The Cassidy Posse Read Online Free PDF Page B

that was his game all along. Anyhow, he went back that night to gettum and one of Miller’s hands was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
    “Why were yuh comin’ tuh Chicaga tuh buy cattle?” asked Mike. “Now there’s something’ you can’t be havin’ a shortage ov.”
    “The whole cattle market is changing too,” explained Ketchum. “People don’t want to chew on those tough old longhorns anymore. They want tender beef. The big cattle companies are changing everything. The small rancher has a tough time survivin’ these days. Lots of the boys keep their head above water by rustlin’ a few from the big outfits. Claim they were mavericks if anyone ever calls them on it. Everybody knows they probably won’t get convicted if they do get caught. Jury always has some friends on it. Now ya got a lot of damn immigrants comin’ in and pickin’ up the trade. The big cattlemen got the maverick law repealed, but it’s still tough for the big companies to get a conviction from a local jury. Problem is where do you draw the line once yuh step over it? I got two brothers courtin’ that sort uh trouble. They started by changing a few brands. The maverick law made it easy tah do. Now they’re ridin’ the outlaw trail. That’s where I got ole Red. He rode with my brothers but swore to me he wanted ta go straight. He was okay for ‘bout a year but then he got bored with punchin’ cows.”
    “So would it be yer guess that this here Red will be taken up his bad ways again and takin’ our young Sean with him?” inquired Mike.
    “Well, being men wanted for murder, I don’t see they got much choice but ta hit the outlaw trail,” Ketchum concluded. “Once they reach it, you fellers will pay hell ta find ‘um.”
    “What is this outlaw trail?” asked Barnes.
    “Well, it starts at the Hole-in-the-Wall up in Wyoming, goes down through Brown’s Park on the Colorado state line and ends up in southeast Utah at a God forsaken place called Robber’s Roost. Ain’t gonna find a lawman ta go into none of those places. Even if they do make it out, they come up empty.”
    “I don’t think that is going to be a problem,” Barnes assured him. “We have sent telegrams to several law enforcement officials in the state of Wyoming already. The woman who was killed was the wife of the man who is very likely to be Illinois’ next governor. I am sure when they see the importance of bringing her killer to justice, we will receive full cooperation.”
    “Okay,” Ketchum said with an ironic chuckle. “I suppose high-powered politics might change things.”
    “Yuh dun’t seem too convinced, Mr. Ketchum,” said Mike.
    “All I knows is what I see’d. Since my brothers went bad, I ain’t see’d any lawman try ta trail them into outlaw country. You take Robber’s Roost. There is only three ways ta get in that damn place and none of them easy. Hell, the Hole-in-the-Wall is even worst. You got a trail not much wider than a horse’s ass clingin’ ta the side of a cliff. A couple ah guys with Winchesters could pick off a whole army comin’ down it. And you better have some political muscle if you go into Brown’s Park. The damn place is in three different states. Most lawmen feel real uncomfortable operating out of their jurisdiction. If you fellas got all these political connections, you better get a hold of the President, old Benjamin Harrison himself, and have him send in the cavalry.”
    “We will take all that into consideration,” Barnes said condescendingly.
    “Yuh got any idea which one ov those den uh thieves that they might be headin’ fer?” asked Mike, still wishing to pursue the subject. “You said that this Red ustah ride with yer misguided brothers. Would you be venturin’ uh guess?”
    The question gave Ketchum pause and he rubbed the whiskers he imagined he had on his now clean-shaved face. “I suppose if a fella had tah look somewhere for them jaspers, it might as well be Brown’s Park. Red