Beyond the New Horizon

by Christine Conaway

  Fumbling her way through it, Journey pushed the fiberglass poles out in front of her and then the wadded up tent. She wiggled her way out behind the fabric. Dirt sifted down on top of her as she crawled away from the opening.

  At a safe distance, Journey looked up at the hillside. Only then did she realize or admit how stupid it had been to go inside the cave. The dirt and rocks above it looked ready to slide down any second, burying the opening forever.

  She looked up to find the girls staring down at her. “What?”

  Abby ran to the huge pile of belongings and pulled out a water bottle. She opened it and poured some on the bandana she pulled from her pocket. She ran back and handed it to Journey.

  “Your face is really dirty.”

  The sky was beginning to darken, and Journey wondered how long they had been there. It hadn't seemed to her like she had been in there long at all, but from the looks of the sky, she suspected it had taken her quite a while.

  She sat up, “Start putting that stuff back into the bags. I’ll set up the travois because I think we have been gone far longer than we should have been. They’ll probably be worrying about us by now.”

  “I don’t think it took very long. It’s just the clouds are coming down lower.” Sherry sniffed in a breath through her nose and said, “My Dad would say, it smells like snow,” mimicking his voice.

  “You may be right, and I’d rather be back at camp before it does.”

  As soon as Journey had the travois poles laid out how she thought they went, she realized it wasn’t going to work. They had no saddle to attach it too, the poles were obviously from one of the shorter horses and were too worn off for him. He was too tall. She had no idea where the other poles were and suspected they had gone for firewood.

  “Well, let me think. The feed we’ll wrap up in one of the shelter halves and come back for it. We’ll tie the bags together and drape them over his back. It looks like we’ll have to make more than one trip, but at least we’ll have our things.”

  *****

  Gina was content to follow Sam. It gave her the time to ponder what they were doing. They had to get off and cut fallen trees out of the trail and at one point they had to make a new trail when the tree was too big to cut through it with only the small ax.

  “How much further?”

  Sam reined in Clyde and turned in his saddle. “Not much if I remember correctly. It’s been a long time since I rode this. Do you need a break?”

  Gina did, and she could see how pale Sam was and wondered if they should have waited another day. She still felt shaky inside and weak. “Yeah, maybe one of those pancakes that Mary sent. I still haven’t recouped my strength yet.”

  “Me neither,” Sam said and climbed down off of Clyde. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he tied the horse to a branch.

  Gina was surprised to hear Sam admit he wasn’t up to par either. Most men would never have admitted they were anything but strong. She’d heard it time and time again when working with her vets. It seemed most of them didn’t know how or when to admit defeat.

  While Sam was gone, Gina found herself a tree and used it to hide behind. Sam wasn’t back when she got back to the horses, so she dug through his saddle bag to find the pancakes Mary had wrapped up. She had thinned the batter down before cooking it and used two of them together to make jam sandwiches. Gina took a bite of one and washed it down with water.

  The ground was cold and wet, and there was nowhere to sit that appealed to her, so she stood and leaned against Sailor. She wasn’t surprised when he turned his head, eyeballing her sandwich. She had shared with him in the past and couldn’t resist giving him a bite.

  Finally, Sam showed back up. His color was worse than it was when he left. “Are you alright? You don’t look so hot.”

  He rubbed his stomach, “It doesn’t feel so hot today.”

  “Maybe we should have listened to Journey and waited another day. I feel better than yesterday, but I’ve been better.”

  “No. We needed to go today. I’ve done nothing but think about Carlos, and I know if we didn’t go, then John would have.”

  Gina nodded. She couldn’t imagine an old man out in the middle of nowhere alone. Sam had told her this Carlos had spent most of his life outside alone, tending to the cows. He’d said the old man hadn’t ridden in a vehicle since the day he had arrived, more than forty years before. Sam’s Dad had promised to pick a spot looking down over the winter pasture and bury his bones there, looking out over his valley. It was the one place in his life that had remained constant, and there, he wanted to remain. Sam and John had made the same promise to the old man when their father had passed away.

