Red paused to chew his lower lip as he considered that. Looking back at Cade, he asked, “I came across another dead feller down the hill a piece. You do that, too?”
“Yeah,” Cade answered, grimacing with pain as he tried to shift his body to a better position to try to get up. “How the hell did you happen to come up here?” Then before Red could answer, another thought occurred to him. “What did you mean back there when you said Elizabeth would kill you?”
“Well, see, that’s just it,” Red replied as he dropped the reins and prepared to help Cade up. “Elizabeth came down to the corral lookin’ for me. She said she’d heard about you takin’ that jasper you shot back to John Slater’s ranch. For a while there, she went on about how bad you was probably feelin’ about killin’ a man, even if it was self-defense. She lit into me like it was my fault for lettin’ you go over there by yourself. She said if all Slater’s men were like the one you shot, she was afraid you’d get in more trouble.” He looked at Cade with an apologetic expression. “I told her I offered to go with you, but you said no. That didn’t really satisfy her none. She told me to climb on my horse and not to come back without you.” He cocked up one side of his mouth in a little half smile. “I was damn near too late, wasn’t I?”
“You might be yet,” Cade said. “Let’s see if we can get me on that horse.”
It was a painful task, but they managed to get Cade in the saddle, although not without starting the bleeding again. It was all he could do to remain upright, and before they had descended halfway down the mountain, he had to fall over on the horse’s neck. Trying to pick the easiest way down the slope, Red led the horse across and back to avoid the steeper parts. At the top of the ravine in which Cade had first taken refuge, they found Snider’s horse standing waiting. Red took the reins and led both horses down into the ravine. Looking back at his obviously suffering friend, he said, “Maybe I can make one of them things the Injuns use to tote things when we get down to level ground. Might make it easier to haul you to the doctor.”
Cade didn’t answer. He was concentrating on trying to hang on to the horse. He knew his friend pretty well, and he figured Red didn’t have an ax to cut poles, or enough rope to fashion a travois. He also knew he wasn’t going to be able to stay on that horse all the way back to Deer Lodge. He was already feeling light in his head and weaker by the moment. In an attempt to get his mind off the pain in his side, he tried to think about what Red had told him about Elizabeth. Why, he wondered, had she sought out Red to come after him? Was she really that worried about him? He tried to imagine her youthful, smiling face when she teased him. And he felt a warm tingle on his cheek where she had lightly kissed him on the first day they rode to her “secret place.” These were the thoughts that were drifting through his mind when they reached the bottom of the slope, where Red caught him just as he was about to slide to the ground unconscious.
“This ain’t gonna work,” Red said. “It’s too far back to Deer Lodge. You’re gonna bleed to death bouncing around on that horse. I’m gonna have to go get the doctor and bring him to you.” It was a painful truth, and the evidence was written on Red’s face. He didn’t want to leave Cade while he made the ride all the way back to town, but he was afraid the ride might be enough to finish him. “Tell me what to do, Cade,” he pleaded softly.
Recovering his senses somewhat after his near fall from the horse, Cade told Red to leave him there in the ravine, but Red protested that there was no shelter there from the cold night. Then Cade thought about Snider’s ranch. There was no one there now. All of his men were gone. “His ranch is only about a mile or so back that way,” he said. “You can leave me there. I’ll be all right. You can build up the fire, and I’ll be warm and dry while you go get the doctor.”
Cade could see the relief sweep over Red’s face, but his friend questioned his suggestion. “You sure you wanna go to Slater’s ranch? Ain’t he got more men there?”
“He didn’t have but four left,” Cade explained. “You’ll find one of ’em dead between here and the ranch, one of ’em dead at the ranch—you saw one of ’em back up the hill. The other one’s shot and he took off. There ain’t nobody left.”
After a ride that seemed a lot longer than the actual distance, Red slow-walked the horses into the tiny cluster of shacks that had served as John Slater’s ranch. While Cade waited, slumped over in the saddle, Red took a quick check of the buildings and decided right away that the cabin Snider had used for his ranch house was the better of the two dwellings. With Red’s support, Cade was painfully helped into the cabin.
