Chapter One The Returning Cavalryman

Jack slid the journal inside his coat and rose slowly. He did not draw. He shifted behind the blackened doorframe. The old horse near the grave raised its head and turned its ears. The riders stopped in the yard. A man's voice said, "Told you I smelled smoke. Somebody's back." Another laughed. "Who'd come to this dead place? One of the Walker boys? Heard the older one died in the war." A younger voice asked, "And if he didn't?" "Then he dies today." Boots stepped onto the ruined porch. Jack watched through a crack. Three men entered the shell of the house. One had a fat face and tobacco crumbs in his beard. One was tall and thin and carried a Winchester. The last was young, but his right hand stayed glued to his pistol grip.