His decision made, he now tried to plan the best way to accomplish his role as an assassin. To begin with, he preferred to think of it as extermination, to rid the world of vermin like David Booth. To make the task more of a challenge, he was certain that the man in Bodine’s, whom he now knew to be Booth, was very much aware that he was trailing him. So, it was going to be a question of who gets who in this game of assassination. He lay there, his rifle ready, but with no intention of shooting at any of them at this point. He had a good twenty or more yards of open area between the cabin he was hiding behind and the cover of the trees where he left his horse. He reasoned that he might get one, or maybe two, of them before they could retaliate. But he would be an open target when he tried to make it back to cover. And that would leave two, maybe three, of them to go unpunished, depending upon how many he was able to get before they got him.

He got up from the ground and went to the front corner of the cabin and watched the three men ride away. In a matter of seconds, they were out of sight, swallowed up by the dense growth of trees by the river. He realized that he wouldn’t have had much time to shoot, even if he had decided to. Since he knew they were going to Bodine’s for supper, he decided to take a look in the cabin before returning for his horse. He was sure there would be none of the Quakers’ money left in the cabin, but he thought he might as well confirm that thought. More than likely, they each carried their share of the stolen money in their saddlebags. It seemed too large a sum to carry in your pocket. Part of his plan was to recover as much of the Quakers’ money as possible and return it to Donald Lewis.

* * *

Jesse Corbin and Trip Dawson walked into Bodine’s saloon to find Booth sitting at a table, talking to Josie Johnson, who, as Bodine promised, was on her feet again—at least until she persuaded one of the gang to part with some of the money he was carrying. “Is that supper ready?” Trip asked upon seeing no food before Booth.

“Won’t be long,” Booth replied. “Where’s Tater?” With Dinah Belle’s promise of a big meal, he would have expected Tater to be the first through the door.

“He went back to get his teeth,” Jesse answered. “He was so excited to eat, he went off and left ’em in the cabin.” That brought a laugh from them all and a question from Josie.