  After a half an hour, Gina and Sam were both ready to ride. Sam said the sandwich had settled his stomach and Gina agreed. She felt better than when they stopped.

  Sitting looking down, Gina was reminded how she had felt the last time she’d sat on the top of a hill. This one didn’t have a clearly defined road, but an overgrown trail was still visible if you knew where to look. Sam had just finished pointing it out to her.

  They, however, were going to make their own way down, saving themselves a couple of hours. A game trail led almost straight down to the valley below. Against the tree line, they could just make out a plume of smoke coming from a vintage airstream. A small herd of Angus and Hereford cattle dotted the pasture, along with a buckskin and a sorrel horse. Behind the trailer, they could just see the top of a large army-green tent. Smoke rose from a stovepipe sticking up at one end.

  As they looked down, Sam let out a breath as if he had been holding it. His shoulders sagged with relief. “Thank God for that.”

  Gina scrutinized him, her forehead wrinkled, “You really thought he wouldn’t be here?”

  Sam chuckled, “I do that every time I come here. Never know from one visit to the next if I’m going to find the old man alive and kicking or what. We don’t let the kids come here alone anymore just in case. Shit, he’s got to be ninety, and he’s never had an easy life. I’ll tell you this, he’s tougher than any soldier I ever met.”

  “No family?”

  “None that we know of. He’s never gotten so much as a bank statement or postcard since he’s been here. He’s never even been to a doctor, that I know of. Takes care of his own aches and pains.”

  “Wow. By the looks of the smoke, he’s here, and either has company in the tent or is it up all of the time?”

  “Nope and I can’t imagine why it’s up now, but I guess we’ll know when we get there.”

  Both horses and people jumped when from behind them, Gus let loose with one of his obnoxious brays. He had seen the cows and horses far down below, and it was his way of saying hello.

  He shook his head, “Dang Gus, let everyone know we’re up here, why don’t you.” They rode a little further down and stopped to let the horses rest, while turned sideways to the face of the hill. “I can’t believe Gertie is still walking around. She’s got to be in her late twenties or early thirties. Carlos actually threw a fit when John and I brought Sham to him, nine or ten years ago.”

  “Can I assume you’re talking about the horses?”

  “Yeah,” he said, nudging Clyde on down the hill. “Sham is the buckskin, and he’s actually out of the same mare as Clyde.”

  As she followed Sam down the incline, she let Sailor pick his own pace and footing. The ground was just wet enough, a misplaced step could send them both down the hill.

  At the bottom, they rode the fence line until they came to a gate where the original trail came down. Sam climbed down and opened it and held it open until Sailor and Gus had passed through.

  Back on Clyde, he led the way. The pasture was naturally split down the middle by a swift running creek, and they let the horses stop to drink. Gus wasn’t interested in water, he was more interested in the cows and pulled on his lead line trying to keep moving forward.

  “Will he roll with his packs on?”

  “What?” Gina had
been so interested in her surroundings, she hadn’t been paying attention to what Sam had said.

  “Gus, will he try to roll with his packsaddle on?”

  She frowned at him, “Not that I know, at least he never has before.”

  “Instead of him dragging you all over and you fighting him, why not turn him loose?”

  “I guess,” Gina said, she wasn’t sure that Gus would not roll, but on the other hand, he never had before, and they had let him follow many times without a lead. This was uncharted territory, because he seemed eager to go when usually all he wanted was to stay beside Sailor.

  Gina unwrapped the lead line from her saddle horn and climbed down. It was the long one or she would have just dropped it knowing he couldn’t have tangled it on anything. She pulled his head to her and unsnapped the rope. Gus shook his head to be sure he was free and took off bellowing as he went. The panniers were bumping his sides with every stride urging him to greater speed.

  When Sailor began to dance as she was getting on, she realized Sailor may have become as dependent on Gus as she had always thought Gus was to him. She hadn’t really thought that Gus would leave Sailor.

