"What did you find out?" said the gravel-voiced man, through bites of a turkey leg. Lem smiled and said "she don't remember nothin. The Sheriff has been tryin to get sense outta her, but she jus' rambles on about her husband and her boy. She don' remember us, nor anything about that night."

"Stroke o' luck", said Montgomery. "That means there's nobody can pin it on us. I think the sheriff suspects, but he's got nothing."

"New feller in town, don't know if you heard. Name of Tate Hartung?"

Montgomery paused in his eager chewing of the turkey leg, "don't say? I know who he is. He's the top coon-catcher in this part of the country."

Lem continued "well, Miz Locke's brother hired him. I guess some of the darkies didn't come back after the fire. There's wanted posters for 'em all over town. And Locke and Hartung's payin' ten dollars a man to go after 'em. Locke's gonna double that if they're caught."

Montgomery put the turkey leg back on his plate. "Don't say? You could use ten bucks, hey Lem? I'll talk to this Hartung feller. You let the boys know we got hunting to do."

"What about Sheriff Brandt?"

"Oh, we'll be helpin him. Maybe we'll cross the track o' them murdering abolitionists." Lem grinned and tipped his hat, and left.

***

Hartung was a tall lean fellow, with an angular face and high cheekbones, and skin as dark as his Cherokee ancestors. His hair was sandy, though, and his eyes blue. "We riding tonight. Make sure your men have a bedroll and two days rations. I found the trail and followed it to a limestone cave yesterday."

"That'd be Miller's Cave," said Montgomery.

"Yeah. There's at least six of em, one of em is the kid. Some are on horseback. I didn't follow no further, but there's a thin trail north from there. We got to figure they got guns. You said there was a bunch of armed men in the neighborhood settin' slaves free?"

"Right. It was them that burned the Locke and Miller places."

"Funny they'd burn Millers out," said Hartung. "I heard that was a railway stop. How many men did you see?"

"Five or six" lied Montgomery, and Hartung nodded. "We'll be at least a dozen. But I don't want anybody crowdin' after em. I'll ride ahead, you keep the others back. Be here tonight at nine." Hartung turned and entered the hotel, leaving Montgomery standing on the steps. "Man of business," he smiled to himself.