Banks had asked that certain points on the
railway be watched in the hope of capture while crossing the country,
but the effort was barren of results. In following the trail the
marshal had recrossed the continuation of the first range of mountains
which they had crossed to the west ten days before, or the morning
after the robbery, three hundred miles southward. There was nothing
difficult in the passage of this range of mountains, and now before
them stretched the endless prairie to the eastward. Here Banks
seriously felt the loss of his dogs. This was a country that they
could be used in to good advantage. It would then be a question of
endurance of men and horses. As it was, he could work only by day. Two
lines of railway were yet to be crossed if the band held its course.
The same tactics were resorted to as formerly, yet this vigilance and
precaution availed nothing, as Peg-Leg crossed them carefully between
two of the watched places. Owing to his occupation, he knew the
country better by night than day.

Banks was met by the officials of the express company on one of these
lines of railroad. The exhaustive amount of information that they had
been able to collect regarding this interesting man with the wooden
leg was astonishing. From out of the abundance of the data there
were a few items that were of interest to the officer. Several of
Eldridge's haunts when not actively engaged in his profession were
located. In one of these haunts was a woman, and toward this one he
was heading, though it was many a weary mile distant.

At the marshal's request the express people had brought bloodhounds
with them. The dogs proved worthless, and the second day were
abandoned. When the trail crossed the Gulf Railway the robbers were
three days ahead. The posse had now been fourteen days on the trail.
Banks followed them one day farther, himself alone, leaving his tired
companions at a station near the line of the Panhandle of Texas. This
extra day's ride was to satisfy himself that the robbers were making
for one of their haunts. They kept, as he expected, down between the
two Canadians.

After following the trail until he was thoroughly satisfied of their
destination, the marshal retraced his steps and rejoined his posse.
The first train carried him and the posse back to the headquarters of
the express company.

Two weeks later, at a country store in the Chickasaw Nation, there
was a horse race of considerable importance.