After a careful search was made to find the stowaway, it was determined that the outlaw was probably never on the train in the first place.

So after two ambushes an escape attempt by two inmates, and Levi getting shot, the convict train began its journey once again to the Washington Territorial Prison, outside of Walla Walla.

Badger watched for several moments, before he took the reins of Sallie May and began walking her down the tracks watching for any sign that would lead them to where Bo Meadows and his men would have been waiting.

At first the sign was pretty clear to both John Barnabus and Badger, they started at the location where the guards stood outside and called for Superintendent Paine.

They took several moments to study the boot prints left along the tracks. Careful in the way they studied the area, trying to remember the location of each guard.

Then John Barnabus and Badger looked at each other, there was agreement in their eyes, as they turned their attention back toward the brush and the trees leading to the river. "That's Morgan's boot," Badger said, pointing to the ground.

"We got him," J. B. said, "...Now all we have to do is follow his track back to where they split up."


"Sure enough, and that's where we'll find Matt Cory's trail." Badger said, as they booth stood and looked into the tall grass.

Joseph Paterson followed closely, as he watched in wonderment at the patience, his partners took, to remember every detail before moving forward.

He noticed Badger would not only look for sign on the ground, but his eyes would gaze upward into the brush and he would study the foliage, and the fallen timber and branches, and the fallen leaves that lay damp upon the ground. He seemed to take it all in, and then somehow put it all back together again.

It wasn't long before they came to the area where Matt Cory had left on his own. This was evident by the multiple boot prints surrounding the area, indicating the guards had taken Morgan into custody and proceeded back to the train.

The sun was rising and Badger kneeled, taking a small twig lying near his feet, he gently moved some leaves on the ground, revealing the under-brush. He got J. B.'s attention and pointed at the sharp edges printed on one of the leaves.

"It's Cory's boot print." Badger said, without disturbing the leaf, His eyes took in the natural curve of the impression that was left by the weight of the inmate's boot, and determined the logical direction he would have gone.

"It looks like he took off through these trees. Badger said. He pointed to a slight change in the way the tall grass was laying. "He took a bit of a turn up yonder." Badger commented.

John agreed, then he noticed small fragments of cloth hanging from a branch on a fallen tree several feet away. It wasn't from Matt Cory's prison uniform, they were pink and white stripes. No! This was something else, someone else.

"He can't hide from us now." Paterson said with a false sense of confidence.

Then John Barnabus was back to looking for more sign. After a few yards, there was nothing. The trail had ended with one last boot print. In frustration he stood from his crouched position and looked around.

Glancing at Badger he said; "it's like he just disapeared."

Badger said nothing, he just took a long pause, cogitating every detail his old grey eyes could take in. Tracking was about patience, and it was about reading the environment. Something was missing, that was plain enough alright.

Badger took another look at the last boot print, trying to figure out which way Matt Cory' would have gone. There was nothing but a fallen tree and more brush and tall grass. Badger took a few steps forward. When he got closer to the fallen tree, he saw something that was out of place.

He backed away from the tree and returned to where the last boot print was found. He glanced at John Barnabus and then he carefully back-tracked.

When he had wondered several feet away, Badger kneeled at one point, something had caught his eye. Then he stood up and motioned for John to join him.

"There." Badger said, pointing. "What do you see?"

"looks like animal droppings." John said

"What else?"

John took a closer look. Then his eyes glanced in the direction of the boot prints they had already found. Standing, he looked at Badger.

"Why you old codger, you figured it out."

"Ain't figured the whole picture, yet," Badger said. "There's one more thing we need to look at."

As they walked, Badger explained.

"I gotta thinkin', the trail ended with one boot print. To my way of thinkin', his other boot had to have landed somewheres."

They both stopped at the last boot print. "Then I noticed that the ground had been disturbed at the place where the toe pushed the soil forward, and not in a normal way neither."

They began walking to the fallen tree, just a few feet in front of them.

"The trail disappeared because the convict jumped onto this tree and began to make his way down the trunk, staying off the ground as much as possible."

"What makes you think that, Badger?" Paterson asked.

The old mountain man pointed at the tree trunk and looked at John Barnabus.

"Step closer Joseph, I'll show you." John said, looking at Badger with a new found respect.

"When Badger took me back along Cory's trail he showed me where the convict had stepped onto a pile of animal droppings as he ran through the trees."

Badger pointed to the boot print on the ground, and said, "When he done reached that point there, the hooligan jumped onto this fallen tree and some of the dung from his boot was left in the bark of this tree. Badger paused to see if Paterson understood. Then he continued.

" We can follow his direction by following the dung left on the trunk of this tree.."

Joseph Paterson shook his head slowly, amazed at how the puzzle was put back together. Looking at Badger he asked, "Now what do we do?"

We continue to follow the trail young feller, that's what we do. We know when he reached this point, he was desperate to find Meadows. We're not far from the river now, so his tracks won't be hard to follow from here."

Shortly after Matt Cory's trail left the fallen tree, John Barnabus found another trail that met-up with Matt Cory's. "What do you think, Badger?" John asked.

Badger scratched his whiskers as he studied the back trail of the stranger for several moments. As he did, the attack on the train played out in his mind.

"This is the owner of the torn cloth we saw hanging on that branch back yonder."

John Barnabus turned, he too looked at the back trail the stranger left behind, and before he could voice his thoughts on the matter, Badger spoke up again.

"John, I think we just found the outlaw who shot Levi."

They were following two men now and they were both heading for the banks of the Columbia River.

When Badger, J. B. and Paterson emerged from the trees they found an area where several horses had stood idle. It was still mid-morning, the air was clear, the sky was deep blue with patches of clouds gliding on a cool velvet wind.

The river was wild, and yet gentle at the same time, with ripples exposing small white caps as the great river made its way. Twisting and turning through the mountains and valleys, pushing its mass to the Pacific Ocean..

"It looks like they headed down river." John said.

Badger sat quietly in his saddle, glancing over the terrain/ He reached down and rubbed Sallie May on the side of her neck. "How you doin" ole girl."

He could feel her lungs expand and contract as she took in the clean mountain air. Her ears would twitch now and then, but she held her head high, she knew where she was. Her breathing was calm, being in these mountains was nothing new to her.

Badger sat up in his saddle. Turning, he reached for his parfleche and took out some pemmican. After securing the war bag, he said;

"There's only one reason to move in that direction."

John waited for Badger to gather his thought, but Paterson didn't have that kind of patience, so he asked.

"What reason is that, Badger?"

"Bo Meadows. He knows his name is going to be all over Washington Territory." Badger said, turning his attention to the far side of the river.

"There ain't but one place for him to go from here. Across this river is Oregon Territory and from here, it is the only place Meadows has left to go. The closest place to cross this river is about two miles in that direction." He pointed at the trail in front of them.

They began to move their horses down river when Paterson rode up along-side Badger, "We better stop at the nearest town and send a report to Mr. Pinkerton."

Paterson glanced over at John. "... He's gonna want to know where we are, and how this is going" John watched the expression on the old mountain man's face, and said nothing. He knew the reality of the situation was right in front of him.

Badger had no intentions of leaving this trail. Bo Meadows had left deep scars in his life too many times. This time he would personally send him to hell.

His only response to Paterson's request was to bite off a piece of that pemmican, then he gave a quiet glance at John Barnabus Sawyer, followed by a long silence as he continued to follow the trail.

When J. B. looked into Badger's eyes, that's when it struck him. For it was in that moment, he understood the words of Casper Hayes.