A Big Sky Christmas

by William W. Johnstone

  “Well . . . sure, I guess so. Climb on in, folks. These are hardly luxury accommodations, though.”

  “We don’t care about that,” Bodie said.

  Jamie lowered the tailgate, and Bodie helped the woman climb into the wagon. Moses gave her a hand, too.

  When the younger people were inside, Jamie perched a hip on the tailgate. “All right, Cantrell, introduce the lady to Moses and me.”

  “We really just met tonight, too, Mr. MacCallister, but this is Miss Savannah McCoy. She’s part of the troupe of entertainers that’s performing at Channing’s Variety Theater, down the street.”

  “I remember seeing the place,” Jamie said with a nod. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss McCoy.”

  “Indeed it is,” Moses added. “May I offer you something to drink?”

  “No, but thank you,” Savannah said. “I just want to get back to the hotel where my friends are staying.”

  “We’ll see that you get there safely,” Jamie promised. “First, though, I want to hear more about those three hombres who were after you.”

  “I’m afraid it’s very simple. Their employer, like too many other people, believes that actresses are the same as prostitutes.”

  “My daughter’s an actress,” Jamie said curtly. “I don’t cotton to people who think like that.”

  Bodie shook his head. “Neither do I. Once you’re safe, Miss McCoy, I think I might have to look up this Gideon Kane and teach him a lesson.”

  “Oh, no,” Savannah said quickly. “You’ve already done enough for me tonight, Mr. Cantrell. More than enough. You risked your life by fighting those men. And you saved me from being dragged off by them and turned over to that . . . that . . .”

  “No-good polecat will do,” Jamie finished for her. “I reckon I can say that even though I never met Gideon Kane.”

  “You got that right, Mr. MacCallister,” Bodie said. “If anything, you’re not being fair to the polecats of the world.”

  Jamie laughed. He felt an instinctive liking for this young man. If he had seen the same thing going on, a young woman being threatened, he would have jumped right into the middle of the fracas just like Cantrell had. “What are you doing here in Kansas City? You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job, would you?”

  Jamie and Hector Gilworth had spent all day trying to find someone else who was willing to sign on with the wagon train as a scout, but they hadn’t had any luck. Jamie was prepared to set out with just him, Hector, and Jess Neville to handle the scouting chores, but it would be better if they had at least one more good man.

  Cantrell hesitated, then said in reply to Jamie’s question, “No, I reckon not. I’m not working at anything right now, but I’ve got some possibilities coming up soon.”

  “Well, if you change your mind between now and first light, let me know,” Jamie told him. “I’m looking for another scout to help me get these wagons to Montana.”

  Brodie let out a low whistle of surprise. “Montana’s a long way off. You’re setting out this late in the year?”

  “It’s their idea,” Jamie said. “I’ve warned ’em about it. Seems like we’re going, though, one way or the other.”

  “There’s really no choice,” Moses put in.

  Jamie let that pass. There was at least a chance they would make it, and if anybody could get those immigrants where they were going, he knew it was him. That wasn’t boastful on his part, just a realistic acknowledgment of his abilities.

  Savannah said, “I hate to inconvenience you even more, Mr. Cantrell, but do you think you could accompany me back to my hotel?”

  “Sure,” Bodie answered without hesitation. “I planned to all along.”

  “And I’m coming, too,” Jamie said. “With both of us along, I don’t reckon anybody’s liable to bother you. How about you, Moses?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t be any good in a fight, but I’ll come along,” the young rabbi said. “Strength in numbers, eh?” He fingered the nightshirt he was wearing. “Just let me put some pants on.”

  Bodie and Savannah climbed out of the wagon. Moses joined them a couple minutes later. Together, the four of them left the wagon camp and walked toward the hotel where the O’Hanlon troupe was staying.

  Jamie kept his right hand on the butt of the Colt on that side, but he didn’t need the gun. No one bothered them. When they reached the hotel, he was about to turn back when Savannah said, “If you could just come into the lobby with me. Those men might be waiting.”

  That was true, Jamie thought. It would be a shame to get Savannah this close to safety and then have Gideon Kane’s men grab her after all.

