Knight's Trouble at K Brand

He slides to a stop in front of the saloon and jumps off Kitty before she has come to a complete stop.  John stands in the middle of the street, his eyes taking in the situation in one quick glance.  He takes a deep breath, his hands ready to pull his guns if needed.  John talks to Tina without taking his eyes off the people in front of him.  "Tina, don't try to shoot all four of them at once, when I say, just take out the one doing all the talking!"

Buff's face pales, and he looks from John to Tina. Tina's rifle moves slightly to cover him. Buff looks back to John, and suddenly a look of fear comes over his face as he recognizes John for the first time.

John speaks to Tina, but his eyes are still on the men before him.  "Tina, just concentrate on Buff. I will get the other two holding Ma."  John's eyes are cold and hard, his body rigid but ready for action.  "Lee, you have always been slower than you think.  Martha, could you raise your arms just a little bit.  Them pocket buttons on Lee's shirt make such good targets.  I wouldn't want him to bleed on that pretty dress of yours."

Martha starts raising her arms slowly.  Steve and Lee look at each other, a worried look spreading across their faces.  Steve yells at Martha, "Hey!  Quit raising your arms.  Quit it right now!"

Martha looks at John.  "Is this high enough?  Don't worry about the blood, I can wash it out."

Lee looks a little worried, but raises his voice to sound more in command.  He looks at John. "You must think you're real good. Well, farmer, I don't think you are.  You can't get both of us. You won't shoot, you might miss and hit the little woman."

John smiles at Lee and tilts his head to Tina, speaking, "Tina, remember, just get Buff.  Lee, I don't remember when I missed a bird on the wing or a snake in a hole and Lee, you do make a good target, just like a nice fat snake."

Breed slowly walks over and picks up the coffeepot.  There are about three holes in the center of it. He holds it up to Loyd.  "This is why we ain't crazy enough to go running around out there in the dark.  He's long gone from her by now.  In the dark, it would be like chasing a bobcat that's gone rabid.  Makes no sense at all.  Come daylight, Buff  and me will track him down, that is if those fools don't destroy every track from here to town chasing their tails!"

Lee, Steve, Swan and the other men ride up behind the hill, where John had fired on the camp. They pause, unsure of which direction to go.  From over the next hill, they hear the crack of a rifle and a man falls from the saddle, right in the middle of them. The rest of the men charge forward, into the trees at the bottom of the hill.

John waits for a moment, turns Kitty and slowly moves away from them. He makes sure he leaves broken branches and overturned rocks so they can easily follow him.  After about an hour of leading the men farther away from Bear Creek, he turns and heads back toward the ranch.  He stops and waits until he can hear their horses' hooves striking the rocky ground.  He yells into the darkness of the night, "You babies should ride up here, it's a lot easier." He waits until he can hear their voices climbing up the little canyon before he turns and rides back down.

The men following him are lost by now.  None of them know where they are, and in the darkness of the trees, they can't even see the stars to tell which direction they are riding.

John rides back down the canyon, only about twenty feet to the side of the men as they ride up the canyon.  They are making so much noise, they don't hear him pass them.

John has led them in circles three times, crossing over the trail of his family each time.  With the tracks of these men on top of any possible tracks that his family could have left, there could be no way to sort them out, as to which one was which.