  “Well, this is unexpected. Gus usually fights to be with him,” Gina said, rubbing her hand on Sailors' neck to help settle him.

  Sam chuckled, “I would guess that Gus got a whiff of Gertie.” He pointed, and sure enough, he had run directly to the sorrel and stood to nuzzle her neck.

  As they rode closer, Gina finally understood, Gertie wasn’t a horse at all. Gerty was a mule, she showed more of the horse background than Gus and was taller than him, but her ears gave her away.

  “Carlos rode a mule?”

  “Yup. He called her his convertible ride. He could ride her, pack on her and she is hell when it comes to fighting cougars or coyotes.”

  Gus has always been adaptable, but we never rode him,” she laughed, “but that’s not to say we never tried. Journey put her tack on him one day when she was pissed off at him, and it went fine until he decided he’d had enough. He sat down and refused to move until Journey finally gave up. That was the one and only time. He’s always been a great judge of character and an excellent watchdog for us.”

  “Whatever you do, do not reach for anything. Keep your hands in plain sight until Carlos sees it’s me.”

  Gina sat up straighter and peered ahead. She didn’t see anyone. “Where is he? I don’t see him.”

  “See that little grouping of hemlock? Look right in the middle of it. It has one too many trunks for the number of tops.”

  As hard as Gina looked, she didn’t see the old man, until Sam shouted out.

  “Hola Carlos…you ought to know you can’t hide from me.”

  Gina almost laughed when he stepped out from between the tree trunks. He was a symphony of green and brown from the top of his head right down to his boots. His most prominent asset was his nose that held up the biggest pair of eyeglasses she had ever seen. On his head was one of those close-fitting hats with ear flaps and a military style jacket in faded green over the top of muted brown Carharts. He walked slowly toward them, the barrel of his shotgun wavered between her and Sam.

  “Sam…how close is he going to get with that shotgun before he recognizes you?”

  “HolaCarlos! ¿No me reconoces? Soy yo Sam.”

  The gun barrel lowered and the man took another step forward, “Course I recognize you…don’t give me none of that Mexican talk. You know I don’t understand it.”

  Sam visibly relaxed in his saddle and rode up to the old man. He climbed off and held his hand out, “You know you stood out like a sore thumb, standing in that little bunch of trees.”

  Carlos shook Sam’s hand and grinned up at Gina. She couldn’t help smiling back when his open mouth exposed pink gums. “Thought you was bringing me some grub instead you brought Gertie and me some new friends. Much obliged to ya.”

  “Stop with the stupid accent…and these are not your new friends. We did bring you some provisions, but more importantly, we brought some news.”

  “Go ahead and take the tack off those horses and give them a rest. I’ve got fresh coffee on, and some biscuits just came out of the oven.”

  Gina laughed when Carlos switched from a rather poor Texas drawl to proper English. Gone were the twang and the humor when he realized how serious Sam was acting.

  Sitting at the camp table he had set up in the tent, Gina was surprised to see the lengths he had gone to set up the inside. From somewhere, he had gotten a full-sized wood burning stove complete with oven. A stovepipe chimney rose through the roof insulated by flashing around the pipe.

  “How do you keep the canvas from catching fire? Aren’t you afraid of sparks?”

  Carlos looked at her and then at Sam, “Pretty and smart as well. You should keep this one,” he said as if she wasn’t sitting across from him. He looked back at her, “I have what is called a Charlie Nobel on the end of the pipe. It helps keep the sparks from blowing out, and I painted the whole top with a fire-retardant paint, and it helps to keep it from leaking.”

  “The question is old man, where did you get it and how did you get it here?” He looked around inside the tent. A row of army six cots was evenly spaced down one of the long walls, the stove set up in the opposite corner with the table and benches on both sides. Oil lanterns hung from the overhead cross pole evenly spaced. “Where did you get all of this stuff and why do you have it set up?”

