Story: Colonel Williams, Ch. 7, pt. III

Roderick and Alejandro caught up with Williams a few moments later. They had taken a less direct route and had avoided the unpleasantness that Williams had endured.
“I didn’t catch up to him,” Williams informed them sadly, translating the remark in Spanish when it was clear Alejandro did not understand.
“So, what do we do now?” Alejandro asked in Spanish.
“We have his name,” Williams replied, “so maybe we can go to the Municipal Building and look up his name in the local land records. Perhaps we can find his address.”
“If he is looking for slaves, then he probably lives on a farm, though,” Alejandro said. “Will he be in those records?”
“I don’t know, but we have to try.” Williams answered. “It’s the only option we have. Follow me.” He started walking towards the Municipal Building. As he did so, he explained his idea to Roderick.
An idea occurred to Williams. “Was the man you saw the one who bought your wife or the one who bought your daughter?” he asked Alejandro.
“It was the one who bought my wife,” Alejandro responded. He turned his downward and strolled forward, thinking.
They walked in silence over to the Municipal Building, all of them discouraged. As they neared their destination, they heard the clopping of horse hooves and the rattling of the stagecoach wheels. It was rapidly approaching them; its occupant clearly was in a hurry.
As the coach sped past them, they all recognized the man riding inside of it. It was Walters! Apparently he had just left the Municipal Building after conducting some sort of business there. Where he was going now was a mystery, but the road he was on led to the east, an area with few farms. Alejandro tried to run after the cart to stop it, but Walters’ errand appeared to be very pressing. No one could have caught the coach at its present speed.
“If only we had driven over the building instead of walking!” Williams exclaimed in frustration. “We might have been able to follow him.”
“We still might find record of him in the land office,” Roderick reminded Williams, “and even if we don’t, someone in the Municipal Building might be able to tell us more about him. He seems to have just come from there.