With no sign of Tater along the dark path, they spread out and pulled up when they reached the clearing and the two cabins, all three with guns aimed at the cabin. “Tater!” Booth yelled, but there was no response. He turned to Jesse and Trip. “Let’s take a look around the cabin before we go walkin’ in there. I don’t like the looks of this.” They did as he ordered but found no one.

“Hell, I’m goin’ in,” Trip declared, and stepped down from the saddle. With his six-gun in his hand, he walked up, gave the door a hard shove, and stepped quickly to the side in case his entrance was met with a few rounds from a .44. When there was no response after the door swung open and banged against the wall, he went inside. In a few seconds, Booth and Jesse heard him call out. “He’s in here.”

Booth and Jesse went inside the dark cabin to find Trip kneeling beside the body. “Damn,” Booth swore when he saw him. “That son of a bitch shot him.” He knew without doubt who the killer was. Then it occurred to him. “As close as this is to the store, we shoulda heard the shot.”

“There weren’t no shot,” Trip said. “He didn’t shoot Tater. He cut his throat.”

“Damn,” Booth swore again. “He’s figurin’ on gettin’ us one by one. We’ve got to stick together, so he don’t get a chance to catch one of us alone again. Light that lantern over there,” he directed, pointing to a lantern on the table. They all bent over Tater’s body then. “Looks like he caught him in the gut first,” Booth observed. “Tater musta walked in on him when the bastard was searchin’ in here.” He looked at his brother. “He was lookin’ for the money.” He reached in Tater’s vest pocket. “He got it, too. Look in Tater’s saddlebags.”

“I’ll do it,” Trip volunteered, and got up at once. He went outside where the horses were standing. After a quick search through the saddlebags on Tater’s horse, he was back inside with the news. “He cleaned him out.”

Booth looked at Jesse. “I told you he ain’t no lawman. He’s after the money, and he knows each one of us has got as much as he just took offa Tater. We’ve gotta go huntin’. We’ve damn sure gotta find him before he catches one of us alone again.”

“Well, we can’t do much huntin’ tonight,” Trip said. “Maybe we can pick up his tracks when it gets daylight.”