Hosea, Dutch and I had our fishing trip. I guess I remembered it a little different before. Now, all I see is Dutch's desperation and obsession with people doubting him.

We need to find some money soon, or this gang is going to fall apart. Hitting the bank in Valentine with Karen and Bill had been good money. Maybe there is something in the Rhodes bank, too. I'll have to start looking. I just need to keep Dutch away from those two families.

--------------------------

"Come near me, sailor… and I will slice you up!"

Arthur was fortunately close enough to grab Sadie Adler by the waist and pull her knife-wielding arm away from Mr. Pearson. Right on time, too. The fire he missed was finally in her eyes, and she was turning into the fighter he remembered so fondly. Now, he just needed to direct her at someone that wasn't the camp cook.

"What is wrong with you two?" he said.

"I ain't chopping vegetables for a living?" Sadie yelled, throwing down the knife.

He didn't tease her this time, or call her Princess, he just looked at her and said, "Why don't I take you into town? Mr. Pearson, do you need anything?"

"Sure, here's my list. And could you post this letter for me while you're there?"

"Sure."

"So, I graduated from chopping vegetables to shopping?" Sadie asked as they drove out of camp.

"Takes more than robbing and killing to run a camp, you know."

"Look, Mr. Morgan. My husband and I shared the work. I can hunt, carry a gun, I worked in the fields. I can't be confined to camp no more."

"Alright, well first we are gonna start with shopping. After that, I'll take you hunting. You show that you can handle a gun, you can run with the men if you want."

Of course, Arthur knew he didn't need a hunting trip to know Sadie could handle herself, especially if this shopping trip ended with Lemoyne Raiders. Which, of course, it did.

Sadie handled herself just as fine as before, if not a little more unrefined than he had grown used to. "Are you gonna tell Dutch?" she asked as they rode back.

"Are you kidding?" he said. "He'll tell Hosea and I'll never leave camp again if he finds out I ended up in another gunfight so soon!"

They were both chuckling about that when he stopped their wagon next to Pearson's.

"Mrs. Adler, I would ride with you again, if you will ride with me," he said.

"Only if you think you can keep up!" she replied.

There was still a lot of light left in the day, so Arthur saddled Dakota and rode out to Calliga Hall. It was time to meet Beau. One of his goals this time around was to get those two kids out of Rhodes before their lives fell apart. Especially since he didn't plan to stick around this far east long enough to help them out of town.

Beau was just as strange as he remembered, but he accepted the letter with little resistance. Beau still insisted on paying him, and at this point, Arthur was grateful for any money.

Penelope was waiting at the gazebo, and he took the reply back to Beau, only to ride desperately to the town. Penelope stood with the signs amongst the cheering women.

"They will kill her for just being at one of these rallies!" a frantic Beau protested.

"If she wants to rally, you got to let her rally!" Arthur said, but he knew what he had to do. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I'll stick around and make sure things don't go bad."

"Yeah, your friend can drive the wagon, Beau! It will allow us to shout all the louder!" Penelope said.

Arthur was introduced to Olive Calhoon, who asked, "Are you an old friend of the movement?"

Arthur drove the wagon towards Main Street. "I wouldn't say an old friend, Mrs. Calhoon, but you got my support."

"It's about to get exciting!" said Mrs. Calhoon, as the men of the town began to gather outside the stores.

"I believe you might be right. Just not too exciting, I hope," Arthur mumbled. But once again, Mrs. Calhoon took the jeers from the crowd in stride, and the assembly continued.

Beau was hanging around the back, but that didn't stop his cousins from noticing. Arthur intervened, pulling the young man away and on a fast ride to the old battlefield.

"I'm gonna give you some advice, Beau," Arthur said, after they caught their breath. "Leave. And leave soon. Grab Penelope and some money, and get her out of here."

"That's the problem. My family has money, but I don't!"

"Well, start saving. But if you love her-"

"Oh, I do."

"Then I would take her and get out of this town. I'll help you, if I'm still here, but I won't be around forever."

Beau nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Morgan."

They parted ways, and Arthur rode Dakota back to camp. He could only hope that Beau would take his advice.

Now to convince Dutch that there was no gold.

Beau had told him as much, saying that the families buried secrets but not treasure.

"Arthur, how did it go at the Gray's place?" Dutch was standing with Hosea next to a wagon full of moonshine. Right, Deputy Archibald had mentioned taking down some moonshiners after they arrested the Anderson boys. Dutch must not have asked Arthur along, on account of his shoulder. Or at least, that's what Arthur hoped was the reason.

