I woke up which I thought was the middle of the night, to find Mark not in his bed.  I went out to find him cleaning his rifle.  "What got you up in the middle of the night?" I asked.  "It's morning Pa.....it's easy to be up doin' it if your not out gallivanting around to all hours, " said Mark.  "It's not every night there's a barn dance," I said.  I asked Mark what time it was.  He said it was four o'clock.  I wonder why he was up so early, even at five o'clock it would take a good polk of the spur to get him up.   I asked him what made him so bushy tailed today.  He told me he was just cleaning his rifle.  I knew there had to be more to it then that.  "Pa.....you were out so late last night I didn't get a chance to tell ya....." said Mark.  "What?" I asked.  "Old Spike's back!"  "Who?" I asked.  "Old Spike, that eight point buck I was telling you about."  I did remember him.....he usually turned up about this time every year.  "I saw a spore in the creek, he really sunk in.....I bet he dresses out about one hundred and forty pounds!"  You could hear the obsession in Marks voice and see it in his   expressions.  I asked Mark if he was going to shoot him with his .22.  "Yup!" Exclaimed Mark.  He said he figured he could get about 50.....maybe 75 feet from old Spike.  He talked about the time Spike doubled back on him and chased him up a tree.  But this year was going to be different.  He was confident now, he didn't have his rifle then.  I told him I was going back to bed and wished him luck with his hunting.  "For four years now he's been coming strutting around in these hills.....he looks down on me and snorts.....almost as if to say......go home kid......send your Pa out and I'll take him on."  "That son-of-a-gun has been insulting me for too long," said Mark.  "Insulting you?" I asked.  "Just by being alive! He's just such a smart a lick he get's in my craw. You've never seem him because he's afraid of you.....he respects you! But this year it's gonna be different! I've got my rifle now."  Mark aiming his rifle feeling pretty sure of himself.  "I'm going to get him in my sights.....line him up.....pull the trigger.....and he's gonna come down."

When I got up Mark had already left to go hunting, so I thought I'd head into town.  The first stop I made was at Lou's.  Lou was in the lobby of her hotel tending to her flowers.  I asked her if she was still upset with me for the night before.  "And why would I be upset with the likes of you?" Asked Lou.  She sure gave a good indication of it last night.  "You must have danced with every girl there!" Exclaimed Lou.  I brushed off her statement.  She asked if I had breakfast.  I told her I had just had coffee and I mentioned about Mark getting up a four o'clock this morning.  She was just as surprised as I was.  I told her he wanted to get his chores done so he could go hunting.  "Ah.....the new rifle. Guess he wants to prove how good, he is" said Lou.  She told me that Micah was upset about last night.  Oh of course, the bullfrog in his shirt last night.  "I didn't do that Lou, Nils did."  She said that Micah's dignity has been ruffed so it would be hard to convince Micah that I had nothing to do with it.   I thought I'd just take a walk over to Micah's office and needle him a bit about last night. 

When I walked into Micah's office he seemed somewhat upset yet.  I told him how funny he looked hopping around like a cat with his foot in a paper bag.  He was hanging something in the cell and asked if I would come and hold it until he got a hammer.  I went into the cell to oblige him when he locked the cell door behind me.  Micah had tricked me, I thought this was part of the gag for the bullfrog.  "Is putting a bullfrog down a marshal's back a misdemeanor or a felony?"  He said neither and he knew I didn't put the bullfrog down his shirt.  He then made a statement that totally surprised me.  "Reef Jackson was in town!"  "How do you know?" I asked him.  "I know and I know just how you feel about him," said Micah.  "I've gotta keep you here Lucas until I find Jackson and get him out of town."  "Give me those keys Micah!"  I suddenly reached for the keys through the cell bar, but Micah was too quick.  He told me he was sorry and walked away.  I yelled at him to leave me out but he wouldn't.  He left his office and closed the door behind him. 

