Chapter 12The raid on Teacher’s Mead had been thwarted, but the afterclap brought mixed results. James’s troopers tracked Abel Brown straight to his home. But the merchant denied everything, so Magistrate Gadsby refused to take action. Even the soldiers’ testimony was not enough to move him. It made no matter that Gadsby was involved in the scheme, himself. The territorial governor supported his local man, and went even further, confirming Brown as the new head of the local militia. The rapscallion had bought himself a promotion to major for the price of a keg of black powder. The raiders captured by the soldiers were fined, sent home, and forgotten. The dead were quickly buried in near secrecy.
So far as I know, Hiram Hardcastle’s name was never again uttered in Yanube City. It was as if
