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Matt shrugged, then shaking his head he added. "My dad was a preacher, Ferg. They knew it, they knew I didn't like the things they were doing. I was just rebelling from a father who beat me all the time for not doing right. You see, I do have religion as they call it. But he didn't know that I could turn the other cheek as well. Too bad for him. I had no intention of turning them in, I was guilty for going along with them."
Coon's brow went up, "Do you have religion?"
"Reckon so, my Pa whipped it into me. Some of it kind of stuck."
"Do tell. Would you have told?" Ferg smiled.
"Wasn't planning on it. I hadn't given them much thought since we camped at Sutton's Place. I figured they hadn't followed. Ferg, I'm guilty of being with them."
Coon nodded. "You did right boy by leaving them and saving the girl."
Matt shot Snow Bird a glance, she was stirring the stew.
Snow Bird dished up rabbit stew and flat bread. They all ate, and Snow Bird fed Jake. "You know I wouldn't have done you no harm, don't you?"
"You would have raped me, if I did not kill you with my knife, first." She told him.
"I should have done it while I had the chance."
"That's enough," she said and took his food away.
"Hey, come back, here, I'm still hungry." Jake protested.
She did not go back.
Matt walked up to him. "Coon was right, you should have walked away from me and Snow Bird when you had the chance."
Jake frowned.
"You know, you tell them where the money is, they might let you go." Matt informed him.
"Why should I?" Jake muttered miserably.
"So, you could live. Either way you look at it, you aren't going to get to spend it."
Ferg walked over to them now. "On second thought, I been thinking this over. If we take him back to Sutton's, the money thing will come up. That's not a good thing. They find out he stole and got away with it, they'll want it for themselves. I don't much like that. Could have a bunch at our throats on our hands. People get greedy, you know. No, we ought to have the trial right here, and not involve the others. They find out he had money, it could get ugly."
Matt raised a brow, "Never thought of that."
"Yeah, well, there's no accounting for character. We'll hold it here in the morning. It'll be clean and done with and we won't have to involve anyone else. We'll hang him from that tree over there." Ferg's shoulders slumped. He said it loud enough, so Jake knew their intentions.
Matt studied him. "You set on hanging him?"
"He's guilty as sin. How can we not?"
Matt nodded. "The bible does say an eye for an eye."
Jake overheard them and shouted at them. "I ain't hanging…. I'll tell you where the money is. Dammit!"
Ferg shot him a straight-forward glance. "How do we know you'd tell the truth?"
"You are railroading me. I ain't got no choice. But you'll let me go if I tell you where it is?"
"No, we'll let you go, when we go there and get the money." He told him.
"Do I get a share?" Jake asked.
"Nope, you might get to live, if we find it." Ferg told him.
