Despite knowing the Confederate forces were far away, Cole rode steadily and with great care, scanning the surrounding ground, looking for any sign of the two men he hunted. It was as he did so that he came across the unmistakeable signs of violence. Patches of blood interlaced the broken ground, grass and crushed branches. In a shallow dip, he came across the body of a uniformed soldier. On closer inspection, Cole noted the insignia, dismounted and inspected the body. He’d obviously been dead for some time, the skin blackened, the flies already making a feast of the area where the gunshots had ripped into him. Delving inside the dead man’s tunic, he found neatly folded documents, and he read them, his heart sinking with every word.
It was Major Steiner, the doctor whom Colonel Astley had
