Arthur watched the party at Olivia’s table, the new man and the ranger seemed to have something in common. He saw Daisy kick Anna under the table and thought it was a sign of their unruliness and Olivia’s lack of discipline. When they were married, he’d send them off to a strict boarding school to learn some manners like proper girls. The meal was good considering as well as the coffee. At the end of their meal, Olivia stepped into the restaurant’s kitchen to do only god knows what so he decided to call it a night. In the morning, enjoying coffee in his room, he was surprised by the knock at his door. Seeing the ranger up close, Arthur disliked the man was taller than he thought. “Been told by Olivia, you are a hunter and tracker. Need your tracking ability to hunt down Bandits that stole cattle and murdered a couple people. Think you are up to it? Might be gone a few days.” His voice was deep and glance steely blue. Perhaps this was the chance to show the western man up and win Olivia back. He agreed readily and told Jed he’d be down shortly. Changing into sturdier clothes and shoes, he packed a small bag of necessities, handkerchief, brush, flask of whiskey, scarf before heading out to meet the Jed and the other Ranger.<br/><br/>Saddles were overall bulkier than the usual English style he was used to but discovered their comfort on long rides. He looked forward to showing off his prowess in tracking. Jed, Billy, and daughter of the rancher were not chatty, and Arthur felt the sooner they got down to business the sooner he could return in victory. They ignored his request of a break, stating there was a lot of ground to cover before taking break. Since then, he waited and fumed, refusing to seem weak in front of them. By the time they stopped, his legs ached, and stomach growled. Billy brought out bread, boiled eggs, and some beef jerky. Taking his cue from Jed, Arthur was amazed the men ate the small offering, washed things down with canteen water before getting ready to continue their ride. By the time they arrived at Ralph Banner’s ranch house, Arthur was ready to call it a day. His body ached, and he was looking forward to resting and having a good meal. The rancher went into detail about the unexpected theft of cattle, brigands, and the deaths of ranch hands. After getting the details, he offered them more supplies and the rangers made moves to head out again. Things weren’t looking up for Arthur. They really didn’t need a tracker, cattle leaving a swath of trampled ground and manure to follow. “Singleton, from here on out things are going to get rough.” Jed advised, “We’d sure appreciate your help but understand if this wasn’t what you thought it would be like.” Tempted, Arthur laughed, “Mr. Walker, I’m a tracker and happy to offer my skills to hunt down the nefarious villains.” He hoped they couldn’t really see what was in his heart.<br/><br/>She was getting the girls ready to leave for school when Jed showed up with an attractive young woman, dressed like a man and touting a Winchester. He introduced them and told Olivia they were on their way out of town to track down some cattle rustlers and may be gone for several days. Singleton was coming along to help with tracking the cattle rustlers. Nodding in understanding, she said they’d look forward to his safe return. Daisy and Anna asked a lot of questions about cattle rustling and what did that entail. Mabel at the hotel filled them, retelling how she saw Singleton leave with Jed, Billy, and Mary Ann Banner. Today they were working on chicken fried steak with gravy again. Poor Rutherford would swear off eating this dish for life, after having it for days on end as the lone prisoner in McBay. Mabel encouraged her student, each effort getting more palatable than the last. By day three of the ranger’s absence, her chicken fried steak and gravy finally passed muster and Mabel was willing to her start on a new dish. Daisy and Anna’s request, she was thinking of including some easy desserts to Olivia’s repertoire.<br/><br/>Their home was looking more inviting, shelves lined and stocked with some canned goods, sugar, salt, coffee, to name a few. Patience made pretty curtains as a house warming present and the girls would often search for little treasures in the desert to brighten up window sills. Olivia found the laundress of the town and paid her well for taking care of their clothes. After trying to tackle the chore herself, she swore paying someone else was money well spent and helped to keep tempers in check. School children were quick learners, keeping her challenged in creating interesting lesson plans. On the afternoon of the third day, the carpenter dropped by with an unexpected present. School desks for the children, he informed her Jed ordered them right before they left to track the Banner rustlers. His thoughtfulness made her miss him all that more. Maybe a good way to show appreciation would be to cook him a meal at their home. Thinking about him, they finished school for the day and headed to the restaurant for dinner and Mabel’s company. With the rangers and Mr. Singleton away, the restaurant was quieter. People sensing there was nothing dramatic happening while the menfolk in school teacher’s life were absent.<br/><br/>Arthur wished his dammed pride didn’t stop him from leaving when Jed offered. Now they were days away from any civilization and even if he wanted to leave, he had no way in finding his way back to town. Dirty, dusty, hungry, and very tired, he missed seeing that the manure they were tracking was looking fresher in appearance. Now only hours behind the herd, it was Jed who noticed the change in spoor. Motioning to Billy to keep alert, they cautiously continued down a dry embankment into another canyon. They way was slow and dangerous for the horses, one wrong step and they could have a lame horse on their hands.