“I’m pretty sure,” Tater answered. He decided it best to leave out the part of the incident that had really caused the shooting, the part where Hawk had shot the deer. If they thought the man was no more than a lone deer hunter, there might be more questions about his lack of action against the killer. Blue might not be dead, but Tater believed he was in the process. He didn’t want to take the chance that Blue might have just enough life left to tell them that Tater had run off and left him.

“Then I reckon it’s just as well we play it safe and leave Blue where he is,” Booth said.

Having said nothing while he listened to the discussion, Trip Dawson spoke up then. “We might better go back there,” he said. Then he walked over to Blue’s horse and started searching through his saddlebags. “Never mind,” he announced, and held up a canvas sack with Blue’s share of the money in it. “I expect we might as well go ahead and split it four ways.” Although Trip was the first to say it, the thought of splitting Blue’s share of the money was definitely on everyone’s mind. There was no further talk of going back to check on him.

“Too bad ol’ Blue didn’t get to eat any of that deer meat he was cravin’,” Tater said, already trying to figure out the answer in his head when four was divided into six thousand.

“What’s got you worried, Booth?” Jesse Corbin sat down at the table opposite his brother. He knew Booth well enough to know when there was something eating away at him. “You thinkin’ maybe we oughta go back and get Blue?”

Booth met his brother’s intense gaze and shook his head. “Nah, I don’t give a damn about Blue. If Tater thinks he’s dead, then he probably is. It’s the feller that shot him I’m worried about. Accordin’ to what Tater says, they were crossin’ a stream and Blue took a shot at him, and the feller cut Blue down. What for? That’s what I wanna know. Was that feller huntin’ deer, or was he huntin’ us? The next thing I’m thinkin’ is whether or not Tater’s led that feller and whoever’s with him right here to us.”

His speculating planted a seed of doubt in Jesse’s mind then. “What are you sayin’, Booth? You thinkin’ we oughta be gettin’ ready in case we’re gonna have to stand off a posse?”