With no other options, Cade was reluctantly settled on a homemade bedstead that, unbeknownst to him, had been used by Snider. Too weak and sick to protest, Cade lay exhausted while Red built a fire in the fireplace. Once there was a healthy flame going, he took a look at Cade’s wound to see if he could do anything to help, and decided he could not. “At least you ain’t bleedin’ no more,” he said. “You think you can hang on till I get to town and back with the doctor?”
Cade nodded, then said, “If you leave me some water.”
Red took a look at the water bucket in the corner by the table, thought better of it, and fetched his canteen from his saddle. “Here, you better take this,” he said, placing the pistol he had found on Plummer’s body next to the bed. Then he stood back and took a long look at his friend. “Don’t shoot yourself with it,” he said as he turned to leave. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Cade nodded and tried to smile. Before the sound of Red’s horse’s hooves had faded away, Cade sank into a sound sleep—the last thought on his mind was that Luke could now rest in peace.
Chapter 13
Kneeling by the clear stream that bubbled down from the rocky ridge above him, Bonner soaked his bandanna in the chilly water, carefully cleaning the blood away from the wound. Though painful, it did not appear as serious as he had at first thought. The fact that he had run made no impact upon his conscience. He had no conscience to speak of. Jim Bonner was no fool as far as Jim Bonner was concerned. First Ned Appling, then Stover, then Johnson, then Plummer—the man that Slater wanted dead had taken them out one by one. And when he himself was shot, Bonner decided it was time to remove himself from the list of Hunter’s kills. Slater be damned! If he wanted the man so badly, he could do the job himself.
The thing that Bonner wondered about now was what the final result had been. He had heard a lot of shooting after he fled the mountainside. He had to wonder who walked down off that slope when the shooting was done. Looking closely at the hole in his shoulder, showing only a small amount of blood now, there were other thoughts that overcame his concern for the bullet lodged in his shoulder. Slater was a wealthy man. He owned a saloon in Butte, but he had spent a great deal of time on the ranch recently purchased here in the valley. According to what Ned Appling had told Bonner, Slater had bought the ranch with gold dust. The more Bonner thought about it, the more it made sense to him that Slater would keep his gold or cash close to him—maybe hidden somewhere at the ranch. By God, it’s worth a little look-see around that ranch, he decided. Thinking it best to wait until dark, he stuffed a dry piece of shirt over his wound and sat down against a tree to bide his time until sundown.
Walking his horse slowly across the open space between the old barn and the cabins, Bonner stopped to consider the horse in the corral. It was Slater’s horse. So Slater was the survivor of the shoot-out on the mountain, he thought. This put a different shine on the situation, and he had to take a moment to decide if he wanted to face Slater or not. He thought of the shouted curses that Slater had hurled after him when he was retreating from the gunfight. What would Slater think now if he came back after running out on him? He might be inclined to shoot him on sight. Bonner could not decide—surprise him, kill him, and search for the gold, or try to talk his way back, using his wound as excuse for deserting, then kill him when the opportunity presented itself? It would take some serious thought. Slater was a dangerous man.
“Slater,” Bonner whispered, “you all right?”
Blinking sleep from his eyes, Cade looked up to see the huge man now filling the low doorway as he stepped inside. “Yeah,” he whispered in response.
“I weren’t shot as bad as I thought, so I went back up that mountain to help you, but you was already gone by then,” Bonner lied. Getting no reply, he reached slowly down and rested his hand on his pistol. “Are you shot or somethin’?” When there was still no reply, he knew something was wrong—maybe Slater had caught a bullet. The possibility of that was enough encouragement for Bonner to make up his mind. Expecting to see evidence of a gunshot, he suddenly reached down to grab a handful of the blanket, and snatched it off the wounded man. Even in the soft firelight, he could plainly see the muzzle of the Colt .45 staring up at him, but for only a split second before it exploded in his face. With eyes wide in shocked surprise, Bonner sank to the floor beside the bed and lay still. Though it took little effort on Cade’s part, it was enough to tire him out. He dropped his arm back beside him on the bed and lay there without moving. In a few minutes’ time, he was asleep again.
