Out Of Time

Margaret

Sam and Hosea went into Rhodes to have a few beers and look into the feud between the Grays and the Braithwaites.  They heard a lot of the same thing - rumors of gold, no one even knew how the feud started, and it had gone on for years and years.  They kept themselves discreet, however, and after a few drinks they left the saloon.  Hosea decides to go back to camp while Sam figured she should go do some hunting.  She headed over to Caliga Way, a little east of Rhodes, having heard there was good game there.  However, when she got there, she spotted a blonde woman with a circus carriage and wondered what was going on, so she approached the woman.  As she got close, she noticed the cage was empty.  Uh oh.

"Uh, excuse me," Sam began.  "But uh, are you with a circus or something?"

The woman glanced at Sam and blinked a few times.  "Yes.  And uh, I've lost my tiger."

Sam raised a brow.  "Your tiger, huh?"

"Yes.  I sent our best lion out to find him, and err...now he's missin' too.  It is a right old predicament," the woman explained, patting one of her horses on the rump.

Sam chuckled and shook her head.  "You lose a bear, too?"

The woman gave Sam a puzzled expression.  "Pardon?"

Sam waved a hand off.  "Nevermind."  Just then she saw Arthur coming in and she started laughing.  "Well well, small world."

The woman turned around, then glanced at Sam.  "You know him?"

"Oh, he's my uh...my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?"

Sam sighed, wondering how to explain what a boyfriend actually was.  Lover?  No, too crass.  Gentleman suitor?  No, too formal. Sweetheart?  Good enough.  "My sweetheart."

"Oooh."

Arthur trotted up to Sam.  "Fancy meetin' you here.  Whatchu up to?" Arthur asked

"Oh, I was out hunting and ran into, um...what's your name?"

"Sally Nash," the blonde woman said. 

Sam tipped her hat.  "I'm Sam Burke, and this is Arthur Morgan."

Arthur also tipped his hat to Sally.  "Did erm, did you lose a tiger?" Arthur asked Sally.

"Yeah, you found one?" Sally inquired excitedly.

"No, I found your caravan down the way.  Margaret said that you might need a hand."

Sally nodded.  "Well, as I told Miss Burke, the tiger is missin' and I sent out King to find her, now he's missin' too."

"Your lion from Timbuktu, weren't he?"

Sam had to stifle a giggle.  "From Valentine, I think.  He might be more of a kind of dog than a lion, but in a certain light a feller could never tell," said Sally.

Arthur sighed with a nod.  "Of course.  Which way'd he go?"

Sam pointed towards the river.  "Into them shrubs over there."

"Okay.  Why don't you hop up on the wagon and Sam and I'll see if we can find his track."

"Okay.  That first set of shrubs...that's where I lost sight of him."

Sam dismounted with Arthur and they both walked towards the river.  Sam looked down and started following pawprints.  "Lions and tigers," Sam commented with a head shake and a giggle.

"Yeah.  Just got their zebra back, only it was actually a painted mule," Arthur said, chuckling.

Sam snorted and let out a puff of air as she tracked.  "Oh my God, really?"