“You would, of course, have to see that the horses were properly cared for, the harnesses kept in good repair, and the barn orderly, but you could sleep in the station and take your meals with us in the kitchen. It pays well.”
“I ain’t taking your job,” Jake managed to say at least. “You can save yourself the effort of saying anything more.”
“Am I to understand that you are already employed?”
“No, I ain’t got no job.”
“Are you looking for a job?”
“I suppose so. A man can always use a good job.”
“Do you consider the stock tender position a good job?” Jake hated it when people asked questions for which they already had the answer.
“Yeah, but I ain’t taking it.”
“Could I ask why?” Jake was uneasy now. This woman was taking things too easy. She had looked mighty determined when she came in and she hadn’t moved so much as an inch since, but she was talking to him now almost like she was apologizing for taking up his time. He had a feeling he was making a wrong move, but he answered anyway.
“Because you’re a woman, and I don’t work for no woman.”
“But you’d take the job if a man offered it to you.”
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
“Suppose I could prove to you that I’m just as good as a man?”
“Can’t be done,” the wizened little man answered for Jake. “Ain’t no woman born who’s the equal of a man.”
'Clearly I’m no man, but suppose I could demonstrate I was no ordinary female?”
“How?”
Carrie opened her purse and took out a small pistol. “Would you let one of these gentlemen shoot the cigar out of your mouth?”
“Hell no,” Jake stated emphatically. “I’d be deader’n a doornail.”
“Then if I could do it, I’d be better than these three men at least?”
“Yeah, but you can’t do it, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let you try.?
“You’d better sit very still, Mr. Bemis, or you will be damned quite a bit sooner than you had expected.” Jake stared at Carrie, his eyes bugging out of his head. She was aiming the pistol straight at him. The two bathers dived into their tubs, the wizened little man made a leap for the door, and then there was the deafening explosion of a pistol shot.
Jake didn’t feel a thing, and he was sure he was dead. He knew he was covered with blood, and his wound would be hurting like sin if he were alive.
“If you will look at your cigar,” Carrie directed him as calmly as if nothing had happened, “you will notice I have removed just the end. You may smoke the rest of it tomorrow.”
If he could hear her he must still be alive, Jake reasoned, but he was afraid if he moved it would somehow break the spell. Still, his curiosity was greater than his fear, and he looked at the cigar. The end had been neatly shot off. The other bathers ventured to raise their heads, and their goggling eyes threatened to fall on the floor when they saw what Carrie had done.
“Now, I’ll expect you at the station before evening,” Carrie said, starting to put away her pistol. “Of course, I’ll allow you some time to settle your personal affairs, but I need someone on the job immediately.”
“I ain’t never worked for a woman, and I ain’t starting now,” Jake stated, still staring at the end of his cigar.
“But you just promised—”
“I did no such thing,” Jake insisted.
“Why Mr. Bemis, don’t you know it’s a sin to lie? With my own ears I heard you say you would take the job if it were offered by a man. These men can verify it. Well, I’ve just proved myself as good as a man, so you must take the job.”
“I don’t care what I said,” Jake said mulishly, “I won’t work for you.”
Carrie studied her pistol. “Mr. Bemis, I don’t approve of men who make promises and then go back on them. If you go back on your promise, I may feel it necessary to punish you.”
“What can you do?” demanded one of the other bathers.
“I could shoot you,” Carrie said, turning the pistol in the questioner’s direction. The man dived under the water. “But I won’t kill you, Mr. Bemis,” Carrie said, turning the pistol until it pointed at his heart. “I’ll just mark you so everybody will always know you for a cowardly man.”
“You can’t do any such thing,” Jake boasted, then added, “How would you try?”
“I’d shoot your ears off,” Carrie told him.
Jake blanched white, but he did not waver. “You’re bluffing. Even if you could do it, you wouldn’t have the nerve.”
I’ll just take the tops off. It wouldn’t hurt your hearing a bit, just mark you up a little.”
I still say you’re bluffing.” Suddenly Carrie elevated her pistol and fired. This time it was Jake who dived into the barrel.
“Look at your hat, Mr. Bemis,” Carrie called out.
“I ain’t coming out of this barrel.”
Then I’ll have to let the water out for you. I think two shots will do.” Jake’s head slowly came into view. He took off his hat and stared at it. There was a hole through the turned-up brim, just above his ear. He gaped at Carrie, dawning realization telling him this woman meant what she said.
There was a sudden commotion outside, and much to Carrie’s astonishment, several people burst into the small shed, the first among them being Lucas Barrow
Chapter 8
“What in hell is going on in here?” Lucas demanded.
“I was merely offering Mr. Bemis a job,” Carrie replied with a self-satisfied smile.
This old goat told us you were shooting up the place,” the sheriff said, indicating the wizened old man.
“I did fire my pistol, but he’s exaggerating a bit.” Lucas’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Mr. Bemis wanted proof of my marksmanship before he would accept a job I offered him. Since he was in no condition to step outside, I was compelled to hold my demonstration here.”