  The lamps in the lobby were turned low, and no clerk was on duty at the desk. It was bright enough in the room for Jamie to get his first good look at Bodie and Savannah. The young woman was a beauty, all right, even with her dress disheveled and dirty from crawling around under a covered wagon. Bodie Cantrell was a medium-sized young man in range clothes, with black hair under his tipped-back hat.

  The four of them had just entered the lobby when a man stood up from a chair next to a potted plant where he’d obviously been waiting. He started toward them, but clearly he was no threat. Middle-aged and portly, he sported a black eye, and there was dried blood around his mouth. “Savannah!” he exclaimed. “Thank God! We didn’t know what had happened to you or if you were all right.”

  Savannah caught hold of his extended hands and gaped at him in surprise. “Cyrus, what happened to you? You look like you’ve been in a fight!”

  “I have,” Cyrus O’Hanlon said grimly. “Gideon Kane and his men have been here, Savannah . . . and they were looking for you.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The news hit Savannah hard. She gasped as if she’d been punched in the stomach. Beside her, Bodie put a hand on her arm to steady her.

  “Oh, Cyrus, I’m so sorry,” she was able to say after a moment. “Are you hurt badly? Was anyone else hurt?”

  Cyrus waved a hand. “Don’t worry about me, child. This isn’t the first time I’ve been roughed up. I’ll be fine. Harry Sennett has a broken arm, but no one else suffered anything except bumps and bruises.”

  Bodie asked, “Why would they do something like that?”

  “Because they were looking for me,” Savannah answered before Cyrus could say anything. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Aye,” Cyrus answered with a shrug. The gesture made him wince. “Kane demanded to know if you were here, and when I told him you weren’t, he said that I was lying. One of his men hit me, and Harry jumped into the fight. He wasn’t any match for them, though. The commotion drew the rest of the troupe. We tried to give a good account of ourselves, but”—he shrugged again—“we’re performers, not brawlers.”

  “Wish I’d been here to lend you a hand,” Jamie MacCallister growled.

  Cyrus looked him up and down. “My, you’re big as a mountain, aren’t you, friend? I wish you’d been here, too. Who’s this, Savannah?”

  “This is Mr. MacCallister. He’s the wagon master for that wagon train camped down the street. He helped us after Mr. Cantrell got me away from Kane’s men to start with.”

  “I’m afraid I’m not acquainted with young Mr. Cantrell, either . . . although you do look a bit familiar, sir.”

  “I was in the audience at the show tonight.”

  “Ah! That explains it.” Cyrus still looked puzzled, though. “You’re a friend of Savannah’s?”

  “He is now,” she said. “He risked his life fighting Kane’s men when they tried to kidnap me. We got away and hid among Mr. MacCallister’s wagons.”

  “I’m starting to get the players straight,” Cyrus said with a nod. He turned to Moses Danzig. “And you are . . . ?”

  Moses introduced himself, then added, “I’m going to Montana Territory with Jamie and the rest of the wagon train.”

  Jamie asked, “Did anybody send for the law while that ruckus with Kane’s men was going on?”

  Cyrus nodded. “O
ne of our people did. But that just made things worse. When the police came in—” He had to stop and draw a deep breath. “When the police came in, Kane and his men claimed that we had attacked them. He accused us of being criminals. He said we had pickpockets working the crowd and that we were no better than gypsies.”

  “Let me guess,” Jamie said with a frown. “The law believed them.”

  Cyrus spread his hands helplessly. “Kane and his family are rich. Of course the authorities believed him. The officers threatened to run us out of town . . . but Kane said he didn’t want to cause trouble for us and told them he didn’t want to press charges. After the police left, though, he said he would see to it that we were all thrown in jail unless we turned Savannah over to him. Then he told us we had until morning to find her and take her to his house.”

  Savannah felt sick and light-headed. If not for Bodie’s hand on her arm, she might have collapsed. How could things have taken such a bad turn, so quickly? She hadn’t done anything to cause it. She’d just been going about her job, following her calling, practicing her art. Then suddenly, without any warning, Gideon Kane had walked into her dressing room, and with him had come pure evil.

