Author's Note
I apologize for taking so long to write, i hope you enjoy this book and theses chapters.

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When Arthur opened his eyes, John was sitting in his tent.

"Hey, Marston," he said, carefully propping himself up with one arm.

"Hey, Arthur. Glad you are looking better."

"Well, I always look better than you," he smiled. "The camp safe?"

"Everyone is fine. A little tense. Hosea punched Micah in the face."

"What? Why?"

"Apparently he called you weak, and Hosea just lost it. The little shit deserved it. Figured someone would punch him eventually. Didn't think it would be Hosea."

They sat in silence for a minute, until John asked, "Do you mind if I bring Jack in? He's been pretty upset these last few days."

"Sure you can."

John walked out and quickly returned with Jack. The boy launched himself at Arthur, ignoring John's hasty instruction of "Careful!" burying his face into Arthur's chest. Arthur grimaced, but stayed silent when the boy started to cry a little. "Are you better, Uncle Arthur?" he asked.

"Yeah, kid, I'm better."

"Mama said you needed rest and I couldn't see you. I was really scared!"

"I'm sorry I scared you, kiddo. You were really brave, you know that?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, of course!"

The next few times he woke, it was one of the girls, or Reverend Swanson, checking his bandages or bringing him food. Then, Arthur woke up to Dutch in his tent.

"So, Pinkertons found us," he said without any preamble.

"That's right," Arthur said.

"I had Bill and Micah move the bodies somewhere west of here. Hopefully it keeps them off our trail." Dutch paused, and Arthur could see a lecture forming. "It was stupid, shooting those men."

"What was I supposed to do, let them find us?"

"The law could find us now."

"Seems to me, they already did."

"And why? Because he claimed to have killed Mac? What did I teach you about revenge, son?"

Oh Dutch, Arthur thought. He always preached high and mighty, but betrayed every lesson he tried to impart.

"You think it was just because of Mac? Agent Milton wanted us, Dutch, he wanted you, and he wasn't going to stop! I was protecting my family!"

With a huff, Dutch stood. Running away from his problems again.

"They offered me a deal, Dutch," Arthur called after him. It got Dutch to stop. "My life, if I brought you in."

"So why didn't you take it?" Dutch replied coldly.

"You keep thinking that me disagreeing with you means I'm going to betray you, Dutch," Arthur said. Dutch turned and met his eye, before slipping off. Arthur heard him snap at someone in camp, though he couldn't make out the name as Dutch shouted it too quickly. Lenny poked his head in the tent, and noticing Arthur was still awake, asked, "What's got Dutch all mad now?"

"It seems Dutch can't stand it when anyone disagrees with him," Arthur said, waving Lenny away with his good arm.

Soon, Arthur was wandering around camp, right arm confined to a sling as his shoulder healed. Mostly, he kept the girls company. Mary-Beth let him borrow some of her books, and even shared one of her own stories with him.

Dutch was avoiding him, that much was clear. Arthur noticed that Micah had taken full advantage of it, hanging off of Dutch and constantly adding his terrible advice. It was a dangerous situation, but Arthur wouldn't apologize to Dutch.

But more concerning was Hosea! The man was also keeping his distance for some unknown reason, though Arthur kept catching him staring from across the camp. Finally, Arthur had enough.

"Hosea," he said, walking over the where Hosea sat, on the edge of camp.

"Arthur? Everything alright?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he said, taking a seat. "Have you been avoiding me?"

"No! Well, it's… it's a little complicated."

"Hosea, please tell me what's wrong!" He already started to lose Dutch again, he couldn't lose Hosea as well!

But Hosea wouldn't meet his eyes. "Arthur, I did something, well, I swear I didn't mean to do it!"

"Hosea, what?"

"I read your journal."

Arthur froze, sucking in a breath that stayed caught in his lungs.

"It was lying open on the ground, I was putting it away but I saw something you wrote and… I didn't mean to, Arthur. But I kept reading."

"So, you know everything?" Arthur whispered.

"Arthur, is it true? Did you die and come back?" Arthur nodded. "That day you fell off your horse, while hunting with Charles, you came back?" Arthur nodded again, and Hosea, with his eyes watering, pulled Arthur into a hug. Arthur buried his face into Hosea's chest, choking back sobs as Hosea rubbed circles on his back. They stayed that way for a while, Hosea's arms wrapped around his son and whispering, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Is that why you punched Micah?" Arthur asked.

"He deserved it. Someone should have punched him in the face a long time ago." That made Arthur laugh through the tears, just a little.

"I just don't know what to do, Hosea. I want to save everyone, but I don't know how!"

"Well, you don't have to do it alone anymore. And with those agents dead, it will just get easier."

"But Dutch? Hosea, I don't know if I can save Dutch!"

"We will, son. We can do this."

Arthur sat up slowly, taking a few deep breaths. "Thank you, Hosea."

