RDR: NO REGRETS - Chapter 274: Hosea, the Master Actor (Patreon)

Whether Hosea really wanted to spend his final years traveling around to see how big the world was could wait. For now, there was no way Stephen was going to let the old man keep living here.

Just look at the place. If Hosea got hurt or fell sick out here, he probably wouldn’t be far from death.

Still, it was already late, so Stephen decided to spend the night there with him.

The two talked until very late. Stephen made a good listener while Hosea told him stories about the gang’s past.

Listening to those stories, Stephen once again found himself amazed at just how fierce the Van der Linde Gang used to be.

Banks, docks, jewelry stores. They had robbed just about everything.

They would take the money, give most of it to the poor, and keep only enough for themselves to live on.

Back then, the Van der Linde Gang really had lived up to the idea of robbing the rich to help the poor.

Early the next morning, Stephen started trying to persuade Hosea to come back with him.

He had already decided that if Hosea refused, he would ride back to camp and drag Arthur, his beloved adopted son, over to help convince him.

To Stephen’s surprise, however, Hosea agreed almost immediately.

Once Hosea said yes, Stephen finally breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly began packing everything up, afraid the old man might change his mind halfway through.

Before long, Stephen and Hosea were on their way back to Clemens Point.

Considering Hosea’s condition, Stephen didn’t rush. The two rode side by side along the forest path at an easy pace.

Unfortunately, the weather turned against them.

When they had set out that morning, the sun had been shining brightly beneath a clear blue sky.

By noon, however, a tremendous clap of thunder rolled across the horizon, and heavy rain soon began pouring down.

With nowhere to take shelter, the two were soaked in no time.

Stephen hurriedly draped his raincoat over Hosea, but the rain only grew heavier, with no sign of stopping.

Water quickly covered the ground, turning the country road into thick mud. Even the horses’ hooves kept slipping.

Fortunately, they got lucky.

As soon as they emerged from the woods, they spotted a ranch by the roadside.

Through the curtain of rain, Stephen could tell someone lived there because more than a dozen dairy cows were huddled together in a nearby pen.

It looked like a decent ranch.

Stephen immediately decided they should take shelter there.

The wind was so strong that even walking had become difficult.

Stephen had Hosea stay mounted on his horse while he took the reins of both horses and struggled toward the ranch house.

The house wasn’t particularly large. Stephen guessed it had only three or four rooms, though it stood two stories tall.

He first helped Hosea down from the horse, then guided him under the eaves.

Weather like this was especially rough on someone his age.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

Stephen pounded on the door.

“Hello? Anyone home?”

Through a crack in the wooden door, Stephen could clearly see light inside.

Someone was definitely home.

He knocked hard a few more times.

The door finally opened a crack.

What greeted Stephen wasn’t a friendly face, but the dark muzzle of a gun.

“Who are you?”

The voice belonged to a middle-aged man.

Stephen quickly raised both hands.

“Hello, sir. We mean no harm. We just want somewhere to shelter from the rain.”

“Get the hell out of here. You’re not welcome!”

The man’s tone was anything but friendly, but Stephen wasn’t surprised.

In a place like America, the fact that he hadn’t simply fired through the door already made him seem fairly reasonable.

“We’re not asking to come inside. We just want to stay under the porch for a while until the rain eases up.”

Stephen kept a mild smile on his face, then shifted slightly to reveal Hosea standing behind him.

“As you can see, my father is already quite old. I just can’t bring myself to make him keep traveling in weather like this.”

Hosea really did look miserable right now.

For one thing, he had spent the past several days living out in the wilderness without even having a proper place to shave.

Add the rain soaking him from head to toe, and he looked absolutely pitiful.

Perhaps Stephen sounded sincere enough, or perhaps Hosea’s appearance genuinely moved the man inside.

Either way, he stopped arguing.

Stephen assumed that meant they had permission to stay outside, so he was about to rig up some kind of shelter on the ground and give Hosea somewhere to rest.

Just as he started, the door suddenly opened.

Stephen instinctively reached toward his waist, but Hosea immediately pressed his hand down.

Stephen looked toward the doorway.

The owner of the house was a middle-aged man, probably around forty.

“Let the old man come inside and rest.”

He glanced at Stephen first, then turned toward Hosea.

“Come in, sir. Rain like this isn’t stopping anytime soon.”

“Oh, thank you so much. You’re a good man. May God bless you.”

Hosea smiled.

“It’s all right. We only need somewhere to wait out the rain for a little while.”

Stephen stared at Hosea’s back.

The old man had suddenly started trembling.

Not violently. Just a faint shiver running through his body.

Stephen immediately understood what was happening.

The crafty old bastard was deliberately making himself look pitiful.

Sure enough, when the homeowner saw Hosea trembling like that, he immediately glared at Stephen.

“In weather like this, why the hell did you bring your father out here? Are you trying to get him killed?”

“N-no... it’s not his fault. It was me. I insisted on coming out hunting.”

Hosea began trembling even harder, and his voice even took on a faint sob.

“An old man like me is nothing but trouble...”

“I’m not young anymore, but I still keep imagining I’m as capable as I used to be...”

“I wanted to shoot that rabbit, but my eyes... my hands...”

As he spoke, Hosea lowered his head, removed his rain-soaked hat, and used it to cover his face.

Watching Hosea’s performance, Stephen was genuinely impressed.

The old man was incredible.

With just a few words and a handful of gestures, he had perfectly portrayed a broken elderly man who refused to admit his age, only to be forced to accept reality.

“No, sir. This isn’t your fault.”

Seeing Hosea like that, the homeowner immediately felt sorry for him.

He hurried forward, took Hosea by the arm, and personally helped him inside.

“Come in, sir. It’s really no trouble.”

Stephen watched Hosea shuffle into the house with the man supporting him and couldn’t help raising a thumb toward his back.

A master actor.

An absolute master actor.

Now Stephen had truly seen what real acting looked like.