  That was just the way things were in life, she told herself. Bad things happened for no apparent reason.

  But understanding that and being able to accept it were two different things. It wasn’t fair for Cyrus and the other members of the troupe to suffer just because Gideon Kane had decided he had to have her.

  “Listen,” she said, speaking quickly so she wouldn’t back out on going through with the idea that had just occurred to her. “I have to leave the troupe.”

  “What?” Cyrus said with a confused frown. “No! You don’t need to do that. We’ll figure some way out of this—”

  “There isn’t any other way out of it,” she told him. “Kane will use the law against you, and you know he’ll get away with it, too. At the very least, he’ll have you run out of town. At worst, you’ll all be locked up. I can’t stand to have that on my conscience, Cyrus. I just can’t.”

  “We’ll fight him,” Cyrus insisted. “I’ll hire a lawyer and fight him in court.”

  Savannah shook her head. “No lawyer worth anything will want to go up against the Kane family. There’s just no other answer, Cyrus, and you know it.”

  He looked miserable as he tried to come up with something else to say and couldn’t. Finally he managed to ask, “But where will you go?”

  Savannah turned to look at Jamie MacCallister. “To Montana Territory. You can find a place for me in your wagon train, can’t you, Mr. MacCallister?”

  “It’s not really my wagon train,” Jamie replied. “I don’t have any say over who stays and who goes, as long as they follow my orders once we’re on the trail.”

  “I can follow orders. I’m good at taking direction, aren’t I, Cyrus?”

  “You’re a quick study,” Cyrus admitted. “You won’t be playing a part, though, Savannah. You’d really be an immigrant.”

  With a faint smile, she said, “Isn’t all life just playing a part, at least to a certain extent? We know what we’re supposed to do because we’ve read it in books and seen it onstage. And then as we live it, it becomes real.”

  “I suppose you could look at it like that,” Cyrus said grudgingly. “But I don’t want to lose you. Neither will the others.”

  “It’s for their own good. The troupe has to come first.” Still smiling, she added, “The show must go on.”

  Cyrus winced again. “To have such a hoary old chestnut used against me.” He sighed. “Very well. You’ll probably be safer with a behemoth such as Mr. MacCallister rather than with a bunch of actors. No offense intended by that behemoth comment, sir.”

  “None taken,” Jamie said with a grin. “I know I’m a big galoot.” He grew more serious. ”I’m not sure about you being any safer, though, Miss McCoy. We’re talking about going all the way to Montana, not on some picnic lunch. Hundreds of miles of riding in a wagon that’s not very comfortable, miserable weather, maybe hostile Indians and outlaws. Lots of bad things can happen.”

  “Something bad will happen if I stay here,” Savannah pointed out. “Gideon Kane has seen to that. Besides, maybe I wouldn’t have to go all the way to Montana. The troupe’s next stop is Des Moines, isn’t that right, Cyrus?”

  “Yes, we’ll be there in a couple weeks.”

  “I could travel with the wagon train for a week or so, long enough for Kane to give up on finding me, then leave and join the troupe again in Des Moines.”

  “You can’t go gallivanting across the prairie by yourself.” Bodie looked at Jamie. “You still interested in hiring another scout, Mr. MacCallister?”

  Jamie regarded him with narrowed eyes. “A temporary scout? Just for a week? I don’t know about that. But I don’t reckon I can stop you from coming along, if that’s what you want. You’ll have to talk to Captain Hendricks about it, though. He’s in charge of the bunch.”

  Savannah frowned. “Mr. Cantrell, I can’t ask you to—”

  “You’re not asking me to do anything,” Bodie interrupted. “I’m volunteering.” He paused. “I’ll have to talk to some friends of mine, though, and let them know that I’m leaving.”

  “It’s very thoughtful of you to want to help me. I really appreciate it.”

  “Hey, I don’t like that fella Kane, either,” Bodie said. “Anything I can do to put a burr under his saddle, I’m all for it.”