"You're welcome, Arthur. Now, you focus on getting better, and we will make a plan!"

Arthur was sure Hosea wanted to borrow his journal again, to study it more carefully and make a plan, but he was glad that for now, he could keep it himself. He needed to write down everything from the last few days, and think about how things had changed.

And its a good thing he did, because the next morning, he realized that he needed to travel to Emerald Ranch. Albert Mason had been a good friend to him, and today the man would be trying to catch an image of wild horses. There was just one problem. His shoulder still hurt.

"What do you think you are doing?" Dutch shouted in the early hours, causing a couple of sleepy heads to come sticking out of tents.

"I need to get out of camp for a bit," Arthur grumbled. Currently, his attempts to pull himself into the saddle had failed.

"ARE YOU INSANE? YOU ALMOST DIED AND YOU WANT TO RUN OFF AGAIN?"

Hosea came walking up. "Arthur, what's going on?"

"Just feeling restless. I want to go for a ride." He gave Hosea a serious look, one he hoped the man would interpret correctly.

Dutch opened his mouth to argue, but Hosea said, "How about I go with you?"

"Hosea!"

"He will be fine, Dutch! We'll just go for a ride, shoot some rabbits, and come back."

Dutch was seething, but Hosea pushed past him to grab Silver Dollar. Arthur led Dakota to a tree stump, using it to help him get into the saddle. They trotted out of camp to the stares of everyone in camp.

"Alright, what is this about?" Hosea asked when they were far enough away.

"Well, tomorrow is auction day. Last time, well, my friend the photographer was trying to get a picture and I helped him."

"The photographer, Mr. Mason?"

"Yeah," Arthur said. It would take some time before he would get used to talking about his previous life.

His shoulder was aching by the time he stopped Albert Mason from across the field, leaning over his camera and muttering. The wild horses were there as well, keeping their distance from the strange photographer. "So, you're still alive!" Arthur called out, causing Albert to jump.

"Mr. Morgan!" Albert replied, once he got over his shock. "Good gracious, what happened to your arm?"

"Just an unfortunate run-in with some disagreeable folk. This is Hosea, by the way. Hosea, meet Albert Mason, a man determined to get eaten by the local wildlife."

"Not eaten just yet, and hopefully not this time. I've been trying to capture the grace of wild horses here for weeks."

Arthur offered to drive the horses over, with Hosea's help this time. Albert got his picture, and in return, Arthur received the shot that he had helped Albert capture a few weeks ago.

"Take care, Mr. Mason," he said with a smile when he and Hosea departed, and he passed the photograph over for Hosea to take a look.

"So, he almost got eaten taking this?" Hosea asked.

"Oh yes, I had to save him from that one."

"This is what you do then, when you go running off? Help poor photographers and the like?"

"Sometimes." They started riding back in silence, until, "There was this woman, a Sister at a church. She once said that I was happiest when I helped people. I wasn't sure then, but I think she was right."

"I know it seems impossible, but we will help the others," Hosea said.

"Tomorrow, auction day, Cornwall finds Dutch. That's when we move South."

"Maybe it won't happen this time-"

"No," Arthur said. "They know we are in the area. And Cornwall won't stop."

"And so we head south?"

"I don't want to. It ended badly, but… we were safe there for a while. It might be our best option."

To keep their story from earlier straight, they shot a couple of rabbits for Mr. Pearson, who graciously accepted them. Dutch glared at them from his tent, Molly looking uncomfortable as she did her hair.

The next day, Arthur stayed at camp, but heard John grab Charles to go steal some sheep from Emerald Ranch. And hours later, they were riding frantically back.

"We need to pack up, now!" Dutch said. "They found us! Miss Grimshaw, start getting the wagons together. When John gets back, we need to be ready!"

Charles was helping Strauss off his horse, and Hosea was approaching Dutch. "We need to be heading west, Dutch."

"Well, we can't exactly do that, now can we?"

"So what, we keep heading east? This isn't working!"

And there was Micah, coming to whisper in Dutch's ear. "I know of a place, Dewberry Creek. Could set up camp there."

"I've heard of another place that might work, well, Arthur's heard of it," Hosea offered.

"Yeah, uh, Clemens Point. Pretty secluded, by a lake. But Dewberry Creek is on the way, you can check both places." Hosea gave him an odd look, that he ignored for the moment.

"I'll send Charles and John out, when John gets back."

Arthur walked off to start packing his things, but there wasn't much else he could do at the moment. "Why Dewberry Creek?" Hosea asked.

"There's a German family, the father was kidnapped for ransom. I suppose John and Charles would find him if they went to Clemens Point first, but the guy didn't exactly speak English. Probably easier if they get the story from the family, first."

He helped Hosea hitch the horses to their wagon, and climbed awkwardly up to sit next to him. They volunteered to take up the rear, mostly so they could start scheming.

Too much depended on it.