by C. J. Petit
Sara kissed him again then said, “Maybe he’ll come riding down the access road after they post the announcement of our son’s birth in The Montana Gazette.”
Jake looked across the dark, three-inch gap between them and said, “Surely you don’t think that you’re already…”
She closed her eyes, smiled and said, “You never know.”
Jake snickered before closing his eyes. This time, he was certain that Sara was just having a bit of fun. He suspected that she’d only said it to let him think that he was beginning to see past her poker face.
CHAPTER 9
Jake was saddling Mars as Sara watched, so she could learn to saddle Vulcan, although she suspected that it would be a rare occasion. Even as they’d walked out of the house, Bill Jackson, Big Tom McCallister and the new foreman of the Elk, Jack Parker, had offered to saddle the black gelding for her. As she gratefully declined their offers, she could hear Jake snickering as he walked beside her.
They soon rode away from the barn and headed north. The ranch hands were scattered around the open range rounding up strays, so Jake expected to find them just about anywhere except his sanctuary. He’d already told Sara that it would be their last stop before lunch.
When they cleared the large corral and the second barn, Jake shifted to the northeast toward the bend in the Teton River that formed part of the border of the Elk. The river had a horseshoe bend that was entirely on the big ranch before it hooked behind the forest that guarded the north side of his sanctuary. Some of the more adventurous cattle would swim across the river, especially in the summer months when it wasn’t as swollen.
As they rode, Jake explained the ranch’s boundaries, which his father had marked with whitewashed rocks every hundred yards when he’d started. The hands kept the markers visible with fresh paint every few years, although they were no longer needed.
Sara’s soreness had gone as she’d expected, and she was very comfortable on Vulcan. She was still amazed by the view from the high perch on her saddle.
Jake kept pointing to the interesting parts of the ranch, and not all of them were because of an impressive natural formation. Some were notable for what had happened at that spot. Like the place where he’d first lassoed a steer when he was ten and managed to stay in the saddle. Or another piece of flat ground where he’d been tossed by a startled Morgan when he was nine. The horse had reared when a badger had scurried from behind a rock to reach the protection of its burrow.
They had to wind through one of the smaller herds before they reached the first of the outer corrals. Then he showed her the hill that he used as a slide when it was covered with snow.
When they reached the eastern edge of the ranch and turned north toward the Teton River, they walked their horses up a long, gradual climb but stopped when they reached the top.
It was there that Sara first saw one of the large herds and was stunned by its size. There were two cowhands moving some strays toward the herd from the west, and beyond the herd was the river.
Sara asked, “Do you go fishing in the river?”
“Not for a long time, but if you want a change in the menu, there are a lot of trout that call it home.”
“Maybe we should try our hand one of these days.”
Jake nodded then asked, “Do you know the other name for the Teton River?”
Sara turned and laughed before saying, “Yes, I know the English version. I hate to ask why that entered your mind, Mister Elliott.”
Jake grinned as he replied by asking, “Why, Mrs. Elliott, why would you believe that I would have anything other than an innocent, academic reason for posing the question?”
“You were staring at my Tetons when you asked, sir. I swear whichever Frenchmen named the mountains and rivers in this territory were fixated on women’s breasts.”
Jake laughed then shrugged and said, “I’m not French and I’m not immune from the disease, ma’am. I even visited the town of Woman’s Breast a few days ago.”
Sara was still smiling as they descended the long rise and soon reached the edge of the large herd.
After talking to Tex Emerson and Lone Bill Riker for a few minutes, Jake and Sara turned west, and Sara soon saw another of the large herds ahead.
She turned and asked, “How many cattle to you have on the Elk?”
“Dave said the last count was around thirty-two hundred, but we’re never really sure of the exact count. We’ll need to move around four hundred to the docks for shipment soon. We need to start making money again.”
“Jake, you had over twenty-one thousand dollars in the bank.”
“I know, but that will only keep the Elk operating for about three years even without any major disasters like a tornado, a flood or a fire. Stampedes and rustling are minor disasters but can still cost us a lot of money.”
Sara scanned the horizons as she asked, “Have you had a lot of rustlers?”
“Not any serious attempts since ’74. My father and a dozen hands had to stop six rustlers from stealing a couple of hundred head. I guess the word got out that the Elk wasn’t a good place to steal cattle. We still lose a few each year, but that’s just the cost of running the ranch.”
“There’s so much I don’t know about how a ranch operates, especially one this big.”
He smiled at her and said, “You will, Sara. I still need to remember how to be a rancher again, too.”
They rode through the second large herd and soon passed the other corral of horses before Sara spotted his refuge. It was easily identified by the row of tall boulders and jagged rocks that seemed to form a blockade to the pines just beyond. She used the rocks almost as a guide to toward the forest and hoped to see the grizzly but only saw a small herd of white-tailed deer.
She turned to Jake and said, “I hope we see the bear.”
“If you’re so determined to find him, we’ll probably have to go into the dark forest.”
“If that’s where we need to go, then I’ll be happy to have you escort me there as long as you have your Winchester ready.”