  Moses spoke up. “I don’t want to throw cold water on these plans, but how are you going to convince Kane that you’re gone, Miss McCoy? He’s liable to think that the troupe is just hiding you.”

  Savannah frowned again. “I hadn’t thought about that. I know. I’ll write him a letter telling him that I’m leaving Kansas City and leaving the troupe. You can give it to him, Cyrus.”

  “Even if you do that, there’s no guarantee that he’ll believe it.”

  “He can search the hotel and the theater. He can come to all the performances. I really will be gone, so when he can’t find me he’ll have no choice but to believe it.”

  Cyrus rubbed his chin and frowned in thought. After a moment he said, “Hmm. It might work. . . .”

  “It’s the only chance we have to keep him from causing more trouble for the troupe.”

  “You won’t tell him where you’re going, just that you’re leaving town?”

  Savannah glanced at Jamie and Bodie. “That’s right. I don’t want to cause trouble for those immigrants, either.”

  “I’m not worried too much about some rich young wastrel like that, miss,” Jamie told her. “I reckon I’ve dealt with a lot worse in my time.”

  “All right, it’s settled then. I’m starting to Montana with the wagon train. That is, if I can find someone to let me travel with them . . .”

  Moses said, “That shouldn’t be a problem. There are plenty of families who ought to be willing to make room for you. These are good people, Miss McCoy.”

  “I’m sure they are.” She put a hand on Cyrus’s arm. “And if I don’t show up in Des Moines, you’ll know not to wait for me. Just go on with the tour.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Why wouldn’t you join us?”

  “Well, something might happen. As Mr. MacCallister pointed out, a trip like this could be dangerous.” Savannah smiled. “Or you never know . . . once I’m on the way, I might decide that I want to be a pioneer woman!”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “We’d better go out the back way,” Bodie suggested before they left the hotel. Savannah had gone upstairs and quickly packed her carpetbag. Luckily, the troupe’s nomadic existence had taught her the art of traveling light. “Kane could’ve posted somebody outside to keep an eye on the place.”

  Jamie said, “I thought of the same thing. That’s why I had a good look around when we came up. I didn’t see anybody skulking around, but it’s possible I missed something. We’ll go out the back just to be sure.
”

  Bodie had a hunch it would be hard to out-think Jamie MacCallister, and it was mighty unlikely that he would miss anything, too. He had heard of the big frontiersman. Anybody who had been around as long as Jamie had, leading that sort of adventurous life, was bound to be pretty cunning, not to mention experienced in all kinds of trouble.

  Savannah had found pen and ink and paper behind the registration desk and quickly written a note for Gideon Kane, telling him that she was quitting the troupe and leaving Kansas City, to boot. She didn’t tell him where she was going, but she warned him not to try to find her. She read the message out loud to the others, then sealed it and gave it to Cyrus O’Hanlon to have it delivered to Kane.

  Cyrus insisted on calling the rest of the troupe down to the lobby so they could say good-bye to Savannah. It was an emotional farewell, full of hugs and tears, and it bothered Bodie that she had to abandon the life she enjoyed just because of some worthless skunk like Gideon Kane.

  Finally Savannah was able to tear herself away from her friends and colleagues. She and Bodie, along with Jamie and Moses, went to the hotel’s back door.

  Jamie said, “Better let me go out first and have a look around, just to make sure Kane’s men haven’t set up an ambush for us.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Bodie said.

  “No, you stay here. In case anything happens to me, you’ll have to look out for Miss McCoy.”

  “What about me?” Moses asked.

  “Have you got a gun?”

  “Well . . . no.”

  “Ever fired a gun?”

  “Actually, I haven’t.”

  “Then you’d best stay here with Cantrell and Miss McCoy,” Jamie said. “Stick to doing whatever it is rabbis do and let me burn any powder that needs burning.”

  “When you put it like that, I see your point,” Moses said.

  Jamie slipped out the door, moving with unusual grace for such a big man, and returned after a few tense minutes to report that the coast seemed to be clear. “Kane’s probably convinced that he spooked your friends so bad they won’t have any choice but to turn you over to him, Miss McCoy.”