Miss Morgan

Thirty-Six

June 1899
-Ivy-

"Ivy." Dutch greets when I walk to his tent.

"Hey Dutch, Molly." Molly looks up from her knitting and smiles politely at me.

"How you feelin'?" Dutch asks.

"Still sore, but a lot better than I did when I got here." I've taken it easy the last few days while Arthur was gone for a day tracking down Reverend Swanson on a bender, now Arthur and Hosea have been away on a hunting trip, trying to hunt some monstrous grizzly bear up north.

I think it's funny Arthur has become such a hunter since Blackwater. He couldn't be trusted to shoot a rabbit without obliterating it and now he's after the biggest grizzly bear even Hosea has ever seen.

"Glad to hear you're doing better." Dutch squeezes my arm. "You feelin' up for some work then?"

"Please." If I have to spend another minute in this camp I'm gonna go crazier than I already am. The hallucinations have almost completely stopped but the nightmares are still tormenting me most nights.

"Take Karen, Tilly and Mary-Beth into town and see if you can find anything out. Ms. Grimshaw is ready to strangle all these women if I don't get them out of here for a bit."

"Am I one of the workin' girls now?" I raise my eyebrow. I know I'm not in the best shape to go rob a train but I helped take out an O'Driscoll camp two days after waking up.

"Easy killer..." Dutch teases. "I ain't askin' ya to do laundry. It's just an excuse to get out of camp for a bit and find new leads. I promise when I have something exciting you'll be the first one I tell, alright?"

"Sorry." I mutter. "Didn't mean to snap."

"I understand." Dutch nods and hands me his bottle of bourbon. I take a drink and give it back to him, then Arthur and Hosea ride into camp.

"Arthur." Dutch calls out.

"Dutch, Miss O'Shea." Arthur greets.

"Well, it feels like we are getting back on our feet."

"You find a buyer for them bonds we stole?" Arthur asks.

"Not yet, but Hosea's workin' on it." Dutch answers.

"When we headin' west?"

"Soon... I don't know..."

"Feels like..." Arthur runs a hand through his hair. "Things have changed. The whole world has changed. That they don't want folk like us no more. We're bein' hunted."

His hair is getting long, it's already almost covering his ears. He hasn't cut it since before the mess in Blackwater. His beard too.

"We are smarter than them." Dutch takes a seat in a wooden chair at the opening of his tent. "Only the feeblest of men take jobs from the government.

I think back to my time with Ike Skelding. 'Feeble' isn't a word I'd use to describe him.

Arthur barks out a laugh. "I hope so."

"Trust Dutch, Mister Morgan, ya have to." Molly smiles at my brother.

"They got Micah!" Lenny's shouting catches our attention. "Dutch... Arthur..." he pants, running into the camp.

"What's going on?" Dutch asks.

"They got Micah. He-he's been arrested for murder. He was in Strawberry and-" Lenny stutters and gasps for air.

"It's okay, son, breathe..." Dutch mutters calmly.

"They nearly lynched me." Lenny drops his hands to his knees to catch his breath. "They... they got Micah in the sheriff's in Strawberry... and there's talk of hangin' him."