001: [video]

[verylittlesugar]

[A solemn young face wearing a disapproving expression appears on screen. She has on the issued jumpsuit, but with a man's overcoat that's clearly many sizes too big on over top of it.]

I am told we are on a ship and cannot leave it, and though we admittedly do not have much sailing in Yell County, I have seen pictures of ships and am not so easy as that to fool.

[A deep breath. There are no trials that cannot be overcome by a strong will and a sense of justice.]

It would seem I have also lost my traveling companions, and nearly all my money with them. But I have a good revolver and a California gold piece, and I would consider bartering them for a guide who knows his way around and possesses some skill in tracking, and who has half a head of sense.

And does not reek of whiskey.

Comments

voice;

[verylittlesugar]

I can tell by your tone that you are one of those people who would have thought it too much trouble to chase down a murderer and just let him light out for Indian territory like a free man with no cares.

voice;

[20mentholkools]

I've chased down murderers, kid. I'm just not going to call it justice.

voice;

[verylittlesugar]

It may not be justice for you, if you had no personal stake in the matter, but that does not make it unjust.

voice;

[20mentholkools]

Having a personal stake, that just makes it vengeance. Either way, getting your hands bloody just gets your hands bloody. No more killing down the line'll clean that off.

voice;

[verylittlesugar]

I have no intention of killing anyone down the line. I would not even take it upon myself in the matter of Tom Chaney if there were a court of law to manage it properly.

voice;

[20mentholkools]

That's not the line I'm talking about. Line I'm talking about is the one where someone decides what you've done deserves justice, too.

voice;

[verylittlesugar]

It is a matter of lex talionis. I do not believe any court would find against the right of a widow and her children to see a cold-blooded killer meet the fate he deserves. And were the local law at Fort Smith better prepared to do their duty, it would not fall to me to do it for them.

voice;

[20mentholkools]

I don't know much about courts, kid, but I do know people. And if your courts are failing you so badly you feel you've gotta pick up a gun yourself, one of Chaney's near or dear has got even less reason not to hunt you down.

voice;

[verylittlesugar]

Tom Chaney has no near or dear, he is a vagrant and a criminal who is wanted for numerous crimes. There is a Texas Ranger who has been tracking him across several states.

voice;

[20mentholkools]

Can never be sure, with criminals.

voice;

[verylittlesugar]

I will not be put off. If I retreated every time something became difficult or hazardous, I should never get anywhere in life.

voice;

[20mentholkools]

Smart. But killing someone isn't the same kind of difficult or hazardous.