“Where you go?” White Moon demanded, standing in the doorway of her room. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“Shhh . . .” Elizabeth replied as she tiptoed down the front hallway. “You’ll wake everybody.”
“Where you go?” White Moon repeated sternly.
Elizabeth explained that Red Reynolds had tapped upon her window to tell her that Cade had been seriously wounded, that he was on his way to fetch Dr. Bates.
“Why he wake you up to tell you that?” the Shoshone woman asked.
Elizabeth shook her head, exasperated that White Moon had to ask. “To give me time to get dressed and get my horse saddled,” she answered. White Moon seemed astonished. “Because Red knows I care about Cade,” Elizabeth explained. She didn’t bother to tell White Moon that she had persuaded Red to ride after Cade. When White Moon still seemed puzzled about where Elizabeth was going in the middle of the night, Elizabeth told her that she was going to meet Red and the doctor on their way out to John Slater’s ranch and join them. White Moon was totally confused at that, until Elizabeth relayed Red’s accounting of the shoot-out on the mountain. “John Slater shot him, so I’m going to help him if I can,” she concluded.
“Not without me,” the somber Indian woman stated emphatically, finally understanding. She turned immediately to fetch her clothes.
“Well, hurry up,” Elizabeth said, “and don’t wake Aunt Cornelia.”
“What the . . .” was as far as Red got when he saw the cabin door standing open. Already feeling a need for caution when they had found another horse, saddled and tied to the porch post, he motioned for the others to stay back until he checked the cabin. Pulling his revolver, he dismounted, stepped quietly on the porch, and edged slowly toward the door. Inside, he found Cade just as he had left him, with the exception of one oversized corpse lying on the floor beside him. “Well, I’ll be gone to hell,” he muttered under his breath. He holstered his weapon and signaled the doctor. “You ladies better wait a little while,” he said, then went to Cade’s side.
Cade opened his eyes to find Red’s face inches from his, Red’s eyes wide and staring. When Cade’s eyelids flickered open, Red recoiled a few inches, startled. “I thought you were dead,” he said.
“I thought I was, too . . . a couple of times,” Cade said. “When I woke up just now and saw that ugly face of yours, I was sure I was in hell.” He formed a weak smile for him.
“I see you had company while I was gone,” Red said. “I’d best drag him outta here.” He took another look at the body and added, “That is, if I can. He’s a big’un.” He shook his head in wonder. “You sure picked a helluva bunkmate.”
Cade smiled. “Well, at least he don’t snore.”
Dr. Judson Bates entered the cabin as Red was in the process of pulling Bonner’s body away from the bed. Still grousing about being routed out in the wee hours of the morning, he paused to register a look of disgust for the scene. “Merciful heavens,” he snorted, “this place looks like a pigsty.”
Red returned his look with a wide grin, and nodded toward Cade. “He don’t live here, he’s just visitin’.”
Bates turned to watch Red pull Bonner’s body out the door. “Damn fools,” he muttered. “I don’t know why I bother. Patch ’em up and they go out and get themselves shot again.” He glanced back at the patient, then called after Red, “Tell the women to come on in here. I need somebody to build that fire up again and heat up some water.”
Elizabeth was already on her way in, having waited as long as her patience would permit. White Moon was right on her heels. “Oh, Cade,” Elizabeth sighed in distress upon seeing the strong young man in such pale condition. Charging past the doctor, she ordered, “White Moon, build up that fire and heat up some water. We’ve got to get him out of those clothes and clean him up.”
White Moon nodded and quickly responded. Dr. Bates stepped aside to avoid being run over by the big woman. He gave Elizabeth a look of mock alarm, astonished by the young woman’s taking charge of the situation. “Well,” he said somewhat chagrined, “I don’t know why you bothered to get me out of bed.”
Realizing then how assumptive her actions may have seemed, Elizabeth smiled at the doctor apologetically. “I just thought you might want him out of that bloody shirt.”
