Arthur Morgan did not intend to survive when he gave his hat to John Marston and stayed behind to gain his redemption. As he crawled towards his final resting place, he never intended to wake up again.
But he does wake up. Thanks to time travelers F...
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Arthur never wanted to see another sheep again. Even with both he and Mary working at top speed, it was dark by the time the final sheep was sheared. They were forced to move to the barn and light lamps to be able to see what they were doing to finish. Not to mention Arthur's primary job was shearing the larger sheep, which included rams. Rams were even smellier than ewes and twice as mean.
Mary's work ethic never ceased to impress Arthur either. She kept pace with him, and by the end was so tired she could barely lift her arms. "I'm going to be feeling that for weeks," she sighed, poking her arm indifferently with her index finger. "I can hardly feel these."
"How did I do?" Asked Jamie from behind them. The boy had also been working that day, even though he was too small to shear sheep. Jamie's job was to tie the fleeces and stuff them into huge, burlap sacks for transport. The boy was also instrumental in running to get the two adults cups of water so they didn't have to take breaks.
"Ah, you did great, kid!" Arthur exclaimed, ruffling the boy's hair. "Them fleeces was tied up real pretty. Wool buyer's going to be impressed."
"Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Arthur," Mary complimented him. "Really, we couldn't have done it without you."
Suddenly, the hairs on Arthur's neck stood on end. Some sort of sixth sense made him freeze, and he sensed something outside the barn.
Mary noticed his sudden tenseness and put a hand on his forearm. "Arthur, what is it?"
"Horses," Arthur said quickly, reaching for the pistol at his belt. "Both of you hide."
Mary and her brother tucked themselves amongst the bags of wool, and as soon as they were out of sight, Arthur peeked through the barn window. "Damn it," he whispered under his breath. "Mary, it's a gang of bounty hunters. I don't know how they tracked me here."
There were four of them, and Arthur knew exactly who they were. The Evans boys. They were all brothers, and they hailed from north of Strawberry at a place called Hanging Dog Ranch. They had a reputation for being ruthless and relentless in their pursuit of their quarry, but their presence actually surprised Arthur. Usually they only tackled bounties of more than a thousand dollars, but Arthur's bounty was barely one hundred. Maybe they were after Dutch? Dutch's bounty was certainly high enough. In that case, maybe they weren't here to kill Arthur.
"Mary? Mary, you here?" The one in front called out. He sat atop a huge, black shire horse and carried a loaded rifle in his hands.
Arthur heard Mary groan behind him and leave her hiding place. "They're not just bounty hunters. They're my cousins," she murmured. "Have they ever seen you before?"
Arthur shook his head. "No. I ain't got a big enough bounty. I doubt they'd recognize me."
Mary kissed his cheek and put a hand on the barn door. "Then your name is Arthur Callahan, and you're just a hired hand. My letter asking them for help with the shearing must have been delayed. Holster your pistol and come out with me. You too, Jamie. Don't you dare tell them Arthur's not a hired hand." Her eyes looked fearfully into Arthur's apologetically.
