Dead eye Samantha - 37

     US Captain Jeff Rowe, the commander of federal forces in Little Rock still had, in his estimation, far too few troops on hand to handle civil disturbances. But things were seemingly settling down, so his superiors saw little need to be in a rush to fill his constant pleas for more troops.

     All this was happening soon after Samantha returned to Little Rock, so there was little for Captain Jeff to do. For the time being.

     So, Samantha had her man back once more. For now.

     After their wonderful reunion, Samantha discussed her other problem, The Dudley’s, with Jeff. There was nothing he could do. No Dudley’s had been spotted in Arkansas yet. He recommended Samantha follow LaFayette’s advice, and he kept a wary eye out for Samantha. And he worried a lot.

     She wasted no time in getting a short haircut and again dying it black. As bad as she hated to, since Dead Eye Sam’s was still doing a booming business, the name of her restaurant must be changed. Fine Dining at the Rock came to be. For the time being, Samantha was forced to go underground. She spent her business hours at the Restaurant in her office, for the most part. The business suffered, since Sam was such a popular public figure. But it could not be helped.

     Sam knew that she was most likely the only person in Little Rock who could recognize Slim or other key members of the Dudley Clan. More and more, she began to realize it was up to her, and her alone, to identify Clan members and contact Constable Gillum, should they show up in Little Rock.

    But, as Samantha thought further about this, she realized that living in a large city was not the way the Clan  operated. At least, not in Alabama. They most likely would look for isolated land, maybe up in the hills, to establish their compound. They would only come into a city for supplies. Their potential victims would live far away. At least two day’s ride.

     A third possibility: the Clan had enriched themselves during the war. Possibly, they didn’t need or wish to operate as they had in Alabama. Maybe they just wished to take it easy, living off their ill-gotten gains. Who knows? Nobody but the Clan itself, that’s who. Maybe Samantha was over-thinking this.

     In the end, she decided to follow LaFayette’s suggestion. Just lay low, see them before they see her, and handle problems when they arise. Go on with her life, otherwise. Jeff was worried sick about her, but he had his hands full with his own problems. She left word with her employees that if anybody showed up in the restaurant asking about her, or acting strange, tell them nothing. Notify her immediately.

     Sam decided to take one more defensive step. Her big rifle, which Sam loved so much, was pretty slow. Put in one shell at a time. She noticed, at the gun store that day, the latest thing in  big rifles. It was a repeater, which was developed during the last days of the war. It was expensive, but she could see that it might someday make all the difference for her. She was torn; sick about even the thought about having to use this gun against another person, but her life was on the line.

She bought it, along with lots of ammunition, and spent time each day shooting that gun at the range. Nobody from the Clan were likely to be there. They were already experts. Sam continued to shoot each day. Being an expert was not enough for Sam. She planned to be the best in the world, and was constantly improving.

      Soon, she was as accurate with it as with her old, single shot, .50 caliber Buffalo gun. Might come in handy someday. As it turned out, it came in handy pretty quickly. You see, Sam was smart. She never considered herself to be smart, she was far too humble for that. But most everybody else around her knew that well.