Tieltown III - Chapter Two

Military Michael lived up in the mountains with Enchanting April, his wife. Everyone in Tieltown knew that Military Michael had been in the War Between the States, but it wasn't something that he liked to talk about. What most people didn't know is that Military Michael had worked for a time as a Texas Ranger, and that he was an expert tracker. While he valued his privacy, when Military Michael learned that Beeker had been tielnapped, he knew that his special talents were needed, even at the risk of his anonymity.

When he got to the house, Military Michael examined all of the pieces of evidence carefully. The window had been removed seemingly by an expert, but since the window was in the back of the house, even in the remote chance that someone had been traveling by, the perpetrator would have been hidden from view. The note, with it's arrogant and taunting tone, apparently revealed the mind of an evil genius.

Upon checking the ground under the window, Military Michael found what appeared to be evidence of footprints, which had been partially brushed away with something.

Continuing across the clearing from the house, he found a branch of freshly broken mesquite. This, undoubtedly, was what had been used as a broom to cover the tracks of the tielnapper. Nothing could hide the evidence of wagon tracks in the field grass behind the house. In a very short time, with his finely honed skills, Military Michael had turned up a solid lead in the case.

Rumba Russ saddled his swiftest pied pony, and galloped all the way to Tieltown. The people there were all waiting for word on Beeker, so gathering help in the form of a posse took almost no time. Huckster Dave, Can Can Janet, Cowboy Bruce, CajunGina, and Leif the Crazy Swede all quickly saddled their horses, and the group started pounding back to the scene of the crime.