Snippet #2597514

Otto chambered a round in his Winchester and slid off his horse. "Ja, herr commandant."

After tying his horse next to Horatio's, he followed the other man through the gate to the ranch. His rifle was held across his chest at an uneasy rest. Better to be ready, then caught with your pants down. As they drew nearer to the building, he cast an appraising glance around. Otto's first thought was how strange it was that the buildings were still intact--almost pristine even.

"In ancient times," he began, tracing a hand along a wooden fence. "raiders would have left nothing in their wake. In my time, herr commandant, it would appear to me that that hasn't changed. Funny then, that these buildings are still here. There is an art to raiding, and arson is a key component..."

They reached the porch, and Otto stopped at the foot of the short steps that led upwards. "Fear is a component, and the burning of the buildings is a calculated finishing stroke to the portrait of terror raiders so love to paint. Someone with a clear objective, might be more focused on simply completing it, rather than deliberately setting the scene of aftermath."

A handful of steps led to the top of the porch, where the first of the blood stains marred the wooden planks. Otto crouched to inspect them, resting the butt of his Winchester on the floor. It was a rather large pool of blood that, at least to the German's eyes, indicated that whoever had died did so quickly. And likely from a close range wound of some kind.

"Perhaps there was a feud between ranchers?" It wasn't entirely unheard of. Families on the frontier often had a clan mentality, particularly away from towns. Perhaps there had been a feud between a number of the rancher families, and the others had taken sides? Either way, to him this looked nothing like a typical raid. The cattle would have been stolen, the buildings likely burnt down, and the children likely would have been murdered as well.

The inside of the ranch would hopefully yield more telling clues, because all that was readily apparent to Otto was an abandoned ranch and some bloodstains.