Hawk downed the shot of whiskey and paused a moment to feel the burn. Then he waved Luther off when he started to pour another. “That’ll do,” Hawk said. “I’ve gotta get back to camp for supper. Like I said, you might see some thirsty souls in here tonight, but the lieutenant and I’ll be back in the mornin’, for sure.”

“There ain’t a helluva lot I can tell you about those Mormons,” Luther claimed. “I don’t know any more than everybody else around Great Falls knows. A party of religious folks left Fort Benton, headed this way, but they never showed up. End of story.” He threw his hands up and shrugged. “Maybe they can tell you somethin’ more than that up at Fort Benton. Looks to me like, whatever happened to ’em, your soldiers are too late to save ’em.”

“Everybody’s pretty much figured the same thing,” Hawk said. “We’re just hopin’ we can find out just what did happen. I’ll see you in the mornin’.”

When he returned to the campsite, Hawk pulled his saddle off Rascal and turned the buckskin loose to join the cavalry horses at the edge of the river. There were three healthy fires going, all with coffeepots and a few frying pans resting in the edges. He got his coffeepot and some deer jerky from his packs and joined Conner at one of the fires. “What did you find out?” Conner asked when Hawk walked up.

“I know every bit as much as I did before we got here,” Hawk answered. “Luther hasn’t got any idea what happened to those people, because they never got this far.” When Johnson got up to tend to some bacon he was frying, Hawk asked, “Are you goin’ to tell the men about Trotter’s place right down the river?”

Conner grinned. “No, I’ll let ’em find out in the morning when we ride by there. I’ll let ’em get one good night and a little food in their bellies before they start sneaking off to get drunk.”

“Hell, you might as well let ’em go and get all their money spent tonight,” Hawk said. “Then you won’t have to worry about ’em the rest of the time we’re up here.”

“Mr. Hawk,” Conner announced grandly, “your wisdom is always appreciated, but I think I’ll settle for one more sober night before I turn ’em loose.”

* * *