Jake grinned as he said, “It’s always ready, ma’am. As is your new husband.”
Sara looked at Jake and shook her head as she smiled. She had no doubt that his repeater was less ready than he was.
_____
They dismounted at Jake’s usual spot and tied off their horses on the same branch he’d used when he’d first ridden Vulcan.
Jake pulled out his Winchester and said, “Let’s go and find your grizzly.”
Sara was already excited before she even dismounted. While she understood that it was more likely that they’d never see the bear, she was still thrilled by the possibility.
Jake led her through a gap in the rocks and began following his winding path to the trees. Once they were past the outer wall, Jake continued north with Sara either trailing or walking next to him if there was room.
He soon stopped, pointed to his right and said, “There’s my natural watchtower.”
Sara’s head tilted back as she tried to imagine a young Jake when he first decided to climb to the top of the tall pile of boulders.
“That must be more than twenty feet high!” she exclaimed.
“When I was a boy, I swore it was a mile high. I could see the ranch house from up there. Do you want to climb to the top?”
She turned and replied, “No, thank you. I’d rather find a bear.”
Jake laughed then continued walking deeper into his sanctuary. He expected to start seeing wild critters soon but would be amazed if they saw Dave’s grizzly. He didn’t want to disappoint Sara, but it was better to let her down than having to kill such a magnificent animal if it was hungry enough to attack.
As they passed the pines, Jake glanced at the trunks to see if he found any evidence that a bear might have visited. He found some damage created by bucks as they rubbed their antlers on the bark to let the ladies know they were anxious, but no large gouges left by a bear’s claws or their less obvious bite marks.
He also studied the ground as they walked and found the usual signs of deer, coyotes, wolves and soon those of a large cougar. But he didn’t see any bear paw prints; not even those of a smaller black bear.
He stopped when they were about fifty yards from the forest. All they’d seen so far were a few rabbits, a raccoon family and a pair of minks. Even the deer seemed to be on vacation.
He turned to Sara and said, “I’m almost embarrassed. I know you wanted to see the bear or at least a coyote, but none of the beasties we’ve seen would do anything more than annoy you.”
Sara smiled then said, “We haven’t gone into the forest yet, so I’ll withhold my judgement. How far have you gone into the forest?”
“I rarely entered the heavy growth. It wasn’t because I was afraid, I just felt that it was the animals’ home and they deserved their privacy, too.”
“That’s actually very considerate. So, do you want to turn back?”
Jake almost nodded, but quickly changed his mind. He wanted Sara to see at least one sharp-toothed hunter before they headed back.
“Nope. I can’t promise you the grizzly, but we should find a coyote or a wolf. I also spotted some mountain lion tracks a few yards behind us, so maybe you’ll see a cougar.”
“Then lead on, sir.”
Jake smiled before they resumed their slow walk and soon entered the dark forest.
Jake’s eyes were searching for any movement as they stepped around the wide pine trunks, so he wasn’t watching where he placed his boots. The ground was covered in pine needles and he only needed to avoid the fallen branches, so he didn’t trip. The critters would pick up his scent long before he stepped on a twig.
Sara was looking for any animals herself and when Jake had to step to his right to avoid a collection of pine branches, she shifted to her left to go around the other side. But when she placed her left foot on the ground just behind the pile, it sank into the ground as if it was mud. She fell to her left side but was able to break her fall with her hands. She still hit the pine-covered ground with a loud grunt which startled Jake.
He yelled, “Sara!” then hurried around the pile of branches and pulled her to her feet.
As she brushed off the dirt, Jake asked, “Are you okay? Did you trip over something?”
“No. My foot sunk into the ground.”
Jake looked down at his feet and noticed that the dirt was almost to his ankles.
Sara stepped onto hard ground and asked, “Why would it be like that?”
“I don’t know. It’s not quicksand.”
Jake scooped up some of the dirt and looked at it briefly before tossing it aside.
“This is really odd,” he said before he turned and looked at the low pile of branches just inches from his right foot.
It only took a few seconds to discover something unusual about the branches, but he continued to just stare at the pile trying to determine the relationship between the two peculiar discoveries.
Sara looked where Jake was staring and immediately noticed what was keeping his focus.
Jake suddenly closed his eyes and quietly said, “Sara, could you please return to the horses?”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m right, I don’t want you here. Please go.”
Sara was shaken by the distant tone in Jake’s voice, but decided that this wasn’t the time to be stubborn.
“I’ll wait for you to come back.”
Jake continued to stare at the branches as he replied, “Thank you, Sara.”
Sara took one last look at Jake’s face before turning and retracing their tracks back to the refuge.
After he heard Sara walk away, Jake turned and watched her until she was no longer visible, He then stepped away from the pile of branches and leaned his Winchester against the nearest pine trunk.
He then yanked his gloves from under his belt and quickly pulled them on before he dropped to his knees at the edge of the soft ground. He closed his eyes and hoped he was wrong before he opened them again. He poked the ground and found that there was less than a foot of the soft ground before it was covered by the branches. He pushed the branches back another foot before he began to dig away the soil with his hands.
