“We hope not,” Sam said. “You and your fine lady just enjoy yourselves. If there’s any trouble, it won’t reach you or anybody else up here.”
The man walked to Sam and stuck out his hand, “I’m Mitch, and if you need any help, I’ll be around.”
“Thank you, Mitch. Tell the bartender your first rounds are on me. Name’s Sam Kinney. Where are you and the lady from?”
“Sabinal.”
“Down by Uvalde? I know it, know a couple of people there. Kenneth Chapman, and Mike Colvin.”
“They’re friends. If you come down, look me up. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee, or a cup of whatever you want. We have a bar in town now.”
“Progress is wonderful.”
“It is that.” Mitch and Cass nodded and walked into the bar.
Raymond came over to stand beside Sam and glanced down at the rifle, now wiped clean of dust by Sam’s hands. “That might come in handy when Hunter gets close.”
“You’re assuming she’s still alive.”
“Until I know for certain she’s not, I’ll keep on believing she’s coming.”
“Well, she does have more lives than a cat. I like that lady, you know.”
Raymond looked at the other armed men, “There’s a lot of I like Hunter going on around here. They might as well be wearing campaign buttons saying it, you know, I like Ike.”
“You’re not old enough to remember that.”
“I’m not, but I used to read old magazines in the library, Life and Look. Great photos, too.”
“Oh hell, fellas, we have a reader among us.”
Raymond put his hand on Sam’s shoulder, “There’s two of us right here.” He motioned for the others to gather around. “Time to plan out how we’re gonna work this.”
“The Deputy said he’d play rover on the roads behind us as close backup, and if something happens he can get there fast,” Sam said.
One of the ranchers named Oscar, a man of about fifty and sun baked as hard as the county around him said, “For my two cents, with the thin number of people we have, we need to spread out on this side of the river and watch, but be close enough to bring help when we see her.”
Raymond liked it that he said, when we see her. “Anybody have disagreements with Oscar’s plan?” No one did.
One of the others said, “Find some high points, boys and girls.”
Norma said, “You want, a few of us could slip across to the other side, be waiting a little closer to cover her.”
The man in the Hawaiian shirt said, “We can cover out to three-quarters of a mile from this side. So, if you go, you’ll need to be farther than that.”
Norma said, “We’ll think about it.”
“Let us know. Hey, Norma, didn’t we dance together the last time I was in Del Rio?”
Norma smiled, “You bet. I shined your belt buckle real nice on the slow ones.”
He nodded in remembrance, “Fine times.”
She winked, “That buckle’s getting a little tarnished, I’m noticing. Might be time to polish it up again.”
“Oh, I believe so. Between you and Hunter, you can wear a guy out dancing.”
Raymond listened to the group talk among themselves a bit longer, then turned his mind to Hunter. He wondered where she was right now.