The loot was decent, but the cash? Not so much.

  Stephen, lugging a burlap sack, strolled out of the house towards the stables.

  No sooner had he stepped inside than he spotted Javier wrestling with a hefty crate. Catching sight of Stephen, he eagerly waved him over.

  "Hey, lend a hand! I've got a feeling there's something buried beneath this."

  Stephen set down the sack and sauntered over. Just a few ordinary-looking crates, or so it seemed.

  "The placement of these crates is weird. They're stuffed with rocks. Something's not right."

  Javier pried open one of the crates, "Exactly! I reckon they're hiding something."

  "Whatever it is, it's ours now."

  Stephen grinned, rolling up his sleeves and joining in the effort.

  "Three, two, one, heave!"

  With their combined strength, the crates slowly gave way, revealing a gaping hole.

  "Haha! Knew there was something here!"

  Javier couldn't contain his triumphant laugh as he peered into the hole.

  He swiftly opened the box and found two neat stacks of US dollars resting inside.

  A quick glance revealed that they were all crisp, new bills – a total of $700.

  "Looks like we struck gold." The money was no small sum, and Javier gazed gleefully at the bills.

  "And they're all fresh bills. Must have hit a passing stagecoach or maybe a bank wagon."

  Stephen chuckled, "Looks like your intuition is on point."

  "Of course! I'm never wrong," Javier boasted.

  "Checked everywhere else?" Stephen scanned the surroundings, pointing up to the attic. "How about up there?"

  "Nah, I'll go take a peek."

  Flush with their success, Javier volunteered to climb up, now full of pep and determination.

  Stephen ambled around the stables, noticing several new horse brushes tossed carelessly on the ground in a corner.

  He picked them up, thinking they would be a good gift for Kieran, saving him the trouble of buying new one.

  Soon after, Javier's laughter echoed down again, “Hahaha, there's plenty up here too!”

  Seems like these guys were real pros at stashing cash.

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  Too bad it all belonged to Stephen now.

  "Around $900 in total. Half goes to the gang, the other half is ours."

  Javier came down with a grin, counting the money and handing a small portion to Stephen.

  Half of half was $225, which wasn't bad.

  Stephen didn't hesitate to pocket the money.

  "Alright, I'm heading back. You coming?"

  Javier stashed his share and packed the gang's portion into a bag before turning to Stephen.

  "I'm thinking of heading back right away, what about you? Are you riding back with me or poking around some more?"

  Stephen didn't answer immediately, thinking over the suggestion.

  He had been taking it easy at the camp for a few days now and was honestly getting a little stir-crazy.

  Going back meant more drinking. Maybe it was best to ride around for a bit.

  With this in mind, Stephen raised his head and said to Javier, "You go on ahead, I'll wander around the neighborhood."

  He handed the horse brushes he picked up to Javier, “Can you bring these to Kieran too?”

  Javier took the brushes, tucked them into his bag, and nodded. "Sure thing, I'll take the brushes. See ya at the camp."

  With that, Javier waved goodbye and turned to leave.

  "See you at the camp," Stephen replied, raising his voice towards Javier, as he watched him depart.

  The sun had climbed higher into the sky. A beam of golden sunlight filtered through the lush trees and shone down on Stephen.

  Stephen stood in the sunlight and stretched, breathing out slowly, taking in a deep breath of air as he felt how good the world really was.

  Now, where to go? Stephen pulled out a map to peruse the route ahead.

  To the north were the lands of the indigenous tribes and clans. Those guys weren't too keen on strangers wandering onto their turf.

  East? West? The route to go, choices, choices...

  Stephen was in a pickle, not being able to get around making a tough decision, so he had the decision put off as a horse's neigh reached him, awakening him of the thought.

  Where would this horse come from? It sounds like it's behind the house.

  Stephen traced the sounds coming to the rear of the property where he spotted a beautiful group of horses.

  These were thoroughbreds. Stephen said to himself in shock and awe of how gorgeous and beautiful these thoroughbred horses are.

  Two packhorses, a riding horse, and two straight-up racehorses.

  Stephen inspected the horses and soon came across a Valetine bank emblem on the packhorses saddles.

  Stephen would later confirm these horses were taken by bandits as he confirmed they had robbed the stagecoach as the new bills confirmed Stephen's suspicion.

  These would yield a fortune at the market for he thought,

  While these thoroughbreds had little to no matches with Little White (the protagonist's horse), he anticipated a market rate of $400 dollars.

  With the funds retrieved here today, he expected a four figure total as he included prior savings in the account.

  He said to himself, "This would truly be life changing!"

  Stephen reminisced that most people barely had a double digit total and he was already reaching four figure digit sums.

  He concluded the obvious that regular stables would have issues regarding the horses being that all serial numbers and tags had to be cut and erased off them to be sold on the legal side of things, especially as it matched a theft.

  It clicked and confirmed how they were truly similar to cars being how they needed verification with registration that had the mare's lineage, date of birth and general health.

  Stephen had one of two choices to choose from: livestock town Valentine, or Emerald Ranch.

  Going to Valentine as it connected to the Valentine bank made things more suspicious than they ought to be.

  For these reasons, Stephen had confirmed that Emerald Ranch would be the prime and core location to ensure the horses were unloaded and a transaction went smoothly.

  Stephen and Hosea shared a dark transaction of thoroughbreds, so this would work out beautifully.

  The ranch also bore a beautiful name with even better food and ale, ensuring relaxation along the journey there.

  Without delay, Stephen prepped his belonging to prepare and load up his belongings.

  "Onwards to the goal we march!" Stephen would shout out for all to know,

  Finding several ropes, Stephen lassoed and tethered the five horses forming an ascending equine pyramid.

  After finding suitable mounts for his hoard, he loaded his essentials onto a pack-horse, he was set, and hopped onto the saddle, and started moving to Emerald Ranch!