“She shot the end off my cigar,” Jake disclosed, holding up the evidence of his statement in an unsteady hand. Then, by jasper, she put a hole in my hat right above my ear, said she was going to notch them both if I didn’t take the job.”
“Now look here, Mrs. Simpson, you can’t go forcing people to take jobs when they don’t—”
“Mr. Bemis neglected to tell you that we had made a bargain,” Carrie said, interrupting the sputtering sheriff in mid-sentence. “He said he would take my job if I proved myself as good as a man. I was supposed to shoot the cigar out of his mouth, but when I did, Mr. Bemis tried to back out of his agreement.
“Is that true, Bemis?” the sheriff asked.
“She tricked me,” Jake complained. “Fair trapped me without my knowing what was happening.”
“You can ask those gentlemen if you need any further corroboration,” Carrie said, indicating the two bathers with a wave of her pistol. The two so indicated took one look at Carrie’s pistol and didn’t wait to be asked.
“Every word she says is the gospel truth.”
“Old Jake was caught fair and square. She’s a mean shot with that pistol of hers.”
“It wasn’t a demanding shot, not at such close range,” Carrie admitted modestly.
“I suggest we get out of here and let these men get dressed before they shrivel up like prunes,” Lucas said. “Mrs. Simpson needs to be back at the station before the next stage comes through.”
“When may I expect you, Mr. Bemis?” Carrie asked, determined not to move until he committed himself in front of all these witnesses.
“I don’t rightly know. I got quite a few things that need looking into.”
“Such as?” Carrie’s tone was not encouraging.
“Personal things,” he said, driven to the wall. “I ought to be done in four or five days.”
“I think four or five hours ought to be sufficient. I’ll help you,” Carrie offered.
“I don’t need no help. You just go back to that station, and I’ll be along
directly.”
“When? I don’t want to have to come back after you.”
“Never you mind when. I’ll be there.”
“Give her a time, Jake,” the sheriff ordered. “I don’t want her back here shooting up the town.”
“I’ll be were along about midnight,” Jake said finally.
“I don’t stay up that late. I think nine o’clock would be a good compromise.” Bemis started to protest, but a look at Carrie’s stern expression changed his mind. He was a reasonable man, and he could see no future in arguing with this woman. She could outshoot and outtalk him, and she had the nerve to do just about anything she put her mind to. That was a bad combination in a man but it was lethal in a woman, and Jake Bemis knew when to tuck his tail between his legs and back away.
“So you’re the lady who gave Baca Riggins his walking papers?” the sheriff commented as they walked back toward the center of town.
“Actually Duncan Bickett fired him, but I was the one who presented him with the letter. I should also add that Mr. Barrow’s help made it unnecessary for me to employ my pistol.”
“And Bickett actually gave you a contract to run that station?” the sheriff asked, unbelieving. “I never heard of a woman station manager, and especially not in that neck of the woods.”
“Actually he gave the contract to my husband,” Carrie said, furious that she had to perpetuate this piece of fiction, “but he died before we reached Colorado, and I took it up in his name.”
“Where did you learn to shoot like that? It’s not usual for ladies to handle a shooting iron better than a man.”
“I had a father, two brothers, and several uncles, all of whom could shoot a squirrel out of a tree at a hundred yards. Target practice was part of virtually every day of my life. They were actually rather pleased when I turned out to be better with a pistol than any of them.”
“Better, did you say?”
“Only with a pistol,” Carrie said with an air of guileless innocence that almost made Lucas choke with laughter. “My father said it would be unladylike for me to use a shotgun, and I never had much use for a rifle, not being allowed to go hunting, so a pistol was about all I ever tried. But I always did wonder how I would have done with a rifle.”
“I’d give a month’s salary to see Duncan’s face when he learns what a mess he’s got himself into,” the sheriff said with a sudden grin.
“Sheriff, I don’t regard my presence at the station as a mess, as you put it, and I’d appreciate it if you would not go about saying it is. You’re welcome to come out any time you please and see for yourself how I’m doing.” The sheriff looked taken aback that Carrie would call him down quite so publicly. Carrie accepted his mumbled apologies, but he went away so determined not to miss Duncan’s reaction to the news that he decided to tell him himself.
“Well, I must say you’ve done a good job of setting the town on its ear,” Lucas said after they had cleared the edge of town. “Within a matter of hours there won’t be a person inside three hundred miles that doesn’t know about you, that is if they haven’t heard already.”
“How? Who’d be interested?”
“There aren’t many people in this country, and news travels as fast as a horse can run. Running off Baca Riggins was news. Shooting the end off Jake’s cigar was sensational. From now on, they’ll want to hear about everything you do.”
“And they say women gossip,” Carrie remarked.
“I suppose you’re determined to stick it out,” Lucas said after a long pause. “You won’t need to depend on me, now that you’ve got Jake, that is.”
“I never needed to depend on you,” Carrie said—she shouldn’t have said that, but he deserved it for following her—"but I am grateful for your help. It would have been much more difficult without you.”