  Carlos looked at him and frowned, he shook his head and then tapped his forefinger on his temple. Ah…you think because I am old that I am stupid.” He got up, and from a green footlocker he lifted out what looked like a radio. He set it on the table in front of himself. “I listen to what is going on. I knew it was only a matter of time and you would come.” He shook his head sadly, “I went to the ranch and saw you were gone. The house was burned, but none of you were there.”

  “Sam pointed at the stove, “Is that the one from out behind the hay barn? Jesus Carlos, how did you manage to get it here?”

  “Sam…there’s riders coming this way,” Gina said and stood up reaching for her handgun.

  “Sit down, or they will think you mean them harm. They have already had enough shit to last them a lifetime.”

  “Who is it?”

  “That there is Andy and young Matt from the McMillan place. They’re all that’s left of them. Showed up here about a week and a half ago. Until then, I didn’t know anything was wrong.”

  Sam pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed, “Damn,” he breathed out. “This keeps getting worse and worse.”

  The two riders stopped as if they had just noticed the extra horses and the mule. One of them slid his hand down to the rifle in his scabbard. Carlos hurried to where the flap was tied back, stepped out and waved.

  Both riders physically relaxed and turned their mounts to the tent. Once there they began to take their tack off their horses.

  Sam and Carlos went out to greet them, while Gina stood back and watched. She thought to give Sam a chance to exchange stories, and with them not knowing her, they would speak more freely without her standing there.

  Gina’s nose twitched as she drew in a breath of the freshly baked biscuits sitting on the top of the stove. They sat begging Gina to help herself, and Carlos had said he had just made them, so Gina considered his words as fair game. She helped herself to one. The pancake sandwich had worn off long ago. The biscuit practically melted in her mouth and had a sharp tang to it that she couldn’t place. It didn’t detract from the flavor at all.

  The men came inside the tent, and Sam introduced her to Matt and Andy. Andy was near her age or maybe a little older, it was hard to say with his weathered complexion. He had apparently spent a good deal of his time outdoors. His faded blue eyes were surrounded by laugh lines or from squinting into the sun. When he removed his brown cowboy hat, he used one hand to smooth his messy hair. She almost laughed when his tan line ended abruptly where his hat had sat on his
forehead. From his eyebrows and up was a stark white color showing off a receding hairline. He held his hat in front of his chest and nodded at her, “Ma’am. Nice to meet you.”

  Gina smiled and nodded back. “I’m glad to meet both of you.”

  Matt, the younger of the two, maybe fourteen or fifteen, failed to meet her eyes, he had looked everywhere but directly at her. Dirty blonde curls hung down below his ball cap. Once Carlos had gotten the introductions out of the way, Matt sat on the edge of one of the cots, arms resting on his knees, his brown eyes barely left the dirt floor.

  By the time, Carlos had fed them some of his deer stew and warm biscuits, Andy had filled them in on what had happened around the area. Sam had told them what he and his family had been through and they all agreed that they would band together as a group.

  Originally, Sam had thought they should go to the cabin and leave the cattle to fend for themselves, but Carlos had other plans and didn’t hesitate to let him know that he preferred to stay in the valley.

  “I know every square inch of this valley, and I said I was staying here until I die and I mean to do just that. Hell Sam, they ain’t but one way in here, and the set up is perfect for defending.”

  “There’s two ways. We used one of them this morning, but you might have a point. It would take us some time and a couple of trips to move all of our stuff down here, and that’s if the others want to do it. You know John, he gets an idea into his head, and it’s hard to make him see differently.”

  Carlos shook his head, “That boy will listen to me. Always has. I don’t know why you never came here in the first place.”

  “To tell you truthfully, I’m not sure why we didn’t either. When it all went to shit, we just left, taking what we could. We had actually thought we could go back when the immediate threat was gone. Call it shell shock or a severe case of disbelief or whatever, but I don’t believe that we were thinking when we left the ranch.”

  “My friends and I didn’t have any choices of where to go. We didn’t know the area well and were just trying to find somewhere safe to hole up in until spring. It was sheer luck when we ran into Sam and his family. We thought joining them would benefit all of us.”