Blake Ordle's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

The telegraph had bought a warning, but the reply broke it. Silas Cole's own brother wore the star in the town Blake had wired. Blake stood in the lockup and read the line twice. A warning meant nothing if it landed in the wrong hands. Cole could still rob that bank, or another, and Blake had no idea where the man slept tonight. He needed Cole's hideout before the next strike, or he would keep chasing a shadow forever. Titus came through the door with dust on his boots and a dog at his heels. Blake's brother tracked for him, half-Apache and twice as patient as any man in the county. The mini shepherd trotted in, ears up, nose already working the floor. Titus dropped a hand to the dog's collar and read Blake's face. "You've got that look," he said. "The one before you ask me to do something hard." "Cole's holed up somewhere close," Blake said. "Between robberies he has to rest his horses. I need where." Titus knelt and let the shepherd sniff a scrap of rope pulled from the robbers' gear. "Malone bought those fresh horses," Titus said. "Where he bought them, Cole stabled the old ones. Horses leave a trail even when riders don't." They rode out at first light. Titus led on foot part of the way, reading bent grass and shod prints in the creek mud. The dog worked ahead, then circled back, then pulled north off the water. Blake trusted the animal's nose more than his own eyes now. The prints climbed toward a low draw hidden behind a wall of scrub. Smoke. Thin, gray, rising past the brush. Blake pulled up and dropped from the saddle. Titus signaled low. Through the branches Blake saw a line shack, two horses tied loose, and a big rough man cleaning a rifle on the step. Not Cole. An accomplice he'd heard named in Malone's fear, a hard case who ran with the gang. "That's the camp," Titus whispered. "Cole's men. Cole rests here between towns." Blake's chest loosened. He finally had it. The blind spot was gone. He knew where the outlaw denned. They backed out slow and rode for town to gather Drew and a plan. But when Blake reached the lockup, Drew met him at the door with the outer lock hanging open. "Rider came while you scouted," Drew said, blunt as always. "News from west." He handed Blake a paper. Cole's brother, the sheriff, had turned the warning around. He'd sent word to Cole himself. The outlaw knew Blake was hunting his camp. Blake had the hideout at last. But Cole had his name, his plan, and a full day's start on breaking camp. The hunt was no longer secret. Now it was a race, and Cole had heard the gun cock first.