Hawk wasn’t enthusiastic about riding scout for these patrols, and Lieutenant Meade knew it, so he was surprised that Meade had assigned him to scout on this one. Meade was commander of all scouts, so he could pick anyone he wanted. He and Hawk had already established a condition of mutual dislike that had resulted in Meade being openly opposed to working with the tall scout with the hawk’s feather stuck in his hatband. They had had a couple of disagreements in the past, the last of which took place about twenty miles south of where Hawk presently stood. The incident came to mind now. It occurred at the Big Timber Hog Ranch when Hawk had tracked three outlaws to that compound on the Yellowstone River. The soldiers searched the cluster of small houses next to the main saloon but found no trace of the outlaws. Meade ordered the patrol back to Fort Ellis over Hawk’s argument that the three outlaws were there. Meade informed him that he had done a poor job of tracking and the patrol’s mission was impossible to complete. Hawk, in turn, informed the lieutenant that he knew damn well the three outlaws were in the compound, and he was just too anxious to call it quits and go home. Recalling it now got Hawk’s dander up. The fact that it was later found that he had been right was of no solace. In view of all this, he had to again wonder why Meade had assigned him to a patrol he was commanding. His thoughts on the matter were distracted then when he saw Ben Mullins emerge from the screen of trees beside the creek. The patrol was not far behind.

Sitting tall and erect in the saddle, as if on parade, Lieutenant Harvey Meade led his patrol into the clearing where Hawk waited. “Like you figured,” Ben commented when he pulled his horse up beside Rascal. He stepped down while Meade gave his men the order to dismount. “One bunch of poor-devil Injuns dropped down to get some fresh steaks,” Ben continued. “Where you reckon they’re headin’?”

“Yes, Hawk,” Lieutenant Meade interrupted. “Where do you think they’re driving those cattle?”

“Like I told you from the start,” Hawk answered, “they ain’t drivin’ any cattle. There ain’t any tracks of anymore cattle.” He nodded toward the ashes. “You’re lookin’ at the cow they stole, and it ’pears like they ate a good bit of it right here. To answer your question, though, it looks to me like they headed toward the Crazy Mountains with what they’ve got left.”

Meade considered that for a few moments before commenting, “I suppose that could be, or it could be a war party that just happened to stop here to eat before they swung south to raid again.”