin’ to go. As far as Hawk is concerned, looks to me like, if he is tailin’ you, he’s a damn fool, ’cause he’s by himself, unless he’s countin’ on help from old man Woodley and his grandpup. And in my way of thinkin’, that ain’t no help at all.” He gave Booth a wink. “And if he’s dumb enough to make a move on the four of you, you oughta be able to handle that.”

“You might be right,” Booth allowed, his mind already working on the best way to take care of Hawk. “We might stay right here for a while.” Until Hawk was dead, or had moved on, which he didn’t anticipate, he had to tell the others to stay together. He didn’t want to give Hawk a chance to catch them alone, like he did with Blue and Tater, before Booth and his gang had a chance to hunt Hawk down and kill him. Satisfied with what he had to do, Booth shifted his attention to Dinah Belle. “When are you gonna have some supper ready? I’m workin’ up a powerful hunger.”