Slocum 394 : Slocum and the Fool's Errand (9781101545980) by Jake Logan Page B

amount of tracks for us to follow, and we don’t have time to look for any if they did. Our best bet is to think ahead and figure where they might go.”
    â€œYou mean . . . think like a wolf.”
    â€œMore or less. Look for more watering holes or any carcasses that they might have brought down. Hopefully we can pick up their tracks somewhere along the way.”
    â€œOr catch sight of the beasts,” Jack said.
    â€œRight. Maybe we’ll get lucky enough for them to catch your scent and take a run at you to finish the meal they started.”
    Jack lost some more of his color and choked back another dry heave. “That ain’t funny.”
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    They fanned out and rode abreast of each other so they could scour as much ground as possible. Although Slocum had started off the day skeptical as to whether he would be able to find much of anything, he found reason to hope that he might just earn his fee after all when they caught sight of an elk that had obviously been killed and partially eaten by a pack of wild animals. Tracks led away from there, where the terrain remained mostly flat in front of them. The Potrillo Mountains always seemed to be just out of reach, and every time Slocum looked at those mountains, he dreaded being led into them. He didn’t have any doubt that he could safely cross the rocky slopes. It wasn’t as if they were as daunting as a pass through the Rockies, but finding one pack of coyotes or wolves in them would be tough. Trying to find one before it could squeeze out a very uncomfortable piece of jewelry was damn near impossible.
    If the wolf was hurting, it could make a lot of noise. But there was also the chance that it had already died and stopped leaving tracks.
    It was later in the afternoon when the sun’s rays hit the ground at an angle that bounced perfectly off several spots on the desert floor, causing them to glimmer like mirrors embedded in the earth. Before he lost sight of them, Slocum signaled to Jack and pointed them out. “Looks like more watering holes,” he said. “You take a look at the ones over there, and I’ll take these closer to me.”
    Jack waved excitedly and rode toward the spots. It wasn’t long before the angle of the sun no longer hit the puddles just right, but they were fairly close together and Slocum found almost all of the ones he’d been after. Unfortunately, the ground around them was either solid rock or too muddy to hold a print. An exasperated sigh was still leaking out of him when Slocum heard a sound from the opposite end of the emotional spectrum.
    â€œJohn! Come over here! I found something!”
    Slocum rushed over to where Jack was standing. Despite his haste, he still thought the other man might jump out of his skin before he arrived. “What is it?” he asked.
    Jabbing a finger down to the ground, Jack exclaimed, “Look right there! Look at them tracks and tell me they ain’t the same ones we saw by the cave and that first watering hole!”
    â€œThere seems to be enough of them.” After climbing down from his horse, Slocum gazed at the imprints in the mud. “They’re not as deep. That means they were left behind when the ground wasn’t as wet.”
    â€œThat falls in line with our timetable.”
    â€œIt does.”
    â€œAnd to make things better, they lead in a perfect line in that direction!”
    The good part was that Jack was mostly right. From what Slocum could see of the tracks, the paw prints came from the west, circled around the watering hole, and then led off to the east. The bad part was that they were headed toward the mountains.
    â€œI think I see some watering holes further along!” Jack said. “Let’s get after ’em!” He was excited enough to climb into his saddle without being tripped up too much by his wounded hand, and Slocum wasn’t about to do anything to slow him down. On the contrary, he was