Bates laughed. “I do. Let’s get him cleaned up a little so I can see what we’ve got.”
Even with the flurry of activity that had suddenly filled the tiny cabin, Cade was only halfway conscious of what was going on. Afterward, he remembered talking to Red and feeling the doctor’s probing, but he also was aware that Elizabeth was in the room—even though he thought that unlikely. It was a little before midday when he woke up with a sense of where he was, and discovered that Elizabeth was there indeed. “Beth? What are you doin’ here?”
“Somebody has to make sure you take care of yourself,” she said, pleased that he had awakened. Guessing that he was well enough now to scold, she continued. “Were you out of your mind, coming out here by yourself? Red told me about John Slater. I couldn’t believe it! He was going to kill you!”
Although still very weak, he tried to smile. “Yeah, Red saved my bacon, but I reckon he mighta spoiled your wed-din’ plans.”
She favored him with a deep frown. “Bite your tongue,” she scolded. “I never had any such feelings for John Slater.” Smiling again, she said, “Dr. Bates said it’s a good thing you stayed put here last night instead of trying to ride back to town.” She sent a gracious smile toward the doctor then. “He’s got you all patched up, and you’ll be on your feet in no time.”
“I reckon I can stay on a horse long enough to get back to the Bar-K now.”
Bates cocked his head toward his patient when he heard Cade’s remark. “You don’t need to ride anywhere for a day or two. You were mighty lucky, young man. That bullet didn’t damage any major organs, but it only missed by a hair. You’re gonna have to be laid up for a spell until some healing starts.”
That caused a look of concern to fall upon Cade’s face. “I can’t stay here,” he protested.
“Yes you can,” Elizabeth interrupted. “We’re gonna stay with you, White Moon and me. We’re going to clean this place up, and Red’s going to butcher a cow. Dr. Bates says you need fresh meat to build your blood back up.”
A
silent observer to that point, Red piped up then. “Yeah, I’m gonna go cut out one of Slater’s herd and butcher it.” He laughed. “I ain’t seen more’n half a dozen cows around here. Ain’t much of a cattle empire.” He took a few steps toward the door, then stopped and turned to face Cade again. “I still can’t figure why that man wanted you dead so bad. You sure you ain’t stepped on his toes somewhere before, and you just forgot about it?”
“I’ve seen him before, and I sure as hell never forgot about it,” Cade answered. He then went on to tell them about Luke’s gold, and how Lem Snider had murdered Luke Tucker. “I guess he recognized me all along. He looked at me kinda funny on the mornin’ we left Butte for Deer Lodge, like he’d seen a ghost. I just didn’t recognize him.”
Listening with eyes open wide, Elizabeth was horrified to learn of John Slater’s murderous past. She could not help but quiver suddenly when she thought about his quest for her affections. Glancing at White Moon, she was met with a smug expression and the words, “I told you—no good.”
Cade couldn’t really say he liked the idea of remaining in Lem Snider’s cabin at first. There was still a loathing for spending any length of time in any dwelling that Lem Snider had called home. But he soon softened his feelings of resentment after White Moon and Elizabeth burned Snider’s personal items and scoured the cabin. Red killed one of Snider’s cows, but left the butchering to White Moon, while he escorted the doctor back to Deer Lodge. He promised Elizabeth that he would also reassure the Kramers that she was all right. She had left them a note the night before, but she was afraid they would be worried until they heard more from her.
When Dr. Bates and Red had departed for town, White Moon put some beef over the fire to roast. The aroma wafting from the roasting meat reminded Cade that he had not eaten for some time, and he was thankful that Snider’s bullet had not pierced any internal organs. The day passed peacefully enough with only one minor confrontation between patient and nurse—an argument over whether Cade was going to struggle to get out of bed to answer nature’s calls, or use the bucket White Moon found in the barn. “Don’t be silly,” Elizabeth scolded. “Dr. Bates said you were to stay in bed for at least a couple of days. Besides, you act like you’ve got something nobody’s ever seen before.”
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