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"Yeah, sure." He shot Snow Bird a frown and eyed them all the while they tied him up. "But I get loose from here, I'll fix all of you. This ain't your business."
"You say they killed a man?" Ferg asked eyeing Jake out of the corner of his eye.
"Yeah, that's when I decided my outlaw days were over." Matt chuckled. "That and when he tried to rape her." His glance slid to Snow Bird who was shaking a bit now.
Ferg eyed the man, "Ain't no law up here son. Don’t know what we'll do with him. Which one did the killin'?" Ferg asked.
"That one." Matt nodded to Jake.
"And the rape?"
"Jake there tried. I stopped that."
"Good for you son. Women are few and far between, treating them bad is never a good thing."
"I didn't think he'd follow. I didn't take their money, Ferg. Not even my share. I didn't hurt anyone, I was just sort of along and held a gun, that's all. I knew it was wrong when I did it. And when Jake killed the store clerk, I figured I had to find my time to get out of there."
Ferg stared at the man, he went over to him, "Why'd you come up here? Why'd you follow mister. You could have had your money, and no one the wiser."
"'Fraid he'd tell the Sheriff."
"You came to kill him?" Ferg looked incredibly at the man.
"That's right. What would you have done? He's got religion, and he'd have told on us. It would have eaten at him until he did, I had religion once, I know all about it."
"Well, I'd have gone my merry way if I got away with all the money. But that's just me. Reckon we're going to have to do something about you. They have had kind of a council meeting at the Place when someone does something bad enough. Reckon that's what this calls for." Ferg announced.
"I ain't swinging from no hangman's knot." Jake told them.
"I don't think you got much choice, mister, you done killed and tried to rape. They'll hang you for sure. You should have kept out of all of this up here, and you could have lived to spend that money. As is, I can't see that happening."
"Yeah, but she's just a damn squaw and the man I killed went for his gun. What could I do?"
"Where's the money?" Ferg asked.
"We buried it." Jake shouted.
"Too bad, we'll just have to have a hanging then." He told him.
Jake let that simmer for a bit. He fidgeted about trying to loosen the ropes on himself, but he was tied good. Mountain men certainly knew how to knot the ropes. He stared at the other men, but they paid him no mind.
Ferg and Coon brought the hunt to Snow Bird. "You did good." She smiled.
"Reckon you can skin them, and we'll take it all back." Ferg asked.
She nodded. "Four turkeys, two deer, five rabbits and two quail. I will have them ready by tomorrow noon This
is a good kill."
"Good girl." Ferg patted her on the shoulder. "Glad we brought you along. You know some of them trappers staying there aren't worth their feed. Everyone is gonna be mighty pleased when they see this kill."
Matt stared at Ferg, "Will they hang him?"
"Unless he tells us where the money is. If he does, he might get off with a warning or some jail time." Ferg laughed.
Matt nodded and shot Jake a glance. "Funny thing, I wouldn't have told on them. All we wanted to do was get away from them."
"Why'd they think you would?" Coon asked.
