"Because you always know best, don't you Marshal. Because you've never made a mistake. Because you've never done something that got someone you loved in a bad spot. I see it now, you are perfect. Whew! Know that I know that, your wish is my command."

The Marshal was right about one thing, though. Jed hadn't pick up Cane's badge. He'd left it at home. But that line wasn't just about the physical piece of metal. It was about boots Jed hadn't filled. The boy knew that he had never lived up to his mentor's legacy, what he didn't need was to hear it from someone else. That's what caused to reply in the way that he did, that is what caused the mean-spirited sarcasm.

The Marshal studied Jed for a second, then suddenly slapped him. Her horse backed up and shook his head, just as surprised as everyone else.

Jed stood there, his face reddened from the force of her slap. He should have seen this coming, he should have expected it. It was after all, exactly the result he was looking for. Still, it caught him by surprise.

"So now what, Marshal? We just going to stand here all day?"

"You're the one we've been waiting on," the Marshal grumbled, swinging up into the saddle. "Let's ride. And no dust clouds this time."

~~

The threesome trotted down toward the track. They could see parts of the wreckage were still smoking, and the Marshal briefly wondered how many lives would not have been lost if the engine hadn't exploded. She pulled up and studied the wreckage, looking for any signs of visitors.

"Back where this mess all started. Find anything?"

She looked over at the wreck, not bothering to dismount. They had not even come back for Meyer's corpse, now half mangled by a nighttime visit from iron wolves, no doubt. She sighed. She was hoping they had returned at least to bury the man, or take his corpse. Something. It would have left cleaner tracks to follow.

"Doesn't look disturbed," she said, turning and posting down the track for a ways, scanning for hoofmarks or footprints.

Unlike the Marshal, Jed dismounted to take a better look. To him any clue, no matter how small was worth finding. As he explored the scene, he came across a patch of earth that had been shifted recently. "Huh." Jed bent over to get a better look when he heard the click. Pressure mine. He'd got himself in quite the pickle.

"Marshal, you might want to come take a look at this." Then he realized that the Marshal wasn't going to be able to hear him. "Caldwell! Go get the Marshal, would you?"

"Why should I go get the Marshal?" Caldwell asked. He hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on because he was honestly a terrible tracker. He paid people to do that for him. "You didn't even say please, why would I go get her?"

"For starters you are lucky that you aren't sitting back at the jail in a cage right now. Secondly, I don't think that this here mine being blown up fits in very well with your plan. Finally, because I said so."

"There's a mine? Why didn't you say so in the first place instead of being all enigmatical and stuff?" Caldwell said indignantly. "Besides, you don't need the Marshal. Disarming explosives is my specialty. Well, one of them."

Caldwell dismounted his horse and crouched down in the grass to inspect the mine.

"Oh, this mine here is an easy one. I could take that thing there apart in my sleep. Just need a knife."

"Whoa, back up. Right now, I don't trust either of you. But I trust the Marshal just a fraction more than you, as for the knife, you can forget about it. Now go get the ruttin Marshal!"

"Fine, I'll go get tha Marshal. You just stay right there and try not to move or do anythin' stupid," Caldwell said and walked off, moving at a deliberately infuriatingly slow speed.

"Yeah, well, hurry up about it!" Jed's leg started to shake, the truth is that he was pretty darn scared right about now. It certainly didn't help that he had just angered the one person he could rely upon to help.

"Hey, Marshal! Jed's just got himself in a heap a trouble. He's on a mine and too darned stubborn to let me try to disarm it. He wants your help," Caldwell said as he walked up to the law-woman. "I can't claim to care much for the little runt, but things going boom this close to that bandit camp ain't gonna do us much good in the sneakin' department."

The Marshal looked up at Caldwell.

"Why on earth where you two poking around in that rubble?" She demanded, standing and brushing the dust off of her knees. "It's exactly like we left it yesterday."