“About that,” Jesse responded. “How long you think we oughta hang around here waitin’ for that jasper to take a shot at one of us? You know it ain’t gonna be long before a hard winter decides to roll over those mountains and freeze this river valley up. I’d sure as hell like to spend the winter in someplace besides this tradin’ post.”

“I know what you’re sayin’. I feel the same as you.” He paused at the top of the stairs to let Trip and Bodine get a little farther ahead. “Let’s stay in close here for a couple of days and see if Hawk gets tired of waitin’ and decides to take a fool chance to get at our money. And there ain’t no doubt he’s got his mind set on gettin’ every cent of the money. He got Tater’s share, and that’s a pretty good payday for most low-down killers. But not this bastard; he wants it all. So, if he makes a play to sneak in here, he’s in our backyard. If we can catch him inside this place, he ain’t got a chance against all three of us.”

Jesse shook his head, unconvinced. “I don’t know if he’s dumb enough to do that, but I know I’m tired of him tailin’ us.” Frustrated, he followed his brother downstairs to breakfast.

* * *

The morning was not as frustrating to Hawk. His one goal for the moment was to relocate his camp closer to the trading post. He postponed the worry about how he was going to attack the three outlaws, now that they had holed up in Bodine’s. He would worry about that later. So he went back to the ravine where he had made his camp and loaded Rascal again. Then he headed back toward Wolf Creek, but circled around the trading post, opposite the direction he had taken when he had approached Bodine’s cabins. It was his opinion that the three he followed were most likely headed for Helena. That was the closest town of any size, and the trail Booth had taken from the Sun River led to Helena, some twenty-five or thirty miles from Wolf Creek. So Hawk circled to the upstream side of Bodine’s until he struck the trail leading to Helena, about two miles from the trading post. The trail crossed the river at that point, and he selected his new camp on the other side, far enough down from the crossing so as not to be seen by anyone on the road.