Lucas’s feelings were somewhat mollified, and he stared ahead of him for a time. “I was telling you the truth when I said I couldn’t stay around all the time. There are several things I must do that I’ve been putting off.”
“I know, and you mustn’t think I don’t appreciate your changing your plans, no matter how often we disagree. But now that I have Mr. Bemis, you can go about your business without worrying about me.”
“So I can,” Lucas said, but Carrie was glad to see he didn’t seem to take much pleasure in that knowledge.
They rode for a while in silence, Lucas staring into space before him, Carrie studying the landscape. It was so different from Virginia it was hard to imagine she was in the same country. Ridges ran off in all directions, and valleys opened up before her without warning, some choked with thick growths of aspen and others lush with grass that was waist high, but all around her the gigantic mountains dominated the horizon, thrusting everything else into insignificance, lb one who had grown up on a tidal plain as flat as the Kansas prairie, just the sight of the towering peaks, capped with snow and gleaming with blinding brilliance in the sun, filled her with excitement. Everything was so new and unspoiled, so vibrantly alive and full of energy, she couldn’t help feeling she was truly starting her life over.
“You’ve never told me anything about yourself, Mr. Barrow,” Carrie said.
“Out here a man takes what he’s told and doesn’t ask for anything else.”
“Not even his name, or where he came from?”
“A lot of people came west to get away from something. Besides, there’s nothing in a name except a bunch of letters.”
“How odd,” Carrie commented. In the East, your name and where you come from mean everything.”
“And how many people found they couldn’t live up to their past, or wanted to be something different?”
“Quite a few, I suppose. I guess you could say I’m one of them.”
“Sometimes it was a simple mistake. Other times, well, it could be a lot of different things, but there are many reasons why a man might want to start over without having to bear the burden of the past, especially if it’s not his own.”
“So I shouldn’t ask Jake for his references?”
“Out here, nothing counts in a man except the color of his courage and the value of his word.”
Carrie doubted it was quite that cut and dried, but she wasn’t going to argue with Lucas on his own ground. They continued to wile away the time talking about the countryside and what the new settlers would mean to the state. They both knew they were avoiding questions that would have to be faced sooner or later, but for the time being it was pleasant to enjoy the view and the easy conversation.
Lucas helped Carrie get her supplies inside the station, but he disappeared after that, and it wasn’t until he came in for supper that Carrie saw him again. Almost the second they finished, the evening stage arrived and Lucas went off to harness up the team while Carrie welcomed her guests and helped Katie serve the meal.
“It’s been a long day,” Carrie said when they at last finished up with the dishes. “I wish I could go to bed right now, but I’ve got to wait up for the new man.”
“Why don’t ye go on to bed? I can wait for him,” Katie offered.
“Don’t be absurd. You’ve been working hard all day, and I know you’re about to drop. He’s my responsibility, and besides, you don’t know what he looks like. I’ll just sit here on the porch for a while. It’s such a pleasant evening.”
“There’s some water on for coffee, but don’t you go staying up too late,” Katie admonished Carrie as she went off toward the cabin.
The night breeze was a little chilly and Carrie wrapped a shawl around her arms and shoulders before settling into one of the chairs on the station porch. The moon was full and the stars shone brightly. They seemed so close Carrie felt she could reach out and touch them. The night was full of sounds that were strange to her ear, but Carrie found them a comfort rather than otherwise. The air was crystal clear and she could see the barn and corral almost as well as in daylight. The stage trail seemed to glisten in the moonlight that bathed everything with a silver sheen.
It was a beautiful sight and Carrie didn’t think she’d ever seen anything half as exciting at home. There everyone was certain to be indoors after dark. An elk suddenly appeared out of the woods, sniffed the wind, and then began to graze on the grass next to the trail. Abruptly, he looked up and then disappeared into the night. Carrie looked in the direction of his gaze and saw Lucas approaching the porch.
Carrie didn’t know until she saw him that she’d been wanting all along to see him.
“Good evening, Carrie ma’am,” Lucas said, pausing with one foot resting on the bottom step, his forearms resting on the step rail. “It’s a right pretty night.”
“Have you come to make sure the wild animals don’t get me?”
“I don’t know as you have to worry about the ones that walk on four legs. It’s the ones that prefer two that’ll give you the most trouble.”
“So I’ve noticed,” Carrie responded, wondering if he included himself in that group, “but you still don’t have to keep me company. You’ve already used up most of your day following me into town and back, and I would hate to waste any more of your time.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Well, I do,” she replied, wondering why his devil-may-care attitude never failed to set her teeth on edge. “I would rather you go back to the barn, or your cabin, or wherever it is you spend the night.”
“Mostly here and there, no place special.”
“You don’t take orders very well, do you, Mr. Barrow? It’s a good thing you didn’t take that stock job. I’d have had to fire you before the week was out.” Lucas grinned broadly.
“I always did like giving orders better than taking them.”
“I wish you would drop that idiotic accent,” Carrie snapped. “You may not intend to tell me anything about yourself, but I know for certain you’re no drifter, you’re not uneducated, and I seriously doubt you’re a wrangler either.”
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