“No, I ain't. I don't think anything's broke, though. How's the horse?”

“Really can't say. When he got you off his back, he took off like he was champion of the world. I didn't know you was down ’til he went right past me and Sisson both. For a bit I thought you was doing some top-notch riding there. Then I remembered who you was.” Tom leaned down, extending his arm for John. John grasped Tom's arm at the bicep, and Tom took a similar hold of John's arm and, leaning back, pulled John up and into the saddle. Tom stood in the stirrups and crouched down, and they took off, back toward Sisson and John's horse.

“You think they actually saw us?”

“Can't say,” Sisson said. “There was a lot of them, heading right for us. Could have seen us.”

“Yeah,” Tom said. “I'm sure you could find a Republican or two who could stare you in the eye and prove that it would be impossible for ten men, looking right at three riders, to actually see them, but yeah, I think they saw us.”

They were perched at the top of the westernmost hill. They had tied the horses down at the southeastern base of the hill so they could get to the horses and to the next hill in the easiest way. This perch gave them a good view of the entire valley, a 360-degree view from every spot on the hill. They all had their rifles loaded and ready. Tom glassed the valley to the west.

“There's some dust off to the southwest, near to Hendricks's place. Could be them, or it could be Hendricks getting a jump on the spring plowing. They ain't behind us, though.”

“The barbwire would have stopped them,” Sisson said.

“Only long enough for a couple of them to jump out, pull the post, and lay it down. They wouldn't have turned back on account of a barbwire fence. Hell, it ain't theirs; they might have just run it over.”

“You don't run over another man's fence,” John said.

“Yeah, well, you don't just ride up to someone's cabin in the dawn and start gunning them down as they come out, either. You're the only one going to get held up by that fence. These boys don't care much on manners. The only thing that's going to stop these boys is bullets.”

Their perch was also a perfect defensive position. No one could sneak up on them, and they would be firing down from cover at anyone who tried to come up for them. With the guns and ammunition they took from the lawmen, they could hold off a good-sized posse for a long time.

“I don't know where they are, and I figure they do know where I am. I'm not feeling too comfortable here.”

“You want to go down and take off again?”