I searched everywhere, determined to find wisdom and to understand the reason for things. I was determined to prove to myself that wickedness is stupid and that foolishness is madness.” –Ecclesiastes 7:25 (NLT)
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I watched as Mateo lifted his gun to fire as I was right behind him. Slowly he lowered the gun, shaking his head. “Too dangerous a shot in town,” he declared, clearly frustrated.
Glancing down the road where the rider went I quickly went over to where I could see clear tracks, then turned to hustle up to saddle Star. When I was sheriff I always kept a horse saddled, just in case, but being a Deputy U.S. Marshal and now a Colorado Ranger, there was no need. No need, until today.
“Tell Molly I’m goin’ to get Star, then head after him,” I informed Mateo and I rushed on up the street.
It was a good forty minutes before I was on the road. I stopped in front where I could look down at the tracks once more. Mateo came out to join me. “Tell Molly I’ll be back before dark.” I gave Star a nudge, and he took off. That horse likes to run, and I let him for the first couple of hundred yards, then slowed him down not wanting to miss in case the rider turned off the road.
It was one thing to shoot at me, but what he did was downright reckless shooting through the windows of the diner. One thing became clear with him doing that was that he had no real regard for life. The tracks were clear and we were a mile from town, so I became much more cautious. My eyes began to take in the surroundings, the trees, the rocks, the shadows, possible places for an ambush.
In the distance I thought I heard the evil cackle of laughter. It had been some time since the Pale Rider had stalked me so openly. I know that he was behind every attempt on my life, but this was blatant. I remembered the calming words of the Savior coming back to me. That nothing would happen to me until it was time for me to go to glory. The problem is that I didn’t know which time that would be. It caused me to smile though. I knew that He was in control and I had nothing to fear from the sinister forces of evil.
Looking down, I no longer saw the tracks of the big palomino. Had he turned off and I missed it? Quickly I glanced at my backtrail. I could now be the one who was being followed. I brought Star to a halt. There was a small arroyo back a short piece; he could have moved off the road there. I turned Star to go back and look over the area carefully. At first glance, I saw nothing, but then noticed that a bit of dirt had fallen from the small bank. It might be nothing, but on the other hand. I urged Star down into the arroyo and headed on downstream. I figured it would eventually go into the La Plata River, but I wasn’t planning on traveling that far.
I brought Star to a halt after traveling about twenty minutes in the arroyo. Tracks moved out of the arroyo to the west. They were not clear, but they were recent, so they had to have been made by the person I was chasing. Dismounting, I ground reined Star and moved up the bank to peer over it. Someone could be sitting there just waiting for my head to appear. I could see that another was moved down to connect with the arroyo I was riding in, then above that wash was a large group of boulders. After surveying what was in front of me I moved back down and mounted Star. I decided not to ride out, but to continue to follow the arroyo.
When I came to the fork where the dry wash entered the arroyo, I reined Star in that direction. I stopped, thinking I had seen movement up in the large rocks. Whoever it was would be expecting me from the front, but I had now flanked him. I dismounted again, this time pulling my rifle from the scabbard.
After a short distance, but seemingly a long time, I was fifty or so yards away from the boulders when I spotted the palomino. Then…