Pigeon. It’s what’s for dinner

Previously:

When the marshals returned to camp, they instructed Flutters to find and follow the fugitives—from a safe distance—and report back in two days. If Larry FlutterMatters could smile, he would have; he had grown tired of all the attention the horses and canines were getting and felt it was about time for the sun to shine on his tail feathers…

“The Master would be so pleased,” he thought as he flew off into the sunset.

Season VI, Chapter 3 Trackdown, Episode 15:

“You haven’t been to the West, have you McLintock?”

“Kansas, during the War. But only for brief periods on a raid, why do you ask?”

“Because you keep looking over your shoulder. Those rubes in Minnesota aren’t going to follow us.”

“We killed a popular town marshal and you think they won't follow?”

“We killed a popular town marshal and you think they won’t follow?”

“Oh—I’m sure they did—for a while. But, when we went through Duluth, all our tracks were destroyed. Besides, out here nobody much cares about things like that. Most lawmen in the West were killers at one time or another.”

“No one cares? That doesn’t seem logical.”

“Logic dictates that a lawman is also a gun-handler, most people out here are not gun-handlers; in fact, most don’t carry a gun.”

“But, back there in De Smet, there were a lot of armed men.”

“They were ranchers & cowboys. They carry them as tools, high on the belt and impossible to draw in a hurry. They worry about rustlers, especially when alone on night-watch.”

“Can they shoot?”

“Nope. Mostly they make a lot of noise. If they hit something, it’s purely accidental.”

“But, I’ve read about the ‘Wild West,’ are you telling me…”

Ned Buntline

“…You’ve been reading too many dime novels, probably by that hack Edward Judson.”

“Who?”

“He writes as ‘Ned Buntline.’ An outlandish liar and teller of tall tales.”

“You mean?”

“Pure lies and exaggeration,” Kidd snorted. He was gazing off to their left and observed a large bird, circling in the distance and only half paid attention to it.

They continued their conversation as Kidd instructed McLintock in the real west. Kidd again noticed the bird.

“Hold up a minute,” Kidd pulled his big Henry Rifle from it’s scabbard, “I think I see dinner.”

“You can hit a bird—with a rifle?”

“Watch and learn.”

To be Continued…