      I was really mad.  I had to figure a way to get out of here.  Suddenly I hear Lou call to Micah.  She had come to check to see if Micah and I had made up yet.  "Micah..... Micah.....did you and Lucas.....make up?"  She thought it was funny seeing me locked up in jail.  "I can see that you didn't," laughed Lou.  Lou walked over to me and said....."Well I see your not being a very good sport about it! After all you and Nils had your fun last night.....the least you can do is let Micah have his today."  "Yeah!" I said angrily.  Suddenly it dawned on me; this is my way out of here.  "Yeah.....I guess your right. I have an idea how you and I can switch this joke on Micah."  "How?" Asked Lou.  "You get the keys for me out of his drawer.....he'll have a fit when he finds me gone.  "I don't know if I should or not.....the way you were dancing with those girls last night." said Lou.  Lou turned and got the keys to the cell out of Micah's desk.  "Micah will never trust this jail again until he finds out how you got out of here."  "That's the joke!" I said.  With my tone and the way I was acting, Lou knew there was something wrong.  I asked her if anybody had checked into her hotel this morning.  She said no one had and mentioned Micah had asked her the same thing.  She asked me who I was looking for.  I told her to ask Micah as I left his office with my rifle in hand.

Micah was surprised to see I was gone when he got back to his office.  He went over to the hotel to see if Lou knew anything.  He asked her if she had seen me.  She said she had when I first came into town.  He asked her if he saw me since then.  She asked if there was something wrong.  He told her he had me locked up and now I was gone.  She thought it was drastic way to handle a joke.  She said it was all done in the spirit of fun.  He told her this had nothing to do with the frog; he knew Nils had done that.  Lou suddenly looked worried and asked why I was in jail.  He told Lou about Reef Jackson and how much I hated him and how he feared I would find Reef before him.  He was afraid I would kill him in cold blood; even tho he knew I had just cause, he was sure a jury wouldn't feel the same way about it.  Lou then told Micah that she had seen me and that she was the one who turned me loose.  She tried to explain that she thought it was just another joke.  Micah went to his office and Lou followed him.  She saw Micah take a shotgun out of the rack.  She asked him what he was going to do with the shotgun.  He said he hoped nothing.  He told Lou about an unsigned telegram that came addressed to me last night.  It stated that Reef would be here in North Fork today.  He told Lou he was going looking for me and hope he didn't hear a rifle shot before he found me.

   I rode out to Granny Mede's looking for Reef.  Reef was Granny's nephew.  I knew them from when I lived in the Nations. Granny was sitting on the porch knitting.  When Lucas approached the porch Granny said "Hello Lucas," never looking up.  "Granny you can't even see the back side of your own spectacles, how did you know it was me?"  "I can hear a fly cat walking across a swatch of velvet and tell whether it's a bluebottle or a horsefly."  "My nephew ain't here," said Granny.  I asked her what made her think I was looking for Reef.  She knew that was the only reason why I ever stopped by.  She said she hadn't see him.  She asked me if I was still fixin' on killing him.  "Bloods thicker then beet juice Lucas, but I don't hold with that boy!"  She said she understood why I would want to put Reef under, but she wanted to hear Reef's side of the story.  I asked her if there was a side to his story why was he running.  "Maybe he doesn't wanna hafta kill you Lucas."  I asked her if he would happen to be in the barn.  She was upset because I thought she might be lying.  She told me to go ahead and take a look.

I didn't find Reef in the barn.  The only thing that was in there was a barn owl.  "I ain't got two quarters to rub together, but at least I always got took at my word.....up to now," said Granny.  "Now I reckon I ain't got that neither."  "Granny my mistrust doesn't make you any less a fine woman.....but when it comes to Reef Jackson I wouldn't trust a preacher when he said Amen."  I asked her if she would let me know when Reef turned up.  She just looked at me.  I slowly walked away and headed back into town. 

