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But before anyone could react, a shot fired from Mathew's gun, as he raised up long enough to deliver the fatal blow to Hawks.
Mathew glanced once at Chase, then at Katherine…"That's for my bro…" then he fell over dead.
Katherine rushed to him, but it was too late.
Chase staggered for a minute then rushed to his side. He pulled her up and into his arms and looked into her lifeless face. "It's over…"
Hawks lay bleeding from his gut wound, he wasn't dead, but he wasn't able to do anything either. Chase looked at him.
"Finish me off," Hawks demanded his eyes wild, his eyelids already waxing. Blood gushed from his wound when he coughed and yelled out from the pain…"Finish me…"
Chase stared down at him. "The Indian in me wants to let you die slowly, Hawks, but the white side wars and says it isn't human to let a man suffer. Are you sure that's what you want, Hawks?"
"Dammit, finish me…"
Chase nodded, and Katherine turned her head away as Chase squeezed the trigger.
Hawks was dead with a bullet to his brain.
Katherine ran into the arms of Chase and cried. "Why did he have to die…?" She was staring at Mathew's body.
Chase comforted her for a long while, holding her close and kissing the top of her head, happy that she was unharmed.
After a while, he buried Mathew by her folks. The old oak tree seemed to support a yard full of graves now, looking more like a cemetery.
"There's a place in the Bible that says there is a time for everything, a time to live and a time to die. Although I don't understand God's reasoning, I accept it now. Take him, Lord, unto your bosom," Katherine said aloud.
"Amen," Chase added.
Under the oak, they slept for a few hours, from exhaustion. It was almost dawn before either stirred. Wrapped safely in Chase's arms, she finally opened her eyes and she stared into his face.
"I have much to tell you…," she whispered.
He smiled down into her face. He wanted her now but as she said there was much to talk of too.
"I will listen…," he said sighing into her arms.
"I don't know where to start," she said slowly. "Years ago, back in Missouri, my father and Hawks supposedly robbed a bank."
"Go on…"
Katherine related the whole story to Chase. Chase listened, nodding his understanding and not at all surprised.
"It all makes sense now."
"Does it?" Katherine seemed to linger on her thoughts. "I couldn't believe such a thing of my father. I mean, he never let on once that anything like that ever happened. It was hard to believe at first. I'm not sure, but I don't think my mother knew…until the end about any of this."
"And now you believe Hawks?" Chase asked.
Katherine nodded slowly. "Yes…now I believe him."
Chase held her head in his lap and pushed the hair from her face as she spoke.
"I didn't want to at first…of course. I couldn't believe it. But then when we got here, Hawks was so sure it was buried on this land…then I realized he must be telling the truth. Why else would he be here?"
Chase nodded silently, stoking her cheek. "He thought you knew where it was…?"
"Yes," she cried breathlessly. "He had me digging all those holes in the ground, but we found nothing. There is no sign of money here…"