More concerning was Micah, wearing the Deputy star alongside Bill. Of course that weasel had worked Arthur's injury to his own advantage.

"Well, I met an interesting young fellow who is in love with a Braithwaite girl, and I ended up in a women's suffrage rally."

"But what about gold, Arthur?" Dutch asked.

"I don't know, Dutch." He had to play this right. "The kid didn't seem to know anything about gold, and he's almost as desperate for money as we are. Wants to grab his lady and run from this place."

"But there's got to be something," Micah said.

"Sure, they're rich. Two big plantations like that have got to move a lot of money. But hidden gold? I don't think they have any, Dutch."

Hosea watched the proceedings silently. He hadn't visited the Braithwaites yet.

Micah sneered. "So, you too lazy to work that family, or too soft for that kid?"

"Shut up, Micah, I'm tryin' to find us something guaranteed so we can get out of this dump and go west like we planned!"

"Will you both cool off," Dutch interjected. "Now Arthur, if we don't rob these families, then how will we get enough money to do anything?"

Arthur had been thinking about this very thing. "Well, if there's money moving through this town, we could hit the bank."

"A bank job, really? How inspired, cowpoke," Micah said.

"It's on the edge of town, far from the sheriff, probably an easy getaway," he continued, ignoring Micah. "We could send the girls into town, see what they can find out about it."

For a second, there was some hope as Dutch looked thoughtful. But then, "Well, there's no harm in working both for now. We can send the girls in to poke around. Meanwhile, Hosea, perhaps its time to take a trip over to the Braithwaites' place."

Dutch and Micah wandered back to camp, Micah showing his total support for Dutch's outrageous schemes. It made Arthur sick, watching the rat work his way into Dutch's favor. Hosea's hand on his shoulder stopped Arthur from doing something stupid, like shooting Micah in the back.

"What should we do with this liquor?" Hosea asked gently. "I thought about trying to sell it back to the Braithwaites, but…" he trailed off, waiting for confirmation.

"It won't exactly end well," Arthur said. "You know, we should really go over my journal together at some point." He looked at the wagon again. "Let's hold onto it for now. This stuff is pretty flammable, and you never know when that would be useful."

The next morning, he and Charles rode out to find Trelawny. It had completely slipped his mind when he saw the man in Rhodes with Dutch that the bounty hunters would catch up to him. They were too late. Tracking the bounty hunters through the fields to the cabin, Arthur was determined to not end the day in a chase through the cornfields.

Well, shit, that went well, he thought as he dove through the cornstalks, cursing bounty hunters, Trelawny, and even the farmer who owned these fields. He was faster this time, shooting three of the men quickly, then searching for the fourth. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen where the guy had come from the first time around, and didn't know where to look.

The swish of the rope was his only warning before he was yanked back, pressure enveloping his neck. He tried to drag air in, but it was too late! Choking coughs and gasps sounded in the field. His fingers clawed at the rope, unable to find purchase. Where the hell was Charles? Had it taken him this long before? It reminded him of the attacks that would happen in the last few weeks of his illness, his lungs refusing to breath in until he passed out, sometimes waking up hours later, weak with the faint taste of his own blood in his mouth. His vision was going dark as the panic set in, and he couldn't focus on the person that had appeared before him.

The rope went slack, and Arthur collapsed backwards into the dirt, gasping for the air that was finally available to him. Charles was lifting him up, patting his back, but there wasn't enough air. He was sick, dying again, and there wasn't enough air. Arthur leaned over in Charles' hold, coughing violently.

When he was finished, Charles guided Arthur back until he was laying on the other man's chest. "You'll be fine," Charles murmured. Slowly, Arthur drew in one deep breath, then another, relishing each one.

"Thank you," he stammered. In the distance, more gunshots could be heard. "Shit, there's more," he said, dragging himself up. No time to panic now.

Once all the bounty hunters were dead, they returned to Trelawny, who looked just about as bad as Arthur felt at the moment.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Never finer," Trelawny replied, though the disheveled clothes and blood on his face spoke a different story.

"Who was they?"

"Bounty hunters." Arthur helped Trelawny up, the other man moved stiffly with a groan. "They weren't looking for me per se. You boys sure stirred up a lot of trouble in Blackwater."

Don't I know it, Arthur thought. The three of them rode back to camp slowly. Miss Grimshaw fussed over Trelawny and berated him for his carelessness, and Arthur was left with the unfortunate task of delivering the bad news of bounty hunters to Dutch.

"Just one big score, and we're gone, Arthur," Dutch said. But Arthur had heard it all before.

"How much money is enough, Dutch?" he asked.

"More than we have now," Dutch said, and Arthur walked away.