I thought I'd check back at the hotel and see if anybody new has registered yet.  Lou told me nobody had, but I had to check for myself.  I grabbed the guestbook out from behind the desk.  Lou was upset because I didn't believe her.  This Reef Jackson thing was consuming me.  I didn't trust no one, not even Lou or Micah, my best friends.  "Letting you out of jail was no joke.....was it?" Asked Lou.  "Did Micah laugh?" I asked.  "No!" said Lou.  "Then I guess it wasn't."  "Why do you have to kill Reef Jackson?" Asked Lou.  "Did Micah tell you that too?"  I asked.  "Only that you had to, not why," said Lou.  I slammed the guestbook shut.  "Alright Lou.....I'll tell you why! Reef Jackson, my best friend once shot me in the back, left me to die and tried to steal my wife."  "That's right! He put a slug in my back and hatred in my heart.....you want the details? No I didn't think so!"  Lou was shocked as I turned and started to walk out of the hotel.  "Lucas McCain! You don't own yourself!"  "You belong to Mark.....and maybe just a little to me. And I don't want to see you dead by Reef Jackson's bullet or the end of a rope if you kill him!"  "There's a saying in the old country.....hate is like lightening.....blue, white and then it's bright red like fire, don't let it consume you."  Just then a boy came to the door of the hotel.  "Mr. McCain.....Granny Mede says it's time for you to come."  I thanked him and turned to look at Lou.  I headed for Granny Med's place to face Reef.

By then it was dark.  Granny Mede was still setting on the porch knitting.  She told me Reef was in the barn and that he had got in about a half hour ago.  "Lucas.....he told me his side of the story."  I entered slowly walked towards the barn.  The barn door was open.  I enter slowly and cocked my rifle.  "Lucas.....changed haven't ya' Lucas? The McCain I knew would have pulled that trigger and been cleaning the rifle by now. I heard you've been waitin' for this moment for years. Well.....here I am. Let's get at it."  We stood there in the dark looking at each other.  I'll make it easy for you as it was for me."  He then turned and had his back towards me.  "Well.....aren't you gonna shoot?" Asked Reef.  "I wouldn't shoot a pig in the back."  "No I guess you wouldn't. Lucas you're not going to believe this, but when Margaret died I lost as much as you did. Except I never had her."  He yelled and told me to get on with the shooting.  But I didn't.  He then showed me how much he had aged from ten years of running and jumping at shadows.  Before me I saw an aged, broken man.   Reef felt he was no longer a man.  He begged me to kill him.  I was shocked to see Reef like this, the man I had hated for so long.  "I'm sorry Reef.....I can't help you!"  As I walked away I could hear Reef crying as he called to me....."Lucas.....Come back, come back!"  As I reached the porch where Granny Mede sat, I said....."You knew I couldn't kill him, didn't you Granny?"  She didn't answer me, she just continued knitting as I walked away.  It was time to go home.  Finally all the torment was gone.

                When I got home, Mark was setting by the fireplace with his thoughts somewhere else.  Did that eight-point buck got away from you?" I asked.  "No, I found him," said Mark.  "Couldn't you get close enough?" I asked.  "I got within fifty feet of him," said Mark.  "What happened.....did you get nervous?"  "I was as steady as a rock," said Mark.  "Don't tell me you didn't load your rifle," I said.  "No it was loaded Pa.....I just....."  "Just what?" I asked.  "I just decided maybe I.....I've been after him for too long. I wanted him until I got close enough to get him.....then I saw him up close.....he wasn't like I thought he would be.....he was sorta raunchy lookin' and patches of hair out of him. He saw me.....he looked right at me.....but his eyes were sort of tired like.....like as if he were trying to say.....you wanna win? Well then go ahead and shoot 'cause it means an awful lot for you to win.....and it means nothing to me to loose."  "So you decided not to shoot him too," I said.  "I guess that doesn't make much sense to you.....does it Pa?"  "It makes a lot of sense son, a whole lot!"    This was the 'End of the Hunt' for both
Mark and I.