He continued shoveling away the dirt in large scoops as he dug deeper. He didn’t care if he looked like a dog hunting for a field mouse; he just rammed his fingers into the growing hole and ripped away the dark earth.
His gloves were filthy, and his fingertips were getting numb as the dirt continued to fly out of the hole. He was just about to believe that he’d was wrong when his unfeeling fingers struck something. The hole was almost three feet deep when he leaned forward to see what had stopped him. He hoped it was a tree root, but it hadn’t seemed to be hard enough.
The shadowed forest made it difficult for him to make out what lay at the bottom of the hole, so Jake began to remove more dirt from the walls to expand the hole’s diameter. He spent another ten minutes making it wider before he stopped for a second time.
When he peered into the hole this time, he still couldn’t quite make out was at the bottom, so he began brushing away the dirt. Just fifteen seconds later, he stopped brushing, then quickly turned away and vomited.
He stood, took off his filthy gloves and tossed them aside before he wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve. Then he began kicking the dirt back into the hole until it was half-filled. He then stared at the ground for two minutes before he picked up his Winchester and began walking away.
Jake wasn’t even sure how long it had been since he had started digging but knew that Sara must be terribly worried by now. As he quickly made his way out of the forest, he knew he’d have to return soon. But as he passed through the trees, his gruesome discovery was already spawning far more questions about what had happened on the second of July and about himself.
_____
Sara had been anxiously waiting with the horses for almost an hour. If it hadn’t been for Jake’s stunned reaction, she might have considered a simpler, less dreadful solution to what he had probably found. But seeing the horror in Jake’s eyes after finding the soft ground where it shouldn’t have been, then seeing the pile of pine branches that had been cut, not broken, led to only one possibility. Jake’s father was buried in the forest. Just as Jake had, Sara hoped that she was wrong. But when Jake hadn’t returned for thirty more minutes, she knew that Jake had probably discovered his father’s body.
While the discovery was a ghastly find in it itself, she knew that it also meant that Dave Forrest had not only murdered Jake’s mother, but had killed his father as well. She couldn’t imagine how devastating it would be for Jake and three times, she had almost reentered the sanctuary to find him. But each time she took that first step, she changed her mind. She would save her compassion until he emerged. Until he did, she just wondered what he would do when he reached the same conclusion. Would he then try to begin another search for his parents’ true killer, or would he let the sheriff and the law handle it? But beyond worrying about what he might do, she prayed that Jake wouldn’t be so devastated by the discovery that he changed into a brooding, angry man.
_____
By the time he walked out of the forest’s shadows, Jake had recovered enough from the shock to be able to focus on what had probably happened and what he needed to do. He was no longer numb from what he’d seen poking out of the ground at the bottom of the hole. Despite the horrific discovery, Jake knew that the last thing he could afford to do was to wallow in remorse, guilt, or even anger. He had to keep a clear head.
He passed by his observation boulders and less than a minute later, passed out of the refuge and found Sara looking at him. He didn’t say a word as he stepped to Mars, slid his Winchester into its scabbard then took down his canteen. After taking a mouthful of water and spitting it out, he took a few more swallows, then hung it back on the saddle.
As much as she wanted to run to Jake and try to comfort him, Sara hadn’t mov
ed since she’d first spotted him. When she saw his tortured eyes, she decided to give him time. She still couldn’t determine how much he’d been impacted, but when he did the simple tasks of returning his rifle and then drinking from his canteen, she hoped he would be all right.
After hanging his canteen, Jake stepped around Mars and approached Sara. He looked into her sorrowful blue eyes and knew that she understood why he had sent her away and what he’d found.
He still didn’t say a word as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Sara held him tightly and felt his chest expanding and contracting. Neither shed a tear, nor felt the need to talk for more than a minute. They simply held each other in silence.
When Jake felt it was time, he released her and quietly said, “I need to get someone’s attention.”
Sara just nodded and stepped back a couple of feet before Jake pulled his Colt from his holster. He cocked the hammer and pointed it over the tops of the pine trees to the north.
Then he did something he’d never done before. After he fired the first shot, he held the trigger back and fanned the pistol’s hammer, firing all five rounds in less than three seconds.
As he turned to look east, he lowered his smoking Colt and slipped it back into his holster. Less than three minutes later, he spotted a couple of ranch hands riding towards him, so he pulled off his hat and waved back and forth to let them know he wanted them to keep coming before he pulled it back on.
Sara then stepped close to him and took his hand waiting for him to say something.
Jake looked at her and said, “I dug a hole in that loose dirt and about three feet down, I found what I knew had to be there. I exposed the tip of a boot. I suppose I was lucky not to uncover my father’s face staring back at me, but I’ll see it soon.”
Sara didn’t ask how he felt or what he might do, but simply said, “I’ll stay with you now, Jake.”
Jake had shifted his eyes to the east again as he said, “I know you will, Sara. I need you even more now.”