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leave them a better world to live in.”
    Jason smiled and understood completely what he meant. They both nudged their horses forward and continued down the road. As they approached the spot where they left the food, they heard a man’s voice say, “Wait… please wait.”
    They brought their horses to a stop and looked over as a thin, disheveled man, stepped out onto the road. “Is that her?” he asked, pointing to the body on the packhorse.
    “Yes, it is,” Evan replied.
    “What are you going to do with her?” the man asked, unable to hold back his own tears.
    “We are going to give her a proper burial,” Evan said.
    The man took a step towards the packhorse, stopped, and said, “Can I say goodbye? She was my wife. I’ve completely failed her in life. She didn’t deserve this. It should have been me,” he said with tears running down his face. “Please just let me say goodbye.”
    Evan motioned his horse forward, pulling the packhorse along, and brought it to the edge of the road. He tied the reigns of the packhorse to a tree branch and said, “Take all the time you need.” He then nudged his horse forward and motioned for Jason to follow. They rode to the next bend in the road and dismounted, tying their horses to a tree and sitting down on the hillside in the shade.
    They watched as the man cried uncontrollably, holding onto her body, begging her for forgiveness. Two small children then came out of the woods crying. He picked them both up as they shared the agonizingly painful moment together.
    “Do you think they are her children?” Jason asked.
    Evan poked a stick at the ground and said, “It sure seems that way.”
    The grieving lasted a few more moments, and then another man and the woman who had gotten the food, came down to the road with the third child to pay their last respects. 
    The other man then nudged at his friend to come on. He sat his children back down on the ground, held both of them by the hand, and the group started walking down the middle of the road in plain view. As they approached Evan and Jason, they paused for just a moment, and the husband of the dead woman looked over to Evan and said, “You were right. You were right about everything.” With that, the group continued down the road in broad daylight, no longer in hiding.
    “Hopefully they stay out of the shadows from now on,” Evan said.
    “I have a feeling they will,” replied Jason as he patted Evan on the shoulder and stood up. “Now let’s get going.”
    With that, they mounted their horses, gathered the packhorse, and resumed their journey to Daryl’s home.
     
    ~~~~
     
    The rest of the ride was uneventful and quiet, with both men keeping a vigilant eye out for trouble while pondering the day’s events. As they approached Daryl’s place, they noticed a new and not so welcoming sign at the entrance to his property. It read, “Unannounced trespassers will be shot. Ring the bell to make yourself known.”
    Jason read the sign, chuckled and said, “Looks like we had better ring the bell.”
    “I reckon so,” replied Evan with a chuckle.
    Jason pulled his horse alongside the sign, where Daryl had attached an old cowbell to a chain. He rang the bell, looked at Evan, and said, “Now what?”
    Evan looked at the sign again. “I guess we wait.”
    It was only a moment later when Daryl yelled from the bushes, “I guess the sign works.”
    Evan shouted back to him, “Yep, as long as your visitors aren’t up to no good and as long as they can read English, I reckon it will.” 
    Daryl came bounding down out of the woods and said, “Well that’s the idea. If I hear the bell ring, I have a chance to check out who it is before they see me. If I see someone poking around and never heard the bell, I assume they are up to no good. As a one-man show out here, I have to devise my own force multipliers.”
    The men shared a laugh as Daryl noticed their cargo on the packhorse and the mood quickly got back to business.