Tater held on to his life for only a few minutes before his body relaxed in death. Hawk stood over him until he did, not at all unfazed by the violent way he had been forced to kill him. He had not considered the possibility that any of the three would return to the cabin that quickly. He cleaned his knife on the dead man’s shirt, then thought to check Tater’s pockets. He was not surprised to find a large roll of bills in Tater’s vest pocket. Hawk took the money and went outside, where he found Tater’s horse standing. He expected the money in his hand was probably a small part of Tater’s share in the robbery. So, he looked in the saddlebags and found what he was looking for, a canvas bag with a much larger sum of cash inside. He put the money from Tater’s pocket in the bag, hoping that, somehow, he would be able to return it to the church people. He picked the reins up from the ground and looped them over the saddle horn, so the horse would be free to wander. There was no thought of taking the horse—he knew he was going to be too busy to take care of an extra horse. But he took Tater’s weapons and cartridge belt. Then he took one quick look toward the path that Tater had come on and hurried across the open area to the woods beyond.

Back in the saddle, he turned Rascal toward the high hills to the north of the river. When Tater’s body was discovered, the war would be officially on. So, he decided he had to find a camp he could operate out of, one that would be hard to find, because they would definitely be coming after him.

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

“This is some mighty fine eatin’, Dinner Bell,” Booth commented, not realizing he had called her by her nickname and somewhat puzzled by the smug grin on his brother’s face. “I’ll take another one of those biscuits.”

“’Deed it is,” Jesse agreed. Then he glanced toward the kitchen door. “What I can’t figure out, though, is what the hell happened to Tater? It sure ain’t like him to miss a meal.”

“Can’t find them fancy teeth,” Trip said.