Slocum 421 Read Online Free PDF Page B

your name?”
    â€œJohn Trent—” Slocum knew at that point that the man would soon die.
    â€œYou know this guy that you shot?” one man called, standing over by the shooter.
    Slocum shook his head.
    â€œHe’s Miles Hampton. Missouri congressman Horace Hampton’s son.”
    â€œWhat the hell was he shooting John Trent for?” He let the crowd think he knew Trent. He’d planned to get the man’s horse and map and then bury him.
    No one had an answer. There was no sign of any law showing up. They helped Slocum load Trent’s corpse on his horse. He mounted the gray and took the lead. The other dead man’s body was being loaded up by a funeral man in a black suit, who put him into a hearse. No doubt the undertaker expected to get paid by the father.
    Once Slocum was back in camp, Escatar came to see about the body over the horse. Others joined him to help. Murty brought a candle lamp for them to see by.
    Escatar sent the men for shovels. Slocum found the map and stuck it inside his shirt. He also found several letters, which he retrieved. Escatar went through the rest of Trent’s pockets, taking his money and personal things out. There was not much. His clothing was threadbare like most men’s on the frontier. His boots needed repair, but they and the rest of his wardrobe were handed out to the men who needed them, and Trent was buried in his underwear.
    At a table with only Murty and his Escatar, Slocum spread out the map. In the lamplight he could see the care the mapmaker had taken with a pen. A compass drawing showed the direction at the top of the map to be north.
    â€œWhat does it show?”
    â€œWhere some Spanish treasure was buried according to the dead man. He gave it to me.”
    â€œWhere is this at?” Murty asked.
    â€œWestern Kansas. I would say along the Arkansas.”
    â€œTell me, why would they have lots of gold or whatever way the hell out there?” Murty shook her head in disgust and disbelief.
    â€œGood question. But the treasure has been a rumor for years. They said it was hidden by a column of Mexican soldiers who were guarding the treasure when they were attacked by Indians. They buried the treasure so no one could find it. One boy snuck away in the fury of the battle, and it took him over a year to make his way home.”
    â€œDid the boy come back to find it?”
    â€œThe say he did, but he was unsure where exactly it was buried, and they dug many places and never found anything.”
    â€œSo how did this dead man tonight find it?” Murty asked, still not sounding convinced it was all real.
    â€œHell, I don’t know. But that son of a bitch shot him for a real reason. He too may have had a map to lead him there and maybe didn’t want Trent to find the treasure first. Or else he hoped to get the map off Trent after he was dead.”
    â€œSo then two parties will be going to look for it? Us and the rest of the gang from the man you shot?”
    â€œI don’t know about the man I shot. I figure the congressman’s son’s bunch might give up now that he’s dead. They probably needed his daddy’s money to outfit such an expedition.”
    â€œCan we go out there and look for it and still kill buffalo?” Murty asked.
    â€œSure. It is right out there where they graze.”
    â€œGood, let’s find it so I can go live in a fancy two-story house somewhere and have tea with people.”
    â€œYou’d be bored to death, Murty.”
    â€œI am bored to death now every night. But I love it.” Then she laughed at her own joke.

4
    They left Fort Hayes an hour before the sun rose. A nip in the air, harness jingled and leather squeaked as the draft animals hit their collars and strained to move the loaded wagons. A few had little to haul, but they were hitched to younger horses who needed more training. Half were mule teams that brayed a